The Moment We Began (A Fairhope New Adult Romance) by Sarra Cannon Read Free Book Online Page B

in love with Mason
Trent. It usually only works until the next time I see him, when my
knees buckle again and my heart breaks as it hits the floor.
    Well, dammit, not this time.
    If he’s really done, then so am I. And if
moving on means dating guys like Braxton for a while, then so be it.
I don’t have to marry the guy, right? Maybe I’ve been
going about this night all wrong. Instead of trying to calculate our
compatibility and see him as a potential boyfriend, I should just be
trying to enjoy myself and go with the flow.
    Knox sets my drink down, and I lean over the bar.
    “Can I get two shots of tequila, too?”
    Knox looks at Leigh Anne and she holds her hands
up. “Don’t look at me,” she says. “She’s
a grown woman. She can handle it.”
    Knox pours the two tequila shots and I slide one
across the wood toward Braxton, throwing him a challenging look.
    I expect him to push it away or tell me he doesn’t
plan on staying long. Instead, he lifts the shot glass up in a kind
of toast, then throws it back without so much as a wince. I’m
impressed. I grab his hand, then pour salt between his thumb and
index finger. He raises his eyebrows at me, but doesn’t pull
away. I lean forward and seductively lick his hand, then down the
shot. Braxton picks up a lime and I eat it right out of his hand, my
lips grazing his fingers. He bites his lower lip and I realize that
narcissist or not, he’s hot and he’s interested in me. I
suck the juice from the lime, then toss it on the counter.
    With the alcohol buzzing in my system, I throw my
arms around his neck and kiss him, hard and strong. A couple of
people around us whistle and clap and my lips smile against his.
    “Want another?”
    He kisses me again and I close my eyes, then tap
the bar and hold up two fingers.

Chapter Eleven
    By the time Knox shuts the bar down, I’m
well on my way to wasted.
    Braxton only did the one shot with me and has been
nursing his beer for the past half hour.
    Now that the bar is officially closed, Leigh Anne
is ready to start drinking. “Until I’m twenty-one, I just
don’t want to get Knox into any trouble,” she says.
    I love Leigh Anne with all my heart, but I wish I
could find a few flaws in her every once in a while. If nothing else,
it would make me feel better about being such a mess lately.
    “Do a shot with me,” I say, laying my
head on her shoulder.
    “Okay, but not tequila,” she says. She
leans over the bar to get a closer look at the bottles. “Can
you make me something that’s going to taste good on the way
down?”
    Knox leans toward her and gives her a long kiss.
“Whatever you want, my love. Tonight’s your night.”
    I grab Braxton and kiss him again, but it’s
empty and meaningless. A poor substitute for what Leigh Anne has. I
feel like a cheap knock-off, and I hate myself for it.
    The door to the bar opens and Leigh Anne clears
her throat and gives me a subtle tap on the arm.
    I break away from Braxton’s kiss and turn to
see who has come through the door.
    Mason stands alone just inside the entrance. He’s
staring at me with a mixed expression I’m way too drunk to
decipher, and I realize I couldn’t have timed it more perfectly
if I’d tried.
    He had to have seen me kissing Braxton, and he
doesn’t look happy about it. At all.
    Preston comes through the door and nearly runs
right into him. Mason seems to wake up. He stuffs his car keys in his
pocket, then shakes his head and tears his eyes away from me, but I’m
glad that for once, he actually showed some kind of reaction. I’m
glad it bothered him. It’s about time he got a taste of his own
medicine.
    I never expected him to be alone tonight, but I’m
glad he is. Now, it’s his turn to sit back and try to pretend
he doesn’t care that I’m with someone else tonight and he
can’t have me. I don’t even turn to say hi to him. I work
to focus all of my attention on my date, but my body is hyper-aware
of Mason’s presence now. My skin