Page 14 of Tempting Me (The Asher Family #3)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SHAY

If you could actually die of embarrassment, I would have dropped dead on my front porch last night in front of Luca.

It’s one thing to lie about having a date, but to lie to someone who drove you to another town, caught you on your not date, then held onto that secret just to reveal he knew the truth hours later is …

I’m dead. How do I go about this now? He’s going to have the upper hand in our teasing, and I can't have that.

I walk a little faster as I near Sips and Stories, Sadie’s bookstore. I texted her, Grace, and Brooke first thing this morning for an emergency girls’ night, but because they all have lives, we are having an impromptu lunch hour meetup in the sports romance section.

I walk in the door, glancing to the side of the store that opens up to Hudson’s Bar. The lunch rush hasn’t hit yet, so I quickly make my way to the aisle I need. All of the girls are waiting for me.

“There she is.” Sadie beams .

“Good. I want to know what happened last night.” Grace grins.

“What was last night?’ Brooke asks.

“Shhh.” I wave a hand for them to keep their voices down, and then I peek out of the aisle.

We’re alone.

Good.

“Last night,” I begin in a whisper, “I made up a fake date, and Luca drove me all the way to Wind Valley for it, only for him to see me at the bookstore, not on a date.”

Grace cracks up while Brooke and Sadie just smile.

“So, I feel as if I’m missing some details,” Sadie says.

I fill them in on how it all came to be then huff.

“And he knew the entire drive home and waited until he walked me to the door to tell me.”

“Oh, he walked you to the door? That’s sweet,” Brooke swoons.

“Not sweet. Annoying.”

The girls all share a glance, but I’m too worked up over my situation to analyze it right now. Because basically, I don’t need to analyze what they are thinking. I know it.

I like Luca.

They aren’t completely wrong, but saying it in my head versus admitting it out loud are two completely different things.

“So now, when he comes over tonight?—”

“Ladies,” a deep voice comes from behind us.

Sadie brushes past me to wrap her arms around Hudson’s neck and pull him in for a kiss.

“You’re overreacting,” Grace whispers after Brooke excuses herself to go back to the bakery. Sadie is fully smitten by her fiancé now, so it’s just me and Grace.

“Am I?”

“It’s just Luca. You don’t care what he thinks anyway.”

She grabs a book and reads the back blurb while I let her words sink in.

I actually do.

Care.

I groan.

“At the same time, what if you just act normal around him? No comebacks, no quick anything. Just plain old kind Shay. As if you were hanging out with me.”

“I can’t do that,” I admit on a sigh.

Grace checks her watch. “I have to get back to the lodge. Walk with me?”

I nod, and we tell Sadie goodbye.

That impromptu girls’ meetup wasn’t any help. Other than that, I did get to tell someone my problem, and that alone is helpful.

As soon as we step out the door, Luca and Miles are walking up to the bar. Luca’s gaze snaps to mine instantly.

I think Grace and Miles exchange pleasantries, but I can’t be sure. I’m too focused on the way Luca’s T-shirt hugs his chest.

His eyes slowly move from my face, down my body, and back up.

My body buzzes as if he were right in front of me, touching me, slowly running his hand up my arm until he threads his hand through my hair and tilts my chin, letting his lips hover over my mouth as if he were going to kiss me .

The way I thought he was going to last night when he walked me to my door.

I don’t say anything, and neither does he. He simply nods with a smirk on his face. Then he looks at Grace, and my heart sinks.

It shouldn’t do that.

Not when I’m supposed to be annoyed at him over last night.

Gosh, this whole thing is messed up, and I’m tired of it taking all my brain power.

I just don’t know what to think about it.

The Marina should be my focus, not Luca.

Turns out, I don’t have to worry too much about it right now. Luca and his brother disappear into the bar.

“Wow,” Grace says quietly beside me.

“What?” I fall into step with her.

“You and Luca not talking when you saw each other was weird.”

I give her a side-eye.

“Do you like him?”

“What?” I ask and almost trip.

“Do you like Luca?”

“No.”

“It’s okay if you do. I’ve made it clear I’m not into him that way.”

“I don’t, though.”

My immediate answer is all too telling.

“Okay, so then, what’s your plan for tonight?”

“I don’t know. We need to go look at the cabins. My last guy never got to them, and I’d like to get the minor stuff fixed before winter so that I can still rent them out. We can do more renovations later, and I?—”

“I meant with Luca.”

“Oh.” I think it over for a moment. “I’m not sure yet.”

“Well” —she bumps my shoulder as we pause at the corner of the street where she will go left and I’ll go right to work—“maybe don’t do anything.

See what happens. If he didn’t say anything just now, maybe he won't at all. I know you two have that thing you do, but I don’t think he’d ever say anything to intentionally embarrass you. ”

“Luca? Not say anything? That’s wishful thinking.”

But really, she might be right.

“Just be nice. Maybe you two could be friends.”

Friends.

With Luca.

I let out a sigh.

I could never be just friends with Luca.

My immature response to everything he says or does is how I keep him in the spot we are in. How I keep him from getting too close and vice versa. If it weren’t for the way we are together, I’d have forgiven him a long time ago.

Any other spot, including so-called friends, sounds complicated.

I don’t want anything in my life to be complicated.

I nod at my best friend. “I’ll think about it.” And then I wave goodbye.

Want it or not, it’s what I have.

I’ve chosen to go with the path of not speaking to Luca tonight.

Mature, I know. Let’s just say that this summer isn’t filled with my best moments. I guess that saying about how desperate people make bad decisions is more accurate than I thought.

But also, I feel like not speaking and saying something snarky could actually be the mature way to go. We are choosing not to bicker. It’s new for us.

Yeah, I’m going with that.

Has it crossed my mind that perhaps because he’s also unusually quiet, something is bothering Luca? Yes, but I’m not going to ask him about it and chance him bringing up my not date from yesterday.

Tonight is actually not a bad night, so I’m not going to jinx it. We have music playing to fill the silence. Every now and then I hear Luca sing along, and I absolutely do not think it’s cute that he knows every word to a Swifty song.

I’m sorting through the paint swatches I picked for each room so that I can get an order together. Luca is proficient, and even though we are currently ignoring each other, the fact that I can be doing this stuff instead of watching his every move is refreshing.

Maybe this is what it’s like to just be normal.

I’ll be sure to tell Grace that I took her advice.

And yet, when Luca’s phone vibrates against the table, for what feels like the hundredth time in ten minutes, I’m ready to snap.

“Oh my god, does your phone ever stop going off?”

He groans, sits back on his heels, and grabs it from the table .

His face wrinkles as he reads whatever is on the phone. I’d ask what’s wrong, but I don't really care. I care about the work we’re getting done tonight.

Well, that’s what I tell myself anyway.

“I just love that someone else on your phone is more important than what I’m paying you to do right now.”

Luca tosses his phone onto a stack of boards and goes back to work. He’s cutting the boards to make the arch. He said he'd have it done before he left tonight.

Not thirty seconds later, his phone is vibrating again.

“I’m going to smash that thing with my hammer.”

“Chill, okay. It’s a wrong number issue, and this guy clearly doesn’t get the hint. Actually, you’d love this.”

He tosses me his phone, and I start to read.

Unknown

Come on, baby. Stop acting like you didn’t want me to text you these things. Do you want more details? You said you love detail. After I kiss you goodnight, I’ll?—

I stop reading instantly and turn to face the opposite wall as I do my best to compose myself, but it’s hard. My lips instantly spread into a smile and my eyes sting with happy tears.

This. Is. Awesome.

I forgot I'd given that guy Luca’s number.

This is total karma for last night.

I take a breath, fan my eyes for a moment, then spin to hand him back his phone.

I’m not expecting Luca to be right behind me when I turn around, and I’m not expecting him to be looking at me as if he can read my mind either .

“Here,” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat and keeping my expression as neutral as I can.

“You don’t think it’s funny?”

I shrug and do a non-committal head shake.

“Not even a little?”

“Poor guy” is all I say.

Luca nods slowly. “How do you know it’s a guy? Why are your eyes glistening?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. They are shining like someone who was laughing but had to do it quietly, so her eyes started shining as she held it in.”

To that I laugh.

“You’re nuts.”

“What did you do?”

“Me?” I place a hand on my heart. “Why is this suddenly a thing where I did something?”

“Because my life was smooth sailing until you popped back into it.”

Funny. I feel the exact same way.

“I doubt it was.”

“Shay, did you give someone my number?”

I shake my head.

How does he know this? We’ve only been around each other a couple of weeks, and now he just knows me.

I don’t accept that.

“Shay.”

“No.”

“Shay,” he says once more. This time it’s low, and he drags the single word out with a growl. It is hands down the sexiest way anyone has ever said my name, and of course it came out of Luca’s mouth.

I take a slow breath to control the way something so simple now makes my heart race and my mind imagine him saying my name in a completely different setting.

I bite my lip to keep from revealing the truth.

“I did not.”

His gaze on me darkens as he steps closer. Slowly, he puts one hand on one side of my body and then does the same with the other, leaning in until we are so close our noses almost touch.

“I think you’re lying to me.”

“I …”

I could cry out in this situation, and it’s not in the way you’d think.

Well, unless you’re thinking that I want him to close the gap and kiss me.

That I want him to grab me, wrap my legs around his hips, and take my seat with me in his lap as he weaves his hands through my hair and I kiss him back.

I want that.

More than I’ve wanted anything from anyone before.

“Shay.”

“Yeah?” It comes out in a breathy whisper.

My gaze flicks to his, but he’s staring at my lips.

Oh god, does he want to kiss me back?

Suddenly, he pushes back and shakes his head.

“I need to get back to work.”

I let out a breath and cup my forehead, and he walks away.

Holy shit.

“Right. Work. ”

He pauses then glances over his shoulder to stare at me again.

“Why did—” he starts, then stops. Again, he shakes his head.

“Ask me.”

“What?”

I take a deep breath. I want to know what he was going to say, which is laughable because I normally don't, but it’s clear something has shifted between us.

I’d be a fool not to acknowledge it now.

“Ask me what you were going to ask me.”

His brow lifts and he thinks it over.

“Why did you lie about having a date in Wind Valley?”

“Because you make me nervous.” The truth slips from my lips before I have time to overthink it.

Well, if things hadn't changed before, they sure as heck have now.

He nods, returning to stand in front of me.

His gaze sears into mine, and I know it’s obvious that my breathing has picked up.

“The feeling is mutual,” he admits and then backs up, hiking his thumb over his shoulder. “Want to lend me a hand with these arches?”

I nod, standing as if pulled by a string attached to Luca.

For the next hour, I help Luca put the arches up and try not to think too much about it when his hand touches mine or when he stands behind me, his chest to my back as he shows me exactly where I should place my hands to hold something while he gets the drill.

I try not to think about how I catch his gaze lingering on me after I’ve done something he asked without arguing or when I find myself just standing there observing him.

No, I don't let myself think about any of it until we are walking out the door for the night.

“Thank you for getting the arches up tonight.”

“I said I would.”

“I know, it’s just nice to work with someone who keeps their word.”

“I always do.”

I clear my throat.

“I’ll be sure to tell Grace that fun fact about you.”

He rubs the back of his neck.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“She’d probably like it. I mean, it’s a nice?—”

“No, I mean, you don’t need to tell her anything. In fact, you can stop doing that.”

I’m not sure I fully understand him. “Why?”

He shrugs. “Because you were right. We aren’t a good match.”

He heads for his truck with no more explanation.

I’d open my mouth to ask for more, but I’m not stupid.

I know why he doesn’t want me to talk him up anymore, and I’m not mad about it.

I just don’t know what it means to me to know this new fact.

Still, when he looks over his shoulder and winks at me, I roll my eyes.

It is Luca, after all.

I can’t let him off that easily.