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“And the only reason we didn’t cut the rope when we were kids was because we didn’t wanna spend all that time stringing Bessie back up! I don’t plan on riding her anytime soon, so I’m not worried about it. What about you, Jake?”
“Nope, I’m not riding her,” Jake replied, trying to hold back his laughter. By the expression on his face when Chris landed, he too was equally surprised. He’d been yanking on his end of the ropes, and his mouth fell wide open when he saw Evan pull out his knife.
“You’re a motherfucker, Evan.” Chris was mad. He could have ridden the damn bull for eighty seconds let alone eight.
“I’m doing this for your own good,” Evan replied. “There’s nothing in this for me. I’m doing you a favor.”
Chris brooded while he dusted off his jeans.
“And I expect proof. A bet is a bet. And we don’t go back on our wagers,” Even reminded him of the house rule.
“Yeah, yeah. A date by Valentine’s Day. I got it.”
“With an actual woman. Not some friend you got to stand in. Absolutely no cheating,” Evan said.
Chris pursed his lips and didn’t reply. He knew the house rule on wagers. If you made one, you had to stick to it. Integrity meant everything in the Corriente family, even if it meant he’d have to download a dating app to his phone and ask a girl out.
What have I gotten myself into?
ChapterTwo
Viviana
The moment Christmas was over, the nurses’ station had already been decorated in paper and foil hearts, the candy dish was brimming with heart shaped candies, and there were even dangling little Cupid’s in their stupid little diapers holding their bow and arrows down the hallway of her floor in the hospital. It was as if the colors red, pink, and white had literally exploded everywhere.
Viviana rolled her eyes as she moved the candy dish out of her way so she could reach a chart she needed some notes from. It wasn’t that she hated Valentine’s Day necessarily, although it was a bit much to have it blasted in her face every day all day at work. She knew it was kind of a stupid holiday, more commercial than anything, but even with that knowledge, the looming day of all things romance was another reminder of how very single she was. Twenty-five, successful, attractive . . . she took good care of herself, worked out, ate reasonably healthy, especially for a nurse, she couldn’t understand why every guy she ever went out with turned out to be a total dud. She’d all but given up, except for the fact she was a hopeless romantic.
She knew there was someone out there for everyone, but where the fuck was he already?
One of the other nurses, and also her best friend, Candice—Candy for short—swung by the nurses’ station and poured herself into a chair. “Whatcha doin’?” she asked.
“Just finishing up entering my notes from this morning. I really wish the electronic system was fully capable of taking in all the information we have to record. It’s so annoying to have to do paper and electronic; it feels like double the work.”
Candy was wearing a set of pink scrubs emblazoned with tiny candy hearts with little sayings all over them. Viviana couldn’t help but smirk at the outfit. “That’s quite a set of scrubs you’ve got there,” she pointed out. “Valentine’s Day is still two weeks away, you know.”
“Aren’t these adorable? That new little shop downtown has the best, most fun scrubs. This is just the beginning. I have some with little red lips all over them too.”
Viviana chuckled. While she preferred to wear plain scrubs, since not every case was a party, she did appreciate working for a hospital that encouraged the nurses and orderlies to wear whatever scrubs they chose. For some of them, it brought a lot of joy out of wearing a standard uniform to work every day, so who was she to judge. She’d still give her BFF a hard time though.
“Oh good lord, you would,” Viviana replied.
“Bah humbug to you too,” Candy said. “You know, if you loosened up a little bit, you might actually have some fun now and again.”
“I’m plenty loose,” Viviana said, rolling her eyes again.
“There is one thing you are not, and it isloose.” Candy attempted to deadpan, but a smirk fell across her lips, and before she could contain it, a laugh as well.
“Oh you’re very funny, hardy har har. What sort of trouble are you into these days?” Viviana wanted to take the focus off herself, and back to her friend, who had a significantly more active dating and social life. Candy was probably the only reason Viviana bothered to socialize at all lately, in fact she’d started to become quite the homebody. To be fair, their shifts were long, and Viviana liked being well rested before putting in a twelve to eighteen hour shift, whereas no matter what Candy did the night before, she was always fresh as a daisy.
“Well, tonight I was thinking we could go to that new social club downtown?” Candy waggled her eyebrows at Viviana, getting her to giggle.
“Oh yeah, I saw their Instagram. Kinda fancy for the likes of us, no?” she asked.
“Girl, we are fancy. It’s El Paso. Not Manhattan. We will be fine, so that’s a yes?”
“I guess I could be convinced to leave the house for you,” Viviana replied. “But I don’t want to be out all night.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. You must get your rest. No dancing on tabletops blah blah. I got it.” Viviana stared at her friend, who knew her all too well. “You really do need to loosen up. Let some guy bang the stick outta your butt.”
