Perfect Bastard (Mason Creek)

After I got my pants up, I found her standing there, sort of bouncing foot to foot as she had to fight herself from leaving.

I slid my phone over to her. “Add your number and we’ll go out,” I declared.

She visibly swallowed but reach for the phone. While she did that, I pulled out saran wrap and covered a plate of pancakes. “I’m not the best cook. Breakfast is my specialty,” I said, with a smile. When she looked confused, I added, “You’re running late. I don’t want you not to eat because of me.” Then I took the tablet from a drawer, having imagined this very scenario when I got up this morning.

When I gave it to her, she said with a softness she’d never blessed me with, “Avery Bean. That’s my name.”

“Avery Bean,” I said, testing it out. “I’ll call you.” She smiled. “There it is. I hoped I could coax it out of you.”

She sobered and drew the tablet to her chest. “Don’t disappoint me, Nate Bowmen.”

There was a story there as her expression was deadly serious. Who had hurt her in her life? Then again, those damn headlines of mine had scared her up until now.

“Give me a chance and I won’t.”

I stood in the doorway when she left, as was our custom. This time she hadn’t run. I’d been the one to catch up with her to give her the pancakes she’d almost left.

Then I took it a step forward and gave her a parting kiss. She graced me with another smile before leaving.

If I wasn’t careful, I’d fall hard for her. Or was it too late? Had I already taken the first step off the cliff? I’d never cared before what a woman’s last name was. Now I knew hers and wanted to know more.

I could only hope the media wouldn’t scare her away.

EIGHTEEN

Avery

If I wasn’t careful, I would fall for Nate Bowmen. He’d surprised me in a million ways. Was he for real or just that smooth?

I drove straight to the shop, where I was greeted by my pissed-off father. “Office. Now.”

I didn’t think my father had a tracker on my car. Had he seen the invoice for the tow I’d done for Nate last night? Not wanting to argue in front of the staff, I hung my head and marched to the office.

The door didn’t slam, but there was definitely force behind its closure. “Someone came looking for you this morning,” he said, with his arms folded in that I’m disappointed in you posture.

Confusion was my first reaction. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Someone wanting to find out if Avery Bean was the woman in the video with Nate Bowmen.”

Oh, crap. “What did you say?”

His glare was piercing, and I might have shrunk a little into myself as the weight of everything hit. “What do you think I said? I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then she pulled out a grainy photo of you next to your Jeep.”

Holy hell. “Dad—”

He held up a hand. “I don’t want this place to turn into a circus. You should take the day off. They likely know where we live. Hell, someone is probably following you already, given that picture.”

What was it with crazy fangirls? Because that was likely it—someone who fancied herself Nate’s next love was determined to out the woman he was with. And was that what this was? We’d hooked up. We hadn’t even gone on a date. Yet someone was at my job.

Tongue in cheek, I said, “Yeah. Okay.”

With that, I left. Part of me wanted to go back to Nate’s to hide out. I couldn’t do that because whoever this was knew my car. If I were them, I would have waited somewhere near the shop for me to show up. So much for going to the pharmacy. If I picked up a morning-after pill, that would end up on TMZ for sure. For all I knew, it was one of their reporters stalking me.

I got in my car ready to go to Haley’s, but I couldn’t do that to her either. So I went home, locked myself inside, warmed up the pancakes Nate had made for me and slathered them in butter and drenched them in syrup.

That was when I felt stupid for not sending myself a text from Nate’s phone. He had my number, but I didn’t have his. I couldn’t warn him that they’d found me. I couldn’t tell him I couldn’t get a morning-after pill.

When I was stuffed and felt sick to my stomach, I got one of those ovulation apps. I plugged in my last few menstrual cycle dates. Then I breathed a sigh of relief as it said that I was just past my ovulation date. There was no chance I had gotten pregnant.