“Ten minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”
She sighed. “Why the porch? Can’t you just say what you want to say here?”
“Neutral ground,” I teased, letting my grin grow wider. “Less chance of you slamming a door in my face.”
She rolled her eyes then muttered something under her breath and shut the door. In my face. For a second I thought that was it, but then it opened again. She had a robe tied over whatever she’d been sleeping in, and her hair hung loose in dark waves over her shoulder. I had to look away for a second to remember why I was here.
We walked out to the porch, and I gestured to the swing. She sighed like she was doing me the world’s biggest favor and crossed her arms as she sat down. “Make it quick.”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck and sat beside her—close enough to read her body language, but far enough not to spook her.
“I wanted to apologize,” I said, eyes on the wood grain beneath our feet. “For being an ass.”
Silence.
When I looked up, she was watching me like she was waiting for the punchline.
I kept going. “I judged you. Made assumptions. Treated you like crap when you didn’t deserve it.”
Still nothing.
“I get it if you don’t want to hear it, but I needed to say it.”
That finally got her to blink. “Are you being serious? Or is this some kind of joke?”
I gave her my best wounded expression. “Come on, princess. Here I am trying to apologize, and you think I'm setting a trap?”
I was.
Or at least, Ihad beentrying to until…
“Yes,” she scoffed. “Because that’s what guys do. Lure you in with pretty words and false promises. Make you think you can trust them—” Her bottom lip flew between her teeth as her words came to a screeching halt—like she realized too late she'd said too much.
And damn if I didn’t feel it. Not just hear it, butfeelit—the pain behind her words and the fear under them.
I wasn’t expecting that, and it knocked me sideways for a beat.
Her little slip-up was just a crack. A weakness. An opening. Exactly what I’d been looking for. Get in, get answers, get out. But now I couldn’t stop wondering what the hell happened to her—and why it made my chest ache a little to think about it. “Andi?—”
She held up a hand, eyes flashing. “Look, I know we got off to a rocky start. And I’m still not going to apologize for not pulling over to help you that day. Maybe that makes me an inconsiderate snob, but I’ve spent too long ignoring my gut to make other people comfortable. You were a pissed-off, strange man in the middle of nowhere.” She jammed her finger into the center of her chest. “I chose me.”
A soft breeze swept through the porch, stirring her hair as she sat back slightly and crossed her arms, guarding herself again. “And for the record? I’m not a criminal. I’m not here to rob you or con your family out of anything. I made a wrong turn, and now I’m stuck here until Willy fixes my car. Once he’s done, I’m gone, and you’ll never have to see me ever again.”
I should’ve been satisfied. Igotsomething. Didn’t even ask or push. She just…gave that barest hint of a personal detail freely. But instead of a win, it felt like a gut punch. I tried to swallow down the strange ache pressing against my chest and offered a half-smile. Luke always made it look easy, turning charm into connection. I could fake it, too. Except the longer I looked at her, the less it felt like faking.
“Truce, then?” I offered my hand.
She sighed, slow and wary. But her hand slid into mine, and the second our skin touched, I felt it again—that buzz. That heat.
“Don’t make me regret it,” she said softly.
I held onto her hand just a moment longer than was necessary, then let go as I stood and walked her back to the door—watching as she brushed past me with that chin-up, don’t-mess-with-me posture.
Tonight wasn’t about getting answers. It was about getting in. And now that I was…I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
Chapter Eighteen
Andi
