LITMIR.BIZ

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beautiful woman.

      She was way too much trouble personified. Even if she was hot as a firecracker.

      * * *

      “NOW, SEE, WE’RE NOT all bad,” Elissa said as she walked out of the movie theater next to Skyler and India.

      Skyler eyed Elissa as her friend shifted to walking backward in front of her. “Yes, this is more of what I had in mind in the first place.” A giant movie screen with Jeremy Renner’s fabulous arms on full display and a tub of buttery popcorn—what wasn’t to like?

      “Although why you’d prefer your movie boyfriend over an actual living, breathing hottie, I have no idea.” Elissa shrugged.

      “Maybe because my ‘movie boyfriend’ doesn’t think he’s God’s gift to women.”

      “Aw, come on, what’s wrong with a little flirting?”

      Skyler reached the SUV and stood with her arms crossed. “What was it India said when you were pushing her toward Liam so hard? Oh, yeah. ‘Then you go out with him.’”

      “I think India’s probably glad that I didn’t take her suggestion.”

      “Sorry, but she’s right about that,” India said.

      Elissa hit the key fob to unlock the doors, and Skyler chose to sit in the back this time. She eyed Elissa when her friend slid into the driver’s seat.

      “You and Verona aren’t going to be satisfied until you’ve paired up everyone in Blue Falls, are you?”

      “Once again, the surefire way to keep Verona pointed away from me and my personal life is to shift her in other directions.”

      “Thanks for throwing me under the bus.” Skyler met India’s eyes when India glanced into the back. “Tell me again why we’re friends with her.”

      “Half price on landscaping supplies?”

      “Drat. I guess I have to keep her.”

      All three of them ended up laughing. There was no sense in staying irritated with her two best friends in the world. After all, it wasn’t as if she had to worry about Logan Bradshaw anymore. Being a lifelong resident of Blue Falls meant she knew everyone who lived in the area, and Logan didn’t. He was only here visiting his cousin and would be gone soon.

      But India had thought Liam was going to be gone in a matter of days, too. Instead, he’d moved his business from Fort Worth to Blue Falls and proposed marriage.

      Skyler laughed under her breath before she caught herself.

      “What?” Elissa asked as she put the SUV in Drive.

      “Nothing.” But as she stared out the window at the coming twilight, Skyler almost laughed again at the idea of Logan asking anyone to marry him, especially someone as opposite to him as her.

      Opposites attracted, didn’t they?

      She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. But that didn’t keep images of Logan from playing through her mind. She didn’t have to admit it to her matchmaking friends, but he was pretty dang hot. Tall, with strong, wide shoulders, a naughty smile and dark hair that was made for a woman’s hands to run through.

      “You okay?” India asked.

      Skyler’s eyes popped open, and she hoped she hadn’t made some sort of embarrassing sound. “Yeah, just tired. You know, the stress of jumping out of a plane and all. And so you know, I’m going to think up something really creative to get you all back.”

      “A lot of people say skydiving is the best thing they’ve ever done.” India sounded so serious that Skyler figured Elissa and probably Verona were the driving force behind the matchmaking. No surprise there.

      “Oh, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the whole convincing-Jesse-to-fake-being-sick thing.”

      India’s eyes widened. “How did you figure that out?”

      “Verona is not as sly as she thinks she is. And neither one of you seemed overly surprised when Jesse said he spent the morning hurling.”

      India smacked Elissa on the shoulder.

      “Ow!”

      “I told you I wasn’t good at lying.”

      “Turns out we didn’t have to be.”

      When they got back to Blue Falls, Elissa didn’t head to the inn. Instead, she pulled into an empty parking space next to the Blue Falls Music Hall.

      “Come on, girls. No birthday is complete without a little dancing.”

      Part of Skyler wanted to protest, to go back to the inn and end the day with a glass of wine on her balcony. But despite her friends’ shenanigans, she’d still had a good time with them today. She might as well end the day with a little dancing before she returned to the inn and got sucked back into work.

      But when they stepped inside, Skyler considered asking Elissa to take her home. The place was wall-to-wall people, many of them obviously cowboys in town for the upcoming rodeo Liam had organized.

      And right in the middle of them stood Logan Bradshaw and his cocky smile. That man was walking, talking trouble, and Skyler fought the urge to turn on her heel and leave. She did shift and eye her friends.

      “What?” Elissa said. “It’s a small town, and not like there are a lot of places to go at night.”

      “You know I don’t believe for a minute you had nothing to do with him being here.”

      “Is there a problem with me being here?” The rumble of Logan’s voice close behind her made Skyler’s nerves hum.

      He had the kind of voice that could coax the clothes off a woman. Heck, she halfway wanted to start tossing articles of clothing right there in the middle of the music hall. Like she’d thought, Trouble with a capital T.

      She took a step away from him before she turned to face Logan. “No. It’s a public place.”

      He wore a knowing grin that told her he didn’t believe her nonchalance any more than she believed her friends hadn’t invited him here.

      But why was she fighting it so hard? It wasn’t as though this was going to be a fall-in-love-forever match. It was her birthday; why shouldn’t she dance with a sexy man?

      “You here to drink and socialize or do you actually know how to dance?” she asked.

      He smiled and extended his hand. “Why don’t you come with me and find out?”

      Skyler hesitated a moment, feeling as if she was playing with a white-hot fire, before she placed her hand in Logan’s and allowed him to lead her through the crowd to the middle of the wooden dance floor.

      When he spun her into his arms, she’d swear her heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t as if she’d never danced with a man, even good-looking ones, but there was something crazy intoxicating about Logan. It felt a little as if he’d fritzed her common sense and she didn’t mind. Who knew there was a little hidden part of her that wanted to throw all her normal caution out the window and live free and wild for a night?

      “So, do anything else adventurous today, birthday girl?” Logan guided her through the dancing couples without taking his eyes off her.

      “No, jumping out of a plane pretty much used up my adventure quota for the year. That and dancing with perfect strangers.”

      His lips quirked up at the edge. “You think I’m perfect?”

      She cocked her head to the side a little. “You’re full of yourself, aren’t you?”

      “I live life to the fullest. Nothing wrong with that in my book.”

      “So you make jumping out of planes a habit, then?”

      “When

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