“Yeah, well…” He rubs the back of his neck, looking as dazed as if I just announced I’d found the solution to world peace. “But…” His eyes widen as he takes in the mess. “Jesus. Was she uphere?”
I could lie, but that would be pointless. Besides, I hate lying. Even when it might save my ass. “How the hell do you think the computer got here?” I sweep the pile of baking ingredients into the dust pan, then dump them into the trash can. I’ll clean out the cracks later.
“It’s just…” He looks around the small living area. “Youneverbring women up here.”
“She had to finish setting it up, and it would have been rude to ask her do it in the parking lot.”
He smirks. “Looks like she did more than set up a computer.”
“It’s not like that,” I retort, wetting a dishcloth so I can start on the counters.
“Like what?” he asks innocently.
“Like whatever you’re thinking.”
“That Holly got pissed and threw a bag of flour at you? What did you do to piss her off this time?”
I glance over my shoulder at him. “Who says I was the one to blame?”
“Please. That woman would fuck you in a heartbeat if you’d let her.”
My heart skips a beat, and I turn around to face him. “What did you just say?”
“Come on, bro. You two fight like a couple of barnyard roosters, and for no good reason. You totally want to bone each other.”
Jesus. Was it that obvious to everyone? “Roosters don’t bone each other, you moron.”
He doesn’t look fazed by my insult. “I see what you’re doing, Cole, and I’m not falling for it.”
“No shit. I was hoping you’d help me clean up, and yet there you are, standing on the other side of the room.”
“How’d the flour get spread all over the place?” he asks with a smirk. “You and Holly get in a food fight?”
“What were you sulking about the other day?” I toss at him.
A dark scowl crosses his face. “Fine. I’ll let the Holly Mayberry thing drop. But there’s some serious chemistry between you two. Has been since high school. Before you got with Millie, I figured you were going to ask Holly out.”
I gape at him, the wet dishrag covered in caked flour still in my hand.
“What?”
“Dude,” he says, shaking his head. “I saw the way you looked at her back then. Why didn’t you ever ask her out?”
Truth be told, I think I was intimidated by her. Sure, I was a cocky asshole, but my ego was mostly bluff. Maybe I’d been worried I couldn’t hold my own against the kind of girl who’d won awards for her work in tech before she graduated high school. Besides, I really had believed she’d leave Highland Hills the first chance she got. But there was no way I would ever confess that to Logan.
“Because I wanted Millie. And she gave me the happiest ten years of my life.” My voice breaks, and I clear my throat. “And she gave me Jane. I can’t change anything from the past, and I don’t want to.”
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t bone Holly now.”
“You know I don’t sleep with anyone who lives within a fifty-mile radius.”
“And what a pain in the ass, man. You have to work too hard to get laid. Always blazing through a new pasture.”
I lift a brow. “Did you seriously just call a woman a pasture?”
“No, I called Whistlestop a pasture.” He shakes his head again. “I guess I’m saying it may be time for you to start sleeping with women who live closer to home.” He pauses and turns serious. “And thinking about settling down.”
I laugh. “Maybe you should think about taking your own advice before you shove that shit on me.”
