Page 35 of Perfect Praise

“Quit lying,” he says, starting the car. It makes a nice loud but smooth sound. Probably a V8. Something where a hundred thousand dollars alone lives under the hood. “You said you had lots to do. Such as…?”

I sigh. “Remember my sister is having a baby?”

He nods.

“Right. So, I need to move out. She and Parker, her husband, have let me stay with them long enough. I was going to go look at some apartments, but I’ll call the landlords and reschedule.”

He stares straight ahead, maneuvering out the parking lot and onto the main road. “Which way to the first one?”

“I’m not letting you chauffeur me around to the crappy places I might live.”

He glances at me for a little too long that I almost want to tell him to keep his eyes on the road. But I knowthatwouldn’t be very much appreciated.

“Give me the address to the first one,” he insists. “You will probably need me as back up in case you don’t stand up for yourself. It will be a good lesson in how not to give a fuck and gain some confidence.”

My mouth forms anoh.“Are we still doing that?”

“Iwantto, Maren. Are you embarrassed to bring me to these places?” He’s not really asking, because he knows that I am, so I don’t bother answering. He scrunches his forehead up as he types away on the screen in between us. “Address?”

I cave and ramble off the address from the ad I saw. The landlord is expecting me in ten minutes, and the robotic woman tells us we’ll arrive at our destination in twenty-four. Hopefully he doesn’t take that to mean I’ll be late on rent too. Also, it’s twenty-three minutes too long to spend with Locke in a car.

“How was Pebble Beach and Arizona?” he asks.

“Fine,” I say curtly.

He stops a little too abruptly at a red light, his hands a little tense on the wheel. “Did something happen?”

“Nope. Uneventful.” Which it actually was. Craig and company seem to think I’m now boring, and I like it this way. I get in what little obligation I have per my contract, but there’s nothing fun about me anymore so I’m sure they won’t even air it. “Where were you?”

His grip relaxes. “Home. Spent time with my niece, Emmie. Played golf. Stayed away from cameras.”

“Why didn’t you go?”

I sit on my hands and look out the window when he doesn’t answer. Of course, I take that to mean thatI’mthe reason he didn’t go. Maybe that’s self-centered of me though, and I’m overthinking it like always.

You shouldn’t care, I remind myself.I can’t control his feelings, and we’re adults who kissed and made a mistake.

Locke seems to sense where my mind has strayed. “I’m playing in fewer tournaments this year. Conrad just had a baby, and I want him to be able to be with her. Traveling all year is tough.”

I smile at how sincere he sounds—like I just got a real answer, like somehow, I earned it. “You don’t want to play with another caddie, do you?”

He shakes his head. “Absolutely not. And I can afford to not play every damn week. I’m calling it the year of less, but it might just be the rest of my life of less.” Locke winks at me. “Don’t tell Graham that though.”

That wink goes straight between my legs in a thundering roar only I can hear, and I’ve forgotten how to form thoughts. I clench my thighs, willing my body to settle down.

“But,” he goes on, “I do owe you an explanation.”

I whip my head back around, but Locke is calmly merging onto the interstate.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” I say hurriedly.

“I know I… don’t say a lot of words, and I know that you don’t actually believe that,andI know you’ve been giving a big shit about it for two weeks.”

Two weeks and one day, but who’s counting?

“You don’t know me,” I say, scrunching my nose.

Locke’s eyes fall to the motion and sweep over the bridge of my nose, inspecting my freckles, before he snaps his attention back to the road. “Look. Russell and I have a history. I know you assume that now. We used to be friends and some college stuff happened a long time ago. This thing between me and you, I couldn’t have you thinking that I was trying to get revenge on him by fucking his ex-girlfriend.”

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