I nod, biting the inside of my cheek. “Yeah, it was a lot to take in for me too.” I swallow, trying to ignore the fresh wave of nostalgia rushing through me. “Don’t mind the mess. I’m working on reorganizing right now.”
Knox’s eyebrows crease as he stares at me. “Are you reopening this place? I know you said you were here until the end of summer, but you didn’t mention anything else.”
I let my hand loosely drag across a pile of old postcardslaying on the front desk. “That’s because it’s none of your business.”
Knox doesn’t flinch at my jab. He just stands there, leaning against the edge of a dusty bookshelf with a well-timed shrug. He looks unbothered as usual, and it makes me want to punch something.
And then a large thump makes us both turn our heads toward the narrow stairwell tucked into the corner of the room. A small black shadow skirts around the towers of junk and right to the feet of the man I’m attempting to ice out.
“Klepto!” Knox smiles, bending down. The cat meows loudly like he just won a lifetime of catnip as he rubs his head against Knox’s hand.
“Traitor,” I whisper under my breath.
Knox lifts his attention back to me and raises his brows with a smug look on his face. “Don’t be jealous, Bambi. Klepto and I have a special bond.”
I peer down at the small animal and purse my lips in disapproval. “He should know better than to piss off the person who makes sure his food bowl is full every morning.”
Knox shakes his head and, much to Klepto’s displeasure, rises from his hunched-over form. The cat whines for a few more seconds before scampering off to whatever grueling task we interrupted.
My breath stills as Knox stretches to his full height. Sometimes I forget how tall…and sturdy he is.
“Okay,” I say, shaking away thoughts that should remain dormant. “Now, for the third and final time, what do you want?”
When he shifts his weight and awkwardly pulls his eyes away from mine, I start to see tiny cracks form in his cool guy persona. His lips even slip a fraction of a centimeter.
“I want to make you a deal,” he says.
My eyes slit into two warning signs. “I know better than to make a deal with the devil.”
His crooked grin snaps right into its rightful place, and I swear those two blue orbs of pure sin darken into a shade that’s imprinting in my mind.
“You haven’t even heard my offer yet,” he drawls, low and slow, “and it’s a good one too.”
“Ha!” I laugh, crossing my arms in front of me. “I highly doubt that.”
Knox’s long, assessing glare climbs up my body for the second time today, and I fight the urge to throw one of the mismatched plates piled high next to me.
When his eyes connect with mine, he says, “I want you to be my girlfriend.”
My mouth turns to cotton, and I feel completely thrown off by the words this man just dumped on my lap. “What?”
His lips tip into a sadistic grin. “Don’t get too excited, Bambi. I’m not asking for real. I just need someone to pretend to be my girlfriend.”
My eyes flick back and forth, trying to grasp what his angle is, but I come up empty each time our eyes make contact. “I don’t understand.”
Knox lets out a heavy sigh and pushes himself off the bookshelf. His feet are pointed toward me, but I pray he keeps his distance. I have nowhere to run in this small, overcrowded shop.
“I’m sure by now you’ve heard about my little reputation issue.”
Little doesn’t seem accurate based on Marie’s account of what happened. I wasn’t Knox’s biggest fan, but there were some lines I didn’t think he’d cross and infidelity was one of them.
I purse my lips and nod my head. “I may have heard something.”
“Right,” Knox says, his Adam’s Apple bobbing up and down with unease. “Well, long story short, I’m in the process of buying my boss’s auto shop before he retires, and I needmy dad to co-sign the loan to make it happen. But unfortunately, he doesn’t think it makes sense for me to buy a business when half of the town thinks I’m a home-wrecking asshole.”
I blink once. Twice. And then, even a third time, trying to absorb all the information being thrown at me. “And asking me to be your pretend girlfriend will do what exactly?”
“I’m hoping it will give the illusion that love has made me change the error of my ways, and people will forget about the whole home-wrecking asshole thing. Once they see I’m a man capable of building something instead of tearing it apart, I’ll be back in everyone’s good graces, and my dad will change his mind and co-sign the loan.”
