Chapter 6
Preston
I finished my last rep of pull-ups before I dropped down on my workout bench. I converted one of my bedrooms into a full gym when I moved in. I didn’t mind working out at the field house, but sometimes I needed my time alone. Especially during the season.
I guzzled my water, running a hand over my hair as I scooped up my phone.
I needed to call back Cale, the attorney who handled Ray and Cecile’s estate.
I hated our calls. Mostly because it revolved around the plans after Ray left this earth.
Something I didn’t like to think about. I scrolled down my list, accidentally passing his name.
My thumb froze, my breath stalling when I saw an unfamiliar contact.
Coupon Girl.
Well, shit.
She had put her number in my phone.
Here I was thinking I’d have to stalk the grocery store aisles every Sunday just to get another look at those beautiful eyes.
I immediately opened a new text thread.
Preston: The weirdest thing happened. This number just appeared in my phone? You know anything about that?
I placed my phone on the bench, standing to put away my jump ropes. A few minutes later, my phone dinged.
Coupon Girl: Not a clue. Creepy.
Preston: Shame. I was hoping you wanted to see me again.
Coupon Girl: You know where to find me.
Preston: Aisle 7?
Coupon Girl: Maybe. What are you doing texting a random number in your phone?
Preston: I was hoping it was this gorgeous woman I met two weeks ago.
Coupon Girl: Gorgeous huh? I’m kind of jealous.
I caught myself smiling like a fucking teenager. There was something about this woman.
Preston: You know I’m talking about you.
Coupon Girl: Smooth.
The urge to hear her voice rushed over me, so without hesitation, I clicked the call button. It rang three times before she finally picked up.
“Hello.”
“Hey, gorgeous.”
She laughed. “I bet you call all the girls you meet in the grocery store that.”
I leaned back against the squat machine as a football game played silently on the TV mounted on the wall across the room. “What are you up to on a Sunday evening?” I asked, ignoring her statement.
“Well, I put away my groceries.” I could hear some rustling. “Meal prepped for the week.”
“What’s your favorite food?” I crossed my ankles.
I haven’t talked on the phone since I was probably sixteen years old, and truthfully, I’d never met a woman I wanted to have on the phone for hours.
“Pizza. What’s yours?”
“Watermelon,” I answered.
“Watermelon?” She snorted. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know…” she trailed off. “You just seem more…like a meat kind of guy.”
“I enjoy a good piece of meat.”
She went quiet, a slight hitch of her breath sounding in my ear.
With my schedule and the fact I had a hard time with women wanting me for just my money and status, dating wasn’t really something I partook in.
I had women, but a relationship wasn’t a priority.
Football was. And I was very clear on that when the time called for it.
But here I was, spitting out words before my mind could remind me that I didn’t do this.
“Go out with me.”
It was silent for a beat before she spoke. “Is that a question?”
“However you want to take it,” I rasped.
And damn did I want to make her take it.
“I don’t know… I have a lot on my plate right now.”
“Just a new friend, showing our new resident around a new town,” I reminded her.
I let that hang between us, and somehow, I knew I didn’t want to just be this woman’s friend.
“Friends,” she says.
“If that’s what you want.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to know the town. I’ve only been to the grocery store and the gas station.”
“Saturday?” I questioned, my chest puffing out at the victory. “I’ll take you to eat the best pizza in town.”
She laughed. “All right.”
“It’s a date.”
“No. It’s not a date,” she corrected. “It’s a tour.”
My phone vibrated with an incoming call. “Whatever you say, Angel. I gotta run. Call you tomorrow?”
“You know you can just text, right?” she deadpanned.
“Nah, then I can’t hear your voice.” I smirked.
“Bye, Preston.” I could practically hear her eye roll through the phone.
“Talk soon.”
I ended the call on a high but switched over to answer one of the calls that usually made the inevitable pit form in my stomach. I was hoping to get a decent night’s sleep with the fall semester kicking off in the morning, but I knew when I answered that wouldn’t be the case. It never was.