Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 78(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 78(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Lauren crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head. "You don't waste any time, do you?"
"I guess not." I pull the blankets back up and hide in them for another few seconds until it gets too warm. "The town is saying we hooked up last night? As in--hooked up hooked up?"
"Well, someone did last night." Lauren raises her eyebrows. "The town is saying it’s the two of you.”
My heart stops dead in its tracks. “We didn’t do that last night.”
“If it wasn't you and Bennet, then who was it?"
BENNET
I pick up another glass out of the rack behind the bar and wipe it down, watching Steve drop his face into his hands across from me. He looks tired, the way he always does--the man owns a bar, and he doesn't get much sleep even when things are good.
Hell, I didn't get any sleep last night, for almost the same reasons he didn't, which he's just spilled to me over a pot of coffee.
"Steve." He looks at me from over his hands. "You’ve got to be kidding me."
"Look." Steve lets out a heavy sigh. "No one can know. I'm serious."
"Nobody can know you kissed your wife last night?"
He grimaces. "She's not my wife."
"You're separated, not divorced."
"I know that, but she said before--"
"I'm pretty sure she's changed her mind if she kissed you last night."
"She doesn't want anyone to know," he insists. "Everything is so damn complicated right now."
I put the glass in its place and pick up another one. "But?"
"But I felt it." He lets his hands fall onto the bar, palms up. "Sparks. Whatever you want to call them. I felt it when she came into the office last night. It's not over between us and I can’t let some gossip and busy bodies get between us. I need to make this right with her."
"So you want me to take the fall for kissing your wife?"
"We're separated," he repeats back to me. "It wouldn't be the end of the world if--you know…” he trails off. The poor guy is stuck between a rock and a hard spot. “If the town thought it was you and Bree and they stayed out of our business..."
Steve looks desperate, and I feel for him.
I just…
I can't agree to this. The town talking about Bree and spreading gossip that I don’t think she’d be comfortable with … it’s not just me who would have to agree.
Steve's right about one thing. It is complicated. He's the one who offered me the job and helped move me back to town. I owe him for that at the very least. I don't want to let him down and I know he still loves his wife. And I know how this town can be. But what I feel for Bree is real and I can’t risk hurting the only chance I might ever have with her.
If it were anything else within reason, I'd be the first in line to help him.
"I don't do hookups in the back of bars," I tell him.
"Bennet, it's not like your boss is going to fire you."
I shoot him a look. "Isn't that a safety hazard, anyway?"
"I was in the office, for fuck's sake." Steve's phone lights up on the bar, and he checks it with a nervous twitch in his hands. "I'm afraid it'll be too much for her if the town starts talking and puts two and two together. You know how people like to play detective and give their opinion on everything. I’ve messed up Bennet. Putting this bar before her. Working our lives away and not being there for her when I should have been. She wants to give it another shot but without the judgment and all that shit."
It’s harder to have trouble in your marriage when you know that everybody and their brother is going to be gossiping. I don't know everything about Steve's marriage, but I have to imagine the stress of the bar and a small business could weigh on anyone. I feel bad for Steve. I really do. If he has a chance with his wife, then I want that for him, but it's not Steve and his wife everybody will be talking about.
It's Aubrey.
And there is just no way I'm doing that to her.
I can't. I won't.
"I'm sorry, Steve." I look him dead in the eyes. "I can’t lie; you know I’m a bad liar.”
"No, no--you don't have to lie. Just don't say anything."
I huff and look away, not liking any of this. A lie of omission is as good as the real thing. I'm not going to lie about Aubrey, even through keeping my mouth shut. Protectiveness shoots across my chest like fire, which only makes me empathize harder with Steve. He's trying to protect his wife, too, but he's going to have to find another way.