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)
Steve frowns. "Did you want me to step out?"
"It doesn't matter." I look back at Bennet. He seems shocked, and his hands are in the air, the glass he was drying abandoned on the counter. "I wanted to ask you."
"I swear, Bree, I'm setting the record straight--" Bennet starts.
"No one believes it, Bree. Don't pay them any mind," Steve says. He glances over at Bennet, and they share a look. Okay--something's definitely off, like the way he frowned, but I can't put the pieces together when my heart is pounding.
Bennet lowers his hands, placing them flat on the bar. "I hope you're not thinking last night was a mistake."
I steel myself and pretend it's just the two of us.
"Last night was wonderful for me, Bennet, but I don't want anyone thinking anything else happened unless..."
"Unless what?" Steve interrupts.
Bennet sighs and then scowls at Steve, "Maybe you should head to the back and do some inventory or something."
Stew swallows hard, the color draining from his face. He looks panicked. Is that why everything feels so off?
"Are you okay, Steve?" I ask, because if he's having some kind of emergency...if something's going on here…
"It's just, you know...it's not--it's like this, I--" He grips his coffee cup like it’s a lifeline. "Hey, Bree, could I ask you a favor?"
Bennet looks his friend over. "I’m telling you it’s going to be fine. The truth is always the best way to go.”
"I can't lose her again," Steve murmurs, softly and with so much concern, and my heart sinks.
"What's going on?" I ask, keeping my voice as quiet as his.
Steve looks me in the eye, a flush spreading across his face. "It was me and Sarah last night. In the back. We were--" He shakes his head. "She doesn't know what to think of it all, but she doesn't want the town prying into our marriage again."
I let out a breath.
“Oh my god.”
I was as surprised as anyone to hear that Steve and Sarah, who were high school sweethearts, were on the rocks. But I also heard about how stressful it had become to run the bar. A remodel earlier this year had tons of delays, which meant the bar was closed for longer than they wanted. On top of that, Sarah had been through some tough times with her family. My heart aches for them.
"Please," Steve pleads with me and I don’t understand.
“Please what?”
“Let them think it was you two,” he asks and just as his request registers, he hurries out more words, “I know it’s a shitty ask and I know town gossip can be awful, but I’m begging you. I just want my wife to love me again and to work on our marriage in private.”
I look away from him and at Bennet, whose eyes move between me and Steve, his mouth pressed into a thin line.
Holy shit. That was not at all what I was expecting.
“Either way Bree, if you say no, I’ll respect it,” Steve tells me and I look back at him, knowing full well that I don’t care about town gossip in the least, but I know it played a part in what happened with Steve and his wife.
“I’m not a good liar,” I start and the hope in Steve’s eyes dim until I add, "I guess if you took me out to dinner tonight..." Bennet raises his eyebrows at my suggestion. "We wouldn't have to confirm anything, but we also don't have to deny anything?"
Our gazes lock. It feels like last night, only hotter, only more energy between us, and that kiss plays again in my memory.
Bennet cocks a smile.
"The Bree I remember was a good girl with a good reputation," he points out, his voice at a low, sultry pitch.
"This Bree cares less about what the town is talking about and more about whether or not you want to go out with me."
Steve lets out a ‘thank you Bree’, and I give him my biggest, brightest smile.
"This town loves to talk," Bennet counters.
"Yeah, they do," I agree. "We could give them something to talk about."
His smile turns hotter, though no less charming than I remember from school, and last night, and my dreams.
"Would you like that?" he questions, and then it really is like we're the only two people in the room. The heat in his eyes says we could be in a private room in a matter of minutes, and it would be just like the dreams I had last night. That heat rushes down my body from my face to my toes, and my skin actually aches for him to touch me again. I'd like it if we had more time, hours and hours…
"I think I would," I tell him.
Steve exhales and immediately picks up his phone off the bar and starts tapping at it, his fingers flying. I imagine he’s telling his wife she doesn’t have to worry.