Page 20 of Should Have Been Me

“Is there a reason I had to hear from my friend Jean during our weekly Bunko game last night that my daughter has a new man in her life instead of hearing it from her?”

And there it was. The small-town grapevine was in full effect, putting Lorene Prescott in the mood to lay mother guilt on thicker than peanut butter on a slice of bread.

I let out a weary sigh, reaching up to pinch the bridge of my nose. “Mom, it’s not what you think.”

“Oh, well then how about you enlighten me, sweetheart, and tell me what it is?”

I opened my mouth to answer, only to come up short, because the truth was, I was still trying to wrap my brain around what had happened in the middle of Sinful Sweets Café the morning before.

One second I was fighting with that arrogant, pompous ass whose only facial expression was an intense frown, and the next, he was kissing and touching me in front of my ex and half the damn town like he had every right.

And the craziest thing about the whole scene—aside from the above-mentioned kissing and touching—I hadn’t hated it. I mean, sure, the man was a grade-A jerk, but something about him was downright magnetic. I’d actually liked the way he held me. It made me feel protected, almost cherished. And I’d really liked that kiss.

In fact, I’d replayed that damn kiss more times than was healthy over the past several hours. I’d thought about how the man—I still didn’t know his name—had used the perfect amount of firmness. I thought about how nice it felt to have someone else’s lips brushing against my own for the first time since Barrett and I had started dating, and how much I missed making out with a man. Our sex life might not have been affected before Barrett dumped me, but I couldn’t remember the last time we’d made out, kissed like we couldn’t get enough of each other, like the only air we wanted to breathe was what came out of our partner’s lungs.

I missed that. And all it took was a relatively chaste kiss with a complete stranger in the middle of a crowded restaurant to spark that craving back to life in a way I knew wasn’t going to go away any time soon.

Damn him.

If I’d been smart, I would have hung around and tried to get the scoop on what the hell he’d thought he was doing, putting on that little show for my ex, but the way my body had lit up for him had freaked me out, and instead of handling the situation like an adult, I bolted out of Sinful Sweets like my ass was on fire. I’d needed to get away from all those prying eyes and mumbled whispers. Now people were talking. Rumors spread like wildfire, and I didn’t even know the name of the guy who’d started it all.

The worst part was, I couldn’t ask around, because everyone would know it had all been fake, and they’d probably think I’d orchestrated the whole thing because I was the pathetic woman who still wasn’t over her ex, even though he’d clearly moved on.

Unless I wanted to be the laughing stock of Pembrooke, I had to save face. That was why, instead of telling my mother the truth, I found myself saying, “It’s, well... it’s still really new.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and smacked my palm to my forehead at my lame response. But it was the best I could do in the moment.

“I can’t believe you’re seeing someone and didn’t tell me.” I could see her in my mind’s eye, shaking her head in disappointment as she sat at her kitchen island, flipping through one of her favorite cooking magazines. “You give one hundred percent of yourself, hoping you’re raising your kids right, then something like this happens.”

My face screwed up like I’d sucked on a lemon. “Okay, wow. That’s a lot, even for you.”

My mother’s tinkling laughter carried through the line. “Had to see how far I could take it.”

I tapped my fingernail on the top of the desk and pulled one of my feet up to rest in the seat of my chair. “And you’ve officially reached your max.”

She blew out a breath and started over. “So, Vaughn Cavanagh, huh?” I heard he was back in town after all these years. Also heard he grew up real nice, but he was kind of... well, a jerk, honestly.”

I sat up a little straighter, my curiosity officially piqued. “You know him?”

“No. Not him personally. I know his parents. Not well, but enough to remember him living here when he was a kid before his mother divorced his dad years ago. Vaughn lived with Hershel for a spell before moving away to live with his momma when he was in middle school. I don’t think he’s been back since.”

That wasn’t much information, but at least I’d gotten a name. Vaughn Cavanaugh. It fit him somehow. It was classic and manly and pretentious all at the same time. Just like the man the name belonged to.

“Were you friends with his mother?”

She snorted through the line. “Estelle? Please.” I could imagine her rolling her eyes. “That woman was as snooty as the day is long. Truth be told, I’m not sure she really had any friends. It’s hard to get people to like you when you walk around acting like you’re better than everyone. She had aspirations that went beyond this town. That’s fine and all, but she was always high and mighty, looking down her nose at the rest of us.”

I went from tapping to unconsciously scratching at the finish on the desk. “She sounds...”

“Awful, I know. And she was. Which is probably why people say her son’s just as cold as she was. Probably got it from her.”

My mind went back to how it felt to have his strong arm wrapped around me like a steel band holding me to him. He sure as hell didn’t feel cold then. Or when he kissed me. In fact, I remember the heat pouring from his body was nearly hot enough to singe me. Even his cologne held a bit of heat. A scent like amber and spice clung to his skin, creating a warmth in my chest when I inhaled it.

I thought back to that first interaction in the middle of the road outside my house and how I thought he’d been a complete asshole. He still gave off that vibe the day before, like he had no desire to be around anyone else. But then he’d seen my discomfort at the thought of running into Barrett, and he’d just acted. A man as cold and unfeeling as what my mother had described wouldn’t do something like that for a complete stranger. Right?

I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to form my thoughts into something that made sense. “Well, he’s kind of stiff, and he’s got a real hard-on for wearing suits, but, I don’t know... there’s something about him,” I said, a bit taken aback by the fact that the words pouring past my lips weren’t an act, but the god’s honest truth. “I don’t think he’s as big a jerk as he leads people to believe.”

“Well, of course not. Or my girl wouldn’t be interested in him,” my mother threw back, her words a reminder that Vaughn and I weren’t actually dating. In fact, we weren’t anything to each other.

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