Getting Lucky (The Portland Pioneers Book 2) Read Free Page B

Just think about it.”
    Her thoughts were finally clearing now from the shock of his sudden declaration, but she wasn’t sure which of them she could actually say and have him still want to talk to her afterwards.
    He knew she was a closet romantic—really, without the closet. Back in high school, she’d dreamed of being wooed with passion and desire, with rose petals and races through airports and boomboxes held over heads. He should have known better than to think a proposal that was all logic and no heart would ever capture her. And, Maggie thought with increasing annoyance, what if he met the one after they’d had their own bloodless, passionless courtship? What then? Would he just expect her to move aside like it would be no big deal to call off a relationship with her best friend?
    It seemed that once she’d started really thinking, she couldn’t seem to stop. The very last emotion Maggie had expected was anger, but as she sat there staring at him, she realized that angry was definitelywhat she was. Furious, to be exact.
    “I don’t need to think about it,” she said with as much finality as she could cram into a single phrase. Maybe it was kind of cheating to borrow Cal’s favorite confident tone in this situation, but really, she could use all the help she could get. Maggie already knew he wouldn’t just accept her words. No, he was going to want to try.
    “So, this Friday night then? Should I make reservations at The Cliffs?” He said it so smoothly, Maggie’s jaw dropped again. Like it would be sosimple for her to agree to date him. Like he’d expected a positive response the entire freaking time.
    Yeah, she was a little angry still.
    “No reservations. No Cliffs,” she bit out. “No date .”
    “Maggie,” Cal smiled, and there was a new, even worse shock at seeing him flirt with her for the very first time, “how naughty of you. No date first?”
    The good news was the anger was definitely clearing out the last bit of fog from her brain. And now he had to go mention sex, as if you just waltzed into someone’s childhood house and proposed to fuck them like you were discussing the weather.
    “You’re not listening,” Maggie ground out, rising and grabbing his half-drunk beer from his hand. She marched to the kitchen and poured what was left in the bottles right down the sink. “We’re not going to be dating or having sex or any of it .”
    Cal came to stand over by the entrance to the kitchen, and she had a horrible vision of him trying to get close enough to kiss her. “It’s a big decision, Maggie,” he said so reasonably she wanted to bean him with the bottle. But then she didn’t do those things. Hitting an over-enthusiastic suitor over the head with a beer bottle was something Tabitha might do.
    “I know you’re going to say I need time to consider it, and maybe I do, but right now, what I really need is time so I won’t be furiouswith you,” Maggie interrupted. “So give me a few days and then maybe I’ll be able to think of you without wanting to kill you. Then I can actually consider the idea.”
    Of course he looked genuinely mystified. Maybe that was the problem, Maggie thought, he actually had no ideahow to talk to women. Maybe she’d be doing the females of Sand Point a real favor by taking Cal off the market.
    “I’m angry because you thought you could just say ‘let’s date’ with nothing else to convince me except really sensible, logical reasons,” Maggie continued before he could stick his foot any further into his mouth. “You even admitted you don’t really think of me that way. I’m just the most convenient choice, with the right body parts.” She paused and took a deep breath, before she let the vitriol really fly and then they no longer had a friendship to save. “Honestly, Cal, I want to be wanted . I want to feel passion and desire and love . It’s scary to think I might never find those things, but I’m not willing to settle for something