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“You’re not moving either, Mister.” She snuggles into the crook of my arm more deeply, burrowing like yet again she has no intention of rising. Her voice is muffled, buzzing against my skin. “Guess it’s time to face the truth?” She peeks up at me with her emeralds dancing. “What are you going to tell your parents when they ask where you were last night?”
I’ve been considering that for the last half an hour. Is it better to tell the truth now? Later? Don’t Joey and I have the right to figure this out in private? Then again, what’s there to figure out? It’s not like I have any plans of letting her date anyone else ever again.
“You’re spinning.” She reads me perfectly. “Just tell me what you’re thinking. It hurts less to know than not?—”
“It’s nothing bad. Not about you at all… I said what I said last night and I mean it.”
She tosses me one of her honest smiles. The kind of smile that’s so fucking genuine, it makes me want another one.
“I told you—you’re mine now.”
Her body relaxes, and I love seeing her that way. Comfortable. With her guard down… that’s how I want her to feel every day but I’m not so sure I can promise that. And that’s what’s gnawing at me right now.
I caress her arm. “I just wonder if you and I deserve some time to enjoy this before the dramatics start.”
“You mean Logan?”
“Mmm,” I respond, even though he wasn’t the person tocome to mind. Nor the next ones I mention. “Our parents, too. It’s just?—”
“Small-town meddling.” She knows there are rarely only two people in any small-town relationship. Especially with families like ours.
“Mmm. And the press. I don’t want you getting caught up in any stories. It’s not fair to you. There’s a lot on my mind. Hard to even articulate it all.”
“As usual, I didn’t think much about it.” She wraps her arm around my chest and hugs me tight. Her words are sincere as always. “As long as I get you in the end, I don’t care.”
Goddamn, that’s what I’ve always adored about my girl. She’s so wholehearted. Always diving into life headfirst, Jolie is tough. And she isn’t naive… but she doesn’t know Chloe. Dread pools in my stomach at my ex hearing about this too soon, when there are still stories out there about my supposed cheating. How will a new relationship with an old friend so soon after the official story of our divorce breaking hit her? She’ll be humiliated by the new narrative rather than concentrating on the truth.
Image is everything to her.
But I told Jolie not to bring up our past so I sure as hell won’t. Maybe that was dumb of me. Avoidance. Maybe it’s unhealthy, but thinking about Eric really has me losing my shit; my blood boils immediately upon mention. And Chloe is a drama Jolie doesn’t deserve.
“We don’t have to tell Logan right away. He’ll be, I don’t know, at minimum a sourpuss. I’veneverbeen with another man before,” she says, playing into our charade of no other. “I was a total virgin when we got together last night, but Logan knows what jerks men can be. And he’s very protective. All my brothers are.”
Logan is the most emotional one, too. Colt is level-headed and has always liked me. Dash would probably give me a chance but watch me like a hawk for one slipup. Logan? He’s the kind of guy who could fly off the handle. And I present two reasons for him to do it. One, I’m about to lie to him as he can’t know that Jolie and I are together just yet. Two, well… two is bigger than one.
I shake my head because first, I need to explain things to my parents. “I’ll tell Ron and Monica I went to see some places in Santa Fe and got a hotel to see more today.”
“Will they believe that?”
“Yeah.”
She pushes herself up, and the detachment makes my body ache. It’s cold without her on me.
“I better wash your smell off me then.”
I tug her back into me, and she didn’t expect it so she flops on my chest.
“Do you have a lunch break today?” I ask.
“Yeah, but I might be busy,” she teases.
“You’ll definitely be busy. Can you meet me in the empty hay barn at noon?” I kiss her shoulder.
“My God. You made me wait for twenty years but now you can’t wait thirty minutes?” She rolls her eyes dramatically but with a wide smile. “Okay. I’ll be there.” She boops my nose. “And I’ll wear my crotchless panties.”
Oh, this just got interesting.“You have crotchless panties?”
“No… you’re going to buy me some at that adult toy store on your way back from Santa Fe.”
