Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3)(23)

“He claimed the Foundation helped him out as a kid and he wanted to give back. It seemed perfectly reasonable to me. The Foundation has been around for a long time and it’s done some good things.” Her voice wavered. When she thought about how little she knew about Alec, it made her cringe.

“Can I get a name?”

“Alec. Alec Reed.”

“Hm. The name sounds familiar.”

“Maybe you’ve met him before. He’s closer to your age than mine and Missoula isn’t very big.” Ryder was three years older than her and while they went to the same high school, they never had the same friends. Everyone loved him and she got stuck in his shadow for most of her life, but she didn’t resent him one bit. People loved Ryder because he was fun, a little wild, and completely charming. Her parents hated his crazy lifestyle and the fact that he never kept a girlfriend for longer than a month. They feared he’d spend the rest of his life floating from one adventure to the next never taking anything serious, but she knew Ryder would find his way eventually. Nobody could rush him.

“Hm. Maybe.”

“So tell me about your adventures,” she said, trying to change the subject. “Any injuries or frostbite to report?”

He laughed. “None worth mentioning, but I’ll be home next week. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

“Gotcha. I’ll have the maids fluff your pillow,” she answered sarcastically.

“Oh and don’t forget to have them flip my mattress. You know how I hate it to get stale.”

“I’m on it.” She stood up. “Oh and I rented the basement apartment to Alec for the month, so don’t drag home some new friends with you, thinking they have a place to stay.”

“Okay. See you soon, sis.”

“Bye, Ryder.”

She had three more hours until dinner tonight with Alec and her body was already vibrating with anxiety. After their encounter this morning in her kitchen, she didn’t know what to expect. She’d been attracted to him from the moment he stepped out of his truck in the Foundation parking lot, but in more of an abstract sort of way. He was handsome, dark, and magnetic, but not the type of guy to offer much more than a steamy night of sex and she’d never been the type of girl to go after one night with the bad boy. She had boring relationships that she could forget about when they turned south because they always did. She didn’t have the time or energy to invest in a guy at this point in her life.

Between trying single-handedly to resurrect the Foundation, studying for the LSAT, and helping her parents out at the ranch, she only had crumbles of herself left to offer her perspective boyfriends. In the beginning, they all claimed that they understood and supported her, but eventually they all walked away. Some complained that she was too inflexible. Others claimed she never focused on them and was too distracted.

Funny, she thought guys liked low maintenance women that they didn’t have to coddle, but apparently there was such a thing as too low maintenance and independent. Maybe that would work to her advantage if she pursued something with Alec. He’d be gone in less than a month anyway, so she didn’t need to worry about every little thing she did or didn’t do. It wouldn’t matter because any relationship between them had a definite expiration date. Whether she was sufficiently available and emotionally accessible wouldn’t matter.





Chapter Nine





Alec sat on a rusted, yellow metal chair on Violet’s porch waiting for her to come home from the Foundation. When 6:15 rolled around, he wondered whether he pushed her too hard this morning. Since he started playing in a band, he didn’t have to consider whether women were on the same page as him. If he showed interest, they reciprocated, and while he liked it in the beginning, it had become tedious and boring. Apparently, his non-rock star persona didn’t impress Violet as much as he thought this morning.

At 6:30, he gave up and started walking down the steps of her front porch toward the entrance to his basement apartment. When he reached the side of the house, he saw Violet’s little blue Honda pull into the driveway and she hopped out of the car.

“Did you give up on me already?” she called out to him as she closed the car door.

“Half an hour is a long time to wait for a date.”

“Is this a date? I thought it was a celebratory dinner of sorts.”

“It’s whatever you want.”

Her megawatt smile with dimples, blinding white teeth, and twinkling eyes came out to play. It belonged on the cover of a magazine, not a glamour magazine, but one of those health magazines Bre, Jax’s fiancé, loved so much where everyone looked happy, healthy and full of life. “I want the dinner you promised me.”