Crazy for Your Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #5)(38)

“No,” she says tightly. “We couldn’t have. And that was my fault.”

The guilt in her voice sets off warning bells in my head. “How so?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.” I force myself to give her a reassuring smile. “I didn’t mean to push.”

She lifts her gaze to meet mine. “What about you? Serious relationships, I mean.”

I groan. I guess I’m the one who brought it up. “I had a girlfriend for a couple of years in high school. Her name was Marjorie and we were pretty happy, but we kind of grew apart.” I haven’t thought about her in a long time, but the memories are mostly good ones. Marjorie was my first love . . . my first all-around. “Then lots of dating, lots of searching for that elusive the one.”

“Did you ever think you found her?”

My gut knots when I think of Renee. We weren’t together long in the scheme of things, but I’d thought she was it for me. “I dated a woman named Renee when I first started at the fire department. My dad was sick, and she was the one who was there for me. We dated for six months.”

Teagan cocks her head, frowning. “Renee French? The one who runs the yoga studio by the bar?”

I grimace. For better and worse, Jackson Harbor is a small world. “That’s her.”

“What happened? Why’d you break up?”

“She didn’t want what I did, and she found lying about it easier than honesty.” I shrug. As if it’s nothing. As if losing her wasn’t like having the earth yanked from beneath my feet while my world was falling apart around me. I hate being lied to. “But really, I’ve never had a long-term, serious relationship. Ethan says I’m too damn picky and I should stop looking for Miss Perfect.”

“You want Miss Perfect, and yet you tried to start something with me?” Her cheeks flush, and she averts her gaze. She opens a dresser drawer, and I try not to stare as she fills it with her undergarments. “Or maybe I misread that day at the lake.”

“When we were in the water?” I drop my toiletry bag back into my suitcase and step toward Teagan, threading a hand into her hair. “And I did this?”

Her throat bobs. “Yeah. That day.”

“You didn’t misread anything.” I scan her face, her dark eyes, that perfect mouth, remembering how easy it felt to pull her into my arms and how natural it was to lower my mouth to hers. I told myself I didn’t care that she pushed me away, that it was better we stay friends, but in truth, I always wished she’d let me have that kiss. “I wish you would have told me about Heath then. About my job being a problem for you. I would have understood.”

Her flinch is there and gone so fast that I’d have missed it if I hadn’t been trying to memorize every inch of her face. “You’re a good friend, Carter.”

Friend. There’s that word again. “I try.”

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch. It’s a big bed. I think we can manage.”

Right. “We’ll see.” I might be a good friend, but if she’s serious about the rules she laid out for us, the couch is the right place for me tonight.





Carter


Rich Nasser is an ass. Granted, my introduction to the man skewed my opinion, but after thirty minutes in the same room as him, I can’t imagine what Teagan ever saw in him, and I’m at a complete loss for as to why her mom and dad still adore him.

Teagan needed to meet with her mom and sister for a while, so I came down to the game room to kill time and shoot pool. Rich, Liam, and Travis, one of Liam’s groomsmen, were already in here. I thought about turning around and going back to our room, but I decided to use the time to feel out the ex who’s managed to keep a foothold in Teagan’s life.

Had I not felt the way Teagan shook when she first saw him, and were he not obviously struggling to hide his irritation with my presence this weekend, I might have even fallen for his “everyone’s best friend” act.

It’s not just that he’s hung up on Teagan. He tries too hard to be what everyone wants. And sure, during a celebratory weekend, everyone should play nice, but it’s more than that. An agreeableness that almost ventures into creepy. I’ve learned very little except that the guy puts off a bad vibe and likes to talk about all the favors he’s done for Teagan’s parents and brag about how much they love him.

My phone buzzes with a text alert. Once. Twice. Three times. I pull it from my pocket to see messages from Myla.



Myla: Sorry if I was a bitch about everything.

Myla: You don’t owe me any explanations. You said this was casual from the start.

Myla: I guess I caught feelings somewhere along the way.



“You and Teagan seem happy,” Rich says, and I quickly darken the screen so he can’t read over my shoulder.

“We are.”

He smirks, as if he knows our secret. I don’t care if he has me and Teagan figured out. Even if everyone involved in this wedding weekend knew the truth, I’d still want to spend it with Teagan. I won’t leave her to fend for herself with this guy.

“Interesting,” he murmurs, studying the pool table before leaning over to line up a shot. “Three ball, corner pocket.” He points to the opposite side of the table then pulls his stick back to take the shot. The cue ball smacks into the red three, sending it spinning into the hole.