Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Sophie call down for coffee. She usually didn’t drink much caffeine, but the day before had been exhausting. The more she considered everything that it happened, from beginning to end, the stranger it seemed. Like a story that might’ve happened to someone else.
It was too unreal to be believed, she decided. And because of that, she was just going to pretend that there was nothing to it. It had been an entertaining interlude. Nothing more.
Nothing at all like a fairy tale.
So why can’t I quit thinking about that one cowboy and his magical kiss?
When room service arrived at her door, she pulled on the hotel bathrobe. Eileen was having clothing delivered in the next hour, along with a car and the driver to take her back out to Necessity. Milo had apparently followed through and arranged for the next film location to be prepped. They would be back on track by this afternoon as if nothing untoward had happened, though the production company and their insurance would be out quite a bit of money to repair the damage to The Chargrill.
Opening the door, she was surprised to see the room service waiter bringing in a cart with not only her coffee, but also a large platter with a silver warming dome on the tray. He wheeled in the little table and placed it near the desk.
“I don’t think that’s mine,” she said. “I only ordered coffee.”
“Yes, ma’am, it is yours. I’m sure of it.” He grinned in a way that almost made her nervous.
“As a general rule, I don’t accept deliveries that I have not ordered.” She made her voice is imposing she possibly could.
“I would be happy to open it for you,” the deliveryman said, his grin growing wider.
“Do you know what’s in it?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.” His eyes danced with mischief as, with a flourish, he lifted the round dome off the plate.
There, atop hotel china, sat a single, black cowboy boot.
Sophie burst into laughter.
“I have Cinderella’s boot,” she said aloud.
“There’s more, ma’am.” He pulled a note out from under the plate. Sophie took it, almost afraid to open it for fear of ruining the moment. When she finally managed to read it, the note had only one line and no signature:
I think Cinderella shouldn’t have played it so coy.
* * *
Zeke stood just outside the perimeter the film crew had erected around the old bank building in downtown Necessity.
He’d been waiting there for almost an hour.
Colton stood next to him. “You know, you could go in with me. I’m the Fire Marshal. They need me there. And I told him yesterday that you were my assistant. There’s nothing keeping us out.”
“Shut up, Colton.”
“You sure have gotten full of yourself since you started dating Sophie Daniels,” Colton muttered.
“It wasn’t a date.”
“Bullshit, man. I saw the pictures of that kiss. It’s all over the internet this morning.”
Zeke’s jaw clenched. “We are not dating.”
Yet.
“You know you look like an idiot with only one boot on, right?”
“Colton,” Zeke warned his friend, who just laughed cheerfully.
He’d felt like an idiot the night before when he limped out to be picked up by Tor’s limo wearing only one boot and one sock. Tor and Leta had frowned and clearly wanted to ask questions but chose not to, a kindness that Zeke couldn’t decide if he appreciated or not.
Zeke continued to scan the street anxiously. This time, when a black car drove up, he felt his stomach tighten. The sight of Sophie’s waving chestnut hair blowing in the slight breeze as she got out of the car, however, calmed his nerves.
Now he’d find out if that beginning of the connection that he had felt with Sophie Daniels had been only in his mind, or if it was something they might explore together.
When Sophie turned around and saw him leaning against his truck, wearing only one black boot, a wide grin split her face.
Zeke barely heard Colton say, “I’ll be inside, man.” He was too busy watching Sophie duck the perimeter and make her way to him.
When she was close enough for him to hear her, she held up the boot and said, “I think this is yours.”
“That it is,” he replied, unable to hold back his own wide smile.
Without a word, she walked up close to him, set his boot on the hood of his pickup truck, wrapped her arms around him, and planted her lips on his.
When she came up for air, they were both gasping.
Glancing at the crowd of photographers who surrounded them, he said, “You do realize that now we’re going to have to work extra hard to convince my friends that we really are dating, right?”
“Oh, I don’t think they’ll be surprised,” she said. “You saved me—you’re my hero, Cinderella. Besides, we’ll be sure they get lots of pictures.”
* * *
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Necessity, Texas – A Little Town with a Lot of Love
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