“You hang out at that bar much?”
“Never.” He moves to the next lamppost, throwing me a smile. “I usually take a bottle out to the river, or sneak into Eagle Point Park. Somewhere I can be alone,” he tells me. “And hear the sounds of home that I’ll never admit to my dad that I kind of miss.”
I get the impression he couldn’t wait to get away from his family and Colorado, but he seems to miss them too. He’s just like everyone else with a story, and has complications and feelings he doesn’t know what to do with.
He’s not the guy I thought he was, and I know from watching Madoc that men with constant smiles are hiding things too.
“You need a girl.” I toss him the last pole and he slips it in the bracket. “Or a guy?”
He chuckles, and we both hop back into the truck bed that one of Jared’s techs drives while we decorate. “Can I have that one?” He points to Quinn’s shop, and I look, recognizing her figure delivering a coffee to a table. Her hair is down, tucked behind one ear, and I like the baker’s coat she wears.
I cock an eyebrow, throwing the little shit a glare. “And compete with Farrow Kelly?” I force a tease.
Noah is definitely a threat, but I don’t know… It’s like surface charm. He hides behind it. Something tells me Quinn will see through it too.
He shrugs. “Farrow will just suggest we share her.”
My heart drops like a hammer.
We stop and Noah jumps down with my flags. I follow him, sliding a pole in, but my hand shakes. “Quinn isn’t like that,” I tell him.
“They’re all like that.”
I drop my arms, the remaining flags draping on the ground.Son of a bitch.
Noah meets my eyes, moving to the next pole. “People love to be desired, especially good girls who haven’t experienced much attention,” he tells me in his confident, piece-of-shit tone. “They’re kind of dumb. Hot hands coming at them from two men, they unravel, and all they can do is hang on for the ride.”
Who does he think he’s talking to? I swipe the flag poles off the ground, ready to lunge.
“Every girl has two sides,” he explains. “Sunday best and doggy-style-fuck-fest.”
I snarl, throwing the flags into the bed of the truck as I charge for him. I wrap one hand around his fucking throat and pin him to the lamppost. He just smiles, pulling up a hundred-dollar bill from his pocket. “How about a bet?” he taunts.
“How about a lesson, you little shit?”
But he just goes on. “You’ll say you don’t think about her like that, and I say you want herexactlylike that.”
Quinn’s face looking up at me last night floats through my head, and God…
I could’ve driven with her like that forever. Fuck, I wanted to take her somewhere. Is it obvious?
“If I’m wrong, you win.” He stuffs the money into my jeans pocket. “If I’m right, you owe me.”
I breathe hard, shoving the little prick away. He’s not worth the energy.
“I’ll be waiting,” he says, jumping into the back of the truck and throwing me the rest of the flags.
I can’t swallow. My mouth is parched.
I take the money back out of the pocket and throw it at him. “She’s a kid.”
“She’s not.”
He tosses the bill back, and itlands on the ground.
“She’s practically family,” I growl.
“But she’s not.”
