Page 62 of Love Lies Bleeding

“Don’t be cute.”

As he leans his elbows on my counter, his scent surrounds me, but this time I detect the subtle hint of motor oil too. Nostalgia invades my senses and I can’t help but think of him on his bike. How it had felt to hold on to him and feel like every turn we made, no matter how fast or dangerous, knowing he’d always protect me.

“I want to show you something.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “What?”

“I can’t tell you. This is something you need to see in the flesh.”

I’m intrigued, and a big part of me wants to spend time with him, wants to see whatever he wants to show me, but a bigger part knows it’s too risky. Jake has hurt me more than anyone ever has, and I can’t just forgive what he’d done. “I’m busy.”

“The shop closes in ten minutes. I know you’re only open for half a day on Saturday.”

It was true. We didn’t get enough footfall on a Saturday to warrant remaining open, so I usually used the afternoon to work on a room design. “That doesn’t mean I’m not busy. I might have a date or client coming to see me.”

The scowl on his handsome face is worth the white lie I’m about to tell and I hope like hell my next client will go along with it when he arrives.

“Who? I didn’t know you were seeing someone?”

His indignation almost makes me laugh and I have to roll my lips between my teeth to hide my mirth. “Why would you? We aren’t friends.”

It is fleeting, but I see the wound I inflict land before he brushes it off with a smile. I wish I could say I don’t care, that hurting him gives me some kind of satisfaction, but it doesn’t.

“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care, Blossom. I know I hurt you but I never stopped caring.”

“Don’t, Jake. I don’t want to talk about the past. You keep giving me small nuggets of information but never a true picture. So until you can do that, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Fair enough. I can agree to that. So, what time will you be free and where is he taking you? You better not have met on a dating website. Those things are full of creeps.”

“Oh, are you on there too?”

“Haha, very funny. I’m serious, Blossom. I don’t want you putting yourself in risky situations.”

“Well, what you want is no concern of mine, but for the record, I know this man well and we met in a bar.”

A frown mars his handsome brow, his lips thinning in annoyance. “I don’t like it.”

I gave him a big fake smile. “I don’t care.”

Before he can say more, the door opens again and my smile is genuine as I rush around the counter and run to the man who just walked in. He catches me in his arms and spins me around as I laugh.

“How’s my favorite girl in the world?”

Eddie Crowe holds me off the ground in his big arms and gives me the grin that makes millions of his fans swoon. As the most famous country music star of the moment, he sings to packed arenas about love and heartbreak. We’d met on a night out with Lexi when he played an impromptu acoustic set, just before his star began to rise.

We’d hooked up once, but it never went as far as sex, just some hot making out, then decided we were better off as friends. Both of us had had our hearts broken, and so a friendship had developed. His blue eyes twinkle and his thick, dark hair falls to his shoulders, making him the pin-up choice of every woman from fifteen to fifty, but for me, it was his voice that melted butter. Deep and full of gravel, but with that lazy southern twang that makes you think of whispered secrets and sultry nights.

“I’m good, Eddie. I missed you.”

“Missed you too, sugar.”

“So I have a situation I could use some help with.” My voice is low enough that only Eddie will hear.

“It involve the man glaring at me like he wants to kill me?”

“Yeah, that’s Jake.”

Eddie’s brows shoot up a little before he rocks his head slowly. “Okay. I got you, baby girl. Lead the way.”

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