Page 107 of Getting Wrapped Up

She nodded.

“Because of the dance with me?” He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. “Incorrigible.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind about the town,” Tucker said, looking around. “I know this dance isn’t like some of the fancy things you’ve been to, but you won’t find a better mix of old Elvis and new Brad Paisley on any playlist and those papier-mâché hearts in the middle of the tables were made by the Girl and Boy Scouts. Some of those boys didn’t even know what papier-mâché was. If you can imagine.”

Kate laughed at that. As if Tucker Bennett really had any clue about papier-mâché himself.

She shook her head. “Not at all. I love it here. Even in spite of the horrible muffins and oatmeal and the snakes.”

“What horrible muffins and oatmeal?” Tucker asked.

She looked around and lowered her voice. “He didn’t say horrible, but Levi let me know that Adrianne’s muffins aren’t very good.”

Tucker stared at her. “Adrianne Scott—well, Adrianne Riley? The one with the bakery and candy shop?”

Kate nodded.

“People come from four counties for Adrianne’s muffins.”

She frowned. “Is there another Adrianne in town who makes muffins?”

“There are no other Adrianne’s in town at all,” Tucker told her.

Kate’s frown deepened. “He lied to me about the muffins?”

“And where did you eat oatmeal?”

“Dottie’s.”

Tucker shuddered. “No one eats oatmeal at Dottie’s.”

“Does Levi know that?”

“I’m sure. There’s kind of an initiation around here where the guys talk the new kid in town into eating the oatmeal. He chokes it down because he doesn’t want to offend anyone and they all laugh and let him in on the joke after his bowl is clean.”

Kate put a hand on her hip. “So you’re telling me that Levi fed me oatmealknowingit was terrible rather than muffins that heknewwere amazing?”

Tucker nodded. “Sounds like it.”

“Maybe…he really doesn’t like the muffins,” she said, her thoughts spinning.

“He does. He eats like three at a time,” Tucker said. Then he saw the look on her face and grimaced. “Sorry.”

“Why would he keep me from these amazing muffins?” she asked.

And why would he not tell her about the calves he’d delivered and about the bachelor auction? What else was he not telling her?

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was trying to keep you from getting attached around here,” Tucker said. He tipped his beer bottle back again and then seemed to realize what he’d said and froze, then slowly lowered the bottle. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”

But she didn’t think it had. What Tucker had said made the most sense of anything.

So Levi didn’t want her attached to the town. He hadn’t treated her to amazing muffins, he’d taken her for crappy oatmeal instead. He hadn’t tried to talk her into spending the holiday with him, he hadn’t made arrangements to see her. And he was keeping big parts of his life here from her.

She was clearly moving too fast. They’d known each other for fifty-six days. Maybe she shouldn’t expect him to tell her everything about his life. Maybe he wasn’t leaving her out because he didn’t want her, but simply because they were still getting to know one another. Just because she felt closer to him than anyone else in her life didn’t mean he was feeling the same way. He had his brother and Phoebe here and lots of friends. He was surrounded by people to be close to and share things with.

He’d made love to her but…well, he was a guy and she was a sure thing. He wasn’t likely to say no to that, no matter how much hedidn’twant her in Sapphire Falls.

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