Page 30 of Hating the Book Boyfriend

"Do you need me to take something out?" Archer asks.

"No, I think we're good," she says, but when he doesn't turn on his heel and leave, I know he's hanging back until we exit with him. I grab the container of cupcakes as instructed, and Archer heads for the door and props it open with his foot. "It's not what you're thinking," she speaks low, picking up the tray next to the cupcakes. I'm so mad I can barely think straight. Her response wasn't an answer, and the fact that she said it at all tells me she knows exactly what I'm thinking. I follow her out of the kitchen and to the table.

"Tell me last night changed things—" I start, only to be cut off yet again.

"Josephine, can we talk for a second, privately?" the redhead I've seen her hanging with tonight interrupts.

Her eyes flash up to mine in apology before she says, "Do you mind putting those on the display for me?" I grit my teeth as I give her a warning look. My patience is waning, and I'm quickly approaching a point of no return. I don't want to make a scene, but right now, she's also the only person I care about in this room. "I'll be right back," she adds to douse the flames threatening to consume me, and I nod my acceptance.

It's been twenty minutes since Josephine left me beside the dessert table, and I haven't seen her since.

"Hey," a hand tightly grips my shoulder. "I've been wanting to ask you about something." Shit, this is it. It has to be. Archer doesn't miss details. I'm sure he saw me glancing at his sister one too many times today. "You want to grab a beer with me? I feel like this conversation could use a drink."

"Sure," I glance around the space one more time, hoping to catch a glimpse of Josephine to give her a heads up on what's about to go down. "Arch, look, I know what you're about to say..." I start when we reach the bar.

"You know I want to make you an offer on some of your land?" he queries as he rounds the bar and pours me one of the holiday brews.

I try to keep the utter shock off my face as his comment sinks in. "I had a suspicion there was more packed into your desire to test my soil than genuine curiosity," I answer honestly. This may not have been where I saw this conversation going, but it doesn't mean I didn't see the writing on the wall the day we took soil samples at the edge of his property where the back half of mine meets his. He slides me a beer, and I say, "I might have a counterproposal."

He takes a pull off his beer. "Let's hear it."

Finally, I've found her. She said she'd come right back, but that was an hour ago. It's possible she saw me at the bar talking to her brother and didn't want to approach, but what's her excuse now? She's standing alone by the hot chocolate bar, watching everyone enjoy music, drinks, and the whimsicality of the setting. It's almost impossible not to get caught up in its grandeur.

I'm at the edge of the tree lot when the fucker from Holly's Tavern approaches her. "You got to be fucking kidding me right now." I pause and wait. Her parting words were, "It's not what you think," but what's been eating away at my sanity is why she wouldn't tell me who he is if that's the case. I watch her smile take over her whole damn face, and it's like a punch to the gut. She's so damn beautiful; it's then that I realize it's her smile that's always driven me mad. Every time she smiled, and I wasn't the reason for its existence, I got jealous like now. It's why I stopped any of her relationships before they could happen,scaring off any potential suitors, just like the night I saw her in the hotel bar. I was sure it was her that night, but it was the way she was looking at the guy, coupled with how she let him touch her, that had me crossing the room and sidling up to the bar instead of heading to my room unnoticed. I want her. She was always supposed to be mine. That thought has me stomping across the lot the second his hand dares to touch her lower back as he leans in to say something in her ear.

"Josephine," I say her name louder than intended, my tone shrouded in anger.

The second her eyes land on mine, I see surprise, but there's something else I can't put my finger on. "Jacob, you'll have to excuse me for a second," she says to the asshole that's been monopolizing all of her time tonight.

"Get lost. She won't be coming back," I say as her hand wraps around my wrist.

"Colton," she scolds, pulling me back, worrying I'm too close and liable to do something stupid like punch him in the face. The worry isn't unfounded. "Jacob, I'm sorry," she apologizes as I willingly let her pull me away because, truth be told, even mad I'd follow her anywhere. She stops at the edge of the lot. "What are you doing? What was that back there?"

"Why is he here?" Her eyes search the crowd, and I pull her out of the lot and into the rows of trees, ensuring I have her undivided attention. "Answer me, Posey."

"You're acting awfully jealous of someone you don't even know."

I back her further into the trees. For every step I take toward her, she takes one back, but I don't see fear. "You're not answering my questions, Posey. Is that because he's your guy? You want him?"

"Maybe," she shrugs. "He has a good job, comes from a nice family, and he's easy on the eyes," she taps her lips. "Not tomention, I'm pretty sure if he had me spread out on the counter, he'd finish the job?—"

Without warning, I swoop her up in my arms and toss her over my shoulder like Santa's sack. "Is that what this is about? I didn't finish the job? Who's trying to sample the goods now?" I taunt as I look for my destination and spot the old 1965 farm truck they use for pictures.

"Colton put me down," she demands in a whisper yell as she swats at my back. "You're officially causing a scene."

"Don't try to pretend that you care. If that were true, you wouldn't have avoided me the entire night, hanging out with the guy from the bar." I set her down when we get to the truck pinning her between myself and the door. My chest is heaving, and my heart is racing, but there's relief, too, because I can feel hers doing the same damn thing. "He could never love you the way I do." Her eyes widen as they dart between mine, and the realization of the word I used sets in. My fist hits the window beside her head, and she jumps, but she doesn't try to pull away.

Her tongue dips out to moisten her perfect mouth, the one she's refuses to let me have before she asks, "How could you know that?"

I lay my forehead against hers and twirl a piece of her hair between my fingers. I've never truly explored any of the emotions coursing through my veins. I can't be sure of much right now, everything is foreign, but of one thing, I am certain: I can't walk away from her.

My eyes latch onto hers, and I say the words that have been true in my heart since the first time I saw her. "Because I've been doing it since the day we met."

She presses her palms against my chest before fisting the fabric of my shirt into her hands. "Colton?—"

"Tell me I can kiss you now. Tell me I'm your guy."

"Under one condition," she pants, her lips mere inches from mine.

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