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As much as he loved the benefit, he didn’t regret spending the time with her. It was way too precious.
“I know you don’t have a date for the gala yet,” Julie said, drawing his attention. “Neither do I.” She lowered her voice seductively. “We could be good together, Dillon.”
His gaze shot to Alexa, still occupied with her customer. But she wouldn’t be for long.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. There’s someone else.” Someone he’d finally decided to ask to come with him to the benefit. He didn’t want his stepfather to set him up with some china dish. He wanted—no, he needed Alexa to be at his side.
He just had to come clean first. And hope she didn’t tell him to go to hell.
“I asked around and everyone says you’re not seeing anyone,” Julie said.
He hissed out a breath. What the hell was she doing, running polls about his sex life? “I don’t check in with the town when I sleep with someone.”
She chuckled. “You used to enjoy having everyone see what gorgeous woman was on your arm now. What’s wrong with this one that you need to hide her away?”
“I’m not hiding anything,” he snapped, louder than he’d intended. Remembering Nellie, he glanced up to see her glaring at him.
Fucking fabulous. Could he dig his hole any deeper?
Once he hung up with Julie, he leaned closer to Nellie. “I’m asking Alexa to the Helping Hands benefit. I just haven’t had a chance yet.” If he told her the truth first and she realized he’d only wanted to help her, maybe she’d even want to go with him.
Hell, a guy could dream.
She nodded and firmed her mouth. “Don’t hurt her, Dillon. If you can’t do right by her, just end it now. She cares about you, and she’s way too fragile to deal with anyone’s bullshit.”
“I know.” He shut his eyes. “I’m not going to hurt her,” he said, and prayed it was true.
…
By the time Alexa made it back over to Dillon and Nellie, the happy mood at the table had cooled considerably. Before she could begin to figure out why, Nellie bounced to her feet and claimed she need to pee “something fierce.”
Not about to get in her best friend’s way on that matter, Alexa sat beside Dillon and picked up her abandoned sandwich. Her appetite had deserted her as usual, but she couldn’t deny the sandwich tasted great.
The pensive look on Dillon’s face, however, didn’t go down half as well.
“What’s the matter?” Alexa murmured, almost afraid to ask. Were Nellie and Dillon already not getting along? Everyone and their little doggie loved Nellie. “Problem between you and Nellie?”
“No.” The smile he gave her soothed her concerns. Mostly. “Why would there be?”
“No reason. She just looked a little green when she ran out of here.”
“She is pregnant.” He sounded almost defensive.
“Yeah.” Alexa picked at her sandwich, surprised by her disappointment at the possibility of friction between Dillon and her best friend.
It wasn’t as if she and Dillon were anything serious or even really anything at all. The past week had been fun, sure, but they weren’t long-term material. The guy enjoyed manual labor and got off on spreadsheets, for pity’s sake. They were from different worlds, completely opposite poles. They’d stumbled over some emotional common ground here and there, but that had been accidental. And temporary.
Keep trying to convince yourself.
Suddenly aware that he was staring at her, she blurted, “Where do you fish?”
“There are a couple places, but most often Gillie Lake. East end, near the woods. There’s this pier that’s just big enough for me and a couple of other guys. It’s a quiet spot.”
“Thought you had a problem with eager-beaver morning types.”
“Actually I fish in the afternoon, usually around twilight.” He rubbed his nose against hers until she had no choice but to grin. He had that effect on her way too often. “When it’s a clear night and not too hot, that’s where I go.”
She almost asked what entertained him about getting chewed up by bugs and then carving up an innocent creature when he could get one already cleaned and ready to go at the grocery store, but she bit her tongue. It was far too early in their not-quite-a-relationship to show him her crazy. “That’s nice,” she said instead, pretending not to notice how his lips twitched.
