by Kaylea Cross
“No, I’m good.” The stiffness and soreness was much better now, and Curt had delivered his truck home last night, looking good as new. “What did you say?”
“I asked if you were still coming to the festival with me. Because I’m starving, and if I don’t eat something in the next hour, I might die.”
If he didn’t get out of here and do something more exciting for a while, he might die too. “Well, we can’t have that.” He shut off his computer and closed the file folder sitting on his desk. “Where do you want to go?”
“Mini donuts for sure. But I was thinking Poultrygeist first. We can grab food to go and eat it in the park where the festival’s set up. I promised Nina I’d meet her.”
His pulse jumped at the thought of seeing her again, which was damn annoying. “Sure.”
She narrowed her eyes a bit. “You hesitated.”
“No I didn’t. I’ll invite Mason too.”
Her expression tensed ever so slightly. If he hadn’t known her so well, he would have missed it. “Fine. Let’s go.”
It only took two minutes for him to drive into town, but everything was packed. They wound up parking in front of Poultrygeist, situated in a two-story brick building right in the center of the main strip of downtown Rifle Creek. They specialized in chicken of all sorts, but it was their fried chicken they were famous for.
“I’ll go grab us some takeout if you wanna stake out a spot for us in the park,” Avery said.
“Sure. By the way, I took Curt over to introduce him to Mrs. Engleman last night after he brought my truck home,” Tate said.
“Really? How’d that go?”
“It was awkward. Civil, though. Curt was on his best behavior.”
“I’ll bet he was.”
“At least they’ve officially met. Can’t hurt, right?”
“Let’s hope not.” She got out and headed into the restaurant while Tate walked to the park one block over, the warm air carrying the scent of cinnamon and deep-fried goodness from the mini donut stand and the kettle corn vendor. There were already lineups at both, as well as the lemonade stand run by two kids and their moms.
The park was filled with families. Looked like half the town had turned out to enjoy the sunshine and festivities. Various carnival game booths were set up, with street performers playing music or performing magic tricks. Tate chose a spot in the shade of a big aspen and spread out a blanket beneath it.
His whole body tensed when Nina breezed up a minute later. She was wearing another little sundress that left her lightly bronzed arms and calves bare. This one was deep blue and flowed over her curves, and her sunny smile when she spotted them hit him straight in the chest like a simunition round.
“Hey,” she said with a bright smile, her sweet scent carrying to him.
He stood. “Hi. Have a good first day of classes?” He’d checked on Rylee earlier. She said her day had gone well, and that her roommate was nice, but more outgoing than her.
“Great.” She glanced around, taking in the ambiance of the festival with obvious pleasure. “This is so neat. Where’s Avery?”
“Getting us some fried chicken.”
“I love the name of the restaurant. Is there a story behind it?”
“Yeah. They serve great chicken, and it’s supposedly haunted.” His tone was bland.
Her eyes widened a little. “No way. How many ghosts are there in this town?”
“A lot,” Avery said with a laugh as she came up behind them. “Draws the tourists.”
“And the gullible,” Tate added. He was saved from making another smartass remark when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and read the message. “Mase can’t join us. He’s across town hiking with Ric.”
“Well, more chicken for us,” Nina said.
While she accepted her box of fried chicken from Avery, Tate studied her. She was gorgeous, but he couldn’t figure her out. Or the pull he felt to her. Hot and nice as she was, she wasn’t his type. At all.
She was an academic and an astrophysicist looking for romance. He was a cop who didn’t believe in romance anymore. Didn’t seem to matter, though, because in spite of all that, he was drawn to her anyway.
Nina focused those intelligent brown eyes on him, and he swore for a moment he was being drawn into them. “Your niece is in my first-year astronomy class, by the way.”
“She is?” That was news to him.
“Yes. She seems very quiet and studious so far.”
He liked the idea of Rylee in Nina’s class, listening to her lectures, learning from her. He’d love to see Nina teach. He’d bet she would light up the classroom with her enthusiasm. “She’s a great kid.”
“I told her I’d met you, and that I’d just moved in with Avery. She seemed to think that was pretty great. I offered to show her some things with my telescope next time she comes back here for a visit. You’d be welcome too, of course. Maybe I could teach you a thing or two.”
He couldn’t quite smother a grin. “Maybe you could.” And then he could teach her a few things of his own.
Things that would make her moan and twist beneath his body and mouth. Because if she brought half the enthusiasm to sex that she seemed to bring to everything else, it would be one hell of a memorable night. But he couldn’t hook up with his partner’s roommate. And he wasn’t ready to put himself out there again, no matter how interested he was.
“Anything new on the dating front?” Avery asked as they sat on the blanket together and began eating.
Nina half-smiled and lowered her gaze to her lap. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”
Tate hid a frown as Avery gasped. “What? Tell, tell,” Avery demanded.
“It’s the accountant from the other week. I thought our first date was kind of a bust because he didn’t really seem that into me, but apparently I was wrong.”
For some reason Tate didn’t like hearing that she was going out on a second date, let alone with a guy who hadn’t seemed into her the first time. “Were you into him?” he asked before he could stop himself.
“He was nice. I didn’t get a bad vibe from him, so I thought another date was in order to see how things go.”
“Was he romantic?” Okay, that had just slipped out. But after everything he’d learned about Nina so far, that had to be an important point to her.
Her soft laugh didn’t bode well. “Well, he did buy me flowers.”
“Do you want flowers?” He was curious as to what kind of romance she wanted. Couldn’t be flowers. Too superficial for someone with such deep and dreamy ideals.
“It’s the thought behind a gesture that matters to me.” She shrugged, her long brown hair rippling over her shoulder. “I guess I’m kind of old fashioned that way. I just like knowing a guy is trying. That I matter enough to him to put in the effort. You know what I mean?”
Yeah, he did know. Effort definitely mattered, and so did little things like flowers if they were important to your partner. But he also knew how it felt to be on the other side of that equation, and to never measure up no matter what he did.
“And what about the chemistry?” Avery asked, looking skeptical. “Is it there?”
Nina frowned as she thought about it.
“So, no,” Tate said with a stab of triumph. Both women looked at him questioningly and he hid his reaction with an easy shrug. “If you’d felt it, you wouldn’t have to think about it.”
Her lips curved upward, and he noticed the bottom one was a little fuller than the top. He imagined kissing the top one, then the lower. Sucking on it gently. “I guess so. Sometimes that can grow over time, though.”
No way. Chemistry is either there or it isn’t.
He bit the words back. He’d already said too much as it was. If he said much more, he’d make it obvious that he was into her. He didn’t want that, especially in front of Avery.
“Anyway, it’s just dinner,” she finished, and picked up her drink.
Tate watched the way those pretty pi
nk lips closed around the straw, thinking of what they’d feel like wrapped around a part of him. But when he thought of her going out with another guy she wasn’t really attracted to, it annoyed the shit out of him.
Also, she was dead wrong about romance mattering so much. When it came down to it, flowers and grand gestures didn’t mean shit in a relationship compared to the rest of it.
What truly mattered was commitment, loyalty, and respect. A commitment between two people who loved each other enough to work through whatever life threw at them.
Because when those things were missing, all the hearts and flowers in the world couldn’t fix it.
It hadn’t mattered what he’d said or done, Erica had always wanted more, or something different. Eventually it had felt like she’d never trusted him. He’d always had to prove his love for her, and getting nothing back in return.
He’d mistakenly thought her deeply-buried insecurities about him leaving her would diminish over time, once she’d seen that he was committed to sticking it out. But it hadn’t, and it had been an exhausting experience.
Not that he thought Nina was the same as Erica. They were totally different in almost every way. It was just that Nina’s views on relationships hit his hot buttons.
He expelled a breath and finished his chicken, ordering himself to calm down and get over himself. Nina was a grown woman, and she could date whoever she wanted. Even if the asshole didn’t appreciate her. Or deserve her.
His hackles rose at the thought.
The meal passed quickly as Avery and Nina chatted. Tate didn’t say much, only answering when spoken to, otherwise not offering his opinion. It was hard not to stare at Nina. She was gorgeous, but that wasn’t why.
She had a special kind of charisma. A genuine inner warmth, and an infectious sense of enthusiasm and joy in everything she did. Being around her made him realize just how cold and empty he’d started to feel inside.
Nina set her box down and wiped her hands. “You guys wanna play some of the games?”
Tate and Avery both made identical faces.
Nina laughed. “Oh, come on. It’s my first time at the festival, I have to play some games.” She popped up and grabbed their hands. “Come on. Up.”
Tate shared a look of dread with Avery and suppressed a groan as he got to his feet. “What kind of games?” he asked.
“I dunno, let’s go see.” Nina tugged them after her. She stopped in front of a row of tables set out, each one hosting a different activity or game to raise money for various charities around town. “Trivia! I love trivia.” She glanced at them. “You guys in?”
When they didn’t answer right away Nina turned back to the woman running the table and handed her some money. “All three of us are in.” She wrote their names down on the list. “When does it start?”
“You just fill out this sheet as a team and turn it back in,” the woman told her. “And no cheating. You can’t look stuff up on your phone. We’ll announce the winner in an hour.”
Nina took the sheet and moved to the next table where a huge glass jar of marbles was on display. “Oh, math, yes,” she said almost to herself, throwing down some money and grabbing a pencil from the little basket.
Avery groaned. “I’m gonna get some donuts.”
Nina hummed in reply and glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes bright with excitement. “You wanna have a guess?”
He couldn’t say no to that face, and he didn’t want to seem like a killjoy. “Sure.”
She handed a pencil and slip of paper to him, then immediately began studying the jar, mumbling to herself about volume of cylinders and spheres. Pi and radiuses.
Tate examined the jar, made his best stab at a calculation, and jotted down his number. Nina was still writing down precise math equations on hers, her lips moving as she worked. She filled the front of the page, flipped it over, and nearly filled that side too before finally coming to her answer.
She wrote it down and turned to glance at Tate’s. “What did you get?”
He pulled the paper to his chest and turned away so she couldn’t see it. “Never you mind.”
She grinned. “Fine. Be that way.” They slid their answers into the slot in the top of the box, then Tate followed her down the sidewalk to where Avery was still in line for the donuts.
He spotted a shooting gallery set up down the row of carnival games. Finally, something he was good at. “Can you shoot?” he asked Nina.
She frowned, watching the people at the shooting gallery. “No, but I’ll try.”
Good enough for him. “Let’s go.” He started toward it.
He set a ten-dollar bill on the counter and handed her a BB gun. She looked at it uncertainly. “It’s already loaded for you. Just aim and pull the trigger,” he told her.
She edged up to the counter, put the stock to her shoulder and leaned down on one elbow. Tate eyed her rear and shapely legs, only dragging his gaze back up once she started firing. She missed every shot except two, which pinged off the background.
“Shoot,” she muttered, straightening. “I suck.”
He grinned. “It’s your first time.”
“Let’s see you do it.”
Tate picked up his weapon, positioned himself a few yards back from the counter, and got ready. As soon as the kid manning the gallery started the mechanism, the targets began popping up. Tate missed the first one, immediately adjusted his aim, and began firing in rapid succession. He hit all but the second-to-last one.
Lowering the gun, he looked at Nina. Her mouth was open. “Wow.”
He laughed. “I’ve had a little more practice than you.”
The kid manning the booth pointed at the row of stuffed animals hanging from the awning. “Any one you like.”
Tate raised an eyebrow at Nina. “You pick.”
She brightened. “Okay, I’ll pick one for Rylee.” She studied the prizes, then pointed to a big, brown teddy bear with floppy ears. “That one.” The kid handed it to her. She hugged it to her chest, so damn adorable Tate couldn’t help but smile. “He’s so squishy.”
Avery walked up chewing on a donut, and held out the bag to Tate to help himself. “You won that?” she said to Nina in surprise.
“No, Tate did. It’s for Rylee.” She snuck a donut, then tucked the bear under her arm and dusted off her hands. “Okay, trivia time.”
She took the folded paper from her purse and clicked on the end of her pen. “First question. When was Rifle Creek founded?” She looked at them.
“1881,” Tate answered.
She wrote it down. “Who was the founding father?”
“Cornelius Davenport.”
Her pen moved on the page. “What kind of rock is Rifle Creek built on?”
Tate glanced at Avery. “I dunno. Probably granite.”
“Okay, so, igneous.” She wrote that down.
They wound up answering all the questions but one, and finally guessed at it. Tate had known Nina was smart, but seeing her mind work with the marbles and trivia made him admire her even more.
She turned in their answers and stopped to buy them all lemonades on the way back. “Cheers, guys,” she said, toasting them with her plastic cup.
Before he knew it, the hour was up, and the mayor took the microphone on the little stage to announce the winners. They won the trivia, and Nina won the marble count. She went up to collect their prizes, and returned with a triumphant smile, carrying a huge bag of kettle corn and a bottle of wine. “Score!”
A surge of longing swept through him. Tate shook it off. He needed to go and do something to occupy himself and not think about her for a while. She’d taken up too much of his headspace over the past couple days as it was.
He glanced at his watch. “I should get going.” Avery would drive back with her.
“Oh, but aren’t you going to have any kettle corn?” Nina asked.
“No, I’m good.”
“Okay.” She handed him the bear. “Thanks for coming.”
It was still warm from being held against her body. “You’re welcome.” It came out gruffer than he’d intended, but he was way too wrapped up in her and annoyed about it.
He walked the ladies to Nina’s car. Nina was directly in front of him, giving him a perfect view of the way her hips swayed in her dress and her gorgeous, bare calves flexed with each stride.
Her scent trailed back to him, something fruity and light designed to torture a man with fantasies of burying his face in her hair and neck just to breathe it in deeper.
“Thanks again for dinner,” Tate said to Avery.
“Yes, thanks again,” Nina echoed, then flashed him a smile that had him squeezing his fingers into his palms to keep from reaching out to stop her from leaving. Talk some sense into her about this guy she was planning to go on another date with. For her own sake.
“No problem,” he said instead. “Have a good night.”
“You too.”
It felt wrong to just let her go, turn away from her and head for his truck. He sat behind the wheel while she drove off with Avery, both of them laughing at something as they did.
Tate felt strangely empty inside all of a sudden. Alone.
He turned out of the parking lot and started for home, in the opposite direction of Avery’s place. In his rearview he watched Nina’s taillights disappear around the corner behind him, a sense of urgency growing inside him.
He hit the brakes without thinking, stopping there in the middle of the street. Seconds passed, the sense of urgency expanding in his chest until it ached.
“No, dammit,” he muttered, and cranked the wheel around.
He turned the truck and drove after Nina. He had no plan, wasn’t even sure what the fuck he was doing or going to say, just that he couldn’t let her go out with some asshole who didn’t deserve her time.
She was already out of her vehicle and around the corner of the house just as he pulled up in front. If Avery saw him parked there, she’d wonder why he was here, but he didn’t care.
He got out and strode along the brick path that led around back to Nina’s suite. Without giving himself time to second-guess what he was doing, he rapped on her door.
