AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Between a busy week at the clinic and the lingering awkwardness after the kiss they’d shared, she’d been avoiding seeing her “boyfriend” as much as he’d seemed to avoid her, but it was time to get back to her mission. Before Elina got hurt the way Lyric had.
Thatch had to be in the rec center because his truck was parked in the alleyway, along with Aiden’s and Silas’s. That meant the man wasn’t sick or maimed or in a hospital somewhere because of a bronc riding accident. He simply hadn’t called or texted or run into her all week.
Ever since that damn kiss.
His lack of attention shouldn’t bother her. They werefaking it, after all. But how could he kiss her like that and then ignore her? The contact hadn’t simply been a little peck on the lips. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he hadn’tlikedkissing her. She shouldn’t have liked kissing him either. But everyone was going to start to get suspicious if they weren’t seen around town together once in a while. Starting with their friends.
Lyric lifted her head so she could see herself in the rearview mirror. She brushed on some lip gloss and then pushed out her car, a rogue anticipation swirling.
The glass door had been propped open, so she followed the whirring sounds of a saw until she found Thatch, Aiden, and Silas in a big half-drywalled room.
Thatch finished cutting a piece of drywall before shutting off the power tool to greet her. “What’re you doing here?” was all he said.
She wrangled a smile for the benefit of the two other men watching them. “Can’t a girlfriend visit her boyfriend at work?”
“No one around here’s gonna stop you.” Silas checked his watch. “I’ve gotta head out anyway. Tess has a checkup at the clinic.”
Aiden removed work goggles from his eyes and threw them onto a nearby table. “Then I might as well take off early and make Kyra a surprise dinner tonight. Don’t tell her,” he said to Silas.
“It’s not even four o’clock.” Thatch stacked the cut of drywall against some two-by-fours.
“Good thing your new intern is coming in.” Silas clapped him on the back. “He can help you hang some drywall.”
Aiden removed the tool belt from around his waistand set it next to his goggles. “Since you’re all here, Kyra and I want to have you four over for dinner. Saturday night work?”
“I don’t know,” Thatch said at the same time Lyric said, “Sure. Sounds great.”
Ugh.No one was ever going to buy that they were really a couple. They simply had to flirt more. “We can make it work.” She sidled up next to him. “Right,honeybunch?”
A smile flickered across his lips. “Yeah. Sure.”
“Great. It’s all set.” Aiden pulled out his phone and started tapping away. “Four o’clock. We’ll grill out if the weather’s nice.”
“Sounds good.” Silas disappeared down the hallway. “See ya tomorrow.”
“I’m out too. You kids have fun.” Aiden turned and hurried in the same direction Silas had gone.
Now that they were alone, Thatch crossed his arms. “What’re you really doing here?”
A few different explanations crossed her mind.I’m trying to convince people we’re really together. I needed to know if kissing me disgusted you.She finally gave voice to the most rational one. “I need to know if Franco has said anything to you. About me.”
“No.” Thatch hauled another piece of drywall to the cutting table and lined it up. “Why? What did you do?”
Uncanny how the man seemed to be able to read her. “I saw him being mean to Elina in a store a few days ago, and I kind of made a scene and confronted them.”
“Subtle.” He turned the saw on and ran a perfect cut through the piece of drywall before giving her the chance to explain.
“Well, I had to do something.” She marched to him, her face firing up like it had in the store that day. “He wasyellingat her.”
Thatch carried the drywall across the room and leaned it against the other sheet. It seemed he had no desire to stand close to her. “Did you hear what they were talking about?”
“No. But I know what I saw.” Their body language had been all too familiar. She was sure Elina had been cowering slightly. Maybe no one else would’ve noticed, but she knew.
“Listen.” Thatch seemed to give up on his work. “I’ve already spent two afternoons with Franco, and he was actually pretty respectful and polite. We talked some. I got to know him a little—”
“He told her to shut up.” Thatch thought he’d gotten to know Franco, but with guys like him, no one ever really saw the truth until it was too late. They knew how to charm and manipulate people into thinking they were good. “Would you ever talk to a woman that way?”
Thatch didn’t answer until he came back to face her directly, his eyes all fiery and intense. “You really have to ask me that?”
