The One That I Want (Scorned Women Society Book 3) by Piper Sheldon (e book reader android txt) 📕

“Thank you,” I said. “It’s a good little town.”

“Hmm,” he said looking out at the crowd. His face was unreadable as he looked back at me. “Excuse me, I have to see a man about a horse. Is that what you all say?”

As always, my face spoke for me.

“I’ll work on it,” he said with a hint of a smile before walking away.

I took a deep breath, finally alone for the first time in hours. And yet, being alone with my thoughts, the inevitable crept in. The “I made a terrible mistake leaving Sanders” thoughts. It had seemed so important to me to maintain boundaries that night in Denver. But my mind kept drifting back to him. Like the pair of shoes I talked myself out of buying only to obsess over how often I would’ve actually worn them. But a thousand times worse. Because now my heart was constantly aching over might-have-beens.

I searched for something to do behind the table to distract me. I folded brochures, restocked the water, fluffed the popcorn. I was just bending down to open a new case of water when a voice said my name. A voice I never thought I’d hear again.

“Roxy?” the smooth Australian accent asked. “Is that you?”

I straightened and turned around slowly. I’m sure my eyes were as wide open as my mouth. There he stood. Sanders. Sexier, taller, and even more stunning than the memories that had played on a loop this last week. Like he’d been manifested straight from my recurring dreams, there he stood with his head tilted, brows pushed up together with hesitation and a soft smile playing on his lips.

It would be damn corny to say that my heart exploded into a thousand little butterflies and took flight into the air around me. So I’d just keep that feeling to myself.

I was around the table without thinking. My arms wrapped around his shoulders. His deep rumbling laughter filled my ears as he squeezed me back, lifting me off the ground. My feet kicked up. I was laughing. I was actually laughing. Or crying, I couldn’t tell. The relief was immediate.

I was still floating off the ground, held in his strong bracing grasp, when I pulled back to look at his face. My gaze moved all over from his laughing grin with his silly teeth to his dark blond brows lifted high with humor.

“It’s you,” was all I could say.

“Hi,” he said back.

For who knows how long, we seemed to just stand there memorizing each other’s faces. I never thought I’d seen him again. Truly never. And now that he stood here in front of me, I understood so clearly how that thought depressed me. I’d been telling myself it was for the best but my instant joy told me otherwise. Eventually, he slowly dropped me to the ground.

The second my feet touched the field, reality sunk back in. Where we were. What I was doing. I stepped back with a heavy heart. I was here for work, this wasn’t the time or place to have a reunion. After feeling like that night in Denver had been a weird and wonderful dream, I couldn’t seem to slide Sanders into my real life. He didn’t fit in this world, like wearing a life vest to a funeral.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He opened his mouth but from behind me, Vincent said, “Hello. Who’s this?”

As I scrambled back around the table, he extended his hand to Vincent.

“I’m Sanders Olsson,” he said. His face was still bright with a huge smile. I managed to smooth my features into neutrality but my heart was pounding.

“Sanders,” Vincent said, flatly. “We spoke on the phone earlier.

“You two know each other?” Vincent asked, looking between the two of us in a way that made my stomach twist.

“I met Roxy in Denver. My corporate adventure company was at the hospitality convention,” Sanders explained.

It was all facts but thankfully excluded the more intimate details.

Vincent turned to me with a question in his brow. “Roxy? Is that what you prefer to be called?” he asked.

“Or Roxanne. It doesn’t matter.” I wasn’t sure why I said that. It didn’t actually matter but no, nobody else called me Roxanne despite what my name tag read. It was flustering to stand here between these two men and find my footing. Sanders had almost reached fantasy levels in my brain, and to see him as real as my manager, it was all too much.

Sanders watched me the entire time, barely flicking a glance to Vincent. God, he was saying too much looking at me like that. I must have frowned because his smile finally turned down a few notches and the absence made me feel awful.

Vincent asked Sanders, “Is Roxanne why you’re in Green Valley? I didn’t get the impression you knew her when we spoke on the phone. Or are you here because of Outside the Box?” His face remained coolly blank but I felt like whatever was said next would mean everything for my career.

Heat burned my cheeks at his tone as realization settled in. Everything Sanders said connected at once.

Sanders. Outside the Box. The convention.

Everything had been so full of color and hope when Sanders appeared. In a moment, the world fell away. I was sure of it. The poles reversed or gravity suddenly stopped working because everything definitely shifted sideways. I had to grip the table to keep from falling over.

A hand went to my mouth, as if to keep me from gasping, before I realized what I was doing and tried to look casual. I couldn’t believe my luck only a moment ago, but now … now I couldn’t believe my fucking luck. William had mentioned his partner that couldn’t make it at the convention …

How much had Vincent seen? What did he assume right now?

“Yes, Roxy met with my business partner, Skip, in Denver. I would have been there …” Distantly, I