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Five
Maisey Yates
“If you take me to the auction as your date, you’ll win your bet.”
“It violates the spirit of it.”
“It doesn’t have to,” Chase insisted. “Anyway, by the time I’m through with you, you’ll be able to get any date you want.”
She blinked. “Are you … are you Henry Higgins-ing me?”
He only had a vague knowledge of the old movie My Fair Lady, but he was pretty sure that was the reference. A man who took a grubby flower girl and turned her into the talk of the town.
“Yes,” he said finally. “Yes, I am. Take me up on this, Anna Brown, and I will turn you into a woman.”
* * *
Take Me, Cowboy is part of the Copper Ridge series from USA TODAY bestselling author Maisey Yates
To Nicole Helm, for your friendship, profane texts and love of farm animals in sweaters. My life would be boring without you.
When Anna Brown walked into Ace’s bar, she was contemplating whether or not she could get away with murdering her older brothers.
That’s really nice that the invitation includes a plus one. You know you can’t bring your socket wrench.
She wanted to punch Daniel in his smug face for that one. She had been flattered when she’d received her invitation to the community charity event that the West family hosted every year. A lot less so when Daniel and Mark had gotten ahold of it and decided it was the funniest thing in the world to imagine her trying to get a date to the coveted fund-raiser.
Because apparently the idea of her having a date at all was the pinnacle of comedic genius.
I can get a date, jackasses.
You want to make a bet?
Sure. It’s your money.
That exchange had seemed both enraging and empowering about an hour ago. Now she was feeling both humiliated and a little bit uncertain. The fact that she had bet on her dating prowess was...well, embarrassing didn’t even begin to describe it. But on top of that, she was a little concerned that she had no prowess to speak of.
It had been longer than she wanted to admit since she’d actually had a date. In fact, it was entirely possible that she had never technically been on one. That quick roll in the literal hay with Corbin Martin hadn’t exactly been a date per se.
And it hadn’t led to anything, either. Since she had done a wonderful job of smashing his ego with a hammer the next day at school when she’d told her best friend, Chase, about Corbin’s...limitations.
Yeah, her sexual debut had also been the final curtain.
But if men weren’t such whiny babies, maybe that wouldn’t have been the case. Also, maybe if Corbin had been able to prove to her that sex was worth the trouble, she would view it differently.
But he hadn’t. So she didn’t.
And now she needed a date.
She stalked across the room, heading toward the table that she and Chase, and often his brother, Sam, occupied on Friday nights. The lighting was dim, so she knew someone was sitting there but couldn’t make out which McCormack brother it was.
She hoped it was Chase. Because as long as she’d known Sam, she still had a hard time making conversation with him.
Talking wasn’t really his thing.
She moved closer, and the man at the table tilted his head up. Sam. Dammit. Drinking a beer and looking grumpy, which was pretty much par for the course with him. But Chase was nowhere to be seen.
“Hi,” she said, plopping down in the chair beside him. “Bad day?”
“A day.”
“Right.” At least when it came to Sam, she knew the difficult-conversation thing had nothing to do with her. That was all him.
She tapped the top of her knee, looking around the bar, trying to decide if she was going to get up and order a drink or wait for someone to come to the table. She allowed her gaze to drift across the bar, and her attention was caught by the figure of a man in the corner, black cowboy hat on his head, his face shrouded by the dim light. A woman was standing in front of him looking up at his face like he was her every birthday wish come true.
For a moment the sight of the man standing there struck her completely dumb. Broad shoulders, broad chest, strong-looking hands. The kind of hands that made her wonder if she needed to investigate the potential fuss of sex again.
He leaned up against the wall, his forearm above his head. He said something and the little blonde he was talking to practically shimmered with excitement. Anna wondered what that was like. To be the focus of a man’s attention like that. To have him look at you like a sex object instead of a drinking buddy.
For a moment she envied the woman standing there, who could absolutely get a date if she wanted one. Who would know what to wear and how to act if she were invited to a fancy gala whatever.
That woman would know what to do if the guy wanted to take her home after the date and get naked. She wouldn’t be awkward and make
