“And your mom. Did you really put her in a home?”
Andre held up a hand. This was exactly why he hated coming back to Peachtree Cove. The people in this town made up all kinds of stories. “My mom isn’t in a home. She’s in the new retirement community in the middle of town.”
She shook her head and spoke before he could finish. “I didn’t want to believe it. I thought you at least had a heart underneath all that macho exterior you put up. You really are coldhearted.”
This time he stepped back. He scoffed and scratched his jaw. “You think that about me?”
Aside from repairing the siding on her house, he hadn’t done a lot to show Tamara that he was a decent guy. But the look on her face now, as if she’d discovered that every negative thought she ever had about him was true, was like a jagged knife to the gut. Did she really think so little of him?
“I don’t know what to think.”
The only thing worse than knowing she didn’t think much of him was the realization that he wanted her to think highly of him. That he wanted to see the smile she’d had on her face when he’d helped her the day before. She’d looked at him like he was some kind of damn hero, and that had made him feel like one, too.
He took another step back. His world was tilting. Shifting in a direction he didn’t understand and that scared him. He couldn’t have an emotional revelation in the middle of a damn gas station.
“You know what,” he said. “I’ll holla at you some other time.” He turned and walked out of the store. Tamara didn’t call him back, and that caused an ache in his chest he wasn’t sure he could ignore.
CHAPTER SIX
THUNDERRATTLEDTHErafters of Tamara’s house. She pulled the blanket her grandmother had crocheted for her tighter around her shoulders, settled more comfortably on the couch and sipped the wine in her glass. A new romantic comedy played on the television. She’d looked forward to watching this movie all day. Had made mental plans to spend her evening believing in happy perfect love. Instead, she kept seeing the haunted look in Andre’s eyes from earlier.
Her intent hadn’t been to hurt his feelings. If she were being honest, she’d never thought of Andre as having feelings she could hurt. Stupid in hindsight, but he was always so stoic and impenetrable. When she’d seen him today, all she could think of was Thomas’s bruised face back in high school and Andre putting his mom in a home. It hadn’t helped that her parents made the fights he’d gotten into in high school one of the topics of the dinner discussion.
She’d been searching for a reason not to like Andre after he’d admitted he was never cold when it came to her, and the things with his mom and Thomas had given her a reason. But a call to a friend who worked at the assisted-living facility he mentioned revealed that Andre’s mom had insisted on moving there after she’d fallen weeks prior. A far cry from the coldheartedness she’d accused him of in the gas station.
There was still the issue of him and Thomas from high school. He hadn’t seemed ashamed about what happened, which made her wonder what the entire story was. He’d been an arrogant jerk in high school, but he hadn’t been a bully.
Now she was left with more questions than answers and no valid reason to dislike the man he was today. Which meant there was nothing to keep her from thinking about how hard and really damn good his body felt against hers in the rain. The way her body reacted with sizzling heat and yearning right before she stopped herself from kissing him.
She was attracted to Andre. A lot. She was also afraid to be attracted to him. She’d watched enough movies about fated and forbidden love to know falling for the “bad boy” was not a road to happily-ever-after. She’d broken up with Thomas because there hadn’t been enough sparks. Now she was afraid to admit her feelings for Andre because there may be too many sparks.
She was a mess.
Her doorbell rang, followed by three quick hard knocks. Tamara sat up and paused the movie. She wasn’t expecting anyone. In fact, no one ever just dropped in on her without calling first. She put the wine down and threw off the blanket before making her way to the front door.
She glanced through the side windows. Lightning flashed, illuminating Andre’s tall body. The loud clap of thunder that immediately resounded matched the pounding of her heart. She quickly unlocked the door and threw it open.
He was drenched. Did the man not own an umbrella? Not that a soaking wet Andre was ever hard to look at.
“Did he tell you why I broke his nose?” he shouted over the rain.
Tamara shook her head and tried to process. He’d shown up just to ask her that? “Are you serious?”
“Did Thomas tell you why I broke his nose?”
Tamara frowned and shook her head. “You came over here just to ask me that?” The intensity of the rain increased, making it harder to hear, much less think. “Come inside.”
He didn’t budge. “No. I want to know if he told you the entire story or just part of it.”
Tamara crossed her arms against the damp wind blowing their way. “No. He didn’t. He said it didn’t matter.”
Andre rolled his eyes. “It matters a hell of a lot if it means you’re going to look at me like I’m a villain. I broke Thomas’s nose because he doesn’t understand that no means no. He threatened my cousin Regine.”
Tamara sucked in a breath. She placed a hand to her throat. “He did what?” Thomas was a nice guy, but she’d always felt the underlying current of his being pushy and unwilling to accept her final answer on a lot of things. Hence her not being surprised when he’d shown up at her parents’ house even after they broke up. His stubborn refusal to accept her decisions was one of the reasons why she’d broken things off with him.
“Yes. One day, me and my mom went to my aunt’s place. My cousin was back in her room hiding and crying. She didn’t want to say anything at first, but she finally admitted that Thomas had tried to have sex with her. When she said no, he called her a tease and then said he would tell everyone that she’d given him head. He said everyone would believe him because she’d had sex with one of his friends. Regine was already upset about his friend telling everyone what happened, and she was even more upset after Thomas threatened her. We left, I found him, confronted him, and that asshole had the audacity to laugh and call my cousin a cocktease for inviting him over, then acting like she didn’t want it. I saw red and that’s how he ended up with a broken nose.”
“What happened after that?”
