Page 27 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

“Ash,” Lexi said with an eye roll. “I know you’re not delivering saw blades, you big, fancy liar. You’re at some air aerobics

camp.”

“It was a gift card, and it was going to expire!”

“Ash, what are you doing?” Lexi asked softly. “We’re sup posed to handle this together, and you keep bailing on me. Plus we talked about this, about the meddling—”

“This isn’t meddling,” Ashley said sincerely. “You’re trying to learn how to open up your heart, and I’m trying to help you.”

Lexi tipped her head back and stared out Heath’s sunroof. “You need to stop worrying about the state of my heart. We have

a task.”

“And we are on task.”

“We?” she asked in disbelief.

“Look, I’m sorry. The last thing I want to do is let you down. But that’s why I did this. After we talked, I realized how

bad it really was for you when you were a kid. With... Daisy.”

It was the first time Ashley had called their mom by her given name, and Lexi’s throat went tight. She turned away from Heath

to stare out her side window. “This isn’t really the time—”

“It’s not okay that she did things like forget to pick you up from elementary school because she was at the casino, leaving

you in the pouring rain waiting on no one, that you somehow slipped through the cracks and no adult even noticed. I couldn’t

sleep, thinking about what could have happened to you on that long walk home, when those boys chased you.”

Why had she made this call on speaker? She fumbled with her phone, taking the call to private so hard she broke a nail. Great, and now she was sweating in places

she hated to sweat. “Ashley—”

“No, I need to say this. I know that was only one of a bunch of different ways she failed you. And how in the world can I expect to have a hope at convincing you to stay, or even come back once in a while, if we don’t replace those old memories with better ones?

I know you have a very full life back east, so I wanted to show you what you could have here, because I know I won’t be enough—”

“You’re more than enough.” Why had she lied about having a life? “Please, can we talk about this later—”

“Yes, of course.” Ashley let out a shaky breath. “I just want to say this one last thing. When my dad married Mom, I was too

young to understand the feeling in my chest when I realized you weren’t going to get to live with us. I couldn’t put a name

to the emotion until I was older. But it was guilt. Guilt that I had her and you didn’t. You deserved better, Lex.”

Shaking her head even though her sister couldn’t see her, Lexi kept her voice soft, hating the tears she heard in Ashley’s.

“You have nothing to feel guilty for. Nothing . I’m okay, you’re okay, we’re all okay.” She forced some badly needed levity into her voice. “But no more shirking your sister

duties to deliver these envelopes with me, okay? I just—” She suddenly realized Heath had pulled the car over, that they were

no longer moving, that he’d once again parked on the side of the highway. “I want to get this done, okay?”

“And I want you to be okay.”

“I am. I promise.”

“I feel like I owe you as much family as I can give you.”

Lexi found a smile. “And you think constantly pushing me on a man who doesn’t want a relationship any more than I do is going

to do that?” She felt Heath shift in his seat, but nope, still not gonna look at him. “We’ll be home super late, so I’ll see

you in the morning. I stashed some ice cream in the freezer, the full-dairy kind. You’d better leave me some.”

Ashley laughed softly, but didn’t speak, and then out of the corner of the eye she was absolutely not looking at Heath with,

she saw him check his phone.

“Yes,” Ashley finally said. “But you should spend the night somewhere. You can’t possibly mean to drive straight through.”

“Goodbye, Ash.”

“But—”

“Love you.” Lexi disconnected. Love you? Where the hell had that come from? But then her phone lit up with a text that said LOVE YOU TOO with a bunch of exclamation points and hearts of every color. Letting out a slow exhale, she turned to Heath. “What did she

text you?”

“An apology.” Those see-all eyes weren’t giving much away. “I didn’t know about Daisy forgetting to pick you up.”

“Oh, so now you have words?” she asked in what she’d intended to be a teasing tone. He didn’t smile, and she sighed. “Why would you have

heard about it? You were a little kid then too. And anyway, we’re not going to talk about it.”

“Fair.” With a nod, he pulled back onto the road. At first the silence felt... awkward. But then he turned up the radio

and Cher came on. “Do you believe in life after love...” he started singing. Loudly.

And off-key.

And damn, there was something incredibly attractive, not to mention endearing, about a man so secure with himself—not cocky,

there was a definite difference, as she knew all too well—just confident.

So she sang too, liking the smile he flashed at her way too much. So she’d had a rough childhood, lots of people did. She

needed to work on putting aside her fear of letting people in.

Maybe she could even practice with her sister and Heath—neither of whom, for whatever reason, seemed inclined to turn their

back on her.

She believed Ashley when she said she wanted Lexi in her life.

As for Heath, well, she wasn’t quite exactly sure what he wanted.

His mouth said he wasn’t interested in a relationship.

But his actions didn’t quite match up with that.

He’d been there for her, no questions asked.

Even when she hadn’t known she’d needed him.

Like today. And there was more. He didn’t look at her as he looked at Ashley, whom he clearly considered a younger sister.

Nope, there was nothing fraternal in how he looked at Lexi.

And now here he was, trying to make her laugh by singing at the top of his lungs, suggesting that she couldn’t scare him off,

not when she made mistakes, not when she let herself be vulnerable, not even when she didn’t know how to ask for, much less

receive and accept, help... He was here, having pushed off whatever his plans were for the day, to back her up. Just the

two of them...

No Ashley as the buffer.

She didn’t know if she had the words to express the comfort she felt in knowing that both of them accepted her as she was.

Yes, they teased her, but made sure she was in on the joke. But even more boggling, much as she pushed, neither turned their

back on her.

He was still singing, his low baritone purposefully missing the notes. He even let that well-toned body move to the beat,

stymied by the seat belt, but no less sexy for it, damn him. He could dance. “We should have a dancing contest,” she said.

“Since you can’t dance and all.”

The corners of his mouth tugged. “Is that a challenge, Lexi?”

A jolt went through her core at the way he said her name. “Is it?” she asked, and was that really her voice, all breathless?

“I accept.” He slid her a look so hot she had to look down to make sure she was still dressed, that her clothes hadn’t melted

off. “Bring your moves,” he dared her.

“You think you can handle it?”

He just smiled, and her pulse skipped a few beats. This was a very bad idea. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. And still, she couldn’t tear her gaze off him, the way he moved, how he had no problem being ridiculously silly...

and why that was so ridiculously sexy, she had no idea. She reached out to pick a song, but he nudged her hand clear.

“Driver picks the tunes,” he said, and then the jerk turned it up.

Oh, game on. “Pull over.”

“What?”

“Pull over.” And then to make him comply, she pretended to gag and covered her mouth.

He whipped the car to the side of the road so fast her head spun. She hopped out and he was at her side in a moment, hand

on her back. “Are you okay—”

She ran around the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. Then she honked at him. “Hurry up.”

He stood there, hands on hips, head tilted to the side, studying her with a small smile. “You won’t leave me here on the side

of the road in the middle of nowhere.”

So he was cocky after all. “Try me.” She revved the engine.

“Shit.” But he got into the car.