Don’t play her game, he reminded himself. Don’t let her push you away before you even get a chance to show her how different things can be with you.
Preston: Sounds great. Chinese or Mexican?
He was bringing dinner whether she ate it or not.
Apple: Whatever suits you.
Preston: See you at 9.
“Cancellation?” Elijah called out.
He grinned, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “Not even close.”
*
Preston wasn’t sure if Apple would let him into the building she owned, much less her apartment, after the text exchange. However, both were easily accessed via her buzzing him in.
As she met him in the foyer, she tipped up her chin and narrowed her blue eyes at him. “I thought I said no dinner.”
Preston held up the bags of takeout. “You didn’t say I couldn’t eat, unless you want to deny a hardworking man his dinner...”
“You are so dramatic.” She huffed, then spun around on one heel, marching away. Biting back a smile, he followed to the kitchen, which had a large island with a row of stools at one end.
He let out a whistle. “Nice place.”
“Thank you.” She smiled thinly. “How long do you think you’ll be here?”
Shrugging, he set his bags on the granite countertop. “Long as it takes to eat.”
“Have at it. I’ll be in the living room.”
He caught her by the wrist as she went by. “You invited me over, remember?”
“I said no dinner.”
“So that’s what you’re so ticked off about—I didn’t follow your directions.” He laughed, then laughed harder when she yanked her arm out of his grip. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? I’m not like all the rest.”
“I thought Lawson men were all about worshiping the women they’re interested in,” she said.
“We are, but worshipping you doesn’t require my obedience.”
Her mouth opened, then smashed shut for a couple of seconds as grudging admiration for him shone in her pretty eyes. “Any chance you’ve ordered enough for two?”
Instead of asking her to explain the change of mind, he grinned and said, “I always order enough to feed an army, but if we don’t have enough, I can order more.” He unpacked the bags and set everything out while Apple made drinks and got out silverware.
“We can eat in the living room. I recorded some episodes of Jimmy Fallon that we can watch,” she offered.
“Sounds good to me.” He followed her to the living room and sat down beside her on a white couch that was so soft he almost groaned in pleasure. “I might fall asleep before I finish my food.”
Her gaze fixed on him instead of the TV. “I’m that boring, huh?”
Was she flirting or simply trying to throw him off-balance? “So far, yeah.”
She lifted a brow. “You know where the door is.”
“Or you could up your game. What was it that you said... oh yeah, you’ll break my heart.” He shook his head. “I thought you liked a challenge, Apple.”
“Maybe I’m done playing games.”
He scooted closer to her. “Great. No games. Just truth. You first.”
She cut her eyes at him. “I think the only reason you’re here is so you can brag about sleeping with me.”
“Please, I could claim that without ever stepping foot in your bedroom. We had dinner together, remember?”
“I remember leaving alone,” she said with a sniff.
“Do you really think I’m that kind of guy?” he asked.
“To brag about your conquests—both real and imagined...”
She just had to get a dig in. Yeah, this wasn’t going to end well.
“No, I don’t,” she finished.
Shocked at her answer, he didn’t reply right away. Instead, he concentrated on eating to give him time to think. “Then you believe me when I say I want to get to know you?”
She sighed thickly. “You already know me, Preston. The entire town knows me. I’m a McCoy. One in a long line of women that the citizens of Jessamine hate to love, but love us they do because while we enjoy men, we don’t enjoy men who are otherwise engaged... and I think they’re envious of our position.”
“Envious of having to keep repeating the past?” He shook his head. “I don’t know about that. Lemon bucked tradition, and she seems real happy with Tristan.”
“There’s always an odd one.”
“Harper Bell and Austin seem to be bucking tradition, too.”
“She’s only half McCoy.”
Preston snorted. “So is every McCoy.”
“I don’t understand why you say you want to get to know me. You already know me,” she repeated, as if that would get him to change his mind. “You were a year ahead of me in school. We’ve lived in the same town for thirty years... If you want to sleep with me, then get to it.”
“Get to it?”
She waved a chopstick at him. “Start seducing me.”
“You’re a sure thing?” He cocked his head to one side. “I put the moves on you and, just like that, you’ll say yes?”
Her face turned red. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Say what you mean, then.”
She all but slammed the container of rice and shrimp on the coffee table in front of them. “I’ve been more than clear, Preston.”
“Clear as mud, yup, I’ll agree with that.”
“Oh my gosh. Will you stop? I only agreed to have another date with you because I thought we could have a good time, after which you could be on your way. I didn’t realize we had to pretend to get to know one another, like this is something that could last, before that happened.”
His eyes widened at her impassioned speech. “I’m not pretending with you. I mean what I say. The shy, pretty girl I knew from high school is an outspoken, beautiful woman—a successful one, I might add—and she intrigues me. I’ve been biding my time, waiting for you to get over your aversion to Lawsons or your love of Caleb, but since that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon, I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
“My love of Caleb?” Her top lip curled a little. “I don’t love him. I haven’t loved him for years.”
Those were exactly the words he needed to hear. “And your aversion to Lawsons?”
“I’m only allergic to Lawsons who lie to me.”
“Then you sure as hell won’t regret dating me because I don’t lie.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “If this is your way of making me fall in love with you... it’s tempting.”
His head spun. “Excuse me?”
“I said it’s tempting. You’re tempting, and that’s what bothers me. You claim to be different, to be truthful... but that’s what they all say until they get what they want from me.” The tone of her voice turned sad. Wistful. “Or they get a glimpse of the real me and decide I’m not worth the trouble. Usually, I can see right through them, but you... I can’t see anything except what you’ve shown me.”
“And that is scary.” It wasn’t a question.
“While I’ll admit it’s the height of hypocrisy since I own a newspaper, I don’t like anyone knowing what goes on in my private life. Speculation is fine. Assumption, whatever. But you... everyone knows and likes you. You save lives and are basically this all-around good guy with no baggage. None. For us to be together, to be a couple... I think they’d pity you and be pissed off at me for taking one of the good ones.”
“What about Lemon and Harper?”
“It’s not the same. Tristan broke too many hearts because his belonged to Lemon all along, and Austin moved away, so it wasn’t like anyone around here was pining for him, not even Harper because she didn’t know him until he came home to visit. But you... you’re a different story.”
He leveled his gaze at her. “Are you saying that you don’t think you’re good enough for me?”
“I’m saying the town doesn’t think I’m good
enough for someone like you. McCoy women never marry the good ones from Jessamine. We marry the convenient ones from other towns... or the ones our parents set us up with—men who are willing to take our last name in return for money. Like we’re some kind of prized pig at the state fair.”
She stood, and he swore he could see tears in her eyes. Apple McCoy never cried, never showed any weakness, not even to get her way.
“If you’ll excuse me...”
He jumped to his feet. “No. I won’t excuse you.” He took her hands in his. They were cold and trembling. “If this is the real you confessing this, if this is the Apple who exists under that coat of beautiful armor, I’ll take a chance on her breaking my heart because she’s worth it.”
She flinched at his words, but she didn’t disagree, and hope soared in his chest. Maybe his words were too early in the game. Maybe they shouldn’t be said at all because she was entirely capable of breaking his heart. But he knew she was hurting even when she refused to admit it.
“See, that’s exactly why you’re too good for me to have something long term with.” She kissed his cheek. “But if you’d like to have a fling, I am more than willing. I won’t be ashamed of you either.”
“I don’t want just a fling, Apple.”
The smile she gave him was bitter. “That’s all I’m capable of giving you.”
Reluctantly, he let go of her. Damn it. He didn’t want to leave, and he sure as hell wanted to take her up on her offer. He was a hot-blooded man after all, and she was the woman of his dreams.
“How about we finish eating and then I’ll be on my way... unless you’d like for me to leave now?” A risk, he knew it. “We can have dinner as friends.”
She licked her full lips, leaving them shiny. “I think I’d like having you as a friend.”
He lowered his forehead to hers. “Then that’s what I’ll be.”
Even if it killed him.
Chapter Four
True to his word, Preston was the perfect gentleman while they ate dinner and watched Jimmy Fallon read hashtags replies and interview celebrities. He didn’t try to seduce her and he kept his distance as well, sitting on the opposite side of the sofa.
Apple should have been happy, but she wasn’t. She was miserable... and not only because the perfect man sat so close. No, she was miserable because Preston was the type to make her confess all her secrets without making her feel like a fool, and that made her feel so foolish that she didn’t know what to do.
A strange feeling for a woman who always knew what she wanted and how to make it happen. Twice this feeling of discontentment had rammed into her, and both times had been when she was with Preston. It stood to reason that she should have kicked him out, or at least taken him up on his offer to leave without eating dinner. However, reason had fled her and she’d taken him up on his offer of friendship instead.
Friendship!
She’d never been friends with a man, at least not one her age. Then again, she didn’t exactly endear herself to female friends either, preferring to keep friendships with her cousins and sisters instead.
Until Preston, it didn’t occur to Apple how bereft her life was of people who weren’t McCoys or men who only wanted to sleep with her.
“Thanks for keeping me company,” Preston said he as he began to clean up.
“You’re leaving already?” Crap. She shouldn’t have asked that. It made her sound needy. “I can get that for you since you were kind enough to bring it over.”
“I insist on cleaning since I’m the one who made a mess.”
Apple tried to stop him by gathering everything up faster than he could, but their fingers touched and electricity, the good kind, arced between them, leaving her stunned. This was not good, not good at all.
Flustered, she simply got up and walked to the kitchen, pouring herself another glass of wine.
“I didn’t get to thank you for asking me to eat dinner with you at Sunny Mac’s,” Preston said from behind her. “I’d had a really bad day on the job, and you... you made it better.”
Her forehead creased. “I take it a bad day means someone died.”
He nodded, his blue eyes dark and unreadable. “A little girl. Didn’t get to her in enough time, but she went quickly. If there was something positive... it was that her death was quick. Her parents... they, um, thanked us, even though... we couldn’t do anything.” He cleared his throat. “Surprised you didn’t hear about it.”
“I’m sure Anita reported on it, but I’ve started to back away from being so hands-on,” she said absently, unable to get her mind off the little girl. Her heart pinched and turned itself inside out. Did her parents need anything? Was there a way she could help—without them knowing, of course? As soon as Preston left, she would email Anita and find out. “How do you do it? How do you stay so normal?”
Preston threw his trash away and tossed his beer bottle into the recycling bin. “I’ll let you in on a secret—I’m not normal. Besides, the day death stops getting to me is the day I quit. And the day I’m losing more than I’m saving, I’m done.”
She tilted her head to one side. “Is that your way of saying you’re quitting?”
He nodded. “I’ve been backing off my hours, and I’ve decided to go in a different direction. All that’s left to do is turn in my notice.”
Did that mean he’d leave town? What else was there for him to do here but work as an EMT? She knew he’d devoted his entire adult life, so far, to the job. “That’s good. I’ve been thinking the same thing, actually.”
His brows rose as he leaned against the countertop, muscles bulging underneath his long-sleeved shirt. The lights gave his light-colored hair a halo effect, making him look like an angel had decided to pop down from Heaven to hang out in her kitchen.
A sexy angel, but still an angel.
“Top-secret information or something you can tell a friend?” He grinned. “I’m real good at keeping secrets.”
She couldn’t help but smile back, and she couldn’t help but admire how well he could keep things in balance after sharing such a personal story that truly affected him.
Gosh, he was such a good guy.
The ladies in town would full-on rebel if she were to abandon this friendship nonsense to pursue something lasting.
The natural order of things would be out of whack, and that simply couldn’t happen. The reputation of her family depended on it. She knew how quickly a town could turn on those once considered institutions.
“I’m thinking of buying Evergreen. The owner isn’t interested in staying in the geriatric business.” Plus, the owner was tired of her coming around to check on her friends there.
Preston let out a low whistle. “Damn, girl. You don’t aim low, do you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t see the point of having money that does nothing but satisfies my own wants and needs.”
“Can I quote you on that?” He winked at her.
“You may not. I can’t have it get out that I have altruistic interests,” she began, then stopped as she realized he was only teasing her. “People expect me to act a certain way, and I can’t let them down. Unfeeling goddess is considered a compliment in some cultures.”
Uncrossing his arms, he moved closer to her and took the wineglass, now empty, from her hand. “Don’t say that about yourself. One, you don’t have time for self-pity. Two, if you want people to think you actually care, then show them.”
“Is that your expert opinion?” she asked, her voice sharp. He couldn’t know her that well. Yes, she’d known him forever, but this... this was too much.
“Consider it an observation and some advice. Friends are allowed to do that, right?”
How could he be so reasonable when all she wanted to do was fight with him over seeing into the deepest part of her soul? “I suppose so.”
He tapped her on the nose. “Don’t be so afraid to let that side of you show.”
“Hard to be the boss in a man’s world, if you’re s
oft.”
“Without a woman, a man’s world would be awful.”
“Tell that to the men who try to keep us out of it.”
“You tell me who they are and I’ll go to bat for you.”
Oh, he was good. So good that her heart fluttered. “Looks like you need to take your own advice, Mr. Lawson, and stop pretending to be some good-time guy when underneath you’re a poet.”
His eyes gleamed. “I will if you will.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Challenge accepted.”
*
One week into operation: stop pretending and Apple wanted to tear her hair out. Everyone was avoiding her. They crossed the street when she called out their names. They made up excuses when she did happen to catch them and offer her help.
“You would think I was offering them poison,” she muttered as she pushed open the door to Yates’ Diner and marched inside to the back, to where her lunch date waited for her.
Normally, she wouldn’t care, but then again, she usually wouldn’t be trying so fricking hard to be nice.
Plopping down in the booth, she made a noise of frustration, which only made her lunch date laugh. “My misery is humorous?”
Preston grinned. “I had no idea that showing the softer side of Apple made you miserable.”
“If we weren’t such good friend, I’d—” His grin turned into a sexy smile, making her stop in the middle of her rant.
“You’d what?”
She had no clue. “Something very not nice.”
“Wow. Descriptive words aren’t your friend today.” He snagged the menu from the table and held it out to her. “Want me to read it to you, or can you manage on your own?”
With a roll of her eyes, she snatched the menu from him. “Remind me why I agreed to have lunch with you?”
“Because I’m funny as hell and you like to laugh.”
“At you, absolutely.”
He slammed his hand against his chest. “You wound me.”
Her lips twitched. “Have you considered acting for your next career?”
“No, but I will now.” He posed for her. “Which is my best side for headshots?”
Love So Right (The Lawson Brothers #7) Page 3
