Page 13 of Lakesides and Longing

The women in front of him whipped around and saw them. Their faces turned beet red. Blake still had no words to defend her, but one thing was clear. Those women thought that Paige was beneath him somehow.

He would show them that she most certainly wasn’t.

Without warning her, he leaned down and kissed her.

CHAPTER8

Paige hadn’t been kissed in a very long time and hadn’t been prepared for it anyway, and so she barely had time to react. But as quickly as it began, it was over.

Blake moved to her ear and whispered. “I’ll explain later.”

She pushed the hair out of her hot face. Abby stared at her for a moment. There was a reason Abby hated her, and it had nothing to do with being the only artist in town. She just hadn’t wanted to bring that part up to Blake.

Abby and Emery had become fast friends when he and Paige moved up here. They both liked to run, and Paige hadn’t found it all that odd that they’d become running buddies.

The day Emery died, Paige had found out that he and Abby had been doing a bit more than running together. Paige was so angry about it that she barely even grieved Emery. She wouldn’t wish him dead, but at this point, she didn’t miss him either.

Abby had no idea that Paige knew, and Paige planned to keep it that way as well. That way Abby could never throw it in her face.

Avery giggled and turned back around. Abby wasn’t quite as tactful. She kept her eyes on Paige, so Paige wrapped her fingers around Blake’s waist and laid her head on his chest.

It was a fairly innocent move for a grocery store, but she was acutely aware of his whole body flush with hers. She tried not to appreciate how nice it felt. At least she didn’t have to look at Abby now.

The sisters finished checking out, and Paige paid for their food. She waited until they got into the car to find out why Blake had made her lips burn.

“So, what did the evil sisters say that made you kiss me?” There was no doubt they’d been gossiping about her while in line. It’s what they did.

He rammed a hand through his hair. “They acted like there was no way we could be together and that I was probably your brother or something. They were being so bitchy, and I just wanted to prove that you were not, in fact, my sister.”

Paige laughed. “That was so worth it.”

“But now everyone in town will think you have a boyfriend.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t like anyone in town anyway. I don’t really care what they think of me.” And she didn’t. She never had. She had a very tight circle of friends and the rest of the world could go to hell for all she cared.

“Surely you have some friends in town.”

Before Emery died, she did. But since then, she’d withdrawn and kept to herself. A handful of people blamed her for his death, and the others just didn’t know what to say to her. And her isolated house made it easy to ignore her.

“Not really. Well, full-timers anyway. I was really good friends with my closest neighbor, but she moved a few months ago. There is a shop in town that takes my art, but I don’t think the owner really likes me even though I make her a lot of money. I haven’t given her anything in a long time anyway. I don’t mind being on my own. Besides, summer is coming, and that means the snowbirds return. And several of them do like me. Phil and Ida are my other closest neighbors. They should be here next week. You’ll like them.”

Blake was quiet for a few moments. “So do you ever leave your house?”

“Not if I don’t have to. Though I do enjoy being outdoors, so I walk on my property a lot or visit state parks. But when the snow is seven feet deep, I stay home.”

“I’d go mad if I didn’t have social interaction.” He chuckled.

“I used to think that too. But things changed for me.”

She wondered if he would ask what changed, but he probably already knew that. She wasn’t even sure why it happened. She just couldn’t stand being around people anymore. Deep down she wondered if everyone was lying to her and would betray her like Emery did.

Even if she knew that wasn’t true, she had a hard time convincing herself it wasn’t.

CHAPTER9

Apiercing scream rent the air. Blake jumped out of bed with Tria on his heels and raced for the door. He stopped briefly to throw on a pair of shorts. Even in his sleep-deprived brain, he knew where to go. It was the one room in the house that he hadn’t visited—the door firmly shut on his self-guided tour of the home.

Paige’s.

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