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“I’m…not hungry.” The look of longing she gives the cookie says otherwise.
“Jesus, Kin.” I don’t mean to sound so harsh. It’s not her that I’m mad, but she flinches anyway. My heart thunders in my chest. I swear. If I ever see this Anders piece of shit again, I’m going to rearrange his face. I’ve known Kinley all her life. Thisisn’ther. “Sorry,” I say, meaning it. “It’s just, these are your favorite. Normally, you’d have already eaten two.”
“I don’t reallyneedit, though.”
I take a slow pull of my beer, giving myself time to choose my next words carefully. “If you want me to fill in at the diner, you’re eating the cookie.” She starts to object, but I don’t let her get a word out before I deliver my terms. “Actually, you’re eatingthree.” The Kinley I know would happily empty that plate. Lemon drop cookies are her absolute favorite.
“What?”
“I said what I said.” I take my time finishing my beer as she stares at the cookie in her hand. “Kinley, you’re beautiful. Those cookies aren’t going to change that. You know that, right?”
“Um, yeah.”
Though I remain calm on the outside, inside I’m fuming. Kinley Gray is the most confident woman I’ve ever known. She’s never given a damn what anyone had to say about her body or anything else for that matter. It’s in this moment I make a decision that very well might bite me in the ass. Not just about the diner, but about Kinley. “I’ll do it.”
“You will?”
“Can’t let you three destroy a family legacy, can I?”
“Gee thanks.” Finally, she breaks off a piece of lemon drop cookie and pops it in her mouth. If her lips weren’t distracting enough, the moan she lets out at the flavor sure as hell is. My dick twitches. A warning that a few more moans like that are going to cause a scene. “God these are incredible,” she says around a second bite. “Your grandma sure knows how to bake.”
“Actually, that batch is mine.”
“What?” Kinley looks at me, her eyes wide. “Shut up! Since when do you bake?”
“Sweetheart, I have all kinds of secrets you don’t know about.” I reach across the table, using my thumb to wipe away a crumb from the corner of her mouth. A hint of embarrassment flashes in her blue eyes.
I suck the cookie crumb from my thumb, never breaking eye contact. “Mmm. Hint of cherry. Might have to try more of that combination.”
I have one new mission: help Kinley reclaim her confidence. By any means necessary.
CHAPTER5
Kinley
“Since when doyouwear lipstick?” Willow demands, an eyebrow lifted in suspicion. She’s propped against the door jamb, effectively blocking my only exit from this cramped office. The precarious stacks of hand-written ledgers seem to close in on me as her gaze pins me to the rickety chair.
“I wear it all the time—in Anchorage,” I lie, pretending I’m not experiencing a sudden onset of claustrophobia. Willow’s not budging. Her persistent nosiness might sweat the truth right out of me. “Just didn’t have it until Aurora and I went to get the rest of my things.” Damned if I’m going to admit I’m wearing it as a shield.
Last night, I swear Rowan wanted to kiss me. The way he dragged his thumb slowly over the corner of my mouth, his liquid-heat gaze fixated on my lips the entire time. His seductive talk about tasting flavors. It’s not the way you talk to your best friend.
The endless tossing and turning throughout the night, that scene on replay because I was analyzing it over and over, made me realize I just might want to kiss him, too. And where the hell would that leave us? I miss my best friend. These past three years of total radio silence left me feeling broken, like I was missing an arm. Or some other vital part of me.
But kissing him again? Super dangerous idea.
If we’re going to get through these weeks—I refuse to acknowledge it could be months—without Grandma Rose, I can’t go messing it up by kissing Rowan. I can’t risk landing myself in another three-year’s long friendship timeout. I don’t know that I could survive the permanent crack that would leave in my heart.
And, I add, painfully aware that my inner monologue is stretching into the realm of ridiculously long. Never mind the fact that Ijustended a long-term relationship. I have no business using my best friend as a rebound. Even if itdoessound fun. Damn him for getting even bigger muscles. Or maybe they’ve always been big, but until that first kiss, I never noticed. I’m hoping the bright red lipstick will keep him from getting any ideas. It would be too obvious if it went missing from my lips. Or ended up on his.
Besides, my sisters would kill me if I chased off the only help we could get for a hundred miles.
“First time I’ve seen you wear any since we’ve been home,” Willow adds, not buying it. “It’s been two weeks. You carry extra everything in that suitcase you call a purse. You wouldn’t leave your lipstick behind if you wore it every day, Kin. Are you trying to impress—”
“Girls!” Grandma Rose calls in a sing-songy tone from the hall, summoning us. Saving me from Willow. For now. “Hurry, hurry. I don’t have long.”
The three of us pile out into the empty diner, finding Grandma Rose in her Sunday best, hat and gloves included. She’s wearing bright red lipstick too, which makes me smile. Until I notice the older man standing beside her with a lipstick stain on his white collar. I’m immediately assaulted with images I didn’t invite in.
“Grandma Rose, is this your ride to the train station?” Only Aurora could ask that question and make it sound innocent.
