Page 67 of The Huckleberry Bookshop

“I’m sorry. What?”

“A place for me to stay here in Sweetheart Creek. So we can hang out more without me imposing.”

“Imposing?” She slid off his lap and deposited the dog in his arms, laughing. “Chad, I’m not… We’re…” She let out a huff of disbelief.

“Too fast?” he asked weakly.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’ve kind of been crushing on you for a long time. I’ve been trying to ignore the way you make my heart race, and how stupid things come out of my mouth just so I can stand there having a conversation with you.”

Her brow furrowed.

“What?” he asked, feeling a stirring of alarm. “What are you thinking?”

Her eyes were filled with unanswered questions, ones he wished she’d ask. Worries he wished he could lay to rest.

If she wanted to know why he’d been such a jerk the first time they’d met, he’d tell her. He’d give her blood, tears, sweat and confessions.

He steadied himself, knowing he had to be honest, not change the subject or pass it off as a joke. He might get only one shot at this.

“You suck the air from rooms,” she said quickly.

He blinked, trying to sort out her words and what they meant. Was sucking the air from rooms a bad thing?

“You have this way of sweeping in with your hypnotizing charm, and everyone just stops thinking and falls at your feet.”

He started, surprised at how wounded she sounded.

She leaned over him, hands on the chair’s armrests, her body intoxicatingly close. “How do I know this is real?”

He forced himself to look up from her curves, to stop imagining what it would take to have her lips back on his, making his fantasies come true. “What does your heart tell you?”

“It tells me to be scared.”

Chapter 12

Lonnie gestured for Athena to wait for him off to one side of the arena hallway. When he’d texted her to meet up before his team played the Dragons, she’d said sure. But when she’d asked him what it was about, he’d ghosted her.

Now they were here, face-to-face, with his team filtering past. Athena smiled and said hello to some of the familiar faces. Davenport, Lonnie’s friend and usual roomie when on the road, enveloped her in an enthusiastic hug, lifting her from her feet.

She laughed as he set her back down. “Don’t let the Dragons see you doing that or they’ll think I’ve switched teams on them.”

“And why wouldn’t you? We’re going to slay tonight.” He pretended to swing a sword through the air. “Hey, what have you been up to? You’re looking even hotter than usual. Seeing anyone?”

“Actually…” Was she? Were she and Chad an official thing? If so, she wanted to move slowly and be sure this time. No being swept into a romance at high speed and then smack straight into reality like she had with Lonnie.

Her ex pushed Davenport out of the way. “We’ve gotta chat. Skedaddle, man.”

Davenport held out a fist for Athena to bump as he stepped backward, away from them. “Don’t let this loser convince you to take him back. There are better fish in the sea.” He winked again and hustled away as Lonnie pretended to go after him.

Athena sighed as Lonnie continued to act as if he was going to fight Davenport. Her family had seen through his charm, but she’d been so dazzled she’d lost her normal twenty-twenty vision where he was concerned. The man had some serious gravitational pull. The very idea of someone semifamous choosing her had swept away her rationality, making her believe she was different. That she was special.

Chad had a similar gravitational pull, and she felt a flash of panic. What if his interest wasn’t genuine? What if he saw her as nothing more than a challenge—could he lure the serious, rule-following team dietician into his arms?

She shook her head. Chad wasn’t like that. He had a tender side, a side so human and vulnerable she knew he was different from Lonnie, despite her fears otherwise.

“What’s up?” she asked impatiently, as Lonnie waited for his teammates to finish trickling past.

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