Coming On Strong: Small Town Steamy Romance by Kelsie Calloway

Author:Kelsie Calloway [Calloway, Kelsie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Amaia

It takes nearly an hour for the bar to empty out. People still hang around in small clusters, but I’m left with a tight-knit circle of people to entertain.

I can feel the fatigue of the day finally wearing on me. After spending three-quarters of the day chugging caffeine to stay awake, the wine brings me down from my high and weighs heavily on my eyelids. I could curl up in a booth right now and fall asleep. But Madilyn, Nash, Savannah, Broderick, and Anneliese crowd around the hightop and push the limits of my exhaustion.

Despite being each other’s other woman, Anneliese and Savannah get along swell. It doesn’t hurt that they’re both a few drinks in and everything makes them giggle. They casually skip over any and all conversation topics relating to James. It turns out they have a lot in common.

Madilyn might be young, but she’s taking every opportunity to wheedle business tips out of Broderick. She might not own the animal shelter, but this is the biggest break she’s ever had. She dreams of starting her own vet clinic one day and any advice he can give her to be successful now would help her start off on the right foot later.

“I feel like a third wheel,” Nash leans over to whisper indulgently.

I kind of relate. I feel really good about this meeting. It’s because of me that all of these people have gotten together. I feel like a proud mama bird who pushed all her babies out of the nest and they’re flying all of a sudden. But sitting on the sidelines is a little boring and in that respect, I can see where Nash is coming from. “Nice to meet you, third wheel, I’m also a third wheel,” I joke.

He checks his watch and tries to stifle a yawn. “It’s so late. I’m used to being in bed by now. I’m old, you know.”

The gray flecks in his hair are few and far between. I wouldn’t put him a day over thirty-five, if that. “I’m old, Nash. You’re what, thirty-two?”

He tilts his head at me and gives me a boyish grin in response. “How old are you, Miss Daulton?”

The flutter in my chest is a heart condition, I tell myself, it has nothing to do with his blue eyes boring into me. Just because he’s giving me a look that makes my toes curl doesn’t mean anything at all. “Don’t you know it isn’t polite to ask a woman’s age?”

Somewhere in the middle of our flirtatious conversation, the rest of the table stops talking. My question hangs in silence and everybody’s eyes turn in our direction. Broderick clears his throat louder and louder until the two of us twist our heads and realize that they’re all staring at us. “Sorry to interrupt,” he suppresses a smile, “but Anneliese and I are headed out. We just wanted to say good night.”

If he expects me to be embarrassed, I’m not. I just turn my gaze from Nash and flash him a smile.

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