Page 21 of Never Marry the Best Man (Whatever It Takes #4)

Tom

Stupid sod!

What the hell was wrong with him? He was too old to get carried away like that.

It wasn’t a ‘no means no’ situation. She certainly hadn’t protested and most definitely had been kissing him back, that much he was sure of.

She’d said that she’d enjoyed it, that it was ‘lovely.’ On the other hand, she had also made perfectly clear that she considered his attraction to be a passing fancy, some kind of delusion, even.

That it wasn’t real .

And okay, being walked in on like that was unfortunate, but she bolted out after Nessa like she was the daughter, not the mother. Like he didn’t matter, wasn’t even there.

First, the possibility of winning the Saltzman evaporates, and with it, probably, the partnership offer. Next, this incredible woman, whom he’d met and then found again by purest chance, whom he felt connected to in ways he could not explain, dismisses him like an unqualified job applicant.

He’d had better mornings.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Ani said, dropping into the chair that Ranney had vacated.

“The surgery was successful and the insurance will cover the hospital bill. Charlie will be back soon.” Her relief was evident in her voice and in her posture.

“Then I will take him home, as soon as he can travel. Thank you for looking out for him, Tom.”

“Of course, it was nothing!”

“It was something very big to me, to have you here. But now you must go fishing. We will be okay. You should go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And the woman from Wedding Protectors, Ranney? She must go also. Where is she? She ran out when I came in.”

“Not sure. When she comes back, tell her I said goodbye.” Leaning down, he kissed her on both cheeks. “I’m glad this all ended well, sort of. Tell Chunk I’ll see him at the wedding.”

He looked around absently, as if he might be forgetting something, but he had nothing with him except his phone, his wallet, and the toothbrush that the hotel had supplied last night.

“Cheers, then.”

Retracing his steps, he found his way back to the elevator bank and pressed the button.

Next challenge was figuring out how he was going to get to the Freestone Club–car rental?

While he was driving, he could think through his citizenship problem, but he wasn’t holding out a lot of hope on resolving anything by the deadline.

Maybe the British embassy would have an idea.

“Where are you going?” a woman’s voice asked behind him, and he turned to look. It was Ranney, slightly out of breath. “Wait for me, I have to grab my bag and say goodbye to AnaMaria.”

“What–” but she was gone. The elevator bell chimed, doors slid open and closed again. He pressed the down button again, but before it returned, she was back.

“Let’s go.”

“Go… where?”

“Idaho. Things are under control here. Nessa can finish up.”

“Look, Ranney… I don’t know if that would be a good idea, for us to go together.

We got off to a bit of a strange start, didn’t we?

My fault entirely, but still. You were quite right, all that drama sort of skewed my judgment.

I do apologize. But we should probably find our own ways to Idaho, don’t you think? ”

Her eyes jumped to his face, then away again, but he thought for a second she looked stricken. Then her expression smoothed over again.

“It seems crazy to rent two cars for the exact same trip,” she said calmly. “And we need to discuss your citizenship application. If you drive, I can do research and make some calls. Or, wait–do you have a U.S. license? Do you feel comfortable driving?”

“I can drive, but…” He trailed off, chewing his lip.

An hour ago, he couldn’t have imagined anything more fun than a road trip with Ranney.

Just the two of them, exploring new places, nothing to do for hours but laugh, talk, get to know each other.

They’d had a fantastic time last night doing just that–well, at least he had.

Now, though, it would be a double-edged sword. She’d made it clear she wasn’t interested. However much fun he might have, he would know that there was nothing more. They might be going somewhere, but the relationship wasn’t. Torture, basically.

But she was right, renting two cars and driving to the same destination in a convoy was wasteful and silly.

“I called Achilles to take me to the car rental place. We can figure this out on the way there.”

“Wonderful. Perfect.”

“Good afternoon, my dear friends!” Achilles was delighted to see them.

“I hope all is well with your unfortunate family member? I am so sorry you feel the need to rent a vehicle of your own when I am at your service to show you all the hospitality of our famous city. So much better to relax in my comfortable back seat and see the sights, instead of listening to Siri yell at you. ‘Turn here! Turn there! No, wrong way, turn around!’”

“Very kind of you, Achilles, very considerate. And we would certainly take you up on it, but we need to go to Idaho.”

“Idaho. Yes, very beautiful. Very quiet. Very, very quiet. You want to go there? I will take you there. It is no problem.”

Ranney had been entirely engrossed in her phone since she’d clicked her seat belt, scrolling, reading, and typing. Tom poked her surreptitiously; it was an amusing negotiation, but also, he could use some support here.

“Thank you,” he said, polite regret in his voice. “Thank you very much, but hiring a private driver for such a long trip would definitely exceed our budget. And you’d have to drive all the way back here.”

“Eh, it is not so far. This is the West, everything is far. My entire country is smaller than this state.” He shrugged.

Tom was running out of excuses when Ranney suddenly spoke up, her face going sharp and curious, like she was forming a plan. “How much would you charge, Achilles?”

Leaning out of view of the rear-view mirror, Tom gave her a death stare. Keeping his hand low, he made sharp slashing motions. What was she thinking?

“How much you pay for rental vehicle? I charge the same.”

Ranney’s mouth twisted to one side as she blinked rapidly, then nodded. “You’ve got a deal.” She smiled.

“What?” This was not how Tom had envisioned the trip. He gaped at her, then looked at Achilles. “This is okay with Uber?”

The big man shrugged. “Is my day off.”

He’d been outmaneuvered.

“It’s better this way,” Ranney explained, eyes bright with a look he knew well, because he himself felt it at times - a plan falling into place.

“We can both read the websites and make some decisions. Plan things out.” She was pulling out her laptop and unrolling the power cord with the car plug adapter, her focus on strategy. Implementation.

Fixing.

Fixing… him. But Tom wasn’t a problem to be solved, and he was suddenly uncomfortable, though he couldn’t explain it.

He struggled to find the right words, settling finally on, “You don’t need to do this. It’s not your responsibility. I’m not your client and this isn’t my wedding.”

Her grin widened as she looked him in the eye and declared, triumphant: “Actually, it might be.”