I'm Not Charlotte Lucas(23)

He took a step closer. “She asked me too.”

“I can see that,” I said, stepping back. It wasn’t enough for Vera to set me up with her super-hot grandson for the charity ball, but now she wanted to throw us together in the dirt too? She really had it out for me.

“But . . .” I could not think of an excuse that wouldn’t sound offensive. “You’re too hot,” I blurted.

Liam’s eyebrows rose, his deep-blue eyes shining brighter in the sunshine.

“No, I meant it’s too hot. Like out here. You don’t want to mess up your clothes. Gardening is messy, sweaty work.”

“I know,” he said, amused. “That’s why I wore these clothes.”

That pair of jeans and Henley were his work clothes? What kind of money did this guy have? “This is silly.”

He blinked back at me, a smile lifting one side of his mouth. “You read my mind.”

“Fine. You know what? You can help. But you have to do it exactly as I direct you.”

He grinned. “Deal. Do you have more gloves?”

“You can check out the shed. Vera’s got loads of supplies in there.”

I got down on my knees, kneeling on the garden pad Vera had thoughtfully provided, and got to work. I never minded digging in the dirt. Pulling weeds until the satisfying clump unearthed, tilling over fresh dirt, and patting soil over seeds and bulbs . . . it was all methodical and soothing.

Liam set up at the far side of the plot, copying me by pulling weeds and raking through the dirt on his side. We moved in a rhythm, skirting around each other in the silence as I took care of my side of the plot and Liam managed his.

It was impossible not to sneak continual glances his way. The guy was hot, a lot hotter than the pre-spring sun glaring down on us, and he totally knew it. He caught me watching him more than once, and my cheeks went so red I was sure I rivaled the ladybug garden gloves encasing my hands.

How strange to think that just last night this man was climbing my trellis in a tux, and now he was digging in the dirt by my side—in his designer jeans, no less. Regular jeans did not sculpt to a man’s legs the way Liam’s did now.

“Vera really likes you,” he finally said.

I tried to swallow my embarrassment. Evidently the woman loved me enough to play matchmaker between me and her grandson. I wasn’t mad about her motives, but she could have at least tried to be more discreet.

“I love her too,” I said, wiping beads of sweat from my forehead with the back of my wrist. “You’ve got a pretty great grandma.”

“Yeah, I do.”

The wide smile he shot me could easily have been plastered across a billboard to sell toothpaste. He was so conventionally handsome it was almost funny watching him dig in the dirt. But the weird thing was that the longer I worked by his side, the more comfortable I found myself. Like we’d slipped into a natural cadence. Or maybe it was the safety net that I knew he wasn’t interested in me romantically.

“Did you enjoy yourself last night?” he asked.

“Yes,” I admitted. “Probably more than you did.”

He quirked a dark eyebrow, and I sat back on my heels. “I hope it wasn’t too uncomfortable for you,” I said. “Seeing your ex and everything.”

“When is seeing an ex ever comfortable?”

“I don’t know. It can be fine,” I disagreed. It hadn’t been terrible running into Andy the other night in the Safeway parking lot. “I saw an ex recently, and things were actually good.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Did you have an easy breakup?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” It was simple and quick. But when were breakups ever easy?

“Did he ask you out again?” Liam asked.

A blush crept up my cheeks. How did he know?

“He did,” Liam said, surprised, his dark eyebrows rising on his forehead. “I can guess by how red you’re turning that you agreed to go out with him again.”

I pointed my miniature shovel in his direction. “It’s just a trial date. I did not promise him anything.”

“Except hope,” he argued. He knelt, his hands resting on his thighs, and dirt streaked his clothes. A smudge was smeared over his cheek, and he looked incredulous. “You gave the poor guy reason to believe he had another shot with you.”

“Oh, like that’s some huge honor,” I muttered.

I went back to the dirt. The weeds were cleared, and now it was time to dig some holes and drop in some bulbs.

“What made you break up with him in the first place?”

“Who says I broke it off?” I countered.

“The fact that you’re willing to give him another chance. He clearly did something wrong the first time around.”

I punctuated my words with my shovel, stabbing it into the tilled earth for bulb holes. “Maybe the timing was wrong. Maybe I wasn’t ready to commit. Maybe I didn’t think we had the right chemistry.”

“Maybe he’s an idiot for letting you get away in the first place.”

I couldn’t help it. I looked up. Liam was watching me, but the amusement was gone from his eyes. He looked serious, like this mattered. I’d known the guy for all of twenty-four hours combined. Why did he care so much?

He seemed to sense the uncomfortable shift in the air and cleared his throat. “Where is he taking you?”