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So, basically, he was fucked.
He glanced at Alexa again and watched her run the eraser of her pencil over her mouth. So damn sexy. She could fondle a stapler and he’d get hard. Christ.
“She means something to me.” Way too much.
Jake studied him for a moment longer, then nodded and tossed back the rest of his drink. “Look, I know what it’s like to think you’re not good enough for someone. It took Nellie a while to prove it to me.” Jake’s smile showed he was taking a trip down memory lane, and from his expression, he wasn’t visiting the clean neighborhoods. “Lex’ll convince you eventually. If yo
u want to be convinced, that is.”
Unsure how to respond, Dillon glanced down at his clothes as Jake ambled away. The guy saw him as the handyman in ragged jeans and a T-shirt, so naturally he assumed Dillon would doubt his attractiveness to an elegant woman like Alexa.
But what if he was right? What if part of the reason he hadn’t yet come clean to Lex was because he wondered himself if Value Hardware—and by extension him—was the greedy, insensitive industrialist she’d accused it of being?
And if so, what the hell was he going to do about it?
“Attention everybody!” Nellie’s voice rang out over the music and Alexa and Jake’s voices. “My best friend has an announcement.”
Dillon’s stomach tensed. Now what?
Alexa beamed and waved a piece of mail that looked like a check. “Along with us kicking ass on the Yancy job—thank you very much—I got the money from the sale of the house today. So you know what that means, right?” She opened a drawer and withdrew a stack of papers. With a flourish, she dumped them in her wire trash basket and took out her lighter. “Time for these suckers to burn, baby, burn. Overdue? Screw you.” She laughed and set the corner of one alight. “Only for a minute, I promise,” she added at Nellie’s anxious expression. “It’ll be the smallest fire ever.”
The environmentalist in him balked at the possible ramifications of starting a blaze, but that didn’t explain the quick seizing of his chest.
She was burning the notices from Cory. From him, even if he’d never known they existed before a couple of weeks ago.
The sound of the flames licking the paper disappeared in a flurry of whoops and laughter, followed by the sound of a cork exploding. “The real stuff this time.” Alexa grinned and poured the bubbly into her glass. “Sorry, Nellie. We’ll celebrate for you.”
He had to get out of there. Even his presence was tainting what should be a joyous occasion, because all he could do was stand in the corner and watch Alexa commemorate what might very well lead to the end of their relationship.
How had he believed he could just tell her the truth when it suited him? His reasons were just that—his reasons. Even if he’d been trying to help. Even if he’d wanted her to succeed so badly that he’d lost sight of what that might mean for them.
Even if he lo—
His phone rang and her gaze shot to him. Her vulnerability and confusion shone in her huge eyes. There were questions there, and the answers he’d been so ready to spill—so fucking sure he’d make it work, because it had to—were also on the verge of going up in smoke.
He glanced at his cell, then strode to her and wrapped her in a brief, tight hug. “Congratulations, baby,” he whispered against her hair, unwilling to let her go. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Me too. Thank you.” She looked up at him and bit her lip. The gulf between them yawned wide, as tangible as the glass of champagne she clutched. “Want a drink?”
“I got a call. I have to go.”
“Oh, okay. But you’ll be back?”
The echo of what she’d said that day in her bathroom gave him another pang, this time square in his gut. “Yeah, I’ll be back,” he said quietly, already stepping away. He slid the incriminating magazine off the counter and held it up. “Mind if I borrow this?”
She frowned, but nodded. “Sure.”
“Thanks. Have fun, Alexa. You earned this.”
As he turned, he glimpsed the papers kindling in the garbage can. Smoke curled in the air, searing his throat.
Then Jake put out the minuscule fire and the flickers of flame went dark.
…
Where the hell was he?
There’d been some sort of weird vibe between her and Dillon when he’d left, but she knew he was thrilled for the progress she’d made. Not only was she starting to have an actual steady stream of business, she could finally pay off Cory just as soon as the money from her house cleared her bank. Everything was falling into place.
