Fall for Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 1)

Liv sat in the first row of the bus and buried her face in her hands. God, she’d just left her daughter in a bar. Alone. What was she thinking?

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, and Renie’s name lit up the screen.

“Where did you go?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t feel well. It’s the altitude.” The driver turned around and glared at her. Maybe he thought she’d get sick in his shuttle bus. She waved her hand and mouthed, “I’m okay,” which seemed to pacify him.

“What? I can’t hear you. Where did you say you are?”

“I’m on the shuttle,” she shouted into the phone.

“Why?”

“I’m not feeling well.” The shuttle driver was going to pull over and kick her off the bus.

“Okay, I’ll leave now.”

“No, stay. You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”

“I’ll see you at the hotel in a few minutes, Mom.”

Liv disconnected the call. There was no point in continuing to yell into the phone. And now that she’d ruined Renie’s good time, she could rest easy that she was on her way back to the hotel, and at least safe. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. That was the second time she’d raced away from Ben Rice. He not only made her heart race, there was something else about him that made her want to run fast and far in in the opposite direction.

It wasn’t as though all men had this effect on her. Or that she hadn’t dated. She’d dated plenty the last twenty years. Or maybe the last ten. And, okay, not plenty, but some. Although not much at all really. Paige tried to fix her up a couple times, but no one she met interested her. Not like Ben Rice did.

“Ma’am, we’re here,” the shuttle driver said, startling her.

“Oh. Sorry. Thank you.” She pressed a five dollar bill in the receptacle, hoping he’d consider that enough of a tip.

“Thank you, ma’am, and I hope you feel better,” he said as the doors closed behind her.

“What’s going on with you?” Renie asked when she opened the door and walked into their hotel room.

“I drank my beer too fast. That and the crowd in the bar—I was very overwhelmed. I’m sorry I ruined our night out together.”

“It’s okay. I was worried about you. If we stayed longer, we wouldn’t have wanted to ski tomorrow. Here.” Renie handed her mother a folded piece of paper.

“What’s this?”

“Ben’s number. He wants you to call and let him know you’re okay.”

Liv crumpled the paper in her pocket. Could she have handled leaving the bar in a worse way? How humiliating. Ben probably thought she was crazy.

Ben recognized the petite ash blonde as soon as he saw her sitting at the bar. Liv was her name. The first time he saw her, after they played Red Rocks, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She was sitting in one of the first few rows, and caught his eye.

When she smiled and her bright blue eyes met his, he couldn’t look away. He sang the rest of the song right to her, and the one after that, too.

After their set was over, he and the band took the underground tunnel that ran from the back of the Red Rocks stage, up to the soundboard area. They sat in the roped off section, and Ben spent the next two hours watching her.

It was obvious she loved music—and she felt it. Not everyone did. She danced, she laughed, she smiled, she lived. That was why he remembered her name when he introduced himself at the end of the show.

“I’m Liv,” she’d said, and he was ready to. He’d endured too many struggles in the last few years. He’d worked hard to keep the music and his band going, and it was about to pay off. This was the year they would take it to the next level. No more local clubs. Instead, they’d tour nationally, he felt it. They’d recorded a new album, better than any other they’d released.

When he saw her again tonight, he knew fate brought her to him for a second time. It reminded him not to lose focus, keep his eye on the prize, to keep living. One day at a time.

Besides how pretty she was, which she seemed unaware of, something about her made him yearn to know her better. He made her skittish, though. Maybe she was feeling the same magnetic pull he was, and that’s why she ran. The draw was so strong, if he didn’t know he was ready for it, it would’ve scared the hell out of him too.

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