Free Not Ready To Fall by Sophie Monroe Page B

obviously wasn't going to be easy pulling information out of her. "Boyfriend?" Then he saw the pain come to the forefront and he knew he had hit a nerve. Without waiting for her to answer, "it's his loss."
    Her hazel eyes locked on his green ones. "You don't even know me." She nearly spat at him.
    "I'm a very good judge of character. I can tell you'd be worth keeping, and no I'm not trying to pick you up. In fact, I'm not looking for anything at all."
    She looked offended for a second before shrugging. "Me either."
    They shared small talk for another twenty minutes before her drink was empty. Jack offered to buy her another, but she declined. She thanked him and handed him back his shirt before walking over to her girlfriends to say goodbye. Her ass was stellar. As much as he wasn't in the market for anything, he wanted to see her again. He sat waiting for her to walk past him to exit. As she did, he hopped off the stool and offered to walk her to her car.
    Holding his hand out, he opened the door and placed his hand on the small of her back. He followed her to a black Mustang Shelby. He didn't take her for that kind of car, he thought she'd be more of a Jetta girl. This new piece of information made him even more intrigued. He opened her car door.
    "Charlotte," he paused. She turned to look at him. "I'd love to take you out to lunch or dinner sometime. If you'd like of course."
    Again, she seemed to hesitate for a moment while she contemplated. "I thought you weren't trying to pick me up?"
    "I wasn't. Well, I'm not. Not really anyway. I'd just like the opportunity to get to know you better."
    She pulled her phone out and added his number to her contacts and sent him a text so he'd have her number.
    "Thanks for the drink." She looked down at her shoes.
    His phone started ringing. It was a Missouri area code. His younger brother Zane lived there. He held his pointer finger up, asking her to wait while he answered it.
     
    Charlotte
    The night up until this point felt like a complete shit show. Nothing had gone right. Her shirt was most likely ruined. The girls were talking about Owen and how he'd already moved on. It made her think that he'd probably been seeing this girl for a while before he decided to leave. The thought was like another knife to her heart. She should have been used to it by now. 
    A crack of thunder sounded off in the distance, startling her. She turned her attention back to Jack. He seemed rugged and very masculine. So not her type, but something about him attracted her. She liked clean cut, guys. Guys with office jobs and drove Audi's. It wasn't always nice to make assumptions, but she was pretty sure by the look of his large calloused hands that he did manual labor. His shaved head and facial hair added to his rugged appearance.
    She stood next to her open car door wanting to go home. All night she had been looking forward to changing into some boyshorts and a hoodie before diving into a good book. Something in her gut told her to stay and wait for him to get off the phone.
    All the color seemed to drain from his face. He said a few things she could barely make out to the person on the other end of the line and hung up the phone. He turned to the car parked next to hers and leaned on it for support. Something bad had happened. Her maternal instincts kicked in as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Jack was trying to hold it together.
    "Are you okay?" she asked.
    Wordlessly, he shook his head no. "That was the hospital where my brother lives. He was killed riding his motorcycle about an hour ago. I'm his emergency contact. Fuck!"
    His large fists banged on the roof of the car. Instinctively, she knew she should back away. Instead, she moved closer in an effort to comfort him. Wrapping her arm around his waist, she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.
    "I'm so sorry, Jack. I don't even know what to say." And she didn't. She wasn't immune from tragedy either, but everyone dealt with things