Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“Ed takes his job seriously. He never just says things for the sake of it.”
“How odd, why would he care about me?” she wondered.
“Why wouldn’t he care about you?”
“No! Nooooo!”
They both glanced over in shock to find Kiesha on her feet, screaming.
“Oh no, I wonder what’s wrong?” Gwen asked, sounding worried. “Do you think someone’s hurt?”
“Hmm, difficult to know with Kiesha. She isn’t, uh, subtle with her emotions.”
“She can’t be sick! This is terrible!”
Across the room, Loki started up a chant. “Loki’s Warriors. Loki’s Warriors. Loki’s Warriors.” Then he stood on the table. “You’re going down now, Kiesha!”
Kiesha glared back at him. “Not without a fight.”
“What is going on? Why are they yelling at each other? Why isn’t the sheriff interfering?” Gwen asked.
“Possibly because the sheriff’s fiancée is sitting at the table by Kiesha. Believe it or not, this is fairly typical for a Thursday night quiz.”
“What do you think has happened?” she asked, leaning into him.
He slid his arm around her shoulders. “I don’t know . . . but it could be that Juliet can’t make it. She’s not here yet and she’s extremely smart. She usually answers all the trivia questions herself.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. The others can hold their own, but they aren’t as clever as Juliet.”
“This is so unfair!” Kiesha complained.
He glanced over to find Kiesha stomping through the crowd. Then her gaze landed on Gwen.
“Pit Bull! How are you at quizzes?”
Gwen stared at Kiesha who was giving her a very intense stare back. “Um, well . . . I . . .”
What was the right answer here?
“You look smart. Are you smart?” Kiesha demanded.
“I look smart?” She guessed that was a compliment.
“Uh-huh, so are you smart, Pit Bull?”
Dear. Lord.
“That’s my name now, isn’t it?” she asked Dominic.
“Afraid so,” he replied. “Kiesha isn’t the type to forget things like this.”
She sighed. “Probably just as well I don’t live here then.”
Why did that make her feel sad, though?
Stop being silly. This small town with its odd citizens is not the sort of place for you.
You’re a big city girl.
“Well?” Kiesha asked, tapping her foot.
Harry, who had followed her, leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
“But, Daddy, this is super serious. Juliet isn’t here,” Kiesha replied.
Did she . . . did she just call Harry, Daddy? Or had she misheard her?
Harry met her gaze as though waiting to see how she’d react. She decided it was best to pretend she hadn’t heard it. But Gwen knew she’d pull that back out to think about later. Perhaps she’d been wrong in her assessment that this town wouldn’t have any Daddy Doms.
Although Harry was obviously taken. And even if he wasn’t, he didn’t really do anything for her.
Not like the stalker cowboy sitting next to her.
“Well, I haven’t done a bar quiz in . . . well, forever.”
Had she ever been in a bar quiz? She couldn’t remember.
“But you’re smart, right? You’re in.”
“I’m in?”
“Yep, let’s go. Tonight, you’re Juliet.”
Oh. Hell.
She had a feeling she was in trouble right now.
11
Gwen climbed down off her stool, wincing as her body protested.
This sucked.
Why had she thought going for a bike ride was a good idea? Everyone knew that exercise was the devil’s work and should be avoided at all costs.
All right. So some people liked it. But not her. And she wasn’t doing it anymore.
Except the doctors said you had to . . .
She shook off that thought. Damn doctors. All those years of education and practical application and they thought they knew more about health than she did.
Pfft.
“Wait up, Shortcake.” Dominic reached out and took hold of her wrist in a soft grip. “Why are you walking like you’re in pain?”
“Because I am.”
“What happened? Are you all right?” Concern filled his face.
“Yes . . . it was just a bike-related injury.”
“You fell off your bike?” He turned her toward him. “Where are you hurt? Did you go to the hospital? I need to take you there now.”
“Whoa. Hold your horses, Cowboy.” She shook her head at him. “I don’t need the hospital. It wasn’t much of a fall. It was all that damn truck’s fault.”
His eyes widened and his mouth opened and shut. “You were hit by a truck!”
And yep . . . half the bar went silent again.
“I wasn’t hit by a truck,” she whispered.
“Pit Bull! You okay?” Kiesha called out.
“Look, I’ll tell you later if you want to know. But I wasn’t hit by anything and I’m fine. Just a little bit sore.”
He scowled. “Tell me what happened. Now.”
She sighed. “What happened is I can’t ride a bike. I saw a truck coming, tried to keep out of the way but ended up falling off and injuring my pride.”
“If it was just your pride injured, why are you walking around so stiffly?” he demanded.
“Because I’m seriously unfit and haven’t ridden a bike in thirty-odd years?”