He clicks his tongue against his teeth. “Bold of you to think Kacey doesn’t have them named already. She’s Bootsy.”
I laugh and Bootsy mews. I trade her for another cream-colored kitten. One more and I can ditch the handsome cowboy standing in the doorway, making me wish I wore a dress today.
As if he’s reading my thoughts, he rakes his gaze down my body. Appreciation fills his eyes. I’m only in jeans and an old Hawthorne Ranch shirt.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
His question takes me off guard. I swap for the last kitten, an all-black one. From the way they’re notsquirming to get away, they’ve been handled plenty already.
“Nothing, other than dealing with my cousin and her groom.” Maybe referring to them like that will make it all sting less.
“Campbell.”
A shiver whispers over my skin. He called me Belle in the dark.
“This is different,” he says softly. “You’ve hardly looked at me since the other night.”
The other night. When I practically came in his arms and he talked me through it. He helped me then, and he wants to do it again. I’m apparently a sucker for that. “Were you being honest? You don’t have a girlfriend?”
“Ah. That.” He drags in a deep breath, looks behind him, and saunters farther in. “We aren’t together.”
“I know we’re not together. I want to make sure you and Natalie aren’t either.” I haven’t eaten anything, but the center of my chest burns. I put the last kitten down. It was almost asleep, and I would’ve held it longer if it weren’t for the potential cheater in front of me. Do I know how to pick them or what?
I didn’t pick Durban. It just happened. I wouldn’t have chosen another guy who thinks he’s better than me.
“No, I mean, me andNataliearen’t together.”
“You didn’t do that thing where you broke up with her right after, so technically, you’re not a bad guy, and I’m not a horrible homewrecker?” Nausea hits my stomach. “Because ugh. Technically, I still would be.”
“That’d make me an asshole. I’m not your ex, and I don’t string women along until they’re not convenientanymore.” The offense in his tone makes me feel both better and worse.
I’m insulting him, and now I have guilt wrapped up in the mix of feelings inside me. I wring my hands. “My dating history hasn’t left me with the best worst-case scenarios.”
The hardness in his jaw eases. “You should never be wrong for taking someone at their word. The night at the bar? I went there because she had just called and broken it off.”
“Oh.” The agitation in my stomach finds a different reason to continue. He didn’t owe me an explanation, but I’m spinning out, so he gave me one. Now the guilt grows. I gave him shit about his girlfriend, and he played it off because he was sitting there, heartbroken, and wanted to save face. I just stomped salt into his wound. “Oh God, I’m sorry. No wonder you were so grouchy.”
“Couldn’t you read it in my expression?” he asks lightly before he turns serious again. “Four years of waiting, and it’s over. Just like that.” He takes his hands out and crosses his arms across his chest. Oh, that’s worse. The flutters are back in my belly. “She said I was too distracting at such an important time for her.”
“Ouch.”
Four years is a long time to be cut out so quickly. I know how that feels. He said he didn’t string women along until they were inconvenient, but that sounds like what his ex did.
“Why?” It’s none of my business, but suddenly, I want to know everything about the Durban who’s human and makes mistakes and gets dumped just like me. I grip the horseshoe charm on my necklace and runit back and forth along the chain. “If she’s almost done with school, why now?”
“She’s busy.” The muscles on either side of his jaw pop. “I don’t know what it’s like, being in college and especially not at that level. It’s a critical time for her.”
“Harsh.”
“But true.”
“Fuck that.” I snort. “Trust me. I know how much it sucks to have people think you can’t possibly understand when it’s them who have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
His gaze narrows on me, but he doesn’t speak.
I don’t know what else to say. Relief is starting to flood in, making the cool inside of the barn almost chilly. I could continue questioning Durban, but I believe him. What makes him more trustworthy? His focus is on me. Am I that needy? “It helped. Dealing with Stanford and his family afterthatwas easier.”
Satisfaction fills his eyes. “Yeah?”
