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GreenEyedKing96:I’m mulling things over… I would start in a week so haven’t got long to decide.
GoodGirlKay:Take. The. Darn. Job.
GreenEyedKing96:Yes ma’am, lol.
GoodGirlKay:I know you’re worried about what your family thinks after the whole ‘abandoning your medical career thing’ but you have to think about yourself and what you want. So, what do you want?
GreenEyedKing96:Very good point. I think I want that job.
GoodGirlKay:That was easy haha! You’re very susceptible to persuasion.
GreenEyedKing96:Well, you’re very persuasive…
She giggled as his message popped onto the screen and felt her cheeks flush, her pulse skittering as she pictured those green eyes,what shade dammit,glittering enticingly on the other side of his computer screen. She wanted to take it further and flirt but didn’t know what to say, she was too out of practice.
She needed confidence; she knew she did. She just didn’t know how to get it. She was too self-aware and self-conscious. Lack of confidence was embedded in her DNA and she didn’t know how to change it. So, until she figured out what to do, she would continue being boring computer geek, plain Kayleigh.
She and GreenEyedKing96 chatted some more but no more flirting happened. And when she went to bed, she lit her scented candles and then gave in to her fantasies of him coming to her hometown to rescue her.
The next morning she woke up feeling flat. Taylor had said to take as much time as she needed before coming back to work, which was just as well because Kayleigh didn’t feel like doinganything.Except wallowing. Wallowing felt pretty good.
So that was what she did all week. She ignored her life, ignored her gaming and she even ignored GreenEyedKing96. Her parents kept checking on her, obviously concerned, but she didn’t know what to tell them.
Kayleigh didn’t even know what was wrong.
*
Chapter 3
When the week was up Kayleigh finally came out of hibernation. She had spent too long wallowing and if she was honest, she wasn’t sure her week of staying in bed had made her feel any better. It was too stuffy in her room, her head was pounding and she needed air. She needed to leave her room. She needed to see people and get back to life.
That morning she got on her bicycle and rode to work, stopping briefly to pick up Mr. Henderson’s morning paper. When she handed it to him over the fence, he complained that she was a few minutes later than normal and the morning dew had ruined the sports section. Kayleigh swallowed her retort and continued on her way before stopping to take Mrs. Steinman’s dog out. Mrs. Steinman, instead of thanking her, shouted that she better make sure Misty went number oneandnumber two because last time Kayleigh didn’t check and Misty number two’d all over her nice new carpet. Kayleigh offered Mrs. Steinman her polite smile and got back on her bicycle before she screamedtake your own dang dog out in future!
Then she had to swerve around the Carsons’ two children who were roughhousing and spilled into Kayleigh’s path. She fell off her bike, skinning her knee, but they took no notice. She bit her lip to stop from cussing at them; they were only young and didn’t deserve it.
By the time The Rusty Bucket Inn came into view, Kayleigh was beginning to feel as though she should have continued hibernating.
People sucked. They took advantage and were never grateful and Kayleigh was too much of a coward to ever say what was on her mind. She locked up her bike and trudged into the bar, her knee throbbing and stinging like a son of a gun.
She paused before opening the door to the bar. She was not looking forward to facing Taylor after she had stupidly declared her love. Collecting herself, she went inside but instead of the beautiful redhead she was expecting, there was a strange man behind the bar. Dirty blond hair that was long and tousled in thatI just got out of bedway that was so popular with men these days. Medium height and build with trim waist and hips. His black T-shirt clung to his back as he wiped down the bar surface and she spotted toned biceps flexing away.
“Um…hello?” she called. The guy spun around, his eyes running up and down her form before he released a breath. He wiped a hand over his mouth and his expression blanked.
“Hi, Kayleigh, right?” he asked. His deep baritone was smooth, like cool Irish cream.
“Yeah. Who’re you?”
“I’m Ben, the newbie,” he said, then propped his hip against the bar, folding his arms over his chest and raising one side of his mouth in a smirk. He crossed his ankles, and her eyes were drawn to his dark blue jeans, turned up at the ankles displaying shiny black boots. She swallowed thickly at the way he looked so effortlessly cool, like he owned the place, and annoyance flitted through her at how seamlessly he fit in when she never felt like she had.
Then she realized this was the guy who had helped her when Taylor’s ex, Dale, had shoved her into the door in his bid to escape. She knew she should be grateful for Ben’s assistance, and she definitely was, but she was also mortified that he had seen her at one of her worst moments.
“Uh, nice to meet you. Thanks for your help the other day,” she mumbled, staring at her feet as the heat in her cheeks grew.
“No sweat,” he replied, and she spotted his casual shrug out the corner of her eye. She flicked her gaze up, running over him. She’d never seen him before, and she prided herself on knowing most of the locals.He must be from out of town. She definitely would have remembered that blond hair and those breathtaking pale green eyes that reminded her of mint chocolate chip ice cream. GreenEyedKing96 popped into her head just then, were his the same shade?His stupid lean body that made her want to strip off his clothes and see what delights lay underneath. Ben’s smirk deepened like he could read her thoughts and she abruptly headed towards Taylor’s office to store her bike helmet.
“Oh my baby girl, I’m so glad you’re here!” Taylor gasped and then Kayleigh was enveloped in her arms, inhaling Taylor’s wonderful scent that made her pulse pound, and she tightened her hold. When Taylor stepped back, she cupped Kayleigh’s cheeks but Kayleigh shrugged her off, worried herI love youwas screaming from her eyes, humiliation crushing her again.
“Yep, I’m back. So, we have a new guy?” She tried to seem unaffected and disinterested but her words just sounded hollow.
