Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(13)

Conner raised one finger as he would in a bar, and the guy came over. “Can I have that coffee and pie to go?” he said.

“Sure,” the young blond guy said. “Everything all right?”

“Perfect. I’ve got a roasted chicken in the truck and I’m going to take it home and nuke it for dinner, then chase it with the key lime.” He tried out a smile.

“Sounds lovely.” And the man turned to get a paper cup and plastic carton of key lime pie.

“Conner?”

Damn. She was standing right beside him. He looked into her eyes, caught that delicious smile and thought, Crap. It zinged him. Gave him a little shock of awareness in all his male parts. “Hi,” he said.

“What a surprise. I never expected to run into someone from Virgin River here. There’s a yoga studio around the corner. I love yoga. I come at least twice a week.”

So that explained the leotard. “I don’t know anything about yoga,” he admitted.

She laughed, genuinely amused. “I’d be kind of surprised if you did. Grab your coffee and join me.”

“I probably better not.”

“Oh?” she asked. “You have plans?”

He was struck speechless. How did you answer that? There’d been a time Conner, as Danny, had been pretty smooth with women. He’d known how to charm them or how to at least get a phone number, but it had been a long time since he’d had a woman other than his sister in his life. This lying about everything wasn’t easy for him—he was used to shooting straight from the hip. With Leslie it was even more complicated—he found her attractive, and she was doing the boss. “I just don’t want to get in the middle of anything.”

“In the middle…?” She frowned. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“You know,” he said, giving a shrug. “Your…relationship.”

“What relationship? I’m single.”

His brow furrowed. “Right,” he said.

She continued to frown; her eyes had narrowed. “What relationship?” she demanded.

“Well…I… Looked like maybe you and the boss…” That was as much as he got out. “It’s none of my business.” And he thought, I’ll be dead in a month, as terrible as I am at lying, at covering up.

She was still frowning. The blond guy behind the coffee bar put Conner’s coffee and pie on the counter. “Grab your coffee and come with me,” she said. And allowing for no discussion or refusal, she turned and walked away, expecting him to follow.

“Crap,” he muttered. Then he let out a breath and did as she said. She sat down on a little bitty couch with spindly legs, and opposite was a chair with equally skinny, curvy legs. He looked down at her, pie in one hand and coffee in the other. “I don’t know, Leslie. I don’t think I should sit on that.”

“It’s stronger than it looks. Sit,” she commanded. And he did so. “Paul is an old friend,” she said. “I worked for his family in Oregon for ten years. I was trying to relocate but didn’t have a new job, and he offered me one here. There is nothing the least bit inappropriate between us.”

“Okay. Like I said, none of my business anyway,” he said, standing to escape.

“Sit.”

He did as she told him.

“Why would you assume something like that about me?”

“I…” He made a face. “The first night I was in town, I was at that little bar and you and Paul… Well, I didn’t know who either of you were, but he had his arm around you. Kissed you. It looked like maybe you were crying or something. You had a drink and left together. Like a couple.”

She was quiet for a moment, her lips pursed. “What nerve,” she said.

“Hey, you don’t owe me an explanation. It’s nothing to me.”

“Listen to me. Carefully. I was married while I worked for Haggerty Construction in Grants Pass. My husband and I divorced and he moved on very quickly. Actually, he moved on before we were divorced. He remarried right away, got his new wife pregnant. He’s going to be a father. And me? Why of course I get to be friends with the charming couple. He would probably even like me to be the baby’s godmother. I would have gone to hell to get out of there. This job was a lifesaver. Paul was a lifesaver. I might’ve been emotional about that.”

Conner was quiet for a long moment, and then, inexplicably, he smiled. “Seriously?”

“Which part?” she asked, taking a sip of her tea.

“He wanted you to be friends with his new wife?”

“Yes. And be so happy for them.”

“Wow,” he said, still smiling. “What balls.”

She cleared her throat. “Yeah. Well. He was so f**king civil even my parents thought I should just get over it. Sorry—I don’t usually use that word.”

“Sounds kind of apropos where the ex is concerned.”

“You have no idea. I couldn’t get away from them in that town. Paul was very sweet to help me out. I can’t remember crying or getting kissed in Jack’s Bar, but—”

“It looked kind of…cozy. Like maybe he was the boyfriend and the two of you were having some kind of…misunderstanding. And you have such a close— I guess I don’t have much of an imagination, I could only think of one possibility.”