Read Online What a Texas Girl Dreams (Crimson Romance) by Kristina Knight - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kristina Knight
Tags: Romance, Contemporary
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with Monica. If there was a relationship.
Who needed to hire staff when there was a beautiful woman just waiting to be shown a good time?
A woman who currently sat on the passenger seat of his truck as if she were being led to the Spanish Inquisition. She looked confused at how she’d gotten there. Good. Confused was a definite improvement over the control Monica usually demanded over everything.
“Don’t you have a veterinary practice to run?”
“It’s the beauty of being an intern for a vet who is only a few months away from retirement. There was nothing major on our call sheet today. So Dr. Vaughn is going fishing and I’m taking you on a date.”
“That’s a little cavalier, isn’t it? What if something happens at one of the ranches or to a pet?”
Trying to pick a fight. Well, he’d called that one. Once Monica was away from the family and had time to think about what he’d done, Trick knew she’d come up fighting. He wasn’t disappointed. But he wasn’t biting, either.
“I called Doc Hartnett in the next county and alerted the emergency vet that the Lockhardt practice is closed for the day. I checked on the animals in the clinic before coming to see you.”
Monica scratched at her knuckles. She opened her pretty, pink mouth once and then closed it, as if she couldn’t think of another excuse.
“The animals will be fine. It was a light day at the office; I promise.” He just hoped he hadn’t called everything wrong when he’d planned this little excursion at the last minute, that there was a chance for whatever this had been to become something more.
“Thank you for the flowers,” she said, hands tightly clenched in her lap. Her next words came in a rush. “But you didn’t have to do that. I’m not the cards-and-flowers kind of girl. Big displays of emotion aren’t necessary or practical. Especially between us.”
She’d never gotten flowers. He’d seen the joy in her eyes. For a split second, before she’d remembered to summon control, there’d been pure excitement that the bouquet was for her. How could a girl as beautiful as her have reached twenty-four without receiving flowers from someone?
Maybe he should have sprung for the roses. No, better the wildflowers. Wild and beautiful and free, just like Monica.
“You’re welcome. And the point of giving flowers is to be impractical.”
She was quiet for a long moment. Slowly her hands unclenched and she looked at him across the cab. “Why make a big deal of me in front of my family?”
“Because you started something different last night at the Longneck. Maybe even before last night.” Trick turned down the radio volume. “I don’t like these rules you’ve put on … whatever this is between us.”
“So coming to the ranch unannounced, giving me flowers and inviting me to lunch was a little backlash because … ” She drew out the last word.
Trick turned onto the highway that would lead to Canyon Lake.
“Not backlash at all. I like you Monica. I like spending time with you, I like watching you ride, and I like the first night when you’re back here or in Austin after a long road trip. I don’t like sneaking around, like we’re Romeo and Juliet about to get speared by the warring factions. We’re not teenagers.”
She looked out the window and drew in a deep breath. “I don’t do relationships. I don’t know how to be someone’s girlfriend. I don’t even know if I want that.”
“Good. I don’t know that I want you to be my girlfriend.”
“They why bring my family into this at all?”
He reached across the console and chuffed his hand under her chin. “Because I can see the possibilities.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
He shrugged, hoping she took the gesture as confidence that he knew exactly where this was going. In reality, the question chilled him to the core. Because if romancing Monica into a relationship didn’t work, he would lose both the possibility of an actual relationship and
Who needed to hire staff when there was a beautiful woman just waiting to be shown a good time?
A woman who currently sat on the passenger seat of his truck as if she were being led to the Spanish Inquisition. She looked confused at how she’d gotten there. Good. Confused was a definite improvement over the control Monica usually demanded over everything.
“Don’t you have a veterinary practice to run?”
“It’s the beauty of being an intern for a vet who is only a few months away from retirement. There was nothing major on our call sheet today. So Dr. Vaughn is going fishing and I’m taking you on a date.”
“That’s a little cavalier, isn’t it? What if something happens at one of the ranches or to a pet?”
Trying to pick a fight. Well, he’d called that one. Once Monica was away from the family and had time to think about what he’d done, Trick knew she’d come up fighting. He wasn’t disappointed. But he wasn’t biting, either.
“I called Doc Hartnett in the next county and alerted the emergency vet that the Lockhardt practice is closed for the day. I checked on the animals in the clinic before coming to see you.”
Monica scratched at her knuckles. She opened her pretty, pink mouth once and then closed it, as if she couldn’t think of another excuse.
“The animals will be fine. It was a light day at the office; I promise.” He just hoped he hadn’t called everything wrong when he’d planned this little excursion at the last minute, that there was a chance for whatever this had been to become something more.
“Thank you for the flowers,” she said, hands tightly clenched in her lap. Her next words came in a rush. “But you didn’t have to do that. I’m not the cards-and-flowers kind of girl. Big displays of emotion aren’t necessary or practical. Especially between us.”
She’d never gotten flowers. He’d seen the joy in her eyes. For a split second, before she’d remembered to summon control, there’d been pure excitement that the bouquet was for her. How could a girl as beautiful as her have reached twenty-four without receiving flowers from someone?
Maybe he should have sprung for the roses. No, better the wildflowers. Wild and beautiful and free, just like Monica.
“You’re welcome. And the point of giving flowers is to be impractical.”
She was quiet for a long moment. Slowly her hands unclenched and she looked at him across the cab. “Why make a big deal of me in front of my family?”
“Because you started something different last night at the Longneck. Maybe even before last night.” Trick turned down the radio volume. “I don’t like these rules you’ve put on … whatever this is between us.”
“So coming to the ranch unannounced, giving me flowers and inviting me to lunch was a little backlash because … ” She drew out the last word.
Trick turned onto the highway that would lead to Canyon Lake.
“Not backlash at all. I like you Monica. I like spending time with you, I like watching you ride, and I like the first night when you’re back here or in Austin after a long road trip. I don’t like sneaking around, like we’re Romeo and Juliet about to get speared by the warring factions. We’re not teenagers.”
She looked out the window and drew in a deep breath. “I don’t do relationships. I don’t know how to be someone’s girlfriend. I don’t even know if I want that.”
“Good. I don’t know that I want you to be my girlfriend.”
“They why bring my family into this at all?”
He reached across the console and chuffed his hand under her chin. “Because I can see the possibilities.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
He shrugged, hoping she took the gesture as confidence that he knew exactly where this was going. In reality, the question chilled him to the core. Because if romancing Monica into a relationship didn’t work, he would lose both the possibility of an actual relationship and
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