Page 23 of The Maverick’s Legacy

“No notes from me. I give you an A plus,” she joked with a sensual turn of her lips. He wanted to kiss her badly.

“I want to see you again,” he blurted, inwardly cringing. “I mean…can I see you again?”

She didn’t hold back her grin as she said, “I’d like that very much.”

He glanced down at her mouth again. He wanted to feel it. Needed to.

But did women want to kiss someone on the first date these days? Should he try?

Dammit! He should have asked Grayson this before he left.

“I…” he started to say before he stepped away. “I’ll call you. Good night.”

He didn’t look back, but he heard her murmur, “Good night?”

She sounded as confused as he felt.

Chapter Nine

Carly stood in line inside the finance office at Tenacity Town Hall. As she waited for her turn, she tried to talk herself out of wasting her time. There was no point of even putting in an application until she knew that she was going to move forward with her riding school. But even as she told herself this, she couldn’t get her feet to move. She didn’t know how long it would take to get a business application, but she wanted to get the ball rolling…just in case.

“Next,” a woman called out. She wore a button-up blue cardigan, and her white hair was in a tight bun on top of her head. The nameplate on the counter in front of her said Dorothy.

“Hello, I’m Carly H—”

“Hawkins, yes, I know, dear.” The older woman looked at her over the bridge of her glasses.

Carly’s forehead wrinkled. “I’m so sorry—have we met?”

Dorothy half chuckled. “Welcome to Tenacity. Eventually you’ll know everyone’s name.”

Another woman walked over and stood next to Dorothy. She had short brown hair, a beak-like nose, and a sour expression on her face.

“Barbara Jean and Burt said they saw you and Jesse Abernathy at Castillo’s last weekend,” the new woman said. “Is that true?”

“I…” Carly was honestly shocked. She’d come in to inquire about a business application, not to get interrogated about her love life.

“Oh, Kathy, go fix your makeup,” Dorothy said.

The other woman flushed before stomping away.

Dorothy shook her head. “Sorry about that. Mr. Abernathy has captured more than one woman’s admiration since he and his son moved to town. Not that Kathy would ever have a shot. She has the manners of an alley cat. She used to be the manager here until she told one of our employees to come into work while the poor girl’s mother was on her deathbed.”

Carly didn’t know how to respond to any of this. She really wasn’t one for gossip or getting into fights with women over men, though she had little patience for bullies. She decided to take the higher road and mind her own business.

“I’m here to get some information regarding a business permit,” she finally said.

A half hour later, Carly walked out the doors of town hall with the permits in her purse. She had anticipated it’d take months to get approval, but after she’d explained her idea to Dorothy, the woman stamped the paperwork, then asked her to pose for selfies. She hated using her name and connections for anything, but she wasn’t going to say no in these circumstances either.

Now she just needed to build her business, starting with some repairs. Amy had told her about a couple of stores in the area that carried what she was looking for. Carly was in the middle of debating with herself whether she should drive or walk to the Tenacity Feed and Seed when her phone thrummed inside her pants pocket. She glanced at her watch to see who was calling.

Dex. Again.

She hit Ignore like she had every time her agent had called. She knew she needed to give him an answer soon, but weren’t the permits answer enough? Granted, she could do the European tour, come back, and work on her school after that. The money would certainly help make sure that her business had no way of failing.

But…

She needed more time. Just the thought of going back on the road made her stomach turn. Besides wanting the mental reset, there were other things to consider. Honestly, the idea of her riding school was very appealing because it would be hers. As she’d mentioned to Jesse during their date, she’d lost most of her belongings being bounced from house to house during her time in foster care. Even though her adoptive family made sure she lacked for nothing, there was a lot of appeal to bringing her dream to fruition. It was something other than being one of the Hawkins Sisters.