Page 27 of Loving You

I coughed to hide my laugh. “Who are you talking about?”

Her eyes shifted to me and she tsked. “Candace Carrigan. I just ran into her—literally brushed her shoulder by accident, and she snapped at me like I’d tossed her favorite set of china into the trash.”

I took up a post behind the bar and across from her, thankful there were only a few lingering lunch tables and no one close enough to hear her frustration with the bed-and-breakfast owner.

And April’s mother.

“What’s the deal between you two? Why do people still talk about some feud? We’ve always chalked it up to small-town gossip gone wrong, but she really doesn’t seem to like you.”

Her lips thinned. Wrong thing to say to a woman who loved to be liked.

“I’venever done anything to her. And beyond that, I’m not talking about it because it doesn’t deserve another minute of my attention. So, please tell me what delicious new appetizer my brilliant chef son has concocted and then serve it to me immediately so I can drown my frustration in something good and forget aboutthat woman.”

And with that, I did as she asked and tucked away a plan to ask April if she knew her mother’s side of the story. It would be something we could talk about besides whatever weweren’ttalking about that I wouldn’t ask her about.

And even better than that, it’d help me keep my damn mind out of the gutter.

9

APRIL

My phone buzzed on the counter, and I grinned down at the photo of Eric’s Jeep passing the first sensor at the mouth of his long private road.

He’d sent me the instructions to download and log into his security app so I could have the same alerts on my phone that he got on his. It was a small thing, but allowing me to have that piece of control over his domain was a big deal for him I suspected.

And it was big for me, too. It removed the sense that he was my keeper and I wouldn’t be safe from Cliff unless Eric was around to warn me.

I hadn’t said anything about it, but thenboom—an hour after it crossed my mind, full instructions to sign up as a household member on his security app appeared in my inbox.

Like he’d known.

Like he’d felt it through this weird, silent shift in our relationship over the last few weeks.

Last night was more than a shift.

The thought hit me right between my eyes, and I scowled at the box of trendy food truck tacos I’d had delivered for us for dinner.

But frustrating as it was, it was true. When we’d stood there on that dark patio and I’d realized that being close to him—touchinghim—hadn’t made me want to run and hide, something monumental shifted inside me.

For the first time in the five years since I’d left Cliff, I was curious about the feel of a man’s skin. His lips, his body—and yes, even though I’d told Eric not to move, even his hands—on mine.

Yeah, I talked a big game. Everyone knew me as a bit of a free spirit who was always DTF if the guy was hot and the chemistry was right. And all this time, I’d acted like sex was as casual and natural as eating or breathing.

Except… it’d all been a big fat lie.

I hadn’t been with a man since Cliff. Couldn’t stand the thought of groping hands and forceful lips and shattering words that made me feel sick and wrong.

Not every man was like Cliff—obviously. But he’d been so smooth and charming in the beginning that I didn’t want to find out if any other nice guy had that same kind of darkness hiding beneath his smile.

Another alert pinged, and I stopped moving the tacos from the box to a platter to swipe at my phone screen. My heart kicked up as I watched Eric exit his Jeep in the driveway, then make his way to the front door. When he went to punch in the code for the door—because keys weresolast year—I dropped the phone onto the counter and went back to prepping our dinner.

“Oh, hey,” he said when he came in. “What do you have there?”

“Well, you caught me. I planned to get rid of the evidence and make it look like I made you these tacos from scratch, but I guess I’m busted.” I forced a smile, trying to pretend the very sight of him in his button-down shirt and slacks didn’t cause my mind to flash back to the sight of his naked—and very delicious looking—torso from last night.

Oh, yeah, and those arms.

Just saying, if he wore the Walker’s Brewery polo the rest of the brothers wore, the world would likely rejoice at the sight.

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