Crazy for Your Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #5)(37)

“And then Heath was after you moved back home? He gave you butterflies?” I’m not sure what to think about the jealousy that tears through me at those words. I’m jealous of a dead man for his relationship with my fake girlfriend. That might be a new low.

“Yeah. Butterflies and . . . thrills.” She sighs, tugging on that same lock of hair. “My parents didn’t care for him, and given how much they approved of Rich, I think that made Heath all the more appealing.”

There’s a knock on the door. “Bellman.”

“Hold that thought,” I tell Teagan, going to the door.

“Good afternoon, sir,” the man says. “I have your luggage.”

“Thanks. You can leave it by the couch.”

He nods and hauls our suitcases into the room, thanking me when I pass him a tip. Then he’s gone and we’re alone again, but judging by how diligently she’s avoiding my gaze, I wonder if she’s planning to change the subject.

I pick up my suitcase, put it on the bed, and unzip it so I can hang up my clothes as she does the same with hers. “What was Heath like?”

She stills, hand tightening around some vibrant red material. When she releases a puff of air, I realize she’s quietly laughing. “Like you, I guess.”

“Because of his job?”

Her lips twitch into a reluctant smile, but she still doesn’t meet my eyes. “More because of his . . . love of women?”

I cough. I was not expecting that. “What?”

“It’s not a secret that you like to keep your bed warm, Carter. Or that you’ve come to prefer . . . variety to commitment.”

“Jesus.” I remove a stack of clothes and put them into a dresser drawer. I guess it’s not just Jake. I’ve somehow managed to get a reputation as a player. “Is that what you think of me?”

“I’m not judging. A lot of guys are like that.”

But I want to be better than a lot of guys. I release a breath and drag a hand through my hair. This isn’t about me. Not right now. “How’d you end up with a guy like that? Heath, I mean.”

“He was charming, and I wasn’t looking for forever.” She slides a dress onto a hanger. “I moved home right after graduation and met him my first weekend back.”

“How’d you meet?”

She stills again, and she’s quiet so long that I’m about to repeat my question when she says, “Rich introduced us.”

“Oh.”

“Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But then, I believed Rich had moved on as completely as I had. No hard feelings, no weirdness. And he was best friends with Heath—they’d gone to the police academy together and worked out of the same precinct. I actually think Rich meant to set us up, as crazy as that sounds. If I knew then what I know now, I’d have run far away from anyone Rich wanted me to meet.”

And what do you know now? I don’t want to push her, so I continue unpacking and wait for more.

“Heath had a revolving door of women in his life when I met him, but we hit it off. I liked him. But after a couple of weeks, I knew I couldn’t be one of many, and I told him if we were going to keep seeing each other, he had to stop seeing everyone else. Rich encouraged me to have that talk with him. He said Heath was the kind of guy who’d need it spelled out, but I’m not sure he was giving Heath enough credit. He was young and single, not an ass. It didn’t take much convincing. And after that . . . we fell in love fast and hard. He was romantic and sweet, and so damn good in bed.”

I grunt. I don’t want to think about another man physically pleasing her.

“Not that bedroom skills are required for a relationship, of course,” she says quickly.

“Of course.”

“My family accepted him, but Rich was always around, and he always found ways to look better than Heath. At first, I didn’t think he was doing it on purpose. Rich knew my family from the years we’d been together in high school, and he stayed close to them after I left. He’d know Mom needed help getting the salt to the basement for the water softener, and of course he’d remember how much she loved to get lilies at Easter.” She releases a small huff of air. “I guess I can’t really talk about Heath without talking about Rich, and that was always the problem. The harder I fell for Heath, the more my family wanted to see me get back together with Rich.”

“Why?”

She hangs another dress, taking her time before responding. “Rich has a way of twisting things—making people look bad for nothing without straight-out lying. I know this sounds crazy, but I need you to promise me now that you won’t let Rich get to you. He might try to be your buddy or he might just be an ass, but whatever he does, he’ll be trying to manipulate you.”

“Is that what he did to you?”

She shrugs. “He’d call my mom after Heath and I had a silly spat and ask if I was around because he was worried about me. She’d have to pry it out of him, but he’d admit that Heath and I had been fighting or that I’d been upset or that Heath hadn’t done something I asked. He had a way of turning nothing into something awful, and a way of making my mom hold on to the idea that he and I might get back together.”

“But was it bad? You and Heath? Do you think you could have been happy with him if . . .” If he hadn’t died. I swallow, wishing I could take it back and feeling like a jackass for asking at all.