Page 109 of Touch Me Not

He was quiet for a minute. “Dad hired a girl to help out in the office. She and I are not getting along.”

His dad’s farm was a big business. He sold to some of the biggest grocery chains in the country. Both meat and produce. Lily always thought he needed more help.

“She’s…”

“She’s what?” Lily prompted when he stopped talking for a full minute.

“She’s bossy, she’s uppity, and she likes to say things she knows will irritate me.”

“Is she pretty?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” The romance writer in Lily was conjuring up all sorts of scenarios. “Maybe you’re protesting a little too much.”

“Don’t even go there, Lils,” he warned. “I just broke off an engagement a few months ago. I am not in the mood to start anything new, especially with a woman I can’t stand.”

Lily was going to have to meet this woman. It wasn’t often someone got under Adam’s skin. He was right about being cautious, though. Lily hated Sue. She’d been polite to her because Adam loved her, but the woman had been shallow and self-serving. Thank God Adam had finally seen her for who she really was.

“Well, maybe getting back out there will do you good.”

“I don’t want to get back out there unless you’ve changed your mind and want to run away with me to Mexico.”

Sometimes she wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. It was like he never saw her as anything but his best friend until she started dating Nikoli, and then Adam woke up or something. She’d chosen Nik, though, and didn’t regret her decision one bit. Adam seemed okay with it most of the time.

“You know I just want you to be happy.”

“I know.” He sighed. “But this woman is not going to be the cure to my dating woes.”

“Dating woes?”

“You remember all those girls we went to high school with who are still here? They seem to think I’m the most eligible bachelor in town or something.”

He sort of was. His dad owned the biggest farm in North Carolina, and they made good money. A farm Adam would one day inherit. And now that he was a defensive lineman for a major NFL team, he really was the most eligible bachelor in town. All those women knew it too.

“And you’re not taking advantage of that?”

“No, unlike your future husband, I am not a manwhore.”

“Ex-manwhore,” she reminded him.

He made a noise Lily couldn’t quite describe. “You don’t think so?”

“He loves you, Lily. That much I’m sure of.”

“But?”

“But he spent years chasing anything in a skirt. Areyousure he’s put that behind him?”

“Of course I am, or I wouldn’t be with him.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “I’m only looking out for you, Lils.”

“You have since we were kids, Adam. I wouldn’t expect anything less of you.”

“I’m still here waiting in the wings if you change your mind.”

“I’ll remember that.”

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