Beach Read by Emily Henry
Author:Emily Henry [Henry, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Penguin Books (UK)
Published: 2020-04-24T00:00:00+00:00
17
The Dance
TUX TONIGHT? GUS wrote at noon on Saturday.
Anxiety crept up every time I thought about being alone in the car with him, but I’d also had tonight planned since last Saturday, and I wasn’t ready to bow out of our deal, not when I was finally writing for the first time in months. OH, DEFINITELY, I wrote back.
SERIOUSLY? Gus asked.
NO, I wrote. DO YOU HAVE COWBOY BOOTS?
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Gus said. FROM EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT ME, TAKE A WILD GUESS WHETHER I OWN COWBOY BOOTS.
I stared at the blank page then went for it: YOU’RE A MAN OF MANY SECRETS. YOU COULD HAVE A WHOLE CLOSET FULL OF TEN-GALLON HATS. AND IF YOU DO, WEAR ONE. 6 PM.
When Gus appeared at my door that night, he was wearing his usual uniform, plus a wrinkly black button-up. His hair was swept up his forehead in a way that suggested it had been forced there via him anxiously running his hand through it while he wrote. “No hat?” I said.
“No hat.” He pulled his other hand from behind his back. He was holding two flasks, the thin, foldable kind you could tuck under your clothes. “But I brought these in case you’re taking me to a Texan church service.”
I crouched by the front door, tugging my embroidered ankle boots on. “And once again, you reveal that you know much more about romance than you’ve previously let on.”
Even as I said it, my stomach clenched.
Gus has been married.
Gus is divorced.
That was why he was so sure love could never last, and he’d told me none of these key details, because he hadn’t really let me in.
If my comment reminded him of any of that, he didn’t let on. “Just so you know,” he said, “if I actually have to wear a cowboy hat at some point tonight, I will probably die.”
“Cowboy hat allergy.” I grabbed my keys from the table. “Got it. Let’s go.”
This date would’ve been perfect, if it had been a date.
The parking lot of the Black Cat Saloon was jammed and the rough-hewn interior was just as packed. “A lot of flannel,” Gus mused as we made our way in.
“What do you expect on line-dancing night, Gus?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Gus said, freezing. I shook my head. “This has been an exact recurring nightmare I’m only just realizing was actually a premonition.”
On the low stage at the front of the barnlike room, the band picked up again, and a crush of bodies moved past on our left, knocking me into him. He caught me around the rib cage and righted me as the group pushed toward the dance floor. “You good?” he shouted over the music, his hands still on my ribs.
My face was hot, my stomach flipping traitorously. “Fine.”
He leaned in so I could hear him. “This seems like a dangerous environment for someone your size. Maybe we should leave and go … literally anywhere else.”
As he eased back to look me in the face, I grinned and shook my head.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
African American | Contemporary |
Divorce | Domestic Life |
Friendship | Mothers & Children |
Single Women | Sisters |
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne(17905)
Still Me by Jojo Moyes(10179)
Most of All You by Mia Sheridan(9045)
The Break by Marian Keyes(8811)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens(7968)
Darker: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian (Fifty Shades of Grey Series) by E L James(6847)
Burn for You (Slow Burn Book 1) by J.T. Geissinger(6642)
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins(6581)
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang(6576)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng(6430)
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult(6309)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid(6112)
The Mistress Wife by Lynne Graham(5988)
Without Merit by Colleen Hoover(5587)
Royally Screwed by Emma Chase(4831)
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman(4809)
Elite Ops - 01 - Wild Card by Lora Leigh(4684)
Beloved (The Salvation Series Book 1) by Corinne Michaels(4355)
Beach Read by Emily Henry(4262)