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So much for fixing my tarnished reputation. I was now the girl who’d almost drowned and put on inappropriate shows at county fairs. This was just perfect. This year couldn’t get any better.
“Move it along, Graham,” Hunter growled in a low and dangerous tone. “Before I make you.”
My head buzzed with shock as I stood half-hidden behind my best friend. I’d never seen Hunter act like that before. He sounded so intimidating, it almost had me wanting to cower. Graham’s eyes flashed as he glared unblinkingly at Hunter for an entire ten seconds. Anyone walking by at that moment probably could’ve sensed the heavy testosterone in the air. But finally, with a smirk and a toss of his head, Graham began to walk away.
“This was boring anyway,” he grumbled. “I’ve got better things to do.”
That seemed to be only the first domino. One by one, the other cowboys surrounding Lexi and Beth melted into the background, each finding more important places they needed to be. When they were all gone and the crowd dispersed, Hunter turned to me, his gaze softening.
“Are you okay?” He looked me up and down, assessing me for injuries.
It was hard not to take a moment to appreciate the muscular curves of his arms now that he was stripped down to nothing but a white tank. His skin actually glistened in the bright sunlight, as if he’d put baby oil on this morning. I found myself staring a little too hard at the broadness of his shoulders and it took him saying my name three times before it truly registered in my brain.
“Charlotte?” His eyes narrowed with concern and he leaned down to make eye contact with me. “Are you okay?”
“Y-y-yes,” I said, nodding. I needed to stop looking at him like that. He was my best friend, not a Calvin Klein model. “I’m fine. No harm done. Thanks for that save, by the way. I definitely didn’t mean to put on a show for the whole county.” I snorted, trying to push off the embarrassment still throbbing in my chest. “It’s a good thing I wore my sports bra today.”
Hunter nodded sharply, suddenly tearing away his gaze to stare at something fascinating on the ground. Was that a hint of pink I saw in his cheeks? He’d never been squeamish about girl things before now. And really, the bikini I’d worn when we went camping together with our families two years ago wasn’t much different from this sports bra. Still, it had been fascinating to see Hunter go all Hulk-like and then revert to a blushing Bruce Banner impression in such a short amount of time. It kind of made me wonder what other new sides of him I’d see this week.
“There you are, Charlotte. Ms. Gentry sent me to come get you.” Sarah Claiborne strolled up beside me, looking impeccably dry and put together. Her quick and disapproving look up and down my body had me wanting nothing more than to find a mirror and fix whatever disaster had happened to my hair. But when her attention turned to Hunter, her lips immediately curved into an alluring smile. “Hi, Hunter. How’s my favorite bull rider?”
“Hi, Sarah.” He rubbed the back of his head and squinted at her. “Fine, thanks.”
Alarms went off in my head. This was getting serious. Sarah had never so much as said five words to Hunter before he moved away. She’d lived in her popular world and we lived in ours. The fact that she was constantly putting on the charm around him was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Maybe I’ll see you around,” she said, wrapping her long fingers around my upper arm with enough force to strangle a cat. She pulled me toward the direction of the pavilion, a smile still glued to her face. “I’d love to learn all about bull riding some time.”
“Uh...okay...sure.” He shot her an unsure smile, and then glanced at me. I knew that look. He was asking me if the world had suddenly flipped upside down.
“See you later,” I said with a wave, giving into Sarah’s pull. “And thanks for the shirt!”
Sarah dropped her hand from my arm and marched silently beside me. It wasn’t until the pavilion came into view with the other girls sitting at the picnic tables did she finally turn to me.
“Your friend. He’s single, right?”
The ground tilted beneath me. My dreadful suspicions had been confirmed. In what world was Sarah Claiborne attracted to Hunter McNally? So much for things not changing. That was all I needed—my enemy dating my best friend. Life would never go back to normal.
“Um...I don’t know...maybe not...” I grumbled.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t a very good liar. Add it to the list of things I didn’t have the talent for.
Sarah laughed and quirked her brow at me. “Nice try, Lottie. Even if I did believe that, you know it wouldn’t stop me.”
Yep, I did know that, but it hadn’t kept me from trying.
With a deep breath for courage, I turned toward her with the full intention of demanding that she stay away from Hunter. It would be a new thing for me. I wasn’t used to standing up to her. But I didn’t get the chance. She marched right past me, taking a seat next to Geminia at a picnic table.
The harsh look on Ms. Gentry’s face told me there was no time for a fight and I was already in the dog house. If I wanted to stay in this competition, I was g
oing to have to wait until later to tell Sarah just how wrong Hunter was for her.
And besides, Hunter would never be into someone like her. I knew him better than that. She was barking up the wrong tree.
But then again, it was becoming clear that a lot of things had changed with Hunter over the last year.
I could only hope that wasn’t one of them.
Chapter Eight
