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This part of the conversation weighed more heavily.
But his luckwasn’tabout to run out. He’d caught himself in time, hadn’t he? All he had to do was keep his distance and let the effect she had on him slowly wear off. Eventually, it would have to. And with Paul in town, staying away from her would be easy since he couldn’t see her even if he wanted to.
You think this guy cares about you the way I do? He just wants a good fuck! You told me yourself he goes from woman to woman without ever feeling much.
Paul had said that, and Talulah hadn’t corrected him. Apparently, even she would be surprised by how he felt.
But he refused to be like Charlie. He’d take firm control of himself, yank his attention back to his regular life, where it should’ve been all along, and let her go on her way.
When Talulah woke up, the first thing that popped into her mind was the memory of arriving home last night to find Brant fixing her screen door. He’d been good to her since she’d come back—in so many ways. It made her cringe to remember Paul jumping out of the car to accost him.
Paul’s behavior had embarrassed her. And yet she could hardly blame him. She understood what he was going through—and that she was the reason. Having him in her life for such a long time, with daily contact since they’d opened the diner together, had undermined all her good intentions to avoid getting into another situation like those in the past. Somewhere along the line, he’d stopped believing what she said and started to assume she felt more than she did, simply because he wanted her to.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about hurting Brant. He was probably relieved to have such an easy exit. They were having a good time, enjoying each other, but she imagined him shrugging her off the moment he got into his truck and was willing to bet he wouldn’t think of her again.
I’ve never left anyone standing at the altar, he’d said that day in the town diner.
Because you bail out before it even gets that far,she’d told him.
That’s what you’re supposed to do. I can teach you how, if you want me to.
He didn’t need to teach her; he was going to show her. But knowing that the brief interlude they’d enjoyed had already come to an end created such a strange sense of loss—like a breakup, really, even though they’d never been together in the first place. Whatever they’d had, it was too bad it had to end so soon. They’d been having a wonderful time, one that felt natural and spontaneous and next-level when it came to sex. Everything with him, including his touch, was more exciting.
Movement from down the hall made her tense. Paul was awake. She figured she should get up and say hello, but she wasn’t looking forward to another day spent reassuring him that nothing had really changed while fending off every attempt he made to get her to agree she’d never look at another man again.
She kicked off the covers and was just going into the bathroom when she heard a creak behind her. Paul had come out of his room and was standing in the hall, barefoot and shirtless, in a pair of basketball shorts.
Talulah had slept with him once, only a week before she came to Coyote Canyon, but she was wearing nothing except a pair of panties and a spaghetti-strap top and instinctively wanted to shield her body from his view.
“Morning,” he said, raking his hands through his thick dark hair as it fell around his shoulders.
“Morning.” She continued into the bathroom, so she could stand behind the door and peer out at him. “Are you hungry?” she asked.
A frown indicated he’d noticed her reaction and that made her feel as bad as everything else. He had to be wondering why they couldn’t simply pick up where they’d left off. After all, it’d been easy enough for her to go to bed with Brant—someone she’d known in high school and hadn’t seen since—proving it wasn’t a long process for some guys.
But coming to Coyote Canyon and getting involved with him had removed the possibility of sleeping with Paul again, at least for the time being, and she couldn’t even explain why.
Fortunately, Paul didn’t remark on it. He seemed to be trying, once again, not to pressure her too much. “I am hungry. What about you?”
“I’m starving. Why don’t I make some buttermilk pancakes? You like my mother’s recipe, don’t you?”
“Do you have buttermilk?”
“No, but we could buy some easily enough.”
He waved that option away. “I’d rather just go out.”
Talulah wasn’t too keen on that idea. She didn’t want to be seen in town with Paul after all the rumors that’d been circulating about her and Brant. She knew that being seen with Paul would only supercharge the gossip and make it more difficult for her to stay here after he left. “It won’t take long to go to the store.”
“But I’d like to see your hometown while I’m here. Don’t you want to show me around?”
What could she say that wouldn’t make him accuse her of doing exactly what shewasdoing—trying to keep him out of sight as much as possible?
She cleared her throat. “Okay. Let me get cleaned up,” she said and shut the door.
Unless they went to a restaurant in a neighboring town, odds were good they’d run intosomeoneshe knew. It was a weekend, after all, and a lot of people would be eating out, picking up groceries or running errands.
Chances were much lower that they’d run into Brant. She had to acknowledge that. But even a small chance made her uneasy, because he was the one she wanted to avoid most of all.
