And I believed him. He looked so sincere, and it honestly didn’t surprise me that Brodie would put the worst possible spin on that night if he wanted to keep me and Levi apart. “You’re saying you stayed away from me because you were afraid of my brother? And you couldn’t call and tell me that?”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking truly at a loss. I’d never expected to see him like that, and it wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be. “That part of the story’s not mine to tell, Gentry. Can you trust me when I say I had a good reason…” He shook his head, started again. “I had what I thought was a good reason to stay away. I really was an asshole back then and... I shouldn’t have kissed you. You deserved better.”
I rolled my eyes. “How sweet? Do you say that to all the girls or just me?”
He shook his head, pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m fucking this up.” He lifted his head. “Can I make it up to you? I promise you I’m not that guy anymore.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” I said, because I wasn’t about to get my heart broken by the same guy twice.
He studied my face as though he could find a different answer in my expression. Then he grinned, like he could see the crack in my resolve. “Or, it’s the best idea ever. I can make up for my past wrongs, buy you dinner, and we can see where things go.”
“Things are never going anywhere beyond a tepid friendship.” But I was absolutely lying. I wanted to be won over by him. I wanted him to prove he’d changed.
It all seemed so romantic.
“We’ll see,” he said with that ridiculously addictive, stupid, charming smile. “I can be very convincing when I set my mind to something.” He walked backward away from me like he didn’t want to take his eyes off me. “I’ll get your number from Brodie and be in touch.”
He didn’t call that night or the next. Two days later, I saw him flirting with a woman I didn’t know. He was leaning in, slathering his charm all over her.
She took his phone and typed something into it, definitely her number. She touched his arm in a flirtatious way, and they walked out together.
I should have known he hadn’t changed. Guys like him never do.
There are few things I hate more than players. Charming, vapid men whose only goal in life is finding the next warm body to slide into. The kind of men who never stick around for the hard stuff.
When he finally called the next night. I didn’t answer.
Chapter Two
Levi
Ihave every right to still be pissed at Gentry. She assumes the worst of me and has been nothing but rude since I moved back to town. I apologized for ghosting her. I practically groveled.
But it’s not enough for Gentry. She still looks at me like I’m a piece of dirt stuck to the heel of her shoe.
She took my breath away that day in the drugstore almost two years ago. She was a stranger to me at first, just a woman who worked at the store. I was going to ask her to point me in the right direction for first-aid supplies.
Then she turned around, and I forgot how to breathe for a moment. Gentry Lendew was pretty at nineteen, prettier at twenty, but at twenty-two, she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. That narrow face, with those full lips and hazel eyes that pierce straight to my core every time she glares at me. With her pale, creamy skin and thick, dark hair, she could be a princess from a fairy tale, even if she acts more like the evil witch.
But I didn’t know that when she faced me in that drugstore. All I knew was that none of my promises to myself to hold off on dating until I was fully settled back in Catalpa Creek meant anything anymore. A silly promise wasn’t going to keep me from asking her out again.
Unfortunately, she hates me. And as pissed off as she makes me every time we interact, I’ve only grown to like Gentry more, even from a distance. The way she’s working her ass off for acareer she’s never wanted and taking care of those teenagers like they’re her own, no matter how much shit they throw at her. Gentry’s a fucking superhero.
So, I push her buttons and I flirt when I shouldn’t, because I love the way she melts for all of three seconds before her eyes flash with fury. And because I just can’t help myself.
She’s just so darn flirt-worthy.
But I’m still pissed at her. I’m so tired of her acting like I’m the devil every time we run into each other.
And it seems like there’s nothing I can do to earn her forgiveness or her smile.
I lick my lower lip as I park on her street and can practically taste her lip gloss. I was that close to kissing her in Lazy’s bookstore.
And I saw it in her eyes. She wants me just as much as I want her.
I get out of my truck and glance around to make sure no neighbors are out and about, then I walk, as casually as possible, down the two blocks to Gentry’s house. I hurry across the yard I raked in the middle of the night and stride, like I belong here, around to the side of the house.
The temperature’s supposed to drop below freezing in the next couple of days, and I don’t want Gentry to have to buy a new garden hose. Problem is, everything I’ve done for her so far has been strictly outside, but winterizing her hose requires putting it inside.
