“You should date whoever you want,” she said quickly.
“It’s not her.”
Her skin went from cool to hot and clammy in a matter of seconds.
Not dating, Aspen. Not. Dating.
Jesse lifted his coffee and cringed on his second sip. “Christ, it just keeps getting worse.”
“Yeah, there’s a real aftertaste there.”
She wet her lips, and his gaze immediately lowered.
She drew in a shaky breath. “Okay, well…I should work. I’m determined to have a good writing day today.” She was just lowering her gaze to the screen when her phone lit up from the table. She lifted it and cringed.
Jesse leaned forward. “Who is it?”
“No one.”
“Is it him? I thought you blocked him.”
“I did. It’s Mom. She wants me to talk to him. She’s decided he can’t possibly be the bad guy in all this, that it must be me.” She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
Jesse’s eyes narrowed. Because he knew it was another lie. It wasn’t nothing. She’d blocked his number and now her mother was texting. And every text was like a little reminder from the universe that she’d chosen wrong with Dylan. That sometimes people made you think they were right for you when they really,reallyweren’t.
Jesse pulledinto the parking lot outside the sheriff’s station. His fingers were tight around the wheel, but he couldn’t loosen them.
That asshole ex of hers was still trying to connect to her, this time through her mother.
Images of him grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the bar in Misty Peak made his back teeth grind together. Obviously, Dylan hadn’t gotten the damn message when she’d moved to the other side of the country.
He climbed out of the car and slammed the door.
When he stepped into the station, Bea looked up from the front desk. “Hi, Jesse. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just need some good coffee.” Why no business in this town could sell a good cup of coffee, he had no idea.
He headed down the hall. In the kitchen, Luke looked up from the table, a huge fucking grin spreading across his face that did nothing to improve Jesse’s mood.
“Morning, stud. Have a good night with April?”
Jesse loaded coffee into the coffee machine. “You’re an asshole.”
Luke’s smile fell. “Most men would be dropping to their knees and worshiping me for setting them up with a woman like her.”
“I told you I didn’t want to be set up on a date.”
“Yeah, but that was before you saw her.”
“I saw her. I still don’t want to date her.” He opened the cupboard. One clean mug left…the fucking breasts mug.
Goddammit.
He slammed it closed, grabbed a dirty mug from the dishwasher and washed it in the sink.
Luke’s chair scraped against the floor. “Whoa. Someone’s grumpy. Let me guess, she didn’t put out.”
“How old are you?”
