Page 13 of Break My Heart (The Haydon Falls #2)

I rest my forearms on the table and lean forward slightly. ‘So I was thinking, the canoe race wasn’t really fair.’

‘Why wasn’t it fair?’

‘Because you’re twice my size. You have an advantage.’

‘As far as I could tell, you were paddling just fine.’ He leans toward me across the table, his eyes on mine. ‘I think you’re just making excuses for why you didn’t win.’

I huff. ‘That is not what I’m doing.’ I sit back. ‘It wasn’t a fair race. Your arms are bigger than mine. Of course you’re going to win. Paddling is all about upper body strength.’

‘Then why did you suggest it?’ He leans back, folding his arms over his chest.

‘Because it’s the first thing that came to mind. It’s not like I was planning to compete against you. I was just trying to get out of having dinner with you. ’

‘You already got out of dinner. I was leaving when you suggested the canoe race. And for the record, you’re the one who suggested we have breakfast.’

‘Only if you won the race.’

‘Which you knew I would because I’m stronger than you, which tells me you secretly wanted to have breakfast with me.’ He gives me that smug grin that I find infuriating. ‘So what’s next? I’m assuming you’ve come up with something else you want us to do in your obsession to beat me.’

‘It’s not an obsession. I’m just competitive, and you’re just as bad, so don’t even try to pretend you’re not.’

‘Never said I wasn’t. So what are we doing?’

I smile. ‘Pool.’

‘We’re swimming? Isn’t it a little cold for that?’

‘Not swimming. Pool, the game. You know how to play, right?’

‘Sure. I played all the time with my brothers. My parents got us a pool table for Christmas one year. It’s still in the basement. We could play there if you want.’

‘I was thinking of going to a bar. The one near the hardware store has a pool table.’

‘Ted’s? Yeah, I don’t think you want to go there. That place is full of old timers that like to gossip. If they see us together at a bar, they’ll assume it’s a date and tell everyone.’

‘How is that different than us being here?’

‘Going to breakfast isn’t a date, but going to a bar is a different story.’

‘Why can’t people just mind their own business? Nobody even noticed who I was out with back in Green Bay.’

‘This is a small town. People talk. When my brother Nick came home last summer and was hanging out with Lyndsay, it was the talk of the town. Everywhere I went I heard people talking about them.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she married this guy, Chris, from high school, and people didn’t know she’d gotten divorced. Even when they found out, they couldn’t believe she was with Nick. He was kind of a nerd in high school and Lyndsay was a cheerleader.’

‘And what happened? Were they really dating or was it just a rumor?’

‘They weren’t dating at first, but now they are. She even moved in with him. Now they’re old news. The town doesn’t talk about them anymore.’

‘Do they talk about you?’

‘All the freaking time. It’s the same for Jason and Brody.

We can’t go on a date in this town without people talking, wondering if we’re going to marry the girl.

It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to it. If you want to play pool at Ted’s, I have no problem going there.

I just wanted to prepare you for what might happen. ’

‘Let’s go to your parents’ house. I don’t want people gossiping about me.’

‘Trust me, they already are. We don’t get many new people moving to town and when we do, everyone talks about them.’

‘Great,’ I say with a sigh.

‘When do you want to do this?’

I pause to think. ‘Today.’

‘Today?’ he asks, sounding surprised.

I guess I could’ve picked a time next week, but it’s killing me to have lost the canoe race to him. I have to redeem myself.

‘After breakfast,’ I say. ‘Why? Do you have plans?’

‘Um, no, we can play after breakfast.’

I was hoping to get some work done this morning, but I’d rather beat Sawyer at pool and wipe that smug grin off his face .

‘I just need to go home and clean up,’ I tell him. ‘I got lake water all over me.’

‘So what do I get when I win?’ Sawyer asks, his smug smile appearing again.

‘You’re not going to win. My grandpa taught me how to play. He used to win pool tournaments.’

‘Dinner. My place. Unless you want to go out, but then we have the people talking about us problem again.’

‘If you win, I have to have dinner with you?’

‘You make it sound like a punishment. It’s just dinner.’

‘You don’t have a kitchen.’

‘I have a kitchen in my apartment. I live above the brewery. My apartment’s small so I’ll make dinner and we’ll eat in the brewery.’

‘When it’s open?’

‘No, when it closes. Can you stay up that late?’

‘Of course I can stay up that late.’ I roll my eyes. ‘I work the same hours you do.’

‘Could someone cover for you? If so, I can have Wade close up for me and we could have dinner earlier, but it would have to be upstairs in my apartment.’

‘Why are we even talking about this? I’m going to beat you. I don’t lose at pool, except to my grandpa but he was a champion. He even had medals.’

‘So it’s a deal. Dinner at my place when I win.’

‘IF you win, which you won’t.’

The waitress brings our food and I notice a tiny bowl of something that looks like really thick dark applesauce next to my pancakes.

‘Just in case you want to try it.’ The waitress points to the bowl, then takes off.

I dip my spoon in the bowl. ‘Apple butter?’

Sawyer nods. ‘ Go ahead and taste it.’

I lick it off the spoon. ‘It’s good. Lots of cinnamon.’

Sawyer pours syrup over his pancakes. ‘I know I’m going win, but in the off chance that I don’t, what happens? What do you want?’

I’ve already thought about this and it’s one of the main reasons I suggested another competition. That, and my intense need to beat Sawyer.

‘Are you handy?’

He looks up from his plate. ‘What do you mean? Like can I fix stuff?’

‘Yeah. One of the legs on my kitchen table broke during the move. Oh, and I need help hanging some pictures.’

‘You can’t hang pictures?’

‘I can, but they always come out crooked or fall off the wall.’

He slowly smiles. ‘So you’re not good at everything.’

‘I never said I was. So will you do it? Do you know how?’

‘Fix a table and hang pictures? Of course. That’s easy. What else you got?’

‘That should be it. My dryer was broken, but I had a guy come out and fix it.’

‘I could’ve done it.’

‘You know how to fix a dryer?’

‘I’ve fixed my own. It’s not that hard.’

‘Where did you learn this?’

‘Dad taught all of us how to fix stuff. And if we can’t, we call Nick. He’s usually able to troubleshoot what’s wrong and figure out what to try next.’

‘So I guess we have a deal.’ I extend my hand. ‘Dinner if you win, and your handyman services if I do, or when I do.’

‘Deal.’

We shake on it .

What is he up to? Why does he want me to have dinner with him?

He’s not doing it just to be nice. He wants information, but I’ll never tell him anything.

Why would he think I would? Does he think his good looks and charm will win me over enough to trust him?

He can’t honestly believe I’d fall for that.

I kind of wish we weren’t competitors, because if we weren’t, I might actually go out with Sawyer, like on a date.

The attraction between us is intense. I can feel it whenever he’s around me.

And his competitiveness is a turn-on. I don’t like wimpy guys.

I’ve dated guys that don’t even try to beat me in a competition.

They let me win, thinking it’ll make me sleep with them.

But instead it makes me never want to see them again.

Sawyer would never let me win. He hates losing as much as I do.

It was cute when we were kids, but now I find it hot.

I keep imagining what it’d be like to kiss him now that he’s all grown-up and knows what he’s doing.

If he tries, I’ll let him. I might even let him do more than that.

But that’s all it would be. I’d never actually date him.

I can’t. I’m not risking my business to be with some guy, even if it’s the guy I haven’t stopped thinking about since I was seven.