“In a way.” He rolled his shoulders. “Wynter caught me, asked if I’d be willing to have pictures of me taken when I’m doing a tasting. I was against it, but after bookingthreeweddings and now a reunion too next summer, I figured I’dsee if my face could sell some bourbon. Ruby might be onto something.”
As long as Wynter didn’t ask me. “Not that I mind, but why couldn’t this wait until we’re both in the office tomorrow?” I didn’t mind talking about Copper Summit business anytime or anywhere, but I’d never want to test whether my mug could sell a thing.
“We haven’t talked much lately.”
“You miss me,” I teased.
His scowl was supposed to be playful, but I caught the flash of loneliness. “You buzz away as soon as you’re not needed every weekend.”
For Ruby, I did. Cruz and Lane had also returned to Colorado to help with Foster House. Was Teller feeling like the lone bachelor among a ton of happy couples? The whole family was pairing off, Cruz and Lane were slowly decreasing their time with Bailey Beef, and that left Teller on his own.
Did that mean I wasn’t a bachelor anymore? Was I off the market? It wasn’t like I had wanted to be on the market after my last foray. My emotions had taken a few hits in the last couple of hours. My feelings for Ruby were getting inconveniently deeper, and then I would be meeting her parents soon. Something that had never been pleasant. Also something that wasn’t insignificant.
I hadn’t wanted to name what Ruby and I were. That’d make it real. A word could be undone. A relationship could be ended. A girlfriend could become an ex. Love could turn to heartbreak. I’d been at this hopeful point before, wondering what amazing things lay ahead, only to be kicked to the curb and left behind.
All this was supposed to have been just a date to a wedding, and somehow, feelings had grown, blossomed, dug roots around my heart. Those tendrils would become permanent soon, but I had no control over whether they stayed or got ripped out. Thatpower was in Ruby’s delicate hands. And I’d had no one to talk to about any of it.
I massaged the bridge of my nose. “The whole thing with Ruby. It’s not how you think.”
Was I really going to do this? Now that the wedding was over, I felt less like I’d be shoving all the blame onto Ruby. I’d dug the hole I was standing in.
So I did it. I told him about how Ruby and I hadreallyended up dating. His eyes widened as the story progressed. Though I kept it G-rated.
“Damn.” He shook his head, disbelief crossing his face. His astonishment spoke volumes even if he’d only listened. “You really think you were faking?”
“That’s all it was.” Her moans when she got herself off in my bed rose in my head. Maybe faking hadn’t been all. “That was all it was supposed to be.”
He pondered me for a moment. “Being alone was safe. Telling yourself it was fake was safe. So, now what?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not in safe territory anymore. You care about her.”
“Of course I care about her.” And didn’t that feel like the most dangerous thing I could do?
“You’re not letting her in.”
“I have.” I’d opened so many doors to her that I’d thought would always remain closed to a woman. “She’s seen me paint my figures.”
“No, I mean—” He shook his head. “You’re not ready to hear it.”
Anger blazed a trail across the back of my neck. I’d opened up to him and he was chiding me? People had been telling me what I wasn’t my entire goddamn life and I was sick of it. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Teller dragged in a long inhale, tapping his fingers against his mug. “Relationships aren’t about how fun you can make them. Katrina only cared about how it looked to the outside world. She didn’t care about quality.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Katrina’s not in my life anymore. I don’t want her to be.”
“I saw her last weekend.”
The jolt of shock was unwelcome. “Okay?” I gave zero fucks about Katrina or that she was in town, even though she kept coming up lately. The only reason I hated running into her was that it made me feel like that pathetic guy from ten years ago who’d put up with her in the first place.
“She was going into Flatlanders.”
That I hadn’t seen coming. “Doesn’t seem her style.”
“I think she avoids you.”
I snorted. “Yeah, right.” It was lucky I hadn’t moved after her little shit-talking tour. All of her former coworkers at the bank either gave me those knowing, sympathetic looks or avoided my gaze altogether. I had moved all of Copper Summit’s financials online after that.
