Page 7 of Harvest Heat

Right. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “How was your first day?”

“Great. I’m so excited to actually have my own store.”

“Um… I like having a store.” Tessa did a rolling motion with her hand, telling him he could keep going. “Do you like Frostwick Harbor so far?”

Rhys looked pointedly at Tessa when she didn’t answer.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” She nodded and said, “It seems like a great place to live, and everyone is so friendly.”

Rhys wasn’t sure what else to say. “Do I apologize again?”

“You could if you wanted to,” Tessa said.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sure I can do this.”

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “You can. I believe in you.”

“Will you be there, or is Finn going?”

“We’re both going. Agnes essentially told us we had to.”

Rhys rolled his eyes. “I don’t know if I can handle dealing with Agnes and meeting Caleb. Or meeting him again. Oh my God, I was such an idiot this morning.”

“No, you weren’t,” Tessa insisted. “You were right about the machine. He appreciated you pointing it out.”

“He just said that to be nice in the moment. What if he won’t even talk to me? He probably hopes I’ll never come back to his store.”

Tessa grinned. “You’re so wrong about that.”

Rhys didn’t like the look in her eyes. It was one that said she was scheming. “How do you know that? What do you mean?”

“Nothing, just that he’s not like that. He’s very sincere, and he said he wanted a chance to talk to you.”

If that were true, Rhys appreciated it. He despised when people said things they didn’t mean. It was way too confusing.

“Jonah will be there too,” Tessa said. “We’ll all support you.”

“Fine. I’ll see you then.” If he didn’t go, Agnes would likely hunt him down anyway.

Rhys had to force himself to leave his house later than he normally would so he wouldn’t be early to the meeting. He hated the idea of being late, but he didn’t want to get there before at least one of his friends. Thankfully, Jonah was usually early, just like Rhys.

When he stepped into the town hall, he saw that the chairs had been arranged in a circle, the way Agnes preferred them for this type of meeting. Jonah was seated next to Marianne, who worked at the library. Tessa and Finn were standing up front, talking with Agnes. Jonah motioned him over, pointing to the chair on his other side.

He’d just pulled his chair out enough to squeeze between it and Jonah’s when a low, booming voice called out, “Rhys, I want to finally meet you.”

Oh no. It was Caleb. What were the things he was supposed to say? He turned around to greet him, and somehow, his foot caught in the folding chair. He stumbled forward, and then Caleb was there, stopping his fall with a solid wall of muscle.

His big hands wrapped around Rhys’s upper arms, steadying him. For just a second, Rhys melted into him. He smelled so damn good, like coffee and caramel and sitting outside at night. His sweatshirt was soft and worn like he’d owned it forever.

Suddenly, the noises of the room—chairs squeaking, people talking, Agnes’s laugh—came rushing back, and Rhys realized he was in the town hall with all the other business owners. Anyone could see him. He jerked back, and Caleb let him go.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Caleb said.

Rhys felt the heat rush to his face. He was sure it was bright red. “I… um… I need to use the bathroom.” He turned and hurried from the room.

Once he was in the bathroom, he splashed some cold water on his face, but it still burned with shame.

How the hell had he fucked up so badly again? He should have just said something to Caleb like he’d planned, not that he could think of a single thing after falling into his strong, sculpted arms. And now that he’d run, there was no way in hell he was going back out there.