by Liz Talley
“You need to talk to me if you have a problem with my family.”
Tripp turned toward the younger man. “Fine. Have your father apologize to mine for his false allegations, allegations that led to the loss of reputation and income, and I’d like that in writing. A letter to match the one your mother wrote to my parents ten years ago.”
Bear’s mouth twisted. “Well, look at you. Tough man now, ain’t ya?”
Tripp narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, because I’m not someone you can push around anymore. You and your father have bullied everyone in this parish for the past two decades, but I’m not buying what you’re selling.”
“That right?”
Tripp’s attention shifted when he saw Mary Belle through the glass. Her gaze met his, and she angled toward Buddy’s office, her eyes wide and concerned. She pushed past Bear, who looked surprised to see her there, and glanced at Tripp before moving her eyes to Buddy. “What’s going on?”
For a moment none of the men answered.
Mary Belle turned to the man behind her. “Bear?”
Bear slid his small eyes toward her, pinning her with his gaze, reminding Tripp of a bull catching scent of a cow in heat. Big, dumb and dangerous. “Nothing you need to worry about, baby.”
She spun on Tripp. “Tripp?”
“You know I have business with the Rodrigues.”
“Baby, this ain’t got nothing to do with you. Run along and let me handle ol’ Tripp, then I’ll take you to the game tonight.” Bear slapped her on the bottom.
Mary Belle’s mouth opened but no sound came out.
Tripp gave Bear a hard smile. “Now there’s where I might disagree with you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Mary Belle glared at Bear. “I’m not going to the game with you. Are you crazy?”
Tripp laid a hand on her shoulder, which should have been comforting. It wasn’t. “He’s right, Mary B. This has nothing to do with you and me.”
“You and him?” Bear narrowed his eyes at Mary Belle. “What the hell’s he talking about?”
Mary Belle ignored Bear and focused on Tripp. “Don’t worry about Buddy, Tripp. Let the past—”
“The Rodrigues always win, but this time they’re not going to. They lied and manipulated to drive my family from Bonnet Creek,” Tripp said.
Buddy harrumphed. “Your daddy seduced my wife. He might not have slept with her, but the results were the same. Reva wanted to leave me. For Howard. Just because he was nice to her. She made up all kinds of sicknesses so she could go to his office and take off her clothes.” Buddy pressed both hands on his desk blotter, his face florid, spittle dotting the corners of his mouth. Then he lifted a finger and pointed it at Mary Belle. “And you better be careful who you side with, missy. I ain’t calling no one to help you if this is how you repay your friends.”
Mary Belle opened her mouth to tell Buddy Rodrigue he could stick his recommendation where the sun didn’t shine, but Tripp beat her to it.
“Screw you, Buddy. My father did nothing but his job. He was compassionate, and he didn’t deserve to be cast as your competition. You forced Reva to agree to the charges, using Bear and money against her.”
“Get out of my office.”
“Write the apology, make it public and I won’t file a lawsuit.” Tripp picked up a piece of paper from Buddy’s desk and refolded it. “Reva gave us irrefutable proof of libel, but we can settle it like gentlemen if you meet those demands.”
Buddy sank into the chair. “I can’t believe this shit.”
“I want to go back to this ‘us’ thing,” Bear said, stepping toward her. She took a step back before she thought better of it.
“Who I spend time with is none of your business anymore, Bear. By the way, I’d like my phone charger back. I left it in your truck.”
“You’re with Tripp the Drip?” Bear’s words oozed dislike and…jealousy.
“I said that’s none of your business.” Mary Belle glanced at Tripp, who stared at Buddy. The older man looked pretty damned resigned to his fate, and Tripp wasn’t tossing her any lifelines.
Bear shook his head. “No way. We’ve always been a couple. Just because I slept with Karen when I was drunk don’t mean I don’t love you. I’m done with my old life, and I’m ready to build that house we always talked about.”
“I’m not marrying you,” she said, her words louder than she intended, but Jee-zus, Bear had sunk to a new low.
“Well, not now. But I’ve got that ring you picked out,” Bear said, giving her a patronizing smile.
“And you can go f—”
“You picked out a ring with him? When?” Tripp interrupted, his voice low and filled with a mixture of hurt and outrage.
“Last month.” Bear gave him a smug smile.
Damn it. Bear was making it sound as if they were halfway down the aisle. “Well, yeah. But that was before—”
“So you’re engaged? To him?”
“Stop interrupting and let me explain,” she said, almost stomping her foot on the animal-skin rug Buddy kept in front of his desk.
Tripp’s gaze hardened. “I’m beginning to see things clearly. Maybe some things haven’t changed, but there’s one thing that will—Buddy’s going to admit his fault or he will see me in court.”
With one final, hateful look at Buddy, Tripp walked out, leaving her standing next to Bear with her mouth open.
And her heart more than a little cracked.
Chapter Eighteen
Tripp jabbed his sunglasses on his face, hoping like hell they would cover the emotion in his eyes. He wanted to punch the first person he saw.
But the first person he came across was some random old man, so he passed by, fisting his hands around his car keys instead. He punched a button on the fob and his car beeped to life.
Screw Mary Belle.
If she wanted that overgrown ox, she could have him. If she wanted him to forget about the past just so Buddy the asshole would get her some work, then she wasn’t worth a plug nickel. Now he understood why she’d urged him to drop his accusations. She had a stake in it.
Bile burbled in his gut, and he pressed a hand to his stomach as he tried to block out the image of her. And Bear. And a ring.
“Tripp!”
He didn’t turn toward her, though he could feel her bearing down on him.
“Tripp! Stop.”
He didn’t. Instead he opened the car door and slipped inside, mad at himself for leaving the top down.
Her body hit the side of the car. “Why won’t you let me explain?”
Sliding his glasses down his nose, he finally looked at her.
She pulled her hands off the side of the car. “Bear and I have been over for a very long time. Just took me a while to find the self-worth I needed to realize it. And you. You made me feel like I was somebody…special. So now what? That was a lie?”
Tripp cranked the car. “Thing is, this is all so very familiar. You with an excuse. Me looking like an idiot in front of Bear. Listen. I can almost hear the Twilight Zone music.”
Her mouth thinned. “You’re being obtuse.”
“Save the big words for Bear, Mary B. Go suck up to your future father-in-law.”
He shifted into Reverse.
Mary Belle leaned back, crossed her arms and gave him a disgusted glare. “Now who’s the coward?”
Tripp didn’t wait any longer. His head pounded, his heart throbbed and his stomach churned like he’d climbed off a roller coaster. He had to leave or he’d do something he regretted. Like go inside and punch Bear Rodrigue in his big, fat mouth.
Or grab Mary Belle, toss her into his car and spank her ass for making him love her again.
He turned the wheel, shot out of Buddy Rodrigue Motors and headed for Long House, not knowing if he was the smartest man on the planet or the stupidest.
Chapter Nineteen
“Tripp the Drip is fixing to get what’s coming to him,” Mary Belle muttered under her breath as she s
teered Beast down the twisting drive of Long House.
She’d stood in the parking lot of Bear’s daddy’s dealership for exactly four minutes, thirty-two seconds before realizing what had to be done.
Tripp deserved to be knocked in the head with the shovel he’d used to dig up that time capsule, but she wasn’t going to give him that conk of common sense.
Because she owed him something more.
Twelve years ago she’d been too embarrassed to go to the Sadie’s dance with her gawky, ugly-duckling neighbor, so she’d taken the easy way out, made up a lie about her car breaking down and chased after big, dumb and commitment-phobic Bear. She’d been an idiot. But tonight she wasn’t going to chase after a man who didn’t deserve her… She was going to get the man who’d made her fall half in love with him.
Because Mary Belle was tired of waiting for life to happen to her—she was going to make it happen, even if it meant throwing away her career and her dreams of being a journalist.
But, sometimes, dreams changed…especially when the nerd next door grew into a hot dentist with integrity, compassion and a vulnerability that broke her heart.
He walked out the front door just as she put the truck in Park.
“Hey,” she said, thrusting open the door. “Why did you run?”
He crossed his arms across his chest and regarded her in the waning sunlight. “I don’t run.”
“You just did.” She skirted the front of the truck and walked toward the steps.
He didn’t move. Just studied her, hurt still in his eyes. “So you’re coming to me now, huh? Guess Buddy won’t give you his recommendation? And I’m more of a prize now since I lift weights and rake in—”
“Really?” Mary Belle planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You think I’m after you ‘cause you’re pretty and have a fluffy bank account?”
They stood for a moment, each searching the other’s gaze.
“You didn’t tell me you were engaged.”
She held up her left hand and wiggled it. “Do you see a ring? Do you think I lie?”
He arched a brow.
“Are you really that insecure, Tripp?”
He didn’t answer.
“Don’t you think you mean more to me than a damn recommendation to a magazine? I can get my own work. I’m a good writer and I don’t need any of the Rodrigues. Haven’t I shown you how much I want you these past two weeks?”
Tripp arched an eyebrow. “Want and desire don’t translate into anything lasting, Mary B. Sex is—”
“You said we were more, and I believed you. It’s been so long since I liked myself, and with you these past few days, I’ve grown to believe I’m more than what I’ve always been. You’ve encouraged me, treated me like a lady, made me feel special. But now you’re tossing that because…what? Because Bear made you think I didn’t care about you? Because I supposedly have some stake in Buddy Rodrigue? You trust them over me.”
Chapter Twenty
Tripp walked down the steps. “I haven’t trusted Bear since he put a tack on my chair in third grade.”
Mary Belle tried really hard not to cry, but the tears slipped past her determination. “Don’t take what we’ve got and bury it in the backyard again. Don’t—”
His lips came down on hers, and she tasted his uncertainty, but she also tasted the need to be the one she chose.
Mary Belle raised her hand to Tripp’s jaw and broke the kiss. “I’d choose you a million times over any other man. You’ve always been my soul mate, even if I was too stupid to get that. Don’t walk away, Tripp.”
He shook his head, bringing her hand to his lips, brushing it with a soft kiss. “I’m an idiot for letting my insecurities come between us. Part of coming home to Bonnet Creek was coming home to you… I just didn’t know it until I saw you broken down on the side of the road.”
Mary Belle smiled, looking up into eyes she’d looked into a million times before. “You picked me up in more ways than one, Tripp, and I’m not letting you get away again.”
His kiss was all the answer she needed.
Mary Belle wrapped her arms around Tripp the Drip, glad second chances were given to the fool-hearted, and reveled in his taste of forgiveness, hope and promise.
She pulled back and studied him in the dying light. “What about Buddy?”
“He called and said he’d rather settle this like gentlemen, but somehow, it doesn’t seem as important as I once thought.”
She smiled. “So does this mean you’ll be my date for the Bonnet Creek homecoming game?”
Tripp grinned. “Only if you let me drive. You have issues with cars breaking down on purpose.”
“Not when the destination is you.”
“This time.”
Mary Belle nodded. “This time matters most.”
THE END
ISBN: 978-1-472-07510-9
The Nerd Who Loved Me
© 2012 Harlequin Books S.A.
Published in Great Britain in 2014
Harlequin (UK) Limited
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