Free The Real Me (How to Tame a Heartbreaker Book 4) by Casey McMillin Page B

that I'm too nervous to do it. I have no idea. Either way, he's really cute and nice and I’m basically ignoring him right now for no good reason."
    "You're just playing a little hard to get. The re's nothing wrong with that."
    Jax shrugged. "Trouble is, I don't really know what to do with myself if I decide to let him get me."
    "Are you saying you've never been with a guy in that way?"
    "No, I mean—it's true that I've never been with a guy, but that's not what I was saying. I'm more worried about everything that comes before that. I'm talking about the simple idea of liking someone. I don't even really know how to do that. I've never had interest before, so the fact that I'm even considering things like this is a total trip."
    "What do you like about him?"
    "I don't know. I guess his personality is what it boils down to since I can't really see his face."
    Mary gave her a curious glance. "Why do you say that?"
    "Because he's got a beard." Jax gestured at her chin to indicate that it was about yay long. "I can see a lot of his face, though, and he's really handsome."
    "What's his name?"
    "Cole."
    " What's he do?"
    "I know he's here to try to be a singer, but I think he has another job. He was sort of vague about it, but I think it's part-time landscaping or something . He grew up on a farm in Iowa."
    "A singer, huh? Have you heard him?"
    Jax looked at Mary as if it were the first time she even thought about asking Cole to sing for her.
    "No actually. But I like his speaking voice if that counts for anything."
    "You should ask him to sing sometime." Mary gave a shrug. "He might be good." Mary walked off singing a tune of her own, and Jax left for the day not long after that.
    Her last final was scheduled for eight o'clock Friday morning. She was done with it by nine-thirty, and had the rest of the day off before she went to work at Bing's that night. She thought about texting Cole since technically she was done with school, but realized she'd left her apron at work. She almost called up there to get it, but decided to wait until she went to work that evening. She'd waited this long, how hard was it to wait a few more hours?
    Now that she was thinking about getting in touch with him, she was pretty sure she would do it tonight or tomorrow at the latest. She thought about his handsome face and decided she could do with a little distraction now that she was done with school.
    Jax took a little extra time getting ready for work that night. It wasn't that she wanted to be noticed because guys in bars were horny enough as it was. It was just that she had extra time after finals and was bored enough to play with her hair and makeup a little. She ate a light dinner and showed up to work fifteen minutes early for her shift, which started at 7PM.
    When Jax pulled into the employee parking lot out back, she saw something that had her stomach tied in instant knots. Cole's old Chevy was parked near the far side of the lot with several spaces between his truck and the back door. Jax passed the door and the several open spaces before pulling in right next to Cole's truck. Part of her thought he might come see her tonight at work, but she never dreamed she'd see him in the parking lot. By the time she walked around the front of her car, he had climbed from his truck and closed his door.
    He leaned against the side of his truck with his arms crossed, taking her in with a serious, unreadable expression. "I'm not gonna lie, " he said, shaking his head and wearing a half-smile, "I fuckin' hate that you don't call me." He paused for a second. "I'm sorry if it's weird for me to show up here like this. I just didn't know how else to talk to you."
    "I wanted to talk to you," she said offering him a gentle, reassuring smile. "I was going to text you today, but your number was still in my apron."
    He wanted to say it seemed like for-fucking-ever since he'd seen her, and why did she just think of texting him today when it'd been a whole week. But he