Unlucky in Love (12 page)

“They don't have lobster here, but they do have excellent crab legs, if you like those.” Gunnar smiled over the menus at La Petite Fleur, an adorable little restaurant tucked just down the street from Jenny's bakery. The hostess had greeted him by name when they'd walked in, and Lexi hadn't missed her flirtatious tone as she'd seated them.

She wasn't at all sure what to make of the jealous spark that had ignited as the brunette had made sure to brush her fingers against Gunnar's when she'd handed him his napkin.

“Shouldn't I have steak? I mean, when in Rome, and all that?”

“Do you
like
steak? Or would you be ordering it because it seems like the right thing to do?”

Lexi heard an undertone in his question, and it set off a tiny alarm bell in her gut. Was the man convinced her every move was governed by what other people would think?

She closed the menu. “I actually
love
steak. Always have. And as a coastal girl, I've gotta tell you, I'm not sure I'd trust the seafood this far inland.”

He eyed her over his menu. “Because the chances of spoilage as they transport it by wagon train are pretty high?”

“It's all I'm saying.” She shrugged, smiling. “Never trust seafood in a landlocked state.”

“Fine. I'll have the steak, too. And just so you know, the steamed asparagus here is excellent.” Lexi couldn't keep a grimace from enveloping her face at the mention of her least favorite vegetable, and he laughed. “Or salad. They make a nice, fresh salad, as well.”

She nodded. “There's really no excuse for a veggie that looks that funny
and
tastes that horrible.”

“Remind me never to cook it for you, then,” he said, and both of them froze momentarily as the words landed between them. She swallowed. He'd said it so casually, like maybe this was the first of many dates he thought they'd have. Like maybe he could see himself cooking for her…in his cabin…alone.

She swallowed again, a piece of hot bread suddenly caught in her throat. She grabbed for her water glass, taking a huge gulp to cover her sudden—what? Discomfort? No. The idea of him cooking for her was…sweet. Nice. Intimate.

Hot.

“See—see that you don't,” she finally said, trying to smile through the sudden, quaking possibility waking up every nerve ending in her traitorous body.

Oh, who was she kidding?

Those damn nerve endings had been awake ever since he'd picked her up at the airport.

An hour later, they strolled up Main Street, each holding a sugar cone piled high with ice cream from Scoop-de-Loop, and Lexi sighed happily. The steak had been delicious, the ice cream was crazy good, and Gunnar was singularly the best dinner date she'd had in—well, forever.

He'd ordered a craft beer sampler, and as they'd tasted down the line of glasses, they'd talked about their favorite music, dream getaways, and first cars. They'd talked about overrated movies, underrated music groups, and TV shows they hated. They'd talked about the perfect beer, the perfect steak, and the book they both remembered most from high school.

They'd talked so much that at one point, they'd laughed because both of their steaks had gone untouched for so long that they'd asked the server to reheat them.

As their knees had brushed together, and then their hands when they'd both reached for the pepper, she'd felt the sort of zings she didn't remember
ever
feeling with Tristan. As Gunnar had listened to her all through dinner—not once looking bored—she'd
known
she hadn't felt
that
with Tristan. Not for a long time, anyway.

And now, walking along with Gunnar beside the park, listening to a country band warm up for an evening concert, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she was being inordinately stupid hanging on so tightly to the thought of getting Tristan back.

Gunnar made her feel funny, interesting, even sexy.

Tristan had made her feel those things early on, but truly, in the past six months, the overriding thing he'd made her feel was that she was…lacking.

Just then, a teenager on a bike came barreling down the sidewalk, and before Lexi could jump out of the way, Gunnar pulled her to his side, sliding his arm around her. Once the biker had passed, he could easily have let her go, but instead, he gave her a little squeeze and kept his arm around her.

“In case more rogue bikers come along,” he explained. “Dangerous streets here in Carefree.” Then he winked down at her. “Want to stay and watch a little bit of the concert?”

Lexi looked around, watching families spread blankets on the grass while kids ran around dodging picnic baskets and light poles. Once again, the image of a pristine little 1950s town struck her, and in a sense, it felt like Carefree was stuck in an earlier time—a simpler time.

“Definitely. Let's stay.” Lexi smiled up at him, and before she had time to realize he was going to do it, he leaned down and kissed her. It was brief—almost fleeting, like he hadn't even thought twice, just did this on dates, even if they weren't actually dates—but the touch of his lips on hers threatened to buckle her knees and send her right to the grass.

“There. Now maybe people will stop looking.” He grinned. “Sorry. But there are way too many guys eyeing you, and I know you're still hung up on The Idiot, and I know you're not staying, and I know it's all a bad idea, all the way around, to kiss you…but for tonight, you're with me, and I'm going to make the most of it.”

“Oh.” She blinked, trying to run the words through her mind a bit more slowly.

He laughed then, squeezing her again. “Has anyone ever told you that you're incredibly easy to fluster?”

She nodded slowly. “Probably.”

“How about this? Has anyone ever told you that when you wear a blue sundress and put your hair up like this”—he ran gentle fingers around her earlobe—“that it makes a man just want to take you to a dark corner and kiss you silly?”

“Um, no.” Lexi felt her pulse thwacking away in her throat, and she hoped desperately that he couldn't see it.

His hand slowly skated down her neck, then slid under her hair. “Well, it does. And somebody should have told you by now.” He smiled. “But I'm kind of glad I got to be the first one to do so.”

With his other hand, he pulled her closer, and she could feel the button of his jeans against her stomach. She swallowed carefully, looking up into his eyes, dying for him to kiss her again.

And just as he did—just as his lips met hers in a touch full of heat and promise—she jumped two feet backward as she felt her purse vibrate.

“Oh! God!” She laughed. “Sorry. My phone—it vib—never mind. Sorry.”

Oh, how mortifying. She'd been about to indulge in the best kiss in history—she totally knew it was going to be—and her stupid phone had scared the daylights out of her before they got even two seconds into it.

“Do you need to check it?” Gunnar slid his hands to her waist, forehead on hers.

“No,” she answered automatically, but then paused. What if it was Katie? What if something was wrong with Mom?

“Check it. Then you'll know for sure.” He pulled back.

She sighed. “All right. I'm so sorry.” She pulled her phone out of her purse, checking the screen.

And then she put her hand to her mouth, eyes wide.

“What's the matter?” Gunnar looked concerned. “Who is it?”

Lexi closed her eyes. Of all times. After
all
this time.

“It's…Tristan.”

“Deep breath in. Good.” Jess's soothing voice echoed softly on the yoga studio's walls the next morning. “Envision yourself taking a soft ribbon, tying up all of your stress, and tossing it away on the next breath. Now, breathe out.”

Lexi opened one eye, wondering if anyone
else
was having any luck with their imaginary ribbons. To her consternation, the other five women in the studio looked all radiant and blissful, while she felt like a sputtering lawn mower engine that was about to blow a gasket.

She closed her eye again. She could do this. She could wrap herself in the soft music, the balsam candles, and the little breeze that played through the open windows. She could focus on the birds outside, the horses down in the pasture, the sound of her own breathing. In, out, in, out. How complicated could it be?

Too complicated, apparently. She stifled a growl as she gave up and opened her eyes.

Up front, Jess raised her eyebrows, but continued her soft chant, helping everybody
else
find their centers and breathe deeply and tie their flipping ribbons.

Lexi flopped back on her mat, pulling up her knees. As she stared at the ceiling, she mentally reviewed Tristan's text for the hundredth time…because its three words were oh-so-complicated, yes.

Lookin' good, hon,
it had said, and she still didn't know what to make of it. The
lookin' good
part was totally throwaway—something he'd say to anybody. But the
hon
part was the thing that had thrown her as she'd stood there last night, still feeling the touch of Gunnar's lips on hers.

What did it mean that Tristan had used his favorite pet name for her? Anything? Was it, too, just a throwaway? Just a word he'd thrown on there, not even thinking about it?

Probably.

But what if it wasn't? What if, as he'd finally answered one of her texts, he'd purposely thrown out a pet name to test the waters? What if he was having regrets? What if he was one, two, three steps from picking up his phone to actually call her and say he'd made a huge mistake?

She hadn't replied to his text when it had arrived, out of respect for Gunnar, but her phone had burned an absolute hole in the side of her purse as they'd finished their ice cream, then run for the truck when fat raindrops had started pelting them. The ride home had been silent except for the sound of the wipers, and her phone had felt like it sat between them, weighing a hundred pounds. When he'd walked her to her cabin, he'd kept his hands firmly in his pockets. When he'd said good night, there had been no hint of the man who'd kissed her so sweetly just an hour before.

And when she'd lain in her bed at midnight, she'd felt a loneliness she hadn't expected—one that had nothing at all to do with Tristan.

She closed her eyes, suddenly succumbing to her sleepless night, Jess's voice, and the warm sun slanting through the studio windows, and the next thing she heard was Jess giggling softly.

“Think I should take up hypnosis, sleeping beauty?”

Lexi opened her eyes, then blinked hard as her contact wobbled. Had she fallen asleep? Right in the middle of Jess's class?

“Omigod. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—”

“It's okay.” Jess smiled, putting a hand on her arm. “Obviously you were exhausted.”

Lexi sat up. “Everybody's gone.” Good grief. How long had she been asleep?

“They just left. You were only out for a few minutes.” Jess nonchalantly rolled up her mat. “Any special reason you couldn't sleep last night?”

“Just—one of those nights, I guess.” Lexi avoided her eyes as she rolled up her own mat.

“Did you and Gunnar have fun in town?”

Her head snapped up. “How did you—”

Jess laughed. “Hayley saw you guys. Said I would have used the word
adorable
to describe you.”

“Oh, boy.”

Lexi couldn't help but wonder what she'd seen…because if she'd seen Gunnar kiss her…

“She said to tell you that if you wonder if she saw you guys kissing by the maple tree in the park, no. She saw nothing.”

“
Oh, no.
”
Lexi cursed her cheeks, which she knew were going scarlet.

“And she said your secret's safe with her, but she doesn't know how trustworthy Daniel is with information as juicy as this.”

“My secret's safe, and yet less than twelve hours later, you already know?” Lexi shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile as she pictured Hayley calling Jess from the other side of the park. “I think Hayley's definition of
secret
might need a little tweaking.”

Jess shrugged as she pulled two bottled waters from a fridge under her sales counter and handed one to Lexi. “We're all family. Hard to keep secrets in a town this small, especially when you're never more than a hundred yards from somebody you're related to.”

“So…not that I'm admitting or denying
anything
, did Hayley sound…
glad
that we were together? Or like she wanted this New England cowgirl-poser to get her paws off the cowboy and go home?”

Jess laughed. “Oh, sweetie, you're not a poser. The five women who just left to go do shots before lunch? Then get on our horses? Those are the posers. You're just…you.”

Lexi sighed, knowing Jess had absolutely no way of knowing how that phrase cut her right to the bone.

“Thanks. I think.”

“So.” Jess bounced her eyebrows. “I have a feeling you're too polite, and possibly too shy, to ask me about Gunnar—even though you might be absolutely dying to—but I'm happy to tell you what I know, if you want me to.”

“Oh. Um. I don't know.”

Jess pointed to the two lounge chairs under the window. “Let's sit. I'll talk, and if you don't want to listen, just go to sleep again, and I'll never know.”

“Very funny.” Lexi smiled. “I'll listen, if you insist.”

“Good girl.” They settled on the chairs, and Jess took a sip of her water. “First, he's single. I imagine that's a good thing to get out of the way.”

“Kind of a relief, yes, since he was allegedly kissing some girl in the park last night.”

Jess smiled. “And if it's of interest to you, he's been single for kind of a long time. I know you're looking at the same man I am, and we're
both
looking at the same man that's on the Whisper Creek website and brochures. This is a cowboy who gets far more than his share of female attention…and offers.”