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Fuck, he’d walked right into that, hadn’t he? He stood and brushed sand off the back of his jeans. “I’m not wearing a costume.”
Zak grinned. “Oh, yeah, you are.”
chapter two
Tonight was the night.
Sasha LeBlanc was going to seduce a man for the first time in her life.
After years of crushing on Sheriff Ash Rawlings, she was finally going to make her move. Anna Hendricks, her best friend and Ash’s twin sister, convinced her it was the only way anything would ever happen because Ash was too focused on keeping the citizens of Lost County safe to think about dating.
A hard worker. A good man.
He checked all the right boxes—kind, stable, good family, steady job. It was just a bonus he was also gorgeous. Stormy blue eyes. A square, too-serious face. He was from a long line of cattle ranchers and had the lean, strong body of a cowboy. She loved when he helped his sister around the rescue because he always rolled up his sleeves, showing off muscular arms sprinkled with dark hair. She had a weakness for men with sexy arms. He also had nice lips, the bottom fuller than the top, and the few times she’d seen him smile, he’d stolen her breath. While his sister’s hair was a flaming copper, his neatly trimmed light brown hair and beard glinted with just a hint of red in the sun.
The perfect man.
At least, he was according to the life plan Sasha had meticulously plotted out for herself. She’d accomplished everything else on her list, so it was time to find a good husband and have a family, and she couldn’t think of anyone better for the role than Ash Rawlings.
Luckily, Anna happened to agree and had been trying to play matchmaker for over a year now.
And tonight was finally the night.
Sasha studied her reflection in the full-length mirror. The silky black dress was like nothing she’d ever worn before. It shimmered faintly purple every time she moved, had a slit in the curve-hugging skirt almost up to her hip, and another plunged alarmingly between her breasts. A sheer cape spilled down her back from the shoulders and also sparkled with every movement.
Would Ash like it? He seemed like a very reserved man. A gentleman. Maybe she was showing too much skin.
“I don’t know. Is it too much?”
Anna looked up from the tabletop mirror she was using to do her hair. She’d curled her copper hair and pulled it back into a complicated knot secured with jeweled pins that matched her deep blue dress. The elaborate blue and gold feathered bird mask she planned to wear sat on the vanity beside her and seemed to wink at Sasha.
“Honestly,” Anna said after a contemplative beat, “I don’t think it’s enough.”
“I don’t want Ash to think I’m—” She broke off and glanced at Anna’s seventeen-year-old foster daughter, Bella, who was sorting through a makeup kit on the bed. She was never sure how much she could say around the girl. Bella had lived a hard life and was more world wary than most teenagers, but she was still just a kid. Should they really be discussing this in front of her?
Bella smirked. “You don’t want him to think you’re what, sexy? Well, you should because when he sees you in that dress, his head’s going to explode.”
Flushing, Sasha turned back to the mirror. “I don’t want him to think I’m easy.”
“You’re trying to seduce him, right?”
Sasha looked at her best friend for help, but Anna only shrugged.
“She’s not wrong, Sash. My brother is a lot of things, but he’s not a monk. He likes easy. Prefers it, in fact.”
Was her face on fire? Because it felt like it was on fire. She was so far out of her comfort zone with the dress. With seduction. With… this whole plan. But she wasn’t going to find a husband while buried in work at her vet clinic, though she would rather express a hundred anal glands—easily her most hated part of the job—than go to a party and seduce a man.
Stick to the plan.
That had been her mantra throughout her life.
Everything will be okay if you stick to the plan.
Her carefully curated life checklist had never failed her, so she just had to suck it up because she’d decided months ago that Ash was meant to be part of the plan.
And suck it in because, God, this dress clung to everything. She turned sideways and studied her profile in the mirror, smoothing her hands over her belly. She inhaled, but it was no use. “Are you sure I shouldn’t wear Spanx?”
“I thought you wanted him to get you out of the dress tonight?” Anna asked.
