Page 8 of One Night Valentine

I’m trying to hold it together, but I can feel myself weakening. Before I can open my mouth, I feel a firm arm go around my waist. “Baby, can we talk?”

I look up into the brown eyes of Cruz Payne. He’s smiling at me and pulls me firmly against his body. “Come on, Tara. You can’t be mad at me forever. Give me five minutes.”

He touches his hand to the side of my face and then tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. My mouth falls open, and Cruz leans down and kisses my cheek and then acts as if he’s kissing my ear and whispers, “Close your mouth, honey.”

I snap my mouth closed, and I grip Cruz’s arm. “Yes, let’s go to my office.”

Brynn stops in front of me. “Tara, who is this?”

I open my mouth and look between Brynn and Cruz. “Uh, this is Cruz Payne. He’s Lexi’s older brother.”

Cruz holds his hand out to Brynn. “And Tara’s boyfriend if I can get her to forgive me.”

Brynn’s eyes travel down Cruz’s body and back up again. “Boyfriend?”

It takes everything in me not to smack my sister in the face. She’s literally undressing Cruz with her eyes, and I don’t want to stand here and watch. And then it hits me. “What?” I ask him, wanting him to repeat what he just said.

He pulls me flush against his hard body. “I’m sorry for being an ass, and I hope you forgive me. Please.”

He brushes his thumb across my cheek softly, and I lose all sense of self-preservation. “We should talk.”

He nods, and I turn to my sister. “We’ll be right back.”

I grab his hand and pull him toward the back of the shop. I can feel every eye on me, and I’m glad this week I have double the help in the store so I can disappear for a few minutes. As soon as I close the office door, I turn and cross my arms over my chest. “What are you doing here, Cruz?”

He matches my stance. “I came to apologize.”

I jut my chin. “For what?”

“Last night.”

When he doesn’t continue, I wave my hand for him to go on. “And?”

“When I said that no one would believe we were together… I meant that no one would believe you’d choose me.”

My eyebrows lift high. “Excuse me?”

“Look, my life is about to do a big one-eighty. I’m about to be retired, and people are either going to hate me or love me, there’s no in between, and the people that are going to hate me are going to be ten times louder than the people that love me. I’m ten years older than you, and well, I don’t really have a lotto offer. I’m just afraid that us being together is going to cause problems for you.”

I point toward the shop. “Is that why you just told my sister and around ten other people that you’re my boyfriend? You know this is Whiskey Run, right? Everyone in town will be talking about it by tonight.”

He looks sheepish. “I did that because I couldn’t just stand by and listen to your sister talk to you the way she was.”

I lean back and sit down on the edge of my desk. “You realize that I needed you to be my date for one night, and now you’re making it sound like we have a thing.”

He laughs. “A thing?”

I nod. “Yeah, a thing.” I scrunch my face up. “Boyfriend and girlfriend. That thing.”

“Okay, so look, I may have gotten carried away out there, but that doesn’t have to change anything. You can let people think we’re together. I can be your date for the wedding and help you deal with your ex and your sister, and then you can break it off with me.”

I blurt out a laugh. “You think people are going to believe that I broke things off with you?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, I mean, why not? You can let them think you don’t want to be with some has-been.”

“Has-been?” I stand up and stomp a foot. “Has-been? You’re not a has-been.”

“After Wednesday, I will be,” he deadpans.

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