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She didn’t want to know who her running buddy was. She wanted to run straight for the door and not come back.
There was a crowd in front of the corkboard, people scanning the lists and then high-fiving each other if they knew who they’d been matched with or shaking hands and introducing themselves if they were meeting for the first time. Everyone looked happy to be a part of it, excited even to get to know someone new or run with a friend.
Maybe she’d been matched with a friend? That would help. Her brain scanned a list of people she knew that she’d be okay to run with, but none of them were runners.
They’d moved closer to the board, and yet she looked toward theexitsign over the doors rather than the papers pinned with names.
Baylee stepped closer, scanned the papers, and then turned and smiled.
“What?”
Baylee looked past Meg’s shoulder. “Um. We will see you at my house.” She leaned forward and whispered, “Bring wine. You’re gonna need it.” With that, she took Casey’s hand and left.
Not understanding what had just happened, Meg watched her friend leave.
“Looks like we get to be buddies.”
The voice behind her was deep. Masculine. And before she even turned around, Meg knew who it was. She closed her eyes tight, wishing the ground would swallow her whole.
Opening her eyes, it took every ounce of willpower she had to turn. Those blue depths that had found her across the room now looked at her with a gleam that said he was much happier about the situation than she was. His dark-blue Henley looked as tailored for his broad shoulders as his blue jeans did for themuscular legs she only knew about because she’d seen him in running shorts.
“It’s a good thing we both like to run early in the morning. That will help our schedule, don’t you think?”
She nodded. “Right.”
“How many miles do you think you’ll want to shoot for?”
She was about to come up with a brilliant way to get out of the entire situation when he said, “I run five miles a day, but I’m willing to pull back from that if you need to.”
Oh no he didn’t.
It was a challenge plain as day laid at her feet, and with it, all thoughts of fleeing the fundraiser went out of Meg’s mind.
“I say we shoot for at least that.” She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “I can go for seven if you’re up for it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m up for it. I just hope you can keep up.” With that, he winked at her and turned to leave.
She watched him walk through the room and out the door, swaggering as if he felt he’d gotten the last word. Her heart pounded now not from panic, but rather from excitement, the rush of a challenge pumping through her veins.
He may have thought he’d won that round, but he was sorely mistaken if he thought she’d back down.
It was on.
Chapter Eight
Chet knew he’dtaken a risk by goading Meg. It wasn’t tough to see the panic in her eyes at the thought of having to run with someone. And yet her demeanor had changed almost instantly when he’d challenged her.
Interesting.
They were at least similar creatures in that regard. Getting to know her so far had been a challenge that he hadn’t backed away from, and making her think he had little faith in her endurance had served him well. She fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Not only did she not try to get out of running with him, she’d upped the stakes.
“You look smug.” Eva was standing outside the Community Center. She crossed her arms in front of her and smiled at him. “Why do I have a feeling it has something to do with the fact that yousomehoware running buddies with the one woman in town yousomehowtake more notice of than any other?”
He shrugged. “Think what you want, Little Sister. I can’t stop you.”
She laughed at that and shook her head.
“Excuse me. I’m sorry to interrupt, but could you possibly point me toward Rachel Anderson?”
