What was she doing?
She wasn’t supposed to be blurting out her life story. She had an image to protect. A facade to perpetuate. She had to keep her game face on.
In front of a man drinking whole chocolate milk?
The truth registered and while she knew he was all about lovin’ and leavin’, he wasn’t going anywhere at the moment. No, he was looking at her as if he wanted to hear what she had to say. As if he wasn’t half as surprised as he was interested.
“I didn’t know you were going to culinary school.”
“No one does.” When he arched an eyebrow, she added, “My mother would freak. She thinks women have fought too hard to get out of the kitchen. She hates to cook. She watched my grandmother cook and clean herself into an early grave and she swore she wouldn’t make the same mistake. Cooking is right up there with being barefoot and pregnant.” A big no-no in Raylene’s book. Which was why Nikki and her sisters had grown up eating fast food.
Her mother would never understand her career choice any more than she would accept the fact that Nikki was breaking Barbie tradition and leaving home after finals.
Especially now that her sisters were married and Nikki was the only one left.
The enormity of the situation pressed down on her and she slumped on the hay bale next to Cole Chisholm. “What the hell am I going to do?” She swallowed against the huge lump rising in her throat. “I’ve got finals in two weeks. I need to concentrate. To focus. I can’t focus with my mother all over me, which means I need to figure out a way to get her off my back. And all because my sisters tied the knot.”
“I hear ya. I’m ready to pack up and leave today, but I can’t. I’ve got business here in town with my brothers and I’m stuck for at least a week. Meanwhile there are at least two dozen women hot on my heels.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Only two dozen, huh?”
He grinned. “Give or take a few.”
Nikki wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the warmth of Cole’s hard body that sparked the next thought. Maybe a little of both. Regardless, an idea rooted and she found herself smiling.
“I should get married,” she told him. “My mother’s given up on Crystal and April because they did. If I jumped ship, too, and married some man that she totally disapproves of—which is basically every man—then she wouldn’t have any reason to hold out hope.” Nikki’s gaze shifted to Cole with his wicked good looks and his charming smile and his empty glass of chocolate milk. “I’ve got an idea that might save us both.”
3
“I DO,” NIKKI SAID a half hour later as she stood in the far corner of the monstrous wedding tent and faced Cole.
Crystal and April had already left with their grooms in a flurry of bubbles to catch a plane to Hawaii for their honeymoons, and so Nikki had lucked out. She wouldn’t have to explain anything to her sisters tonight.
Likewise, Cole’s brothers had already left with their fiancées. Only a handful of guests remained and a few reporters. They stood on the sidelines, snapping pictures of the spontaneous wedding between Lost Gun’s hottest bachelor and the town’s most notorious bad girl.
Now Cole was officially off the market, which meant every single female in town would stop gunning for him. Likewise, Raylene Barbie would be so horrified that her youngest daughter had done the unthinkable, that she would stop sending texts and badgering her about the family business.
Nikki could have some peace to focus on finishing her degree and Cole could spend the next week or so in town without having a horde of women breathing down his neck and bringing him potluck. It was extreme, but it would actually work.
After Nikki’s proposition and Cole’s acceptance, they’d ironed out the details of their “marriage.”
An arrangement in name only since they didn’t actually have a license, nor did they intend to get one.
Not that anyone else knew that.
No, in the eyes of everyone in Lost Gun, their marriage would be legal and binding.
For the next few weeks, that is.
Until Cole aced the championship in Vegas and secured himself a place in the history books and Nikki took her final exams. Then they would go their separate ways and leak the word that they’d split. Nikki would head to Houston for her internship and Cole would bask in the glow of his sixth championship buckle.
Until then, they would play the happily wedded couple right here in Lost Gun.
And I now pronounce you husband and wife...
“You may now kiss the bride.”
The minute the words were out, panic rushed through Nikki, along with a flutter of anticipation. While she’d thought through most of the details, she hadn’t counted on the kiss.
No biggie. She was the resident bad girl. She kissed men in her sleep and she didn’t get uptight over it. Or weak in the knees.
Especially weak in the knees.
Cole was just another in a long line of many.
That’s what she told herself. The problem? It wasn’t true. She’d had all of a handful of kisses in her day, even though the men’s bathroom wall over at the honky-tonk would argue the opposite. And they said women liked to gossip? Men were worse, constantly wagging their tongues to feed their egos even though there was little truth to any of it. She hadn’t made out with the entire offensive line back in high school or gone to third base with every ranch hand down at the Circle J.
For the first time, she found herself wishing that she had so that her hands wouldn’t be trembling quite so much as this particular moment.
Nikki closed her eyes as Cole’s lips touched hers. Quick. Meaningless. That’s all this was. He would plant one on her and then it would be over and done with. Curtain drawn. Elvis has left the building.
But then her lips softened under the sudden pressure of his mouth. His tongue swept her bottom lip and slipped past to deepen the connection.
He pulled her closer, his hands at the base of her spine, burning through the thin material of her dress and stirring her deprived hormones.
The chemistry between them was instant and explosive and she couldn’t help herself. She knew this was all a farce, but she kissed him back anyway.
In the interest of putting on a really good show, of course.
No way did she buckle because it just felt so freakin’ good.
No. Way.
She slid her hands up his chest, her palms flat against the stiff material of his jacket until she reached the solid warmth of his neck. Her fingers curled around, holding him close.
Okay, so maybe it felt a little good.
The floor fell away as she leaned into him. His warmth overwhelmed her. His scent filled her nostrils and made her heart pound and—
“Nicole Renee Barbie!” Her mother’s voice shattered the passionate haze surrounding Nikki and Cole and her eyes popped open. “What in tarnation do you think you’re doing?”
She whirled to see Raylene walking toward them, her latest fling—a trucker named Dale Something-or-other she’d picked up last night at the bar—hot on her heels.