Page 36 of Falling for the Wrong Guy

“Kellan showed up here. He rarely comes to my place,” I added. “I don’t think he likes this tiny house much. He prefers his roomy apartment.”

Dex nodded. “That lines up with what I know about my brother. So, he came here to make sure you understood just how vital it was that you heed his warnings about me. He was probably pacing the floor of his spacious, overpriced apartment after that phone call. Kellan doesn’t like to lose control of things.”

The cider had started to simmer, and a cinnamon fragrance filled the kitchen. “Yes, I’ve noticed.” I pulled down two mugs. I turned back to the stove, poured the cider and carried them to the table. Even my nicely sized mug looked small in his hand. The sight of him sipping cider from the mug made me snicker.

He looked up from his drink. “Not a sight you see every day. King Kong sipping a hot drink from a cup.” He lifted his pinky. “There, just to finish the whole look.”

I tried to blow on my cider but couldn’t stop a giggle. We drank for a few seconds, then he set his mug down. His green gaze was always so unsettling, and now I’d confirmed it—unsettling, but not in a bad way.

“Aria, I know Kellan filled your head with the long laundry list of Declan problems. He’s the only person who ever called me Declan. Never Dex. That was a control thing, too. I would love to say that he’s exaggerating and not to believe a word he says about me, but I can’t say that … because a lot of what he says is true. I’ve never settled in one place for long, mostly because I’ve never found a place where I felt I belonged. And it’s true, I’m here now because my friend needs help, and I’ll do anything for Quinn.”

I felt my posture deflating with each word. It felt as if he was leading up to letting me know that Kellan was right, that he’d take off just as soon as he could and leave me, once again, without a cook.

“But Aria, if I find that place, the place where I feel I can put down roots and make a life, then it’ll take wild horses to drag me away. I’m not entirely sure if Whisper Cove is that place, but I can tell you this—I haven’t been as relaxed or as happy in a long time as I was working in your restaurant this morning. That’s all I can give you for now. No other promises. I’ll understand completely if you don’t hire me.”

I couldn’t believe how profoundly his non-promise affected me. I wanted a promise. I wanted him to say yes, I’ll stay. This is the place for me. I can’t imagine living anywhere else other than Whisper Cove.

“Can you work until I find someone else, or is that too much commitment?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone. That was how hurt I felt about the whole thing.

“I would love that.” He finished his cider. “Better get to bed. Got an early start tomorrow.”

He got up and I followed him to the door. He stopped short and turned around without warning. I’d been steeped in disappointment and reacted too late. I smacked right into his hard chest. It was so tight, I bounced off like a rubber ball. He caught me before I stumbled backward.

For a long, electricity filled moment he held onto my arms, and the two of us were just inches from each other. His long lashes shaded his eyes as he stared down at me. I peered up at him. His gaze dropped to my lips, and for the briefest second, I imagined being wrapped in his arms while he kissed me. I sensed some hesitation on his part to lower his arms. Or maybe I was imagining it. After all, why on earth would he be reluctant to release me?

He was the one to finally break the magnetic force between us. “Uh, thanks for the cider, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He dashed out the door and never looked back.

I walked straight to my phone. On the way, I flipped through my sister list to see who I should speak to in this instance. My first choice would have been Isla because she was generally more grounded than the rest of the bunch, but I knew she and Luke had taken his grandmother, Hazel, out to dinner tonight. I tapped Ella’s name, and she answered on the first ring.

“Something’s up. I knew it. I just got this crazy rush of nerves. It went straight through me.”

“I think I just had a moment with Dex,” I blurted before I could stop myself

“All right, let’s unpack this,” she said calmly, and it was so forced I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh. “I want to get all my facts straight first.” She sounded like a lawyer questioning a client. “Now, by Dex, you mean Mr. Super Hot and Hunky. Correct?”

“Yes, your honor,” I said facetiously.

“Hey, I’m taking this seriously because it seems I have been unwittingly thrust into the big sister role, and I don’t want to make a misstep. Especially because I’m providing guidance to my actual big sister, who will, no doubt, evaluate and dissect all my advice.”

I grunted in frustration. “El.”

“Right. Sorry. Just got carried away with all the power handed to me. So, describe this moment. Was it static-filled and charged with so much energy the incident could not be misconstrued as something more banal—like, let’s say, an unexpected bout of gas?”

“It was somewhere between a bout of gas and a static-filled explosion.”

“Explosion,” she repeated. “Interesting choice of word, and let me just say—it’s about time you noticed that electricity between you two. There was a glowing arc shooting back and forth between you when he sat down to eat with us.”

“I don’t need the author Ella right now. I need my sister. There were no arcs. If anything, there were flaming arrows going back and forth.”

“Well, from your side anyway, or at least that was what you were trying for, but in the words of the great bard, William Shakespeare ‘methinks the lady doth protest too much.’”

I grunted again. “I knew I should have just waited for Isla.”

“All right, all right. No more Shakespeare. To put it in twenty-first century terms: You hated him because you liked him, and you were mad at yourself for feeling that spark, so it came out as anger.”

“No, I don’t think that’s right. Our first meeting was pretty bad. His gull chased me off the dock, and I fell in the cold water. Yes, he jumped in after me?—”

“Wait. What? You never told me. You fell in the water? He jumped in after you? How romantic.”

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