I shook his hand. “Hey. You been out to the site yet?”
“Just came from there. Looks good. Moving along quicker than I thought it would. Has Nate been any trouble?” He adjusted the baseball hat on his head, giving me the tiniest hint of his thinning brown hair before he covered it up.
“No. No trouble.” Nate hadn’t even brought up seeing me with Tessa a couple weeks ago at the site. He hadn’t been any trouble, which had surprised me.
Chase’s brow furrowed. “Really? He told me he had you add a few more electrical outlets. Hadn’t you already started to Sheetrock?”
I mentally punched myself. He meantworkNate, notTessa’s brother, Nate. “Oh, that. Yeah, we figured it out.” It took a whole day, and we had to redo a completed wall of Sheetrock, but we ran a few extra outlets for Tessa’s perfectionist brother.
Chase looked at me like something amused him. “How are you liking being back in Eugene?”
I shifted uncomfortably. “It’s alright.”
He stared at me for a long moment before his lips lifted at the corners. “From what I hear, it’s been better than alright.”
My body froze. Abort. Abort.
Before I could reply, we were joined by Cade and Kelsey and a few others. I stopped looking Chase in the eye. The next few minutes passed by in a blur of familiar faces. My body felt on autopilot as I laughed, and shook hands, and slapped shoulders with old friends. I think I even re-hashed a few stories, but so far, the night felt like an opening act at a concert. Second-rate. The music you had to politely wait through before the headliner took the stage.
I was in the middle of a conversation with my brother-in-law, Cade, and my sister when a familiar truck pulled up.
My first instinct was to run to her, which scared the crap out of me, so I forced my body to stay where it was. Kelsey squealed and ran forward to greet her friend, leaving me alone with Cade.
I tried to not stare. Cade was talking, and I focused on his face for as long as possible before my eyes darted another glance at Tessa. It was just for a second before I brought them back to our conversation, but Cade saw.
He looked at me and back at Tessa with great interest brimming on his face. “Down, boy. She’s coming.”
Immediately, I deflated. Freaking Jake. Dideverybodyknow about Tessa’s and my arrangement? With some effort, I wiped the excited-puppy-dog look from my face.
Cade chuckled. “I’ll bet if you ask real nice, she’ll give you a treat.”
I scowled at him. “It’s not like that.”
He nodded sardonically. “I know. You don’t look like a man who's been whipped at all.”
We looked toward the girls, now walking toward us. Tessa’s gaze lifted to meet mine, her soft eyes holding me captive.
“Logan.”
I looked at Cade but was surprised to find his expression was serious.
“It’s a good look for you,” he said simply.
Tessa wore jeans and a simple black t-shirt. Her hair was in a ponytail. She smiled at me as she made her way closer. The crowd became blurred as my focus narrowed.
I was attracted to Tessa Robbins. I could admit that much. Any man would be. That wasn’t the problem here—well, not the biggest problem, anyway. For the first time in years, I found myself wanting to tell a woman things. Specific things. The other day at work, I picked up my phonethreedifferent times, wanting to text her something, and every time, I stopped myself. I went to her house yesterday to work on the porch, and instead of working, I spent my time helping her trim the yard and setting up tables and chairs for their neighborhood get-together on the 4th. Things a boyfriend would do. The word escaped from my consciousness like it was dripping with venom.
I needed to backtrack. We had to keep things light this summer. I was the one who had put the rules into place.Me. It wasmyjob to keep us in check. Tessa was still very much a wild card. The queen of mixed signals. And I was afraid that if I failed to enforce our rules, there would be nothing holding me together anymore.
But did she have to be so dang likable?
“Hey, Tess,” I greeted, giving her a casual nod. Because that was how I felt right now.Casual.
Her eyes trailed down my body briefly and back up while I told myself the heat I felt was from the fire blazing several feet in front of us.
“You clean up pretty good, Marten,” she said.
I felt the eyes of the group on me, as if waiting for something. Well, they weren’t going to get it.
