Page 23 of Holding You
“No,” I say quickly, sorting through the containers of strawberries for a good batch. “If I pay them off, they will know I got the money somewhere else and start asking questions.”
“Well, at that point, you’ll have paid them off and it won’t matter.”
Valid, but not the point.
“I need to do it myself, okay? Letting you pay it off would just prove them right after all these years.”
“Ruby,” he says in a soft tone. “They don’t?—”
“They do,” I cut him off.
The first night I was in Boston, I’d heard Colt fighting over me with his parents. They told him that I’d trapped him for his money. I was the youngest gold digger they’d ever met.
It seems I had that reputation going for me no matter where I was.
Lucky me.
“I’ll have Max call you tonight,” I change the subject quickly.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to you later, Ruby.”
“Bye.”
I hang up and drop my phone back into my purse.
When I turn the corner, my cart bumps into another. I freeze.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t … Declan. I thought you went to the lake with my brothers.”
My gaze immediately falls to where his T-shirt hugs his biceps. But I catch myself before I check him out too much, and pull my cart back.
“Hudson offered a few hours free of Susie to get some things done, and I took it.”
I cross my arms. “Same here.”
“And yet we both end up doing the most riveting thing. Grocery shopping. We may as well have just driven together.”
I scoff and head in the opposite direction.
“Come on, Ruby, admit you secretly like me.”
His voice has a deeper tone right now. It always does when the kids aren’t around.
Probably best, since the way he says my name in this tone makes my nipples harden and I’m not proud of it.
Not one bit.
“I do not.”
“As a friend, at least.”
I pause and turn to him. “You are friends with my brothers— that’s it. I just deal with it like a mature adult would.”
His head volleys.
“Well, I wouldn't say?—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
