Page 6 of Bad Boy Crush

With that, she ran inside. Ant refilled his sun tea.

three

Pick up, pick up, pick up, Lou sang in her head as the phone rang.

“Hello?” Lara answered.

“Lara! Hi!” Lou, breathless, had practically sprinted away from Ant to make the phone call. He’d been standing in front of her with sweat dotting his stubbled upper lip, squinting at her through mile-long eyelashes and then drinking down sun tea as his throat moved with each deep swallow. In that moment, he’d reminded her more of a cologne model than a guy she’d known for five years. In short, Ant had looked hot, and that had thrown her way, way off.

“Hey, Lou. How’s your little one?”

Lou explained that the squirrel was doing well, but she was trapped and couldn’t drive out to the sanctuary today. “I’m concerned it won’t live through the night. I hate to ask, but is it possible for you to pick up Thumbelina?”

“You caught me on a good day. I’ll actually be out your way this afternoon. Does that work?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“No problem!” Lara gave Lou tips to keep the squirrel safe and sound in the meantime. Lou ended the call, calmer than before. She’d had an overreaction to Ant, that was all.

How odd.

She couldn’t say she’d never noticed the man was attractive. She had eyes. What she hadn’t had was the luxury of reacting to what she saw. She’d been one-half of Liam and Lou from the start. She’d been taken. Committed. Whatever she’d noticed about Ant in passing had to do just that—pass.

But today was the first time she’d been alone with him for an extended period. She’d been watching him on and off, buzzing through that tree like Thor with a chain saw. And when he’d climbed her patio stairs, sawdust sticking to his skin, she had noticed the way his damp, white T-shirt with the faded Evergreen Cove logo on it clung to his muscular torso. Her reaction had been physical. Her pulse had quickened, and not just in her neck. A single word had flitted through her addled mind: Yummy.

Yummy wasn’t a word she’d allowed herself to think about any male other than Liam in years.

She peeked out of the patio door, holding Thumbelina to her chest. Ant had left his empty iced tea glass on the railing and had returned to the yard. As if he felt her watching, he glanced over his shoulder. She waved. Awkwardly. He smiled, which sent another inappropriate jet of heat through her limbs, and then he fired up the chain saw.

She backed away from the patio door, grateful for the barrier. Every bit of her wanted to stand and stare, but she couldn’t do that. Or at least, she shouldn’t.

Three hours later, she was rinsing out her coffee mug when she spotted Elliott outside with a bag of sandwiches from Reggie’s. Thank God. Lou was starving! She raced out the door and through the side yard, both hands out

“You’re the best,” she told Elli.

“You’re stranded. What kind of friend would I be if I let you wither away?”

“Ant has been working his ass off.” Lou gestured to the driveway, where he was mid-log-haul, dragging a massive tarp to his truck. “He deserves better than peanut butter and jelly, which is about all I have inside. I need to go to Abundance Market this week before I run out of that too.”

Elliott surveyed the piles of branches stacked almost as tall as she was. “He’s been busy.”

“And still has a lot to go.” Lou appreciated the work he’d done but also worried she wouldn’t be able to leave her house tomorrow. And she needed to. She had an interview scheduled with Sofie Pate about a festival in town. A phone interview was out of the question. This was her opportunity to finally see inside the elusive Pate Mansion. She was dying for a peek.

“Hey, Beemer.” Ant offered Elli a chin nod. He’d nicknamed her after her BMW. At Brady’s request, Ant had replaced a flat tire for Elliott when she’d first come to town. Elli had been hesitant to accept, but Lou had reassured her that Ant was trustworthy. Even after all that had happened, Lou still trusted him.

“Lou thought you deserved a wholesome submarine sandwich. She mentioned your ass too, but”—Elli peered around his body—“it seems you haven’t worked it off, after all.”

“Thank you.” Lou snatched the bag and gave Elli a pointed look.

“Mine’s in there too.” Elli grinned. “Your treat. Should we eat on the patio?”

Lou cast a glance at Ant, who seemed to be waiting for her response. They hadn’t eaten lunch together in forever. An awkward silence stretched between them before he offered an almost imperceptible nod.

“I, uh, I’d better eat down here. I stink to high heaven.” His eyes were shadowed beneath the brim of his hat, his smile pure mischief. To Lou, he smelled of sunshine and sawdust, far from “stinking,” but she kept that thought to herself.

Lou slapped a wrapped sandwich and napkin into his broad palm, unable to keep from offering, “Sun tea?”

“’Preciate it.”

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