Page 20 of That One Night (The Heartbreak Brothers Next Generation #4)

Chapter

Seventeen

“That’s it?” Maisie asked, sounding almost disappointed. “He just drove you home? Nothing else?”

Emery frowned. “I thought you’d be pleased. I crossed off two items. I achieved number seven. Isn’t that the pinnacle?”

“It would be if you didn’t seem so down about it.”

Yeah, well she couldn’t help it. Going from the high of feeling Hendrix Hartson’s lips on hers, his hands caressing her body, to the sound of a stranger calling out had been pretty much like falling down to earth from a great, great height.

The man had seen Hendrix’s truck abandoned on the side of the road and thought there was a problem.

And there was. A big problem. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way his mouth moved desperately against hers.

He’d driven her home silently, after explaining to the good Samaritan that they’d heard a hurt animal. All lies, but the stranger had just shot them a knowing look and left.

Hendrix clearly didn’t want to talk about what had happened. He’d put the music on high and pressed his foot down on the gas, his jaw tight as they drove home. And he’d dropped her off in the road right outside her mom’s house, waiting until she’d made it inside before he drove to his own farm.

She hated the way he wouldn’t meet her gaze. She couldn’t read him at all. It was like he’d closed down and she couldn’t pry her way inside the steel box encasing his thoughts.

“I think I might’ve messed things up,” she confessed. “He’d made it clear he didn’t want to touch me at the bar. And then I behaved like an idiot and practically forced him to chase me.”

“You didn’t force him to do anything. He’s a grown man,” Maisie pointed out.

They were on the phone this time, instead of chatting by video call.

Maisie was at the beach with some friends she’d made traveling.

When they were both silent, Emery could hear the murmur of the other sun-worshippers and the occasional crash of the water hitting the shore.

It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon and she hadn’t seen Hendrix all day. He must have left before she’d got up, because there was no sign of his bike outside when she’d looked out of the window. If he’d been in the yard, if he’d even been home, she would’ve tried to talk to him.

He thought bad of her. That had to be it. He thought she’d been unfaithful to Trenton, even though she honestly hadn’t.

But she hated that he didn’t know that. That he would probably be assuming the worst about the best kiss she’d ever had.

“I can hear you overthinking,” Maisie told her.

“I’m not overthinking. I’m catastrophizing. It’s different.”

Maisie started to laugh. “You need to tell him the truth.”

“What? Why? We just kissed. Nothing more.”

“Oh honey, I know you too well. You don’t just kiss guys. You don’t do anything without your heart rushing in first. I can hear it in your voice. You’re falling for this guy. And you’re beating yourself up even though you shouldn’t be.”

“If you knew I wouldn’t kiss another man lightly, why did you put it on the list?” Emery asked her.

“Honestly? I didn’t think you’d do it,” Maisie admitted. “I didn’t think you’d do most of the things. I just hoped… I don’t know. I wish I was there, helping you work through this. The list felt important somehow.”

“You are helping me.”

“No, you’re helping yourself. The list, that’s just the catalyst. Look at how you’re changing. After all those years of being suffocated in a chrysalis, you’re like a butterfly, being set free. Now tell me. How do you feel about him?”

“Hendrix?” Emery let out a soft sigh. “I feel… I don’t know. Yearning, I guess.”

“Yearning?”

“Like my heart is about to break out of my chest every time I look at him. But I can’t feel that way.”

“Yes you can. Fuck Trenton. I mean it, fuck him.” Maisie sounded furious. “He’s getting everything, and you’re getting nothing out of this.”

Emery stayed quiet. She still hadn’t told Maisie about the lien. It felt too painful. Like it was her fault.

“I’m adding a number eight,” Maisie said. “And you have to do it tonight.”

“You can’t add something to the list after you wrote it,” Emery protested. “That’s not how it works.”

“Yes I can. It’s my list and I can do what I want. Number eight, tell Hendrix that you’re not engaged.”

Emery’s mouth turned dry.

“I’m serious, Em. You said yourself that the guy’s out there thinking he kissed a taken woman. The least you can do is let him know he hasn’t.”

And there it was. Her friend had found her weak spot. The part that was worrying her the most. Because she was still the good girl she always was, even when she played at being bad. And she hated the thought that her actions had affected someone else.

No, that they’d affected him . He didn’t deserve to be lied to. Not after he’d helped her so much.

He deserved so much better.

She looked out of her window at his farm. He still wasn’t there. But he would be later.

She owed him an explanation. She owed him the truth.

But the thought of telling him made her want to hurl.

Hendrix had spent most of the day in his uncle’s fields, finishing the bailing he’d lost time on yesterday with the repairs. And yes, technically he was only supposed to work until lunchtime on Saturdays, spending the rest of the time on his own farm.

But he didn’t want to go home. And yes, he was avoiding Emery Reed. Because he was a damn pussy.

And maybe he preferred beating himself up to looking her in the eye, knowing he couldn’t have her.

Last night, that kiss… he shook his head, because he didn’t have the words to capture how he was feeling at the memory of it.

All he knew was that as he lay on top of her sweet body, his mouth taking hers, he was a breath away from pulling her panties down and making her his in the sweetest, most delicious way.

Christ, the memory of her lips was making him hard. He could almost feel the silk of her skin against his palms, feel the way her legs parted for him as he slid his hands down them.

Her eyes had been wide, her breath had been short, and she hadn’t tried to stop him. No, she’d encouraged him, kissing him harder, scratching her nails against his scalp.

She’d been as needy as he’d been hard.

“Don’t you have a home to go to?” a voice shouted.

He blinked away the thought of Emery’s curves, looking up to see his dad walking toward him.

“Hi.” He forced a smile on his face, shutting off the engine to the bailer, climbing down from the high seat to hug his father. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Just came to talk to Logan. Your mom wants to hold the launch for the charity here. I wanted to make sure it was okay with him.”

“When is it?” Hendrix asked. He knew how excited she was about it. How nervous, too. His mom rarely made public appearances. She hated being in the news. But this launch would involve both, and he felt for her.

“In three weeks. We were planning to do it at our place, but you know what’s she's like. Over thinking it. I said I’d ask Logan.

He’s good for us to do it at the restaurant.

” His dad smiled softly. His parents’ love story was so clear to see in everything they did.

From the moment he could see, he knew how much they cared for each other.

They were a good team. But where his dad loved the limelight – as a rock star he yearned for it, and even now that he was retired, he wasn’t exactly a shrinking violet – his mom hated it.

The only reason she was dealing with a PR company and the media over the charity was because she was determined to get the right people applying for grants. He admired her for doing it, too. She was a good woman through and through.

“You’re gonna come to the launch, right?” his dad asked.

“Of course.” Hendrix nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Good.” His dad patted his arm. “It’ll mean a lot to your mom, having you all there. She needs our support.”

“She’s always got it.”

That was enough to put a smile on his dad’s face. “Well, I’d better go home and tell her the good news.” He tipped his head to the side. “Come over and see her soon, okay?”

“Of course.”

His dad nodded, turning to walk away. But then he looked at Hendrix once more, concern in his eyes. “And son?”

“Yeah?” Hendrix asked.

“You look tired. Go home and stop working so hard.”

As soon as he pulled up outside the cottage, Hendrix could feel himself being watched. He kicked the stand into the dirt, cut the engine, and climbed off, grabbing some hay to fill up Frank’s trough.

Once the goat was eating, he finally brought his gaze to Emery’s house. And of course she was standing there, her body stock still as she stared at him from the porch.

It only took two beats of his heart for her to start walking down the steps toward him.

He didn’t move as she got closer. Just waited for her to cross the lane and walk into his yard. Knowing this was inevitable.

Even if it felt so painful it hurt.

“Can we talk?” she asked, her voice soft. Her hands were curled into fists. She had her hair down, the gentle breeze lifting it at the ends.

“Here?” He looked over her shoulder. “Won’t your mom see?”

Her lips parted and she let out a breath. “She’s cleaning out some closets. But you’re probably right. Can we talk somewhere private?”

The obvious response would be to invite her into his house. But he couldn’t. It felt too personal. Especially when he knew she was about to give him the brush off.

Truth was, he wasn’t sure he could be alone with her in an enclosed space anymore. And wasn’t that an advertisement for keeping away from him?

“I need to take some soil samples from the upper field,” he told her. “Get them sent off. I’ll grab the supplies then we can walk and talk.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply, just walked into the cottage and over to the table in the corner, rifling through the piles of paperwork he’d been ignoring for weeks, trying to find the soil testing kit the company had sent him.

He should have sent the sample off last week. But he’d put it off over and again. Mostly because he hated filling out the damn forms.

“God, you have a lot of paper.”

Her voice made him jump. He turned around to see her standing in the doorway, staring at him.

“Just need to find the time to sort through it.” He grimaced. “Paperwork isn’t exactly my forte.”

“I can see that.” She nodded.

He found the kit and pulled it out, wincing when he saw the directions. They were in small print and the letters looked all jumbled.

“Can you read this?” he asked her.

Emery took the paper, her brows dipping as she took in the words.

“You need a bucket and shovel. Then take four different samples from four different parts of the field, at a depth of four to six inches,” she told him, her voice soft.

“Mix them together in the bucket and let it dry out before putting the sample in the bag they’ve provided.

” She looked up at him. “Do you have that?”

“Yeah. Somewhere.” He walked past her, back out to the yard and she followed him, watching as he grabbed a small spade and a pail from the shed next to the house. “Come on,” he told her. “It’s the field behind the house I want to test.”

Usually, he’d jump on his bike to get there. But that would involve her riding with him. He couldn’t stand that either.

“Can’t you use home kits?” Emery asked, as they started walking up the lane. “I swear Dad used to use digital ones.”

“Yeah, I have those too. But it’s been a long time since this soil’s been used. A long time since anybody fed it. I want to get it right.”

“That’s understandable.”

He was walking fast. He knew that. She almost had to run to keep up. It was the perfect inversion to last night, when he was the one doing the chasing.

But she didn’t ask him to slow down. Didn’t ask him to do anything. Just matched his speed as he made his way to the gate that led to the field at the back of the house, pushing it open with a creak, before stepping aside to let her in first.

“Where are you going to take the first sample?” she asked him, looking out at the expanse of tilled soil.

“Here.” He nodded at the first corner and handed her the bucket. He hunkered down, using the tip of the trowel to dent the dry soil, digging down to what felt like around half a foot, then scooped up a trowel full of the earth, turning to put it in the bucket she was holding out.

Their eyes caught and he could see the emotion in her gaze. Like she was trying to bring herself to say something.

“If this is about last night,” he murmured. “I should apologize. For taking advantage of you.”

Emery’s brows furrowed. “You’re sorry? For kissing me?”

“I put you in a bad position. And I shouldn’t have. It won’t happen again.”

Her mouth parted as though she was going to say something. Then she let out a sigh and shook her head.

“You didn’t put me in any position. Not one I didn’t want to be in.”

“Emery…”

She put her hand up. “Please, just let me say what I need to say. It’s really hard and I’ve been worrying about it all day and I need to get it out.”

It was his turn to let out a long breath. God, he hated this. It felt almost painful, knowing she regretted last night.

That she wished he hadn’t kissed her.

“Okay.” He nodded. “Go ahead.”

She put the bucket down on the dirt, looking up at the sky as though the clouds held inspiration. Then she looked back at him, her eyes shining. And then her lips parted, words spilling out of them like she couldn’t keep them in anymore.

“I’ve been lying to you. I’ve been lying to everybody. I’m not engaged to Trenton anymore.”