by Kim Law
Might as well get it over with. His mother would call again tomorrow to check on things anyway. This would give him something to report.
Holly’s adrenaline ramped back up as she took hold of Zack’s warm hand. Time to find his brothers. She led him through the crowd, yet every time someone stared at their clasped hands, the irritation inside her inched up another degree.
She loved Sugar Springs, but sometimes people were simply too judgmental.
There was also the fact that they were making assumptions when they should be minding their own business. They had been told she was here to find a man. She had Zack’s hand in hers, ergo she must want him.
Okay, that wasn’t so much of a stretch. She did want him. Who wouldn’t? He was hot.
And he’d just come to her rescue.
Only, all that marriage talk had drawn the fear of God right across his face. Yep, he was not for her. He didn’t have to tell her that for her to know it.
When the two of them got to Cody and Nick’s quilt, she stopped beside them, and found herself at a sudden loss for words. Crap. She hadn’t really thought this through.
Nick looked up. And then his gaze went to her and Zack’s hands. She turned Zack loose.
“Down in front,” someone shouted out behind them.
With a frustrated sigh, Holly squatted. When Zack didn’t follow her down, she looked up. He was staring at his brothers, his face etched in stone.
She turned back to Nick. Then Cody. Oh yeah, she hadn’t been wrong. They were still mad. Both of them had their gazes locked on Zack, and it wasn’t welcome they were dishing out. The three of them looked like dogs primed for a fight.
Okay, maybe this hadn’t been the best way to reunite the brothers.
“Zack is staying out at the house,” she began, adding a happy lift to her voice. “And I thought—”
Cody’s dark eyes tracked to hers. His anger was clear. “So, what? He’s your best friend now?”
“No,” she stammered.
“Or is he more?”
Fury shot through her. “Of course not. I just offered to—”
“You’re interrupting our night,” Cody bit out. “I think you both should leave.”
Holly’s mouth hung open as she looked at Cody in shock. He’d never been so rude to her. She swallowed her nerves and shifted her gaze to Nick. He was the more sensible one. Were they really just going to push Zack away like that?
The man had come up here to find them.
Nick watched the silent man at her side before turning to Holly. He nodded. “Best go, Hol.”
Pain for Zack filled her.
She knew her friends had been hurt by him, but they were good guys. She hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. Before she could say anything else, Zack was ten feet away, and didn’t look to be stopping anytime soon.
“What’s wrong with you two?” she snapped out at the brothers. “You’re better people than that.”
Then she was gone, racing after Zack as best she could in pumps.
She caught up with him right before he exited the park. “Wait,” she called out.
He paused, then turned his head slowly as if surprised to see her behind him. She expected the people around them to shush her, but no, they merely watched the two of them as if they were the show instead of the movie.
Her breath came in gasps. “You can’t just run out.”
“I can do whatever I want.” He glared. “And I will. I’m leaving.”
She grabbed the back of his shirt when he whirled around. “Take me with you,” she begged.
“Why?”
“I . . .” Her breath came out hard. She’d just wanted to help him.
Instead, she’d caused him pain. As well as his brothers.
“I can’t stay here,” she finally said. “Everyone is watching me, and now I’ve caused a scene. Please,” she pleaded, “I came here with Patrick. I don’t want to wait for the movie to end to leave. You and I are going to the same place. Take me with you.”
He stared hard at her, his nostrils flaring and his jaw locked tight. Then he shook his head and she let out a small groan. But he surprised her when he said, “Get your purse. I’ll pull the car around.”
In a flash, she’d zipped back through the crowd, grabbed her bag, and explained that she had a ride home. She was waiting by the ticket booth when the sexy, silver convertible eased to her side.
When she didn’t immediately get in, the window slid down.
She leaned her head in the opening, feeling like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, only her dress covered her far better. And she wasn’t a hooker. “Any chance you’d let me drive?” she suggested lamely.
Of course there was no chance he’d let her drive. But it sure would make the night end better if she could get behind that wheel.
“Did you want a ride or not?” His tone was not friendly.
“Fine,” she grumbled. She pouted and opened the door. “But you’ll at least put the top down, right?”
Dark eyes cut to hers. “We’re only five minutes from the house.”
“So? That’s five minutes of the wind blowing through my hair.” The man sure was hateful when he’d had his feelings hurt.
They had a stare-off, and when he broke contact and pressed a button on the dash, she didn’t hold back the grin.
“Don’t smile,” he warned. “You didn’t win. I’m just not in the mood to argue over something so trivial.”
But she had won. She’d made him crack.
And they both knew it.
Chapter Six
Holly pointed out the next turn, and as if they’d been taking drives together for years, Zack didn’t protest. He simply took the right. They’d left the park together, and though he’d had every intention of dumping her at the house before he headed out to clear his head—possibly to point his car south and return to Atlanta tonight—he’d made the first turn when she’d softly commanded, “Turn here.”
They’d wound around a couple of curves, made a few more rights, a few lefts, and, if he wasn’t mistaken, they’d been leaving Sugar Springs behind. Only, the last couple of twists seemed as if they were now heading back.
“There,” she said. Her finger pointed out a small opening in the trees. He could barely make it out in the dark.
“That isn’t a road,” he said.
“It’s a road. It’s just not paved.”
“I’ve already had my car fixed once this week. I don’t particularly want to do it again.”
The corners of her mouth tilted up in the glow from the dash, and he darn near wrecked at the sweet expression. Then it occurred to him that she was laughing at him. Again. It seemed to be a habit of hers.
“It was your neighbor’s fault,” he mumbled. He turned where she’d directed.
They both fell silent as he pulled the car to the edge of the riverbank and stopped. The lights of Sugar Springs could be seen off in the distance.
The town was tiny and didn’t emit a great deal of light, but it was clear where the park sat. Equally clear was the movie screen. It was only a rectangular speck from this distance, but if they had powerful binoculars, they could watch it from this very spot.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“The other side of the river from our property.”
She reached over and turned his car off, and both silence and darkness shrouded them. He closed his eyes and listened, and could hear the river down below. It slipped smoothly and continuously over the rocks of the riverbed. The sound reminded him of the water feature his dad had installed in the backyard as a fiftieth anniversary present for his mom.
“What was my neighbor’s fault?” she asked softly beside him.
He opened his eyes and rolled his head on his headrest until he looked at her. She’d slumped down in he
r seat and had her face tilted to the sky. The stars were out and bright. He slumped down as well and took up the same position.
“That I wrecked my car,” he answered.
“How so?”
“I got caught up staring at the . . . ornamentation on the front porch.”
Her throaty laughter hit him in the gut and spread out through his limbs. It cradled him as if he’d pulled a fuzzy glove over his entire body. He enjoyed hearing her laugh. The sound fit her.
She was one of the happiest people he’d ever met. A person like that should have a great laugh.
“Judy has collected washtubs for years,” she explained. “She used to have them stacked in their living room, and the story goes that it was about to cause a divorce. Her husband finally told her, ‘It’s me or the washtubs.’” She chuckled softly again. “Judy informed him that he was mistaken, of course. Said he wasn’t going anywhere. But that she would compromise. If he’d build her a porch.”
“The thing looked like it was about to fall down.”
“My guess is it eventually will. Her husband isn’t much of a do-it-yourselfer.”
That was the truth.
A light flickered on across the river. It wasn’t right against the bank, but close enough that it had to be on Marshall property.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“The main house. The floodlights out back.”
He’d noticed a couple of employees who worked in the afternoons. Probably it was one of them, staying late.
“When are your parents returning?” He didn’t know why he asked. It didn’t matter. But the quiet surrounding them made him want to talk. And he didn’t particularly want to talk about the fact that he’d apparently come to Sugar Springs for no reason.
His brothers didn’t want him in their lives.
“They’ll be back on Sunday.”
“Does that mean she’ll be cooking pancakes for me next week instead of you?”
Easy laughter stroked over him again. “She is a better cook than me.”
“But your pancakes changed my world,” he teased.
In actuality, with a single breakfast that morning, she had changed his world. At least bent it a little. He’d spent so much time running from meeting to meeting, client to client, that it had been years since he’d so much as considered sitting down to start the day. Or having a simple conversation while doing it.
Or discovering the beginnings of a friendship.
He felt her shift on her seat to face him. When she didn’t say anything, he finally glanced her way. There was a soft, understanding look on her face. It made it hard not to lean over and brush his lips across hers. Only brush their lips together.
Which left him with a question.
He didn’t romance women. He didn’t seduce them. It was simple with him. If he and a woman wanted each other, he took her to bed. Yet as he studied the details of Holly’s face, he had the strongest urge to be gentle with her. He found himself wanting her to like him. Wanting her to want him.
He pushed the inane thoughts from his mind. He’d written off “normal” relationships years ago. They didn’t work for him. Yet he couldn’t completely leave it alone just yet. “You’re different than most women.” He spoke quietly.
The twist of her mouth wasn’t a smile. “Tell me about it.”
She turned back to the river and he felt the loss as if the sun had blinked out.
“That’s a good thing,” he told her. When she didn’t reply, he picked up her hand and turned it over in his. Her fingers were soft beneath the slide of his thumb. “Always being the same is boring.”
He thought of the women he dated. Each and every one of them was the same.
Holly closed her eyes. “But being me doesn’t get me noticed.”
He kept the laugh in as he peeked in the dark down to the floorboard. Her shoes were bright red tonight. With sequins. He didn’t know how that couldn’t be noticed. “How do you figure?”
Her face tilted higher toward the sky, and against the backdrop of the blue night, he detected sadness tugging at her features. She should never be sad.
“I’m everyone’s pal.” She grimaced. “Not girlfriend material.”
“Could have fooled me. You had your pick of guys tonight.”
She gave him a droll look. “And how many of them do you suppose were there looking for marriage, as opposed to hoping for a quick roll in the hay?”
He was a man. He knew the answer to that. “But they noticed you.”
“Because someone told them to.”
“That’s not true.”
She snorted. “That’s entirely true. If Ms. Grayson hadn’t run her mouth about what she’d overheard, I could have sat there tonight without a stitch of clothes on, and still not had anyone look at me.”
He would have looked at her. In fact, he wanted to look at her right now. Without a stitch of clothes on.
“Why do you want to get married?” he asked. Focus, he told himself. Do not think of her naked. Do not suggest what she’d just pointed out men too often did.
“I told you why.”
“You told me you’d decided the big city wasn’t for you so you were going to get married.”
“Right.”
Zack squeezed her hand where it still rested in his and her eyes lifted. “That doesn’t make sense,” he whispered. “You should marry because you find the right person. Because you find . . .” he paused, thinking about the past and wondering if he still believed in what he was about to say.
But he knew that deep down, even if he never found it himself, he did.
He wanted to believe in that kind of life.
“Because you find love,” he finished. “You should be living your life until love comes along. Not trying to force it.”
She gave him a strange look. “Wouldn’t expect something so flowery to come from you.”
“Yeah, well.” Neither would he before he’d said it. “My parents set a good example.”
“Yet it’s one you don’t plan to follow?”
He eyed her. “Not everyone is cut out for love. Doesn’t mean I don’t believe it exists.”
Her eyes were still narrowed. “Why aren’t you cut out for it?”
“We’re not talking about me. Why are you looking so hard for it?”
“I’m not. I’m living my life, just like you said.”
“Really? What are you doing, then?” As far as he’d seen, she cooked breakfast in the mornings and had lunch with her friends. “Do you have a career? Are you looking for one? Or is marriage it?”
She went silent, and for a beat he felt bad. He hadn’t meant to come across as judgmental. Not everyone had the need for goals and high expectations. “I’m sor—”
“For your information, my family owns several businesses here in town.” Her words were tight. Filled with hurt. “I help out with whichever one needs me that day. If my parents were in town right now, I’d be spending most days at the diner,” she said. Her voice cracked and she finished by tilting her nose in the air. “That’s career enough for me.”
Only, it didn’t sound like it was. It sounded like something was broken inside of her.
He shouldn’t push. It wasn’t his business. Yet he opened his mouth anyway. “But surely you want more?”
The sadness returned for a brief second before her features once again grew taut. It felt like he was missing something.
Her jaw twitched before she spoke, and then she surprised him by showing no anger.
“Look around, Zack.” Resignation leaked from her. She shook her head. “Sugar Springs isn’t a hotbed of jobs. I could apply to be manager of Sam’s Foodmart, I suppose. I heard Bill will be retiring soon. But how’s that any better than working at the diner?”
“And marriage and babies is b
etter?” He couldn’t seem to stop himself. Because he couldn’t picture her as simply a wife and mother.
Not that there was anything wrong with that. His own mother was a wife and mother. He would swear in court that she’d been born for it. But Holly . . .
It just felt like she was meant for more.
It took a few seconds for her to answer, but she finally nodded. Her gaze held his as she said, “Marriage and babies is what I want.”
He didn’t know whether to believe her or not. But she did look convincing.
“Okay.” He would let it go. Whoever got her would be a lucky man. “Just don’t go for the weird shoe guy.”
“The weird shoe guy was the only one with potential.”
His jaw very nearly fell to his lap. “How do you figure?”
Her eyes rounded. “Hello? He brought me shoes.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “He brought you shoes.”
She smiled just the tiniest amount. It still held a fair amount of sadness, but at least her mood was looking up.
“You’re weird,” he grumbled. “But thanks for your help earlier.”
“My help with what? Pissing off your brothers even more than you managed to do by yourself?”
Yep. That’s about what they’d accomplished. He simply shrugged.
“We’ve got to fix that, you know?” She let out a sad-sounding sigh. “That was not the way tonight was supposed to go.”
“Don’t worry about it. They have each other. They don’t need a third.” He didn’t want to think about the fact that that bothered him way more than it should. “I just dread having to tell my mother that I struck out.”
Finally, she laughed again, and he felt better when her dimple made an appearance.
“Your mother did send you up here, didn’t she?”
He tried to look serious. “I came because I wanted to.”
“Liar.”
Three seconds passed before he lost the straight face. He couldn’t help it; he laughed with her. “My mother threatened to hire someone to club me over the head and haul me up here if I didn’t do it myself.”
Holly’s laughter grew louder, and he found himself leaning slightly over to her side. She drew him in the same way her pancakes made his mouth water. It was nice talking to someone who wasn’t looking to beat him in the courtroom or step on him on their way to the top. She just wanted to enjoy her life.
