Read Cowboy Take Me Away for Free Online Page B

going out for dinner with her old college buddy was the most normal thing in the world.
    Chase appeared and walked around the front of the vehicle, opening her door. “All set?” he asked.
    â€œYup. All set.”
    She moved past him and jumped up into his SUV, her smile easy when he went to close her door. “Thank you.” Her husband hadn’t opened a door for her once, and it wasn’t something she’d even thought about before. “I’ll have to make sure I teach my son some good southern manners.”
    Chase nodded. “Yes, ma’am, you will.”
    She burst out laughing and scolded him once he settled into the driver’s seat. “Just don’t be calling me ma’am. I hate that.”
    â€œAnywhere in particular you want to go?” Chase asked her.
    She couldn’t help but glance around the inside of the vehicle, running her hand over the black leather as she relaxed back into her seat. There was luxury, and then there was Chase’s SUV. It even still had that delicious new-car smell.
    â€œIs this new?”
    â€œYeah, I picked it up a couple months back.” He smiled over at her before putting it in reverse. “It’s the new Mercedes GL, AMG model. Best vehicle I’ve ever had.”
    She sighed. This was the kind of car she’d been used to, and now she was driving a plain old Toyota. Hardly the epitome of luxury. Tears prickled her eyes, but she blinked them back—it was stupid to get emotional over a car, but it was just another reminder of what she’d lost, of the lifestyle she’d let slip away from her like it had never existed in the first place.
    â€œYou okay?”
    She blinked and quickly looked up. “Of course,” she murmured. “My dad had one of the earlier models, so it just reminded me of him.” It wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the reason she’d become upset.
    â€œSo, dinner?”
    â€œI don’t believe that you haven’t booked anywhere already.”
    â€œMaybe I have.” Chase threw her a wink that made her stomach fall through the floor. If it wasn’t for that damn dimple … ugh. Who was she kidding? It wasn’t just his dimple that made her knees knock, it was the glint in his eyes when he smiled, the self-assuredness that as good as oozed from him, his broad shoulders filling the seat and then some. Chase was God’s gift to women and he damn well knew it.
    â€œSo where are you thinking?”
    â€œJust one of those places that always makes space for us.”
    â€œ Huh.” She’d forgotten what that was like, too. Although Chase’s family and her family were kind of different. Her parents had had money, but Chase’s family had the kind of wealth that made the Forbes list every year. “Do you take a different girl there every other night?”
    Chase braked at the end of the driveway before he reversed out into the street. “No.”
    â€œBullshit.”
    â€œI don’t want to sound like an asshole, but I don’t usually take them out for dinner.”
    â€œUgh!” She made a face and went to play punch him, just connecting with his arm before pulling back. It was the kind of thing she’d used to do to him, but suddenly it didn’t seem such a good idea any longer.
    â€œSorry, just trying to keep it real,” he said with a shrug.
    â€œYeah, I always had to put up with your sleazing. I don’t need to hear about it.” It was true, she’d heard from just about every girl on campus about how great Chase was in bed, or how badly they wanted to get into his bed, and all she’d been able to do was bristle and tell herself that she’d meant more to him than some one-night stand. Although she was the one who’d had a one-night stand and ended up pregnant, so maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to judge.
    â€œI never so much as looked at another girl when I was