“Coming to my rescue again, Cade. You’re such a hero,” I deadpanned. Lately, being in this town was like taking a body blow with each step I took. Pretty soon I’d be riddled with bruises.
His smile slipped. “I do what I can.” Bending, he righted the cardboard display and avoided my eyes.
Immediately, I felt bad. “I didn’t mean anything by—”
“Of course you didn’t. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay . . .”
Silently, we made quick work of cleaning up the Doritos while I tried to think of something to say to him or a way to escape this situation without making a bigger ass of myself than I already had.
I spared him a furtive glance from the corner of my eye.
He was unaffected.
Stone-faced.
Probably angry with me too. He knew I hadn’t told the truth about the accident, and he was a cop. I had lied to a cop, just like a criminal would. I was his bad guy du jour—that’s all this was.
We were just two people who used to mean everything to each other, no big deal. Our history filled up this entire stupid town, but those days were long over. He’d moved on and so had I, I guess.
No. I did.
I had moved on.
I moved to New York and built a life there.
And clearly, he would never forgive me for it. Or forget how much I had hurt him when I left.
The deep timbre of his voice interrupted my self-pitying reverie, sending a bolt of startled electricity to my heart. “Maybe we should have lunch? Catch up a little bit?”
My jaw dropped and my eyes shot to his. “The fuck?”
He burst out laughing. “Lunch? You know, the meal you eat between breakfast and dinner?”
“Huh?” My nose wrinkled as I studied his face, searching for the ulterior motive that had to be lurking somewhere beneath the surface of his benign smile.
He gestured to my junk food filled basket on the floor. “Or do you already have lunch plans today?”
“What?” I followed his pointy finger to my basket. “No, those are just writing snacks, for later. Um, you want to have lunch?”
His broad shoulders went up in a shrug along with one eyebrow as he regarded my stunned expression. “I try to eat it every day.”
“With me?”
“Yeah, with you.” He rolled his eyes with a chuckle. “We’re both here in town, right?” I shrugged in answer, still too confused to reply with words. “We should find a way to get along, don’t you think? In case you forgot, Sweetbriar is a small town, Charlotte.”
“Well, being awkward around each other serves no purpose.” I threw a hand out, gesturing to the mess I’d made. “Just look what I did to the Doritos, for eff’s sake.” I knew he wanted to grill me some more and I should say no to lunch. But I was fascinated by the various and sexy ways in which he had changed while I was gone so I hesitated, biting my lip. “Um, okay. We can have lunch together.”
His honey brown eyes crinkled at the corner as he grinned. “Great. Should we meet at Holloway’s?”
I frowned. He knew I never went there when I was in town. His aunt and cousins owned that place and we had avoided each other’s turf ever since the divorce. But he also knew I used to be addicted to their hamburgers, and their tater tots. They made pretty great banana milkshakes too. And their selection of beer was top notch.
And how could I forget the pièce de résistance? We had our first date at Holloway’s, and so many memories—an entire plethora of Cade and Charlotte memories—lived in their back corner booth. Our past Holloway dates together ran the gamut between innocent thirteen-year-olds sharing a milkshake to dinner for newlywed eighteen-year-olds who may or may not have enjoyed a fingerbang beneath the table.
My eyelids narrowed as I tilted up my chin and looked at him from the corner of my eye. This was definitely suspicious behavior, but I was too intrigued to fight my curious instincts and give him the third degree. “Yeah, I guess I can meet you there, probably. What time were you thinking of?” My agreement was hesitant, and he was trying not to laugh, I could tell.
He grinned that sexy, small half-grin that in the past would have led to a make out session or a quick bang up against the wall. But today? Not so much. I cleared my throat and looked away.
He was already stimulating my top five erogenous zones by just standing there doing nothing. I did not need to see that sexy “You’re so cute, Charlotte” smirk smile he always did whenever he found my dorkiness entertaining.
And my heart, gah! That little betrayer had started getting all hectic in my chest every time he got near me.
“Noon?” he suggested with an amused shake of his head.
High noon.
Like a shoot-out or a duel.
I would have to be sure to mentally prepare for his questions.
He planned to ply me with burgers and beer and all the rest of my favorites. If he ordered cheese tots, I would have to kick him in the shin on principle. He wanted to loosen me up and get me to spill my guts, but I was on to him and his sneaky law enforcement ways. Heck, I wrote murder mysteries and that had to count for something, right? At least I hoped so.
Curiosity and his burning hot sex-appeal battled with my good sense as I contemplated lunch with him. Unfortunately, I was weak and horny, not to mention hungry and battling a serious craving for a good burger ever since the mention of Holloway’s a few minutes ago, so I made an inevitable bad choice and agreed to meet him. “I’ll see you at noon, Cade.”
He flicked two fingers out in a wave and headed for the door. “Until then.” He winked and strode for the exit.
“Whatever,” I mumbled under my breath. He really needed to quit winking at me. He’d done it twice today and I could take no more. Winking made me want to do bad, bad things to him, something he was likely well aware of based on the historical fact that every time one of his eyelids dropped down both of my legs usually dropped open.
Quickly, I grabbed the rest of my necessities and made my way to the front of the store to pay for my snacks. I plunked my basket on the counter with a grimace.
Elizabeth started to ring me up. “You’re in trouble, girl.”
I added a few bags of Skittles and a pack of Hubba Bubba to my haul. “You got that right, dude.”
But did I save future Charlotte from pain and confusion and text him to cancel?
Hell to the nope.
Present Charlotte was a bonehead and way too curious to back out.