Entice Me (Austin Singles 2)
Nash laughed. “Yeah, they did. In a crazy way, like only the two of them would. It’s a crazy story. They’re happy though, and that makes all of us happy. It was pretty tough the first few years with them hating on each other. Made the rest of the group feel weird, but we adapted. I think deep down we all knew the two of them would end up together. They were meant to be.”
Tilting my head, I regarded him for a few moments. He must have felt my stare because he gave me a quick look and asked, “What?”
“Are you a romantic, Mr. Barrett?”
Nash grinned. “I like to think so. I believe we each have someone out there our heart is meant to merge with. Someone our soul is waiting on to make it feel whole.”
This didn’t sound like the man who had been burned and vowed never to let another woman in.
Turning my head, I stared out the passenger window as the scenery turned from hills to flat, expansive farm land.
“You don’t agree with me?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.
“I totally agree with you. I guess I haven’t been lucky enough yet to find that person. I asked my mother once how I would know when I found him.”
“What did she say?” Nash asked.
Smiling at the memory, I stared down at my hands twisting on my lap. “She told me everything would simply make sense when I found him. Like the entire world around you would suddenly seem clearer.” A slight chuckle slipped from my lips as her words came back to me. “Like when you’re sitting under a tin roof and the rain is hitting it. After you fall in love that sound is the most beautiful thing you’ll ever hear. Even though I think it’s beautiful now, according to her, it will be even more. Or how during a storm you will swear you can hear his whispered words among the thunder. That even the leaves in the fall will hold a more brilliant color when you’re in love. She said love changes everything.”
My teeth dug into my lip, and I wished I could take back the last few moments of this conversation. I had opened up and poured out all that nonsense. Even though I didn’t think any of it was nonsense.
“Stupid, I know,” I whispered.
“I don’t think it’s stupid.”
Lifting my gaze, our eyes met for a brief moment before Nash focused back on the road.
“Have you ever been in that kind of love?”
Oh. My. Gosh. Why did I ask him that? I already knew the answer. Kaelynn, you are so stupid and a sucker for punishment.
Nash didn’t say a word for a good minute. It was long enough to make me look back out the passenger window and curse myself for being so stupid.
“I thought I was in love with Lily. Thought I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. It took me a long time to figure out that maybe it wasn’t just my heart I thought was broke, but more my pride. She left me because I didn’t make the type of money she made, and that really was a gut punch. I wanted to believe I couldn’t have loved someone so shallow, but deep in my heart I knew all along.”
“Oh, Nash, are you sure it had to do with money?”
He laughed, but it sounded empty and cold. “Trust me, it was. She kept our relationship a secret, and I thought it was because she didn’t want Tucker to find out. She was embarrassed, plain and simple. The first guy to come along with a bigger wallet turned her head, and she ended up sleeping with him and getting pregnant.”
I felt guilty making Nash think I didn’t already know the story.
“I could see why that would hurt you, her cheating on you, and then getting pregnant.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, at the time I felt pretty bitter and pissed off.”
“Time has healed that?”
When he turned and our eyes met, he smiled. “Yes, and other things made me realize it was time to move on.”
Lifting a brow, I asked with a smile, “Oh . . . do tell of these other things.”
His eyes turned dark and I felt a bit of excitement, or maybe it was anticipation, race through my veins.
We both jumped when Nash’s phone rang through the truck.
He hit the button and said, “Hello, yeah, Nash here.”
“Nash, it’s Rip, we have a problem at the Jefferson site. City inspector is here and he is saying we didn’t get the final permit on the plumbing, and we’re set to pour the foundation tomorrow.”