“I’ll buy you dinner tonight. When’s the last time anyone cleaned these out? You’ve got mud as thick as clay in here.” He sprayed the hose, trying to loosen some of the debris and she yelled.
He glanced down to where she stood in the driveway, realizing all the mud and wet leaves had sprayed in her direction.
“Sorry.”
“How much longer are you going to be up there?”
He gave the house a quick scan. “I have to do the back and the other side.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I thought we were hanging out.”
He smirked. “We are.”
“This isn’t fun. Let’s go do something.”
He glanced down at her, grinning at the way she propped her hands on her hips. She was as potent and unpredictable as a powder keg—yet damn irresistible. The way sparks flew between them, he knew this could blow up in his face at any moment, but he also knew he’d give his arms and legs just to be near her.
He peeled off his gloves and stuffed them in his back pocket. “Watch out.” When she moved a few steps back, he dropped the hose to the blacktop and climbed down. He waited all night to have her in arm’s reach again, and he wasn’t going to waste any time.
Crossing the driveway, he closed the distance between them and caught her chin, tipping up her face, and leaned in but she turned away.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
He paused and frowned. “Kissing you.”
“Um…” She side stepped out of his grip and wrung her hands. “Ryan, I told you last night, nothing’s changed.”
He frowned. “And I told you everything’s changed. And then you asked me out.”
“I asked you to hang out. As friends.” Apology flashed in her eyes. “I … thought you understood.”
His arm dropped to his side and he took a step back. “Maggie, what is this? What am I to you?”
His mind spun, replaying the events of last night. She let him hold her hand and comfort her. He kissed her fingers. He told her he was falling in love with her. Then she came back and knocked on his door. Technically, she only mentioned a movie. But he assumed…
He was such an idiot.
Her brow pinched as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry if I misled you. I didn’t mean to confuse things, I swear. I care about you—”
“As a friend?”
“Well, yeah.”
He laughed without humor. “This is just great.”
His mind suddenly reminded him of all the facts he conveniently ignored. She’d had a lot to drink last night. She’d clearly argued with her family. She’d been caught off guard by seeing him with another woman. And she’d been distraught when he picked her up at the cemetery. All arrows pointed to needing a friend, yet he’d misinterpreted her words as a green light to something more.
This was why he was single. “I’m an idiot.” He raked his hand through his hair and turned his back to her, embarrassed and rethinking his entire existence.
“Stop. It’s my fault. I should have been more clear.”
He pivoted to face her, figuring if he was gonna go down in flames he might as well get out what he needed to say. “And what do you want, Maggie? Is there any part of you that wants me? Because I’m losing my mind wanting you.”
She took a step back, her eyes blinking and her mouth moving before she’d formed an answer. “I care about you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what I said. You’re my friend. I like hanging out with you. I hated not talking to you, and I want to go back to the way things were before.”
“Before, we were dating.”
“Were we?” She shook her head and her jaw trembled. “I tried, Ryan, but I can’t date you. You saw what it was like. There are certain things I just can’t… I’m broken.”
“You’re not broken, Maggie.”
She was her own worst enemy. She said these things and in her mind they became true, but they had dated and it worked. She just spooked when things moved a little too fast.
“You can move on without erasing him.”
“No, I can’t. We can’t do this.”
“Why not?” he snapped.
“Well, for one, you have a girlfriend!”
He ground his teeth. “She’s not my girlfriend. We went on two dates.”
“Does she know that? Before you left last night, did you tell her you were going after me?”
No, he’d lied and said he got a text from a cousin, and he needed to go help his family out in a pinch.
Maggie glared at him. “Like it or not, Ryan, that woman thinks you’re in a relationship with her.”
“We never defined anything. You’re making way more out of her than she deserves. And you’re using some chick I barely know as an excuse for something totally unrelated. This is about us—you and me.” Their feelings had as much to do with Willow as they had to do with Nash. “Try to take everyone else out of it for a minute and admit how you feel.”