Tangle (Dogwood Lane 2)

Dane looks at me in a silent apology. All I can do is laugh.

Spending the morning with these two plus Dane’s brother, Matt, has been more than I expected. They’re some of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen, but somehow manage to do it with a spirit of fun you just don’t see when people are working for a living.

Penn claps me on the back. “Ignore Dane. Now that he’s holed up with Neely, he’s kind of boring. If you want to get to know the area intimately, let me know.” He looks at Dane. “There. Did you like that phrasing better?”

Dane walks by, ignoring Penn.

“I love how you’re all politically correct all of a sudden,” Penn calls after him. “You used to be so much fun.”

Dane flips him the bird, making us laugh.

Penn turns to me. “All joking aside, if you’ll be in town long and want to meet some people, I’m your guy. There’s a little get-together tonight at Brittney’s. She’s got a thing for me,” he says, a twinkle in his eye. “But there’ll be some others there.”

“Thanks, man. But I’m gonna have to pass tonight.”

Penn shrugs. “If you change your mind, you know how to find me.”

We step onto the concrete patio in front of the Dogwood Café. Penn switches topics and rattles on about the plumbing subcontractor at the jobsite. I follow along until I see Haley through the window.

She’s sitting at the bar, her back to us. Dane is standing next to her with his hand on the back of her chair. I watch as her shoulders rise and fall, a response to a question I can’t hear. I don’t realize I’m staring until Penn clears his throat.

“What was that?” I ask, pulling my gaze away from Haley.

Penn is watching me with an impish grin. “That one,” he says, nodding toward Haley, “is a handful.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He looks through the glass. “She’s not like most girls around here. I give her hell, but only because she gives it right back. I don’t know what I’d do if she actually gave me the time of day. Probably die with my cock in my hand.”

She throws her head back, laughing at Dane, the ends of her hair brushing against the curve of her hip. She’s even prettier when she’s not trying to one-up me. The thought makes me chuckle.

“She probably knows that and uses it against you,” I point out with a grin of my own.

Penn shrugs, like that explains everything there is to know about Haley. He slips his hands in his pockets as he watches her. “When Mia was born, Dane was all kinds of fucked up. He didn’t know a damn thing about raising a baby. Then Haley came to town and kind of saved him, in a way.”

“Dane seems to respect her,” I say.

“He does. I think we all do. She’s just too good of a girl.” Penn twists his lips. “Even me, with the asshole gene I carry, wouldn’t mess with her.”

I look at him. “You’re telling me that if she wanted to sleep with you, you’d turn her down?” I raise a brow. “You want me to believe that?”

“I don’t want you to believe anything. I’m just telling you how it is. She spits a good game, but it’s fake. On the other side of all that personality is a woman who’s not as mean as she pretends to be.” He runs a hand over his chin. “Damn it if she ain’t gorgeous, though.”

That she is. Sexy, too, even without trying.

He doesn’t wait for a response. He opens the door and holds it for me.

The scent of hamburgers fills the air as I step inside the little restaurant. It’s busier than yesterday, but still not packed by any means. Haley looks over her shoulder as Penn and I approach.

“I don’t think the world can handle the two of you together,” she says. She lets her sight linger on Penn for a long moment before flipping it to me. “Fancy running into you here.”

I take the seat beside her. “Nice jacket.”

“Some random guy let me wear it last night in a parking lot.”

“Some random guy, huh? You must like something about him if you’re wearing his clothes.”

She rests her chin on her hand. “He has a couple of things going for him.”

“I heard that. According to statistics, he’s in the top tier of looks, makes decent money, and has a killer personality.”

A snort rips through the air. “Is this Two Truths and a Lie?”

“No,” I say. “But I am curious which one you’d lie about and say isn’t true.”

She drops her hand and laughs. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“We’ve been at the site and thought we’d come down and grab some lunch.”

I look over my shoulder to see Penn taking a bag from Claire. She hands two bags to Dane before looking at me.