“Hey, Zoe.” He leaned slightly against the edge of the booth, one hand resting on the tableback, a wide grin on his face. “It’s been a while. How are things?”
“Same old.” She gestured to Rex. “You know Rex?”
Rob nodded at him. “Hey, man.” Then turned back to her. “What are you up to? The shop’s still going strong, right?”
Okay, while Rob was cute in a good old-boy kind of way—a way she’d once found endearing—he wasRob. She sighed.“The shop is... going strong, yes.”
“We need to hang out sometime. Good old times, right?” He reached to tweak one of her curls, and something inside her hissed. Why was he touching her?
Rex sniffed the air—not subtly. His fingers curled into a fist. A low, slow growl rumbled from him, vibrating through the table. When she glanced at Rex, he looked like he was about to shred good old Rob. She wouldn’t be completely opposed, honestly.
Rob, being Rob, didn’t read the room. He pushed her hair behind her shoulder, and she scooted away on the bench, putting as much distance as possible between her and Rob, praying he would take the hint and leave.
He didn’t.He so didn’t.He plopped down beside her instead. She cleared her throat, inhaling deeply to remind herself she was a patient person—lie—and that he was not the brightest—truth. “Look, Rob, it’s nice to see you, but I’m having dinner alone with a friend, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He bumped his shoulder on hers, then proceeded to, once again, touch her hair. “Oh, come on. I–”
“Leave. Now.”
That had been Rex, his voice a threat wrapped in menace, darker than the night outside, a run-and-never-look-back kind of tone.
Rob got it. Finally. His eyes widened for a heartbeat, and he swallowed. “Sure. I mean... sure. It was just nice to see you and–”
Rex spoke again, even more menacing this time. “Tick. Tock.”
Jesus. That’s terrifying.
One second flat, and Rob was gone, leaving her at the table with Rex and a million questions she didn’t know how to start asking.
“He was bothering you,” Rex said, his growl mostly under control, still clinching his hand.
She sipped some lemonade, mostly to buy a moment. “He kind of was, yes. But I’m not sure your reaction was proportional to the offense here.”
“He had–” He swallowed. He did that a lot.“Ideas.”
“How do you even know?”
“I smelled it on him.”
“Oh. My. God.” Irritation sharpened her voice. “Don’t you think that’s a little, I don’t know, overstepping? What if I had ideas too?”
“You did not. Not with him.”
She pushed her glass away as a new wave of embarrassment, exasperation, and unwanted flustered heat hit her. “We need a moment to breathe.”
“Zoe, I–”
“No. While I appreciate your help, there’s only so much mortification I can handle in one night.” She fished out her wallet and dropped money on the table. “Thank you for your help with the herbs. And... yeah. Bye.”
And she left in a hurry, swearing that if Rob was anywhere near the parking lot, she was going to deck him.
Chapter 5
“Listen, mate.” Lachlan had looked at him while gathering up paperwork, his phones, and the motorcycle keys from a desk where too many old tomes and as many computers fought for space. “Ye need to do some soul searchin’ and figure out what’s under all this.” Lach had paused, his hand resting briefly on the congested desk. “’Cause I’ve known ye since ye were a pup, and while ye might be temperamental and a right pain in my arse, ye’re a good man.” He’d given Rex’s arm a firm squeeze on his way out. “So sort yersel’ out, aye? Then come tell me what ye’ve found.”
That had been the advice from his oldest, best friend when he’d gone to his office for some advice in the morning. Who was right, by the way. Rex was good at owning his mistakes, but what he was very much scared of was that what was happening here was a lot bigger and a lot more complicated than what could be handled by some simple soul searching.
It still had to be handled, which is why he rang at her door later that day, in that early-summer late afternoon time when the air was warm but already thinking about cooling down.
