Ride Free Read Free Page A

of anxiety to run her off the road and leave her gasping for breath behind a gas station on a Monday afternoon.
     
    Does his broken promise from ten years ago mean that much to you? Does it really matter if you never find out why he dropped out of touch? Alejandro was a beautiful summer fling after senior year, that’s all. Get a grip, girl.
     
    Ali quivered with hysterical laughter, her eyes damp. She had a flawless diamond on her left hand and was heading home to slip into a dress that cost a small fortune, all so she could be suitably impressive when she and Bobby dined with his father and some major campaign supporters. Her wedding was in less than three months. Yet here she was, parked behind a gas station trying to calm her nerves because she’d run into her summer love from ten years ago and made a fool of herself. It was beyond ridiculous.
     
    The Harley rumbled out of the parking lot. In the sunlight the reflection of Alejandro’s chrome seemed to wink at her mirror. Pull it together, Ali, she commanded herself, wiping her eyes and taking a steadying breath. She dropped her sunglasses back down onto her nose and drove in the opposite direction back to her ranch.
     

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Bobby reached for Ali’s hand under the table and she pretended not to notice, taking a sip of her wine instead as she smiled at something the man beside Bobby's father said. She had no idea what turn the conversation had taken, but she’d learned over the past year that her role was to look pretty and not say too much, so she kept the wine flowing and the smile plastered on her face. Across the table her future mother-in-law did the same, quietly sipping her gin and tonic, her pale eyes fixed on her husband as if whatever he was droning on and on about was the most fascinating thing in the world.
     
    “Excuse me,” Ali murmured quietly, discreetly placing her napkin on her chair and slipping away from the table. Bobby spared her a glance and she gave him a reassuring smile. It wasn’t like she was integral to the conversation. They probably wouldn’t even realize she was gone.
     
    In the ladies’ lounge she held a cool towel to her neck and stared at herself in the mirror. This is what it will be like for the rest of your life , she told her miserable-looking reflection. Boring dinners and expensive clothes and a husband who gets more and more like his father every day. Her stomach clenched and she took a few deep breaths though her nose. Can you really do this?
     
    It hadn’t always been this way. A popular state senator from a political family, Carmac Dawson had groomed his oldest son Kip from an early age. Kip’s political career was their father’s greatest priority, and Bobby had gone on to law school in relative obscurity from the public eye.
     
    When Bobby introduced himself the night they met, Ali was already quite familiar with his brother’s meteoric rise in local politics. Kip Dawson was something of a state hero—a young, dashing Republican candidate with solid family values and a strong southern pedigree. The Dawson name was to Texas what the Kennedy name was to Massachusetts, and Ali almost turned Bobby down because of it. She made it clear immediately that she hated the thought of public life, and he’d grinned as he told her there was no chance of that ever happening for him. She’d shocked herself by agreeing to a date. And then a second date.
     
    Bobby had surprised her by being far more down-to-earth and civic-minded than she had envisioned when they met. It was effortless to be attracted to his easy confidence, and when he told her on their fourth date that he planned to marry her, she laughed and was pleased that he took it not as an offense but as a challenge. Without much discussion, they eased into happy coupledom.
     
    She loved Bobby despite every attempt not to, and when she brought him home her parents instantly forgave all her past transgressions. Dating boys from the wrong side