Just Want Somebody to Love (Bella Warren Book 1) (20 page)

“I hear there’s a feud in town.”

She frowned more. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“Between you and another woman?”

She stumbled, but then recovered. “Not a feud.”

Now on to the good stuff. He lifted a shoulder. “I was just warned about her and then not two seconds later, you can take one guess who said you were turning me into a laughing stock.”

She shook her head and made a disgusted sound. “I’m not surprised. We’re not in a feud. We just have a mutual strong dislike for one another.”

He hmm’d. “That sounds like a story.”

She shook her head. “She’s…ah, well, not my friend. Never has been.”

“So, the story is?”

She shrugged. “You’re going to nag until I tell, aren’t you?”

He nudged her in against his side, then relaxed his hold. “You have to tell me. I’m the only one within a hundred miles who doesn’t know the story.”

“You’d be wrong, because I don’t know either.” Her hands finally came out of her pockets and she crossed them under her chest. “I guess, she’s the only one who does. I remember her existing, and then something happened, and from then on, we fought like cats and dogs all through school.”

“Sounds like you’re missing half the story.”

She lifted her shoulder and pushed her hands in her pockets. “Like I said, I remember her existing in school. She had her group of friends and I had mine. I don’t recall any feelings toward her one way or another, just that I didn’t know her all that well.”

“And then.”

“And then.” She tipped her head. “You have to let me tell the whole story before you judge me.”

This was either about to get good or really funny. “I promise.”

“All right. And then she stole all the purple glitter.”

He busted out laughing. “Purple glitter?”

She back-handed him in the stomach. “You promised.”

“I’m sorry.” He rubbed his belly as his chuckles died. “Go on.”

“We were kids in school—maybe like third grade? Second? We were decorating cut out eggs for Easter. Maddy was at my table. We took turns around the table announcing our plans while we waited for supplies. Kara had made hers purple earlier that day and we were BFFs, so naturally, I wanted mine purple too.”

“Naturally.”

She kept going. “Supplies were laid out and we all got busy with glue. I was drawing the design I wanted. The edges and pattern marks were all different colors, and then I planned to fill in the big spots with the purple.”

“But she stole it, that bitch,” he said like a bad actor, winning a smile out of her.

“She stole it.” She emphasized with a nod and firm tone.

“And there were three purple eggs that Easter instead of just two special ones.”

She gave him a side-eye. “You’re early-judging again.”

“I’m sorry.”

“But the drama is well placed. There were only two purple eggs that year. She took the purple glitter and covered her egg two layers thick, using almost all of it.”

“Cold.”

“And what she didn’t use, she scattered on the floor and stepped into the carpet.”

He shook his head and tsked. “Mortal enemies ever since.”

“Pretty much. I don’t know why she hated me to start with, but that was enough to kick start my feelings in return. We competed from that day on and did our best to ruin the other in some way. She was always in every activity I took interest in.”

“Now this just got a little creepy.”

She lifted her shoulder. “Small school. The same handful of active girls did it all. So there were bunny-ear fingers behind heads at Christmas programs, Vaseline on the handle of our bats in softball, whatever on our cars. All that ended when we graduated, but the animosity lives on like a bad tradition.”

They walked past Tasha’s ice cream store and his belly rumbled. “Damn, she’s closed.”

“You want ice cream?”

“That’s what you do on a date, isn’t it?”

“Ice cream it is then.” She pulled keys from her pockets.

He nodded. “Right, you mentioned you fill in for her. She’s not going to mind?”

“By what she told me this afternoon, I doubt it.” She stepped in and he eased in behind her, wanting to know more about what that statement meant. Once inside, she slid the key in the lock and turned it again. “Don’t turn on the lights, though. I don’t want people thinking she’s open.”

“In and out. I can be quick to scoop.”

“Follow me.”

And he did. Helplessly followed her around the end of the ice cream counter.

“Pick what you want.”

He pulled a cone from a stack and stopped in front of the chocolate. “Can’t go wrong with a classic.”

She scooped him a mountain, then moved to the chocolate chip mint and made her own mountain. She dropped the scoop in the sink and tipped her head to follow.

Like he had plans to do anything but that. They stepped through a doorway in a back room with a small table in the middle of it. She sat at the table, and he eased into a chair at her elbow.

A TV was in the corner. Baby things were on one side. Toys pushed against another corner. “Pretty good space back here.”

“Tasha has the kids here after school, so they do their homework and stuff. Plus before long the new baby will be here, and she’ll have her here as often as possible.

“That’s nice.”

He ate his ice cream in comfortable silence. The much needed cold slid down his throat, but didn’t offer the same effect as a cold shower.

Every lick she made on her ice cream stroked the heat pooling within him. The weeks of not having her piled up and ran together like one nonstop, horrific never-ending period of time.

She paused in her eating and her brows rose. “You’ve got that look.”

His throat was tight and he knew it was going to strain his voice. Getting his mouth on hers was the only cure. Have his skin against hers. Clearing his throat did about as much for him as he expected. Which was nothing. “What look?”

She leaned over and tossed the last of her ice cream away. “The one you gave me before we ended up in bed last time.”

He all but groaned. “I hope that’s a good sign of where this night is going.”

She shrugged as she pushed out of her chair. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Kill him now. Just do him in, put him out of his misery. “I can’t think of one reason why it’s not.”

“This time is different.” She eased away from him, and he let her go.

If he touched her even a little, he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to stop. The hesitation in her leaning away put him on ice. This wasn’t just about sex. He needed a relationship here, and if she closed off to sex—something they both knew was explosive and amazing—then he worried about his future with her as well. As much as it killed him to even think it, he pulled sex off the table. As soon as he got his raging hard-on under control, then he could get up from this table too. Good thing it looked like she wanted to talk about feelings. His blood would be cold in a few minutes. “I think we’ve established I’m the same.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m not sure I am. And the situation is different. Before it was just fun and that was it.”

“You don’t think it’ll be fun this time? I do.”

A small laugh escaped her. “I think it’ll be more than fun again, but I also think it’ll be more than just that. It already is.”

“We know each other better this time. I don’t think you have plans to kidnap me either.”

That little laugh grew bigger as she shook her head. “I just don’t know what to do with you.”

That was his cue that he could get up. He hoped. He crossed the room and cupped her shoulders from behind. He kissed the back of her head. “How about what you did last time. Just have a good time.”

“Is that all this is?”

Oh. So many options to that question. It seemed like he played Russian Roulette just by answering. “I can’t decide if you’re hoping I’ll say yes or no.”

She looked up. “That’s the problem. I don’t know which answer I’m more afraid of.”

He rubbed her arms. “I know how you feel.”

She turned in his arms and faced him. “So we agree.”

Yes, it seemed, was the correct answer to say, but then he wasn’t a fan of shooting himself in the foot either. “I agree that we both seem confused on just what in the hell is going on here.”

“And that neither of us knows what to do.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He warmed her. “I know what I’d like to do with you.”

She shook her head. “I think you’re going to cause me a whole lot of trouble.”

“Good or bad kind?”

“Some of both.”

“I never lacked for talent.” He pulled her in against him and pointed at the door to the back. Seemed like a good time to get out of here. Something with this room. All this baby shit couldn’t just let them fall into the natural vibe they were good at. Hard to, when there were reminders of kids, which often equaled family, all over the place. Good sign, because he hoped that meant she wanted that, but it was coming too fast.

It’d be a damned of a lot easier to make her fall for him if that was one of her deepest dark desires. Just not a desire that needed to come out today. “Can we go out that way?”

She nodded and pulled out her key.

Whitney tugged at her hair and tried making sense of the information in front of her. She was pretty sure she accomplished just as much today as the last time.

Exactly zero. All the columns and rows mixed into a mess. Take that back, she couldn’t say she’d done zero things today. She’d deleted the few numbers she’d put in wrong the last time.

Justin was messing up her life. In a good way. Er, maybe? Maybe a bad way too, she couldn’t say. He filled space that had remained unknowingly unoccupied. This problem he created was why she repeated the phrase of no complications during planting season. She had a lot of work and he caused too much of a distraction. There were all his muscles covering his body. And his touch. The soft way he stroked her arms. The ease of his kiss followed by a passionate taking that left her head spinning hours later.

Then, there was still his smile to contend with.
Oooh
. She shuddered. That smile should come with a warning.

She scratched though her hair, trying to wake her head out of the Justin Induced Fog.

Didn’t seem to get her anywhere.

It was different this time. Maybe not for him, but for her. She liked him now. Not that she didn’t like him before. Their chemistry had been off the charts, and that’s all she’d been searching for. Maybe if it was just chemistry on the table, that would have been enough last night to suggest coming over to her place.

But there was more than chemistry this time.

She also respected him. The mere fact he wasn’t a pure ball of hate and anger toward her over the scarecrows? Oh boy. Respect shot through the roof and took her feelings of like with it.

And soon, he’d leave. She’d still be here. Still liking him and still alone. That part didn’t sound so awesome, no matter how cute his jeans fit. No matter how many weekends she could see him after he left, it wouldn’t be every day. That didn’t improve the alone factor.

She breathed out and faced her computer with hopes to get some work done. A light tap on her door saved her. She spun, grateful for the interruption, and found Justin in her doorway.

According to the mud and grass stains on the knees, he wore the jeans he’d planted in the other day. She’d pretty well memorized what he’d looked like in them. The green shirt he wore was new.

Gloves sticking out his front pocket and fresh dirt over his thighs were interesting. Both said he’d been in the fields, and she didn’t know he’d been here.

But there he stood in her doorway. She rubbed over the tops of her thighs. “Hey there. Come in.”

He walked across the floor and sank into a chair. “Been wondering where you were.”

“Right here all morning. I’ve been trying to get some work done.” Failing. Let’s not go there. “Where have you been?”

“Tying up beans with your brother.”

She blinked. “You’ve been out here working?”

His chuckle was low, and his wicked smile tickled all the good parts of her. “Yeah.”

“But…why?”

“Last I heard, that was our agreement. I helped out so you could get more done and have some free time in the evening.”

Her mouth opened and closed, and she searched for words. None came.

“I hope you’re holding up your end and you’ve been busy in here.”

She wanted to reach over and darken the screen of her computer that showed she’d, in fact, done jack shit this morning. Not that he’d know what she accomplished by looking. But still, hiding ones shame was always the better option. “I’m working on it. I wasn’t expecting you to come back.”

He frowned. “Was all that talk about not enough time an excuse to get away from me before? Or to get me to work for you?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not an excuse at all. I don’t think I’ve dated through planting season since I was a teenager because of the amount of work I have to do.”

“Good.” He crossed his leg over the other. “I got to admit, I wasn’t real sure where we stood this morning. I’m still not sure how much about us is real and how much was part of an act to get me out here for some payback.”

She smiled and leaned on her desk. It was comforting knowing she wasn’t the only one in a mental mess. “Yes, I’m busy. Yes, I do need help to see you in the evenings if you want to see me awake.”

“But do you want to see me in the evening?” He pushed at a wrinkle in his jeans. “That’s the big question, and I’m confused after last night.”

“Because we didn’t end up in bed?” She straightened, but his soft chuckles relaxed her.

“No.” He lifted a shoulder. “Okay, yes. I wasn’t sure where we stood. If we had ended up together, then I’d know for sure. But we didn’t.”

“So as long we’re not sleeping together, you’re not sure if we’re a thing.”

“I didn’t say that.”

She eased to the edge of her seat. If she scooted so much as an inch forward, she’d be on the floor. She couldn’t help it. “You kind of did.”

He breathed. “Fine. That’s what I think. It’s comfortable. Sex equals a relationship. People who aren’t having sex are friends or related.”