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CHAPTER ONE
Ranger scowledout the black window of his private jet at the rapidly approaching city below. The city lights cut through his reflection but didn’t touch the darkness in his eyes. He’d told himself he’d never return to New York until he was ready to wrest control of the company from his brothers. He was far from ready—but an opportunity like this wouldn’t come along again. He must…
He must… what?
Becca sat back in her chair and groaned. The ache between her eyes only got worse and she pulled her hands away from her laptop keyboard. Her gaze drifted to the window of the Greyhound bus. It was nearly impossible to see anything with her overhead light on, so she was stuck staring at her own reflection.
A passenger coughed in the back. There was a child behind her who wouldn’t stop kicking her chair. She shut her eyes, praying for inspiration to strike again. Becca probably should have known better than to believe she could get much writing doneon this trip. It had been too long and the pain in her back was pulling her attention from her manuscript.
The bus turned a little too sharply, and she snatched up the computer on her lap to prevent it from clattering to the floor. Her body swayed like a built-in shock absorber, and she carefully placed the device back on her lap.
Somewhere on the bus, someone answered their phone. Of course, they were going to talk loud enough for the whole bus to hear. Where had common decency gone?
She dug into her bag at her feet and retrieved her headphones. With a flip of the switch, she drowned out the sounds of the journey and turned her focus back to the computer. Her latest title,The Billionaire’s Takeover Bride, had a lot of promise and she couldn’t wait to spend the summer writing it. Hopefully, her plans would work out the way she wanted them to, and she’d have it sent it off to editing by the time she had to come home.
Becca twisted at her waist, attempting to stretch out the aches that plagued her. She had to get into Ranger’s head. That was the only way this would work. What did Ranger see? What was he feeling? If she could lose herself in the story, then it would start to play just like a movie in her head.
The problem was that she might not have as much time as she wanted due to the wedding preparations. Katrina had invited anyone who could manage to take the summer off to spend it at her family’s ranch. A few of the bridesmaids would have to bunk up if too many took her up on the opportunity.
As far as Becca knew, she was the only one—thankfully.
Katrina had ended up adding a few girls to the crew that Becca wasn’t all that fond of. Granted, she’d only met Tina for the firsttime at the Salt Lake engagement party, but already, she wasn’t looking forward to spending much time with her.
She shook her head and stared hard at the screen in front of her. She didn’t have time to dwell on people like Tina. The wedding wasn’t for a couple more months. Becca wouldn’t have to worry about that particular brand of unpleasantness for at least a few weeks.
Come on, Ranger. What are you going to do first?
Becca sighed again. She tapped her fingernail on the computer but still couldn’t drag the words she needed from her head. There was nothing worse than this brain fog she’d been experiencing.
“… you know it! This place is cowboy central.” A shrill laugh managed to break through her headphones and snapped the thin thread of concentration Becca had managed to grasp.
She straightened in her seat. That voice… it was so familiar.
“The town is a dump compared to the city, but there’s plenty of eye-candy. You should have seen some of the guys who were at her engagement party.” The woman paused then laughed again. “What do you think? I didn’t come all the way out here for nothing. I fully intend on taking advantage of that bachelorette party.”
Becca peered over the seat and quickly shrank back. Tina. The one person she’d hoped to avoid until the wedding got closer. The bachelorette party wasn’t even planned for a couple more weeks. She shut her eyes and stifled a groan as Tina continued her obnoxiously loud conversation.
“Well, what Max doesn’t know won’t hurt him. He’s the one who asked me to marry him. It’s not my fault if he chose to stay in the city until the wedding.”
Becca stiffened, her focus completely shot. Flashes from her own past came back to smack her between the eyes. A dishonest fiancé, a failed wedding, and only Katrina there to help her pick up the pieces of her shattered heart. Becca shook off the memories, intent on forgetting the pain of her past.
Tina didn’t seem interested in keeping her voice low at all. Apparently, she wasn’t concerned about anyone overhearing her conversation—even though the woman had literally bragged about her prospects for the wedding despite being in a relationship already.
“I love Katrina, Ido, but some of the girls she asked to be in her bridal party are just so… I don’t know… pathetic. Remember that one I told you about? She didn’t have a date and clearly she didn’t have any interest in finding one. I overheard her tell Kat that if it was meant to be, it would happen. Who even says that? I heard she got left at the altar.”
Heat seared Becca’s face. She hadn’t realized Tina had been eavesdropping. It probably wouldn’t have mattered in the moment; Becca hadn’t been concerned it was a bad thing to wait for fate to come knocking.
“A dreamer? No, that’s too nice. She’s not a dreamer, she’s just tragic and single and she always will be.”
She scowled, nearly launching from her seat. Tina didn’t know who she was talking about. Becca hadn’t been ready to move on and it wasn’t just because of how her last relationship ended. Shehad a lot on her plate, and she refused to let any man dictate where her life would go.
Instead of throwing herself at the rude woman, Becca shrank back deeper into her seat and clutched her computer with a grip that was likely too tight. Her eyes dropped down to the laptop and she frowned. At this rate, she could end up hurting it just because she couldn’t stand to listen to Tina harp about her.
Becca slipped the computer into her computer bag and nudged it under the seat. She crossed her arms and glared into the back of the chair in front of her. So much for her headphones drowning out the conversation that was taking place a few seats ahead.
Tina might be Katrina’s friend, but she wasn’t being a good friend as a member of the bridal party. If anyone was going to ruin the wedding, it would be her. What a complete mess. How on earth she had managed to snag a guy who wanted to marry her was beyond Becca’s ability to understand.
Even as she told herself she wasn’t interested or ready for a relationship, she couldn’t deny the jealousy that hit her over the head when she thought about this Max guy and what he had settled for. There were better women out there.
