Page 22 of Denim & Diamonds

“You shouldn’t.” I gritted my teeth.

“You know…” She sighed. “It kind of makes sense now.”

“What makes sense?”

She looked at me with a mischievous grin that made me want to lift her over the bar and smack her ass. She’d lit some kind of fire inside of me, one that needed to remain at a subtle simmer until she left town.

She once again attempted to slurp the last of the liquid from her glass before slamming it on the counter. “It kind of makes sense that phone wasn’t yours.”

The mention of the phone reminded me of the photo, which of course made my blood pressure rise. “Why is that?”

“The vibrator app—it doesn’t line up with your personality.”

“In what way?”

“I couldn’t picture you going to such great lengths to get a woman off. You’re more of a straight shooter.”

“You’re right about one thing.”

“What’s that?” She smiled.

“I wouldn’t need a damn app to get a woman off. Never neededanyhelp pleasing a woman.”

Her face reddened, and that seemed to shut her up—until it didn’t.

“Speaking of that, why did your ex leave town?”

This again?“Excuse me? What does that have to do with any of this?”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t. I’m just curious about it.”

It angered me that Hank had been spilling my business to February, especially when she’d probably drawn the wrong conclusion. Yes, my ex left town, but itwasn’tcut and dried. People had been whispering ever since she left, assuming I’d been dumped. But that wasn’t the whole story at all.

February shook her head. “I’m sorry for prying.”

“You should be. You’ve been getting your information from the town gossip, but no one actually knows what happened between my ex and meexcepther and me.” I slapped a dishtowel against the bar before throwing it over my shoulder. “But let me be clear. Her leaving was agoodthing for both of us and had nothing to do with my ability to please a woman, if that’s what you were implying.”

“I wasn’t implying anything. I was just being nosy.”

“You’re an awfully nosy person for someone with her own secrets, who mysteriously shows up in a random town to stay at that hokey wellness center. I’m sureyouhave a much bigger story than I could ever tell about myself. I bet it’s more complicated than that microphone tryst, too.”

“I might have some daddy issues and be generally fucked up, yeah. But no one is perfect. More people should try to get help for their issues and know when to slow down. I don’t think the wellness center is hokey at all, and I’m happy I came. It’s a good thing for me.”

“Is that why you spend so much time trying to sneak out of it, because it’s so great?”

“Speaking of which…” She looked over at the clock on the wall. “I’d better go.”

“Don’t…” The word came out of my mouth a little too quickly for my liking. As if my dick had decided to speak in place of my mind.

“Why?”

“Bartender working for me tonight has to leave early, so I’ve gotta close. Wait for me. I’ll drive you back.”

“I can’t. I promised my friend Morgan I’d help her with something. I totally forgot about it.”

Her cheeks turned red, and I got the impression she was lying. I certainly didn’t want to force her to accept a ride with me if it made her uncomfortable.

“I’m gonna walk,” she insisted.