Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
JUNE
“ I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m not wearing this,” I hiss into the phone as I stare at the mirror in horror. “What were you thinking?”
“That top looks stunning on you,” Luna assures me.
“But I’m showing cleavage, and this bra is ridiculously uncomfortable. I’m too big to wear something that boosts me up like this. I look like I should be working at Hooters or something.”
“Good, that means you look hot, but if you’re uncomfortable, wear something else. That’s the most important thing, comfort .”
“No, I’m trying new things, for God’s sake. I’m thinking outside the box, and I freaking hate it.”
“I can assure you that, if you’re wearing what we decided on at the inn this afternoon, you look great. We wouldn’t tell you to wear something horrible. You don’t look slutty, and you aren’t really showing that much cleavage, just more than you’re used to.”
“Feels like a lot,” I mutter and turn to the side to get a look at my ass. “These jeans are really tight on my ass, too.”
“You have a great ass.”
The same words from Apollo echo in my mind. Seeing him today, having him so close to me, has really knocked me off my game. Now I’m second-guessing myself, and I feel guilty for going on a date when I have nothing to feel guilty about.
“June, do you want my advice?”
“That’s why I called you.”
“Wear the outfit. Feel confident in it. You’re sexy, and even if this first date doesn’t turn into a second date, you’re still sexy. You’ve got this.”
“Yeah.” My hair is down, and the curls are tamed. I’m wearing makeup for the first time in more than a year, and thanks to Sarah and Luna, it actually looks pretty good.
I look like a girl.
“Okay, I’m meeting him at Three Sisters because I refused to let him pick me up at my grandma’s house and get the third degree from her. Plus, if he’s horrible, I can just leave.”
“Good plan. I like it. Stay safe, and call me if you need me.”
“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow. Thanks.”
I hang up, frown at myself in the mirror, and then throw my hands up before hurrying to pull on the one and only pair of black dress shoes I own. They’re going to kill my feet, but at least they match my top and they aren’t heels.
I draw the line at heels.
After tossing my phone, wallet, and lip gloss into the tiny bag that Sarah loaned me, I walk out of the room I’ve lived in since I discovered mold in my rental last year and had to move out, and hurry down the stairs to find Grandma sitting in the living room watching Jeopardy .
“I’m headed out for the evening.”
“Be safe out there,” she says before looking over, but after a second, she turns to me, and her eyes just about bulge out of her skull. “Well, look at you.”
“It’s just an outfit.”
“No, that’s an outfit. You must have a date.”
“Yeah. I decided to look like a girl for it.”
“You’re so beautiful,” she says as her eyes fill with tears.
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m almost eighty years old. Don’t you tell me what to do.” She sniffles but then smiles. “Have a wonderful time, my dear.”
“I’ll try.” I lean over, kiss the top of her head, and then I’m off.
My truck could practically drive itself the short distance into the heart of downtown Huckleberry Bay, it’s made the trip so many times. When I pull into the parking lot of Three Sisters Kitchen, it isn’t too packed for a Friday night, and I easily find a spot.
“What am I doing?” I whisper, not ready to get out of the truck yet. I’m not good at dating, and they usually end up in disaster. Am I trying to wash Apollo out of my brain?
Maybe.
“Don’t be dumb. It’s one evening, and Eric seemed nice. Just go inside already.”
It wasn’t my best pep talk, but it does the trick because I unhook the seatbelt, step out of the truck, and lock the doors before walking inside.
“Well, hello, hottie.” Darla looks me up and down and then fans her face. With her being the third sister and part owner of Luna’s new inn, I’ve grown to know Darla well over the past year. She’s funny and hardworking. I really like her.
“Don’t make me punch you.”
Darla laughs. “You really do look great. I take it you’re meeting Mr. Eric? He said he was meeting a date here.”
I love the way all three Kinnard sisters have that soft southern drawl hanging in their voices. They moved here about six years ago from South Carolina, I think, and listening to them talk is always so soothing.
“I’m the date.”
“I’ll show you the way.”
I take a deep breath and then follow Darla through the dimly lit, busy restaurant to a table in the back where Eric’s waiting for me.
I met him at The Grind a few days ago, and he struck up a conversation with me while we waited for our coffee. The conversation was easy and fun, so when he asked me out, I accepted without really giving it much thought.
I’m glad I did. He’s tall, with dark blond hair, green eyes, and broad shoulders. His smile might be too perfect.
Honestly, now that I think about it, he looks like a Ken doll with scruff.
“Wow.” Eric stands and leans in to kiss my cheek. “You look fantastic.”
“Thanks.” This might be the most compliments on my looks that I’ve ever received in my life. Do I really look that bad on a daily basis? Because it’s getting almost insulting.
“What can I get you to drink, June?” Darla asks as I sit.
“Just water for me tonight, thanks.”
“Sure thing.” She fills my glass from a pitcher and then leaves me alone with Eric to peruse the menu. I haven’t been this nervous in a long time. “Have you been here before?”
“No, but I like the atmosphere. How about you?”
“Yeah.” I nod slowly and glance over the familiar menu before I set it aside, knowing what I’ll order. “I know you’re new to town, but you didn’t mention where you moved from. How long have you been here?”
“New York City, actually, but I’m not quite here full time yet.” The way he says that makes it seem like I should be impressed.
I’m not.
“This is very different from New York. What brought you here?”
“Work. I’ll admit that I’m not a small-town guy. I already miss the city.”
“I find it hard to believe that there are more job opportunities in Huckleberry Bay than in New York City.”
He smiles as if I just said the most adorable thing ever. I don’t like it. I can already see that this won’t turn into a second date.
“Of course not, but I’ve decided to open a boutique hotel here in town, and I’ve been scouting different locations to build.”
I nod slowly, taking that in. “I’ve heard some rumblings about that. Have you decided on a piece of property?”
“I think so. There’s a lot off Main Street that would be big enough for my needs.”
Alarm bells go off in my head as I realize that he might be talking about the lot next to my chapel. That’s the only empty lot in town, and I do not want a big hotel next to my house.
“Is there a church nearby?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” He smiles, trying so hard to be charming. “I’ll buy the church, as well, and knock that down. The whole area is an eyesore. The hotel will be a big improvement for the town.”
“You think so?” I tilt my head, trying not to show my annoyance. I’ve never had a great poker face, but I don’t want him to see just how irritated I am. Not yet. “We already have a new inn up at the lighthouse, you know.”
“I know. I’ll have them out of business within a year.” Okay, I really don’t like Eric at all. “Besides, a successful hotel like mine will be a magnet for all kinds of businesses.”
“We have all kinds of businesses already.”
“I’m talking about making Huckleberry Bay a functioning town.”
I clear my throat, and when Darla comes over to take our order, I smile up at her, choking down the curse words I want to spew at the jerk across from me. “I need a few more minutes, please.”
“No worries.” She tops off my water glass and then bustles away.
“Are you implying that Huckleberry Bay isn’t a functioning town now ?”
Here comes that condescending smile again. “June, it’s a tiny town. It’s like a baby. It needs a little nurturing, a little help.”
“For what goal? What do you envision this town to look like as an adult?”
“Okay, we can do this.” Eric leans back in his chair. “I think it needs to double, maybe triple, in size. Cater more to the tourists, and offer more in the way of vacation homes that are bigger and more updated than what is currently available. There needs to be theater, art, and better restaurants. This one is good, but the town needs more places to dine, possibly some of the national chains, as well as more hotels.”
He says the town needs more hotels, yet his one-year goal is to put Luna out of business. That makes zero sense.
“And where would we put these things? We’re a seaside town, Eric.”
“There’s plenty of space for growth, sweetie.”
“Says who?” I make a point of ignoring the disgusting term of endearment.
He tilts his head to the side, watching me. “You don’t think those things would be valuable here?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I guess it’s true what they say—if you’ve never had it, you don’t miss it. You must not be very well traveled.”
I’m not irritated anymore. I’m pissed. “I’ve traveled plenty. I like the town the way it is, and so do most of the people who live here. I can’t believe the city officials would ever agree to all of this expansion.”
“They haven’t yet. It’s all part of the long-term vision I have, and why I want to build the hotel. I should close on the property in the next thirty days, sixty at the most, and break ground in the spring. I’m here to make sure that everything is lined up and ready to go, and then I’ll go back to New York until we begin the build. God knows I don’t want to spend the winter in this hellhole.”
“No, you wouldn’t want that.” I give him a wide, toothy smile, holding myself back from reaching out to smack him. “I guess I’m curious as to why you asked me out tonight. I’m certainly not your type, and you’re only here for a short time.”
“True,” he immediately replies, and it’s so idiotic that it doesn’t even hurt my feelings. “I thought you were funny, and you intrigued me. My instincts were right, too, because you clean up very well.”
I want to punch him. Not just smack him.
“Sure, I’m only here for a few days, but we can have a lot of fun in those few days.” He winks at me over his glass, but then his eyes drop to my cleavage before returning to my face.
“Right. You know, I think I’m going to pass on dinner.”
“Okay.” He blinks in surprise, and then he tosses a couple of twenties onto the table to cover his drink and tip and follows me out of the restaurant. “Good idea. We can cozy up at my rental and get to know each other better.”
I’m not going to make a scene in this restaurant and embarrass my friends, so I wait until we reach the driver’s side of my truck, and I turn to him.
“No, I’m not saying that I want to skip dinner so we can have sex. I’m saying I’m not interested in anything with you, Eric. This date was a mistake.”
His handsome face twists into an angry snarl.
“What are you, some kind of fucking tease?”
“No, I’m an intelligent woman who knows an arrogant, narcissistic asshole when she sees one. You can go back to New York, Eric.”
I turn to open the door, but he yanks on my shoulder, pulling me back around to face him.
“Listen, you bitch?—”
“No, you listen. Take your hands off me. I didn’t give you permission to touch me.”
“You small-town, white-trash hillbilly, I’ll fucking touch you all I want.”
He grabs for my face, to cup it in a twisted charade of a sweet kiss, and I pull back and punch him in the stomach as hard as I can.
He doubles over in pain, the wind knocked right out of him.
I lean over him. “I said don’t fucking touch me.”
“Gonna,” he wheezes in a breath, “sue you.”
Now that makes me laugh. “You go right ahead, sweetie. ”
Eric straightens, and the anger shooting from his eyes tells me that I might be in for a fight—a physical fight, which is fine by me.
“Go ahead,” I urge. “You want to put your hands where they don’t belong again, Eric? Go ahead, and see what that gets you.”
He looks like he wants to tear me apart, but instead, he throws out, “Fuck you, bitch,” before stomping off to his rental car and peeling out of the parking lot.
I let out a long breath, shake my head, and turn to my truck, freezing when I see Apollo standing on the other side of it. His jaw is tight, every muscle in his face set in angry lines, and his body looks like he was poised and ready to come save me from that asshole.
Then he relaxes and just watches me with those dark eyes.
Shit.
“Were you going to save the damsel in distress?”
“I don’t see one of those.” He looks around and then back at me. Anger still hovers in his eyes. “You handled yourself very well.”
“No city boy is ever going to get one over on me. What a prick.”
“Yeah. He’s a prick. You okay?”
“Mostly, I’m pissed off. He didn’t hurt me physically. Jesus, I didn’t even have time to order a drink before he pissed me off so badly that I got up and left. He thought that was an invitation to come with me.”
“Sounds like he’s an idiot.”
“Yeah.” I blow out a deep sigh. “I guess I’ll go home and wash off this war paint.”
Apollo frowns. “Seems like a waste to me. Why don’t you and I go inside and have dinner? I’m starving, and you have to have worked up an appetite with that right jab to the gut.”
My lips twitch. “Yeah, I guess I did. I was looking forward to Mira’s meatloaf.”
“And I’d say you’ve earned it. Come on, Juniper, let’s eat.”
I walk around the truck, and when Apollo holds his hand out for mine, I eye it warily.
“Truce, for tonight. No funny stuff,” he says, still holding out his hand.
“Truce.” I take it, and he gives mine a little reassuring squeeze. “I can do that.”
When we walk inside, Darla looks a little startled and then worried. “June, are you okay? I saw you hurry out, but?—”
“I’m great,” I say, offering her a reassuring smile. “We’d like a table for two, please. Not the same one from before.”
“You got it.” She winks at me and leads us to a table on the opposite wall. “Just water?”
“No, I want a dirty martini with three blue-cheese-stuffed olives, please.”
Darla laughs. “You got it, babe. How about you, Apollo?”
“I think I’ll be the one to stick with water for now.”
When she leaves, I take a long, deep breath, not missing the way Apollo’s eyes skim over my outfit and hair.
“If you tell me that I clean up nicely, I’ll punch you in the stomach.”
That makes him smile. “You look pretty tonight, but you were no less pretty this afternoon.”
That takes me off guard, so I frown and glance out the window to the darkness beyond. I know that there’s a view of the ocean here, but it’s too dark to see it.
“What did he say?” I glance his way again, and he keeps talking. “To make you get up and leave?”
“Well, aside from being a jerk in general, I didn’t like the way he spoke about Huckleberry Bay.”
That makes Apollo’s eyebrows climb in surprise, so I settle in and tell him about what Eric had to say, pausing only to place my order for meatloaf with Darla.
“What an asshole. Who is he that he thinks he can come in here and change the town?” he asks.
“Apparently, he thinks he’s come kind of mogul.” I shrug, wishing I’d punched the asshole in the face instead of the stomach. “But the worst part is that he says he’s going to put Luna out of business.”
“Absolutely not.” Apollo shakes his head.
“I don’t want him to buy the property next to my chapel,” I reply, thinking it over. “If it’s the lot I think it is, which I’m pretty sure it is, the same people I bought the chapel from own it. I’ll go talk to them.”
“Has he made an offer yet?”
“It didn’t sound like it, and I didn’t think it was even for sale.”
“Let me know if you need help with that.” He sighs and sips his water. “Okay, let’s not talk about the asshole anymore— unless, of course, you’re still upset and need to continue to vent. Then, I’m all ears.”
“I’m fine.” I wave him off and unwrap my silverware from the green cloth napkin. “He was a jerk. I’m over it, and I still get this amazing meatloaf. How was your day?”
“It was busy,” he says with a smile that I swear to Christ lights up the whole room. Apollo smiles at me all the time, but usually, it’s because he’s trying to needle his way under my skin. He hardly ever genuinely smiles at me. Well, except for that one night, which I absolutely shouldn’t be thinking about right now. I like it more than I should. “I had a job up in Lincoln City this morning, and then I helped out Luna until just an hour or two ago.”
“And then you came here for dinner?”
He pauses and then shakes his head. “No. I was driving by on my way home, and I saw you storm out the door toward your truck with that asshole hot on your heels. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“It’s always good to know that I have backup in case I need it.” I chuckle, but he doesn’t laugh with me. His lips twitch, but he’s watching me so intently that it makes me want to squirm in my seat. I refuse to do that. “I appreciate it, and for the record, I’m not bitchy.”
He raises his eyebrows again in surprise. “You’re not?”
“I don’t mean to be.” I do squirm in my seat this time and hate myself for it. “You just irritate the hell out of me, and when I talk to you, I end up sounding like a complete ass, but it’s your fault.”
Now he does laugh. “It’s my fault that you’re in a bad mood every time I’m around you?”
“Absolutely. Yes.”
“Why?”
I take a bite of meatloaf, thinking it over. “Damn, this is so good. ”
“Don’t do that.”
My eyes fly to his. “Do what?”
“Moan like that.” He shifts in his seat and frowns, as if he’s uncomfortable. His jaw clenches. “Answer the question.”
“Because you’re too much,” I say and take another bite. “You’re too handsome, you’re too nice, and you’re too Apollo. ”
“Those things irritate you?”
“Drive me up the damn wall,” I agree.
“Well, you drive me nuts, too, so maybe we’re even.”
“And how do I do that if I’m, as you put it, always bitchy? ”
“Exactly.” He points the business end of his fork at me and then takes a bite of his potatoes. “You’re sassy, moody, a good friend, and you can be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen when you’re in your dirty coveralls and trucker hat with your hair all messy. Then you turn around and look like this”—he gestures vaguely my way with that fork—“and you’re just as hot.”
“So, I’m bitchy and hot, and that irritates you?”
“Hell yes.”
We’ve stopped eating and are just staring at each other.
“We’re weird people, Apollo.”
“Don’t I know it,” he mutters and then digs into his steak. “But I can’t help it. We might be really good together, you know.”
“We can’t date each other.” I shake my head and reach for my martini, realize my glass is empty, and wave down Darla. “I need another one, please.”
“You betcha,” she says with a wave.
“We can’t date each other,” I say again, “because we’d end up killing each other, Apollo. I don’t want to die young.”
His lips twitch into that sexy-as-hell smirk that he always flings my way. “But what a way to go, Juniper.”
“Yeah, there’s that.” I nibble on my lip. “What if we tried to get each other out of our systems for a while?”
“You mean, we hang out?” He’s toying with me, and damn if I don’t like it. “Binge-watch some TV, maybe have a healthy cooking competition?”
“That”—I nod slowly—“and, I mean, we could…you know. Be naked together. If we decided that sounded fun.”
“I did enjoy the naked part.”
I stop talking as Darla sets my new drink down and takes the old glass away, but my gaze never leaves Apollo’s.
“I don’t want to tell the others.”
“What do you mean?”
I take a sip of my new martini. “I don’t want to tell Luna and the others that we’re having a little fling. I don’t want the questions or any of the attention. It’s just you and me and nobody else.”
“So, you want us to be a secret?” I can tell by the way his eyes narrow that he doesn’t like that idea.
“No, I don’t want to tell the others because we’re only enjoying each other.” I frown. “It isn’t keeping it a secret so much as not sharing it with them.”
“We live in a small town, Juniper. They probably already know that you’re having dinner with me tonight in public. There are no secrets in this town.”
“It’s not a secret,” I insist. “It’s just…not anyone else’s business. That’s all.”
“I’m not crazy about that part, but the rest of it sounds damn good to me.”
“Great, no-strings sex.”
“Whoa.” He holds up his hands and shakes his head. “That’s not what I’m agreeing to. I plan to date you, Juniper, to see you on a regular basis outside of the little friend group we have going on. Yes, I also plan to have a lot of sex and enjoy you, but it’s not only about the sex. If that’s what you want, I’m not the right guy for that job.”
I’m back to chewing on my lip, wondering if I misheard him. So, he doesn’t just want to fuck? He wants to, like, have a relationship?
Who even am I right now that I’m considering this?
“Okay, but we still don’t say anything to the others for a little while.”
“For a little while is fine.”
I nod and offer him my hand. “Should we shake on it?”
He takes it, but instead of shaking it, he lifts my knuckles to his lips, kissing them softly, and I feel it all the way up my arm, down my torso, and all the way to my lady parts.
Holy hot damn.