Page 22 of Sweet Summertide

Her accusation got his attention, and he looked up at her. “Mine?”

“Yes. If you hadn’t distracted me with all that …” she stopped herself from saying anything about the way she had kissed him. “I would have done what I needed to do and been gone before anyone was the wiser.” She knew she was partly right and crossed her arms for effect.

“You mean, if I hadn’t distracted you from theothercrime you were attempting to commit,” he growled.

“Shush. You want me to get in trouble for that too?”

“Just admit it. You got caught doing something illegal while doing something else illegal.” He smirked wryly like he had won this round.

“Wipe that off your face,” she said.

“Or what? You’ll come over here and do it for me? Be my guest.”

She grunted and stomped her foot against the cold floor. “What happened to that whole sexy act in the woods?”

“You think I’m sexy?” he teased sarcastically and crossed his legs out in front of him as though he had no cares in the world, which irritated her more.

“I didn’t say that. I said it was an act.” Inside she was throwing a fit. She was so confused. One minute he’s pinning heragainst a tree, breathing her in and stirring a desire in her that she had never felt before, and the next, he’s indifferent to their plight. “I thought you liked me?”

“That was before you got us arrested.” He gave another irritated smirk.

“And why are you so happy?”

“Trust me, honey, it has nothing to do with you.” Teddy said with a taunting shake of his head. “This whole day is just one big joke. It has to be, because there’s no way this is how this works. I’m a lawyer, remember.”

“It’s not a joke to me. How do I know this whole thing wasn’t one big set up from you?”

“Why would I?—”

“To get back at me,” she shot back. “To teach me a lesson. I don’t know.” Voicing her accusation out loud made her paranoid rambling sound ridiculous even to her own ears. There was one way to find out. “Why don’t you tell me how you did it, then. How did you get us arrested for trespassing?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And for that matter, I can’t believe you would think I would risk my future to take you down. I’m not like you, Blake Holly Hollis. I would never do the kinds of things that you’ve been doing to me.” He stood and walked to the bars. “I wish we were never told about this grant money, and we could just go back to when you were charming and got me out of my shell.”

She recoiled at the realization that she had cut him deep. “I meant to be having fun.”

“Fun? That’s what you call trying to delay my opening? Believe it or not. Ineedthis grant money. I have to succeed at this or… or I’m finished. I’ll have nothing to fall back on. You don’t even need it. This is just sport for you.”

“For your information. I had decided not to reroute your delivery truck until …” she paused and considered whether totell him about the voicemail she got from her mother yesterday or not.

“Until what? What happened to make you pump the brakes and then why did you go through with it anyway?”

She stood and joined him beside the blue painted metal bars and rested her hands through two slats. “Can I tell you something?” she said, and he shrugged. “Now, you believe it or not. I do like you. I just wish we weren’t competing for the same thing. Do you know how hard it is for me to trust you, or anyone, who wants to see me fail?”

He looked at her with glassy eyes. “I don’t want to see you fail. I just really need to win. There’s a difference. And yes, I thought your antics were innocent enough, like when you distracted my workers with delicious pizza. But then you vandalized my windows, which was borderline for me. Then I found out you were planning to redirect my supplies and possibly ruin my chances of opening my shop in time to even win the money. Until that moment, I believed you were just a girl, having a good time. I even thought you were toying with me as a twisted form of flirtation.”

“Teddy, I was, you’re right?—”

“Stop,” he said and put a finger over her lips. His firm flesh warmed her skin, and she found herself without breath. “I‘m tired of your games, and you’ve made it difficult for me to ever trust you again. And as for that grant money, don’t even think for a second that you’re going to win it after all this.”

“But I need it. Teddy, you don’t understand. My parents … they—” She couldn’t bring herself to admit that she was on her own, that her mother had pulled one last string with that voicemail to force Holly into a life she didn’t want. Everything hinged on the success of her shop now. The last thing Blake Holly Hollis wanted was to appear pathetic to the man standing beside her.

“I have difficult parents too, Holly, but I’m not going to destroy you in order to release my frustrations about them. I told you on the train that I was their greatest disappointment. So yeah, I want to win that money too and prove to them I am so much more than they thought me to be.”

“It’s no excuse, I suppose.”

“You’re darn right, it’s not,” Teddy said and looked away from her down the hallway. “This was the last thing I needed right now.”

“You think I want this?” she said and pawed at his shoulder.

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