Page 76 of Hard to Love
Greer’s mouth opened and out came an “Uh…uh…uh.” Alex squeezed her fingers, which must have traveled up and tickled the back of her throat because she began coughing as though a West Texas dust storm had suddenly blown through town. “I…ah…”
These women were as meddlesome as histías, and he needed to divert this train wreck. “Ladies, everyone involved with PBC and Greer’s village is really focused on the competition right now, Cal included.” Yeah, he was mostly focused on kicking Alex’s ass if he didn’t treat his sister right.
A voice boomed over the loudspeakers in the pavilion. “The dessert judging will start in three minutes, y’all. The taste testers have taken their seats. If you want a front-row view of the best of the best, you need to get on over here now.”
The hunted look on Greer’s face lightened slightly. “That’s our cue, Alex.” She flashed a smile around the small group. “Can’t miss the judging since he has something in the contest.”
“Oh, what did you—” Raylene began.
“Later, y’all!” Greer said brightly and yanked Alex out of the circle.
He glanced back at the ladies one last time to find them chatting and smiling. Raylene sent him a little finger wave. Lord, he’d never seen such pleasant piranhas in his life. But with Greer leading him along like a donkey through the crowd, the women were soon out of sight.
Greer glanced back over her shoulder, her mouth tight. “When I said you should socialize, I didn’t mean you should parade our private lives around. Even though the other contest participants know I’m not the final judge of the art, it could throw a shadow over the whole thing. Besides, you don’t even believe in the boots.”
He stopped, dug in his heels, which brought her to a skidding halt. Although he didn’t manhandle her the way she’d been dragging him through people, when he drew on her hand, there was no question who was in charge. “Don’t tell me what I believe. And do you think I was the one over there picking out bouquets and cake flavors?”
Suddenly, the angry look on her face melted to something softer and sadder. She was hurt. “No, because that would mean you wanted to be part of not only a relationship but a community. And we both know how you feel about that.”
He made a show of looking around the covered area at all the people. “I’m trying here, exactly what you wanted me to do.”
Her head dipped, and she shook it as though trying toshoo away a bug or a particularly disturbing thought. When she lifted it again, she said, “I don’t like it when other people start picking apart my plans, deciding they know better than I do.”
Alex pulled her closer, into a tight circle where they were the only two people who existed. He tilted back her chin and gazed into her eyes. “No one back there was deciding anything for you. Believe me, I’ve only known you a few weeks and I recognize that you’re a bulldozer.”
Her eyes went squinty, which lightened everything inside Alex’s chest.
“Okay, maybe just a front loader.” Squinty became decidedly mean, and that made him grin. “Fine, then you’re no more intimidating than a riding lawn mower.”
“How did this conversation go from weddings to mowing equipment?”
He leaned down, rubbed his cheek against her hair, and said close to her ear. “Because you’re mad and there’s no reason to be.”
Her entire body relaxed. “This was supposed to be an opportunity for you to meet people, for them to get to know you.”
“Believe me, you may not like the conversation topic back there, but Raylene has introduced me around to more people than I can remember names for.”
“Hmm…I guess it doesn’t matterwhythey like you as long as they do.”
God, he hated that this competition had essentially become a popularity contest, one he had to win so he could save his brother.
“One minute until the judging,” the voice over the speaker said. “If you want a chance at buying the winning desserts, come to the judging table now.”
Greer went on tiptoe, skimmed a quick kiss across his cheek. Innocent, but it made Alex’s skin flare. He tightened his grip on her hand and shot a look back in the direction of the car. They could be at the barn and in his bed in less than fifteen minutes.
“I know that look,” she said. “And it’s not happening when you have smiling and socializing to do.”
Dammit. She was right.
She turned and took off again, so Alex followed her to a line of long tables piled with what had to be—on quick calculation—three hundred dessert dishes. People were hovering, eyeing the platters of cookies, meringue-topped pies, and thick chocolate cakes. Alex’s stomach growled, and Greer snickered.
“Hey,” he said, “I haven’t even gotten food yet and people have already moved on to the sweets.”
“Haven’t you ever heard that life is short and you should eat dessert first?”
That brought back the stabbing memory of Javi sitting on the counter licking the beaters after their mamá made marranitos. They’d always fought like hell for those pig-shaped gingerbread cookies. God knew Alex should’ve let Javi have them all. “Seems kind of cruel to only let people look at them while a measly—” he counted the people seated behind the middle table, “—five people get a chance to sample everything.”
“Believe me, with all this, the judges barely take half a bite.”
