She lowered her lashes, and hesitated, unsure. “I’m not exactly a lightweight.”
He drew a long slow breath. Here was the difference between Northern and Southern women. All the ladies he knew—down to a one—would say, “Why, thank you,” and accept the act of chivalry as their due.
“What can I say?” Not that her thighs were perfect. Or how all he could wonder was how the weight of them would feel, hooked around his shoulders. “I like a challenge.” He started walking. Withstanding the way the side of her ass skimmed his dick going to be the ultimate test of willpower. “Now I have to ask—”
“I’m pleading the fifth.” They reached the top and she slipped from his grasp faster than an eel. The sight of her bare thighs emerging from his shirt was the hottest sight he’d seen in a long time.
Guys were supposed to want it all the time. But after Birdie, he’d tried a few times. Not with anyone local—just tourists—but anonymous sex wasn’t his thing, and the fact the whole town wanted to spy on his bed had been a boner killer.
He stepped back and reached for the passenger door. His dick had nine lives. “Your chariot awaits.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, clutching at his shirttail while stepping inside. “Like it or not, guess I needed a hero.” Her smile was unexpected, the real deal, and lodged right in his heart.
When he returned to his seat, the cab smelled like a goddamn orchard. He leaned toward the window, sucking in a gulp of country air. Didn’t help. Tonight he’d dream of apple pie. “What were you thinking?”
“Long story short, I wasn’t.” Her brown-eyed gaze bounced around the car, refusing to land on anything. “Enough about me though. Why’s this called the Kissing Bridge?” she asked.
He wasn’t the Everland Welcome Wagon, but when his audience was a half-naked knockout, it seemed like a good time to fulfill his civic duty. “Back in the olden days, when a young Everland couple went courting, this is where they’d come.”
She frowned. It was as if he could see the lightbulb go off. Her whole face illuminated. “Oh! Because it’s covered. No one could see what they got up to.”
“Guess you didn’t earn that fancy law degree for nothing.”
Just like that, he blew the moment. Her face shuttered. “Yeah. How about that.” She snapped on a seat belt. “You’ve lived here all your life?”
She was good at redirecting conversation from herself. “More or less. I went to school over in Athens. But it’s not here. Say what you want about Everland, and it’s probably true. And yet, it’s home.”
“And how often have you escorted a special someone to the Kissing Bridge?” she poked mischievously.
“Once.” The ugly truth slipped out.
She recoiled, as if sensing conversation quicksand ahead. “Oh. I see.”
“No.” His hand covered her knee. Which happened to be bare. She had peach-soft skin, golden with a hint of blush. “I don’t mind. You’ll hear it sooner or later. There used to be somebody.”
She brushed away a nonexistent mark on his shirtsleeve. “A serious somebody?”
“Somebody I asked to marry me. Somebody who said yes.”
“What happened?”
“Got left at the altar.” Let her chew on that.
Her mouth twitched, but her dark eyes were serious—weighing if he was joking or not.
He swallowed a sigh. He was a joke, and no he wasn’t joking. It had been nice to enjoy the time when she hadn’t the faintest clue to his dubious claim to local fame.
He stared at her straight-faced until her half-smile turned into a ghost. “When?”
“A few years ago. Six this month. We were childhood sweethearts. Been together since the Under the Sea dance in the eighth grade. She went as Ariel, red wig, the whole bit.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I was in the relationship for the wrong reason.”
“Which was?”
He tried for a smile. “People used to tell us it wouldn’t work, but we were both stubborn. Over time, we grew apart. In the end, she made the right choice breaking off the relationship, but the event sent me rudderless. It wasn’t losing the love of my life; it was losing a friend, a best friend in many ways, and my idea of how life would look. After that I drank too much. Sailed in storms I shouldn’t have.
“The town still roots for me, but I never asked them to fix my problems or fix me up. I don’t want a year’s subscription to a dating website. I want what anyone outside of Hollywood does, a simple life out of the public eye. I have a job I love, a boat, and trust me, it’s all smooth sailing.”
“Do you stay in touch with her?”
