Bidding On The Bachelor. Kerri Carpenter

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СКАЧАТЬ that desperately needed a pedicure. Toes that curled as he gave an appreciative nod.

      “It’s, um, nice to see you, Jasper.” She pushed her hair over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t expect to find you in a bar like this.”

      “Likewise,” he quickly said. “Actually I wouldn’t expect to find you anywhere in the city limits.”

      She nodded. She probably should have expected that from him. But what was she supposed to say? The truth? I got divorced. I have no money or career and this was the only place I had to go.

      “Touché,” she said instead. “But I’m back in town.”

      “For how long?” he asked quickly, too quickly. In fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, anger laced his question. She must have reacted to it because his features softened. “Sorry, it’s none of my business. And I do remember that today is your birthday. So happy birthday, Carissa.”

      “Thanks,” she said, and meant it. She decided to offer an olive branch because the truth was that she’d dumped him and she hadn’t been kind about it. This icy reception she was receiving was well deserved. While she knew the reasons behind her decision, she’d never let Jasper in on it. She’d been a bratty, selfish teenager, not capable of understanding her emotions. Unwilling to admit that Jasper had always reminded her of her father and that summer her dad had dropped a bombshell on her.

      “I don’t know how long I’ll be in town. I’m sort of in a transition period right now.” He waited patiently. After another long drink of beer, she finished. “I just got divorced.” Saying the words out loud left an awful taste in her mouth. An acidic aftertaste of yuckiness.

      First, shock flashed on his face. Then true concern shone in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said.

      And that might have been her undoing. Because he had every reason to be stiff and awkward with her. Instead, any kind of compassion from him loosened her lips.

      “Today is my twenty-ninth birthday. I’m having a beer next to my ex-boyfriend, who hates my guts, in a dive bar in the town I swore I would never step foot in again. An ex-boyfriend I should really apologize to because I was an evil witch to him.” The words were flying now. She gripped her hand tightly around her glass. “I’m not even thirty and already I’ve been married and divorced. And I got divorced because he freaking cheated on me.”

      She couldn’t miss the way Jasper’s eyes narrowed, his hands curled into fists, and there was a definite tic in his clenched jaw. “He cheated on you?”

      “Yep. Apparently, the fact that I was homecoming queen, prom queen and head cheerleader did nothing to impress him. Or keep his pants zipped up when anyone wearing a skirt in the Central Time Zone walked by. That probably makes your whole day, doesn’t it?”

      He slammed his hand on the bar and she jumped. But she just as quickly composed herself. “What? You have every right to revel in my misery after the way I broke up with you. I got divorced. You win.”

      His eyes narrowed. “I don’t want to win at that game. And I certainly don’t want to hear that some idiot cheated on you. I’m sorry you’re getting divorced.”

      “That makes one of us.” With that she chugged the rest of her beer and let her head drop onto the bar. Then she remembered the threat of splinters and lifted her face back up, the tequila and beer rushing to her head.

      “Water over here, please,” Jasper called to the bartender. “Two waters, a basket of mozzarella sticks, and...” He looked to her.

      “More alcohol,” she called out weakly.

      He chuckled but also reached for her hand. As he squeezed her fingers a jolt of awareness traveled up her arm. It was a sensation she hadn’t felt in years. In fact, she’d never felt it with her ex-husband. Not once. Only Jasper made her toes curl, sent electric shocks to the system, and caused her stomach to flip over.

      Jasper leaned back. “I don’t want to talk about our past. Not tonight.”

      “But you’re still mad.”

      He nodded. “Wouldn’t you be?”

      She couldn’t argue with that.

      He seemed to be considering something. Finally, he said, “I have a better idea. Like I said, I don’t want to talk about our history right now. Instead, let’s call a truce and be friends for the night.”

       Chapter Three

      “Feeling better?”

      She turned to Jasper. The fried cheese sticks and water went a long way to making her feel better. So did the friendship, even if it was only temporary. Jasper listened as she mumbled into her breaded mozzarella.

      “Much. Thank you.”

      He was looking at her with an expression that she couldn’t decipher. “What?” she asked.

      “I’m not gonna lie,” he said with total confidence in his voice. “I’ve thought about seeing you again since that summer. But never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I’d run into you at a hole-in-the-wall bar of all places.”

      “Would it have made it any less awkward if we’d met behind the library? I seem to remember spending a lot of time with you there.” Her traitorous eyes flickered down to his lips.

      “Well, I remember spending a lot of time with you in my car, in my basement...”

      “All those times you sneaked into my room after my parents went to sleep,” she added.

      “And one epic moment in the middle of the football field.”

      She covered her face with her hands. “Ohmigod! I can’t believe we did that. What were we thinking?”

      He let out a sound that was purely male. “I know what I was thinking.” He wiggled his eyebrows. She wondered how one man could manage to look both adorable and sexy at the same time.

      She leaned forward. “I was never thinking. Not when you were around.” And wasn’t that the problem? No one else in her life had been able to make her lose her train of thought. Even now, she could get lost in those mesmerizing baby blues. Which was why she needed to take a step back. But with their closeness it was hard. So she sat back in her chair, flung her hand in the air to signal the bartender.

      Jasper’s brow shot up. “Another one?”

      “I’m twenty-nine. I’m divorced. And I’m thirsty.”

      His gaze roamed over her again and his eyes darkened. “Yeah, I’m thirsty, too.”

      God, she wanted to kiss him. Luckily, she was saved by the bell when George, otherwise known as the burly, bearded bartender, strolled over. “Still dating that little brunette from the next town over?” he asked Jasper.

      “Maria? From the ice-cream place?” Jasper asked.

      “No, the other one. The one who always has part of her hair in a braid,” George said, pointing СКАЧАТЬ