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My eyes widen, my hand instantly falls from her throat, and I stare at her. “Charley’s place?” I ask.
“You know Charley?” she asks, then, before I can say anything, she starts to murmur, “Of course, you know Charley. You biker men all know one another.”
“Babe?” I call out, my anger instantly vanishing as I chuckle. Her brows are furrowed together, and she’s focused on the floor as she starts to get a little more irritated with each passing second. “Reese,” I say a little louder. Only then does she lift her attention back to mine.
“Yeah?”
“So nothing happened with anyone there?”
“Likewhat?”
Arching a brow, I watch her for a moment. She blinks a couple of times and shakes her head once. “You are ridiculous. Is that what this is?” she asks as she lifts her hand and waves it around. “You’re jealous?”
I am, but I won’t admit it aloud. “Get in the car. It’s running.”
I turn around and walk out of the bedroom, then the house, and wait at the front door for her to walk out. A few moments later, she’s beside me, a smile playing on her lips as if she finds all of this hilarious.
Instead of saying anything, I lock the front door, then continue toward the car and tug the door open, waiting for her to sink down into the passenger seat. When she’s at my side, I don’t move. She faces me, then lifts her hand, cupping my cheek as she leans forward and touches her mouth to mine.
“It’s only you, Lance. There’s nothing to be jealous of… ever.”
ChapterTwenty
REESE
I don’t askwhere we’re going after we’ve finished breakfast at the downtown café, my favorite. Lance doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, his hand curling around mine as we walk to the coffee place. He stops at the front door, but I don’t make a move to go inside.
“I can’t have coffee,” I murmur.
“Yeah?” he asks. “You want something else, then? You know they got smoothies and shit in there, babe.”
God.
This man.
I don’t know how I feel about any of this. My emotions have been huge, but they’ve also been all over the place. I don’t know how I really feel and what is just crazy hormones. But as I stand in front of my favorite coffee place, I want to cry because he mentioned alternatives to coffee for me.
And this is how I know these hormones are stupid ridiculous because there is no way in a million years that I would be weepy about a smoothie. Sucking in a breath, I use the backs of my hands to wipe the tears from my cheeks as a few tears actually do fall.
Again, these hormones are insane.
“I’ll have a smoothie,” I mutter.
He takes my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine before he tugs me behind him. The same girl who’s always been behind the counter is there. I watch her, waiting for her to realize it’s me. When she does, her eyes light up.
“Reese,” she cries out. “You’re back. Do you want your usual?”
Smiling, I shake my head, but it’s Lance who speaks first. He drops his hand from mine, then places his palm against my belly. “How about a strawberry smoothie instead?”
The barista’s eyes widen, and her gaze flicks to my belly before she lifts them back to meet mine. “Wow,” she exhales before her lips twitch into a smile, and she dips her chin in a nod. “A strawberry smoothie, then.”
She turns around and bounces away. I let out a small laugh and turn my head, tipping it back slightly as I look up at him. He doesn’t look at me, though. His focus is on the window that points toward the street, toward my old salon.
I don’t look. I can’t. I refuse to look at everything that I allowed myself to lose. I let Douglas take that part of my life from me. I ran away scared. I let him terrify me, and I didn’t trust myself. I didn’t trust Agony or any of the other men.
Once we have our drinks, the barista congratulates me, and I thank her as Lance places his hand on the small of my back and guides me out of the shop. We don’t go far, just a few steps onto the sidewalk, when I ask him a question.
I don’t think about the words. I just blurt them out. “Why did you bring me here, specifically?”
