Summer Nights (Fool's Gold #8)

He drew his eyebrows together as he glanced at the food she’d put on the counter. “Were you thinking I would stay?”


She dropped the peach into the sink and wiped her hands on her robe. “No. Of course not.”

Wariness invaded his expression. “Annabelle, this was just sex, right? Getting it out of our system?”

She supposed the mature response was either to agree or calmly point out that no, she hadn’t realized she was a booty call. What she said instead was, “Oh, really? So now that you’ve had me, you’re free to get on with your life?”

He took a step back. “I wouldn’t put it like that,” he said cautiously.

“Sure you would.” She grabbed the peach and flung it at him.

He stepped to the side and it went flying past him to land with a thunk on the carpet in the living room. She reached for the plastic-wrapped cheese.

“You had an itch,” she said, her voice rising, “so you came here to get it scratched.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

She threw the cheese as hard as she could and then followed with a box of crackers. He ducked both.

“You’re upset.”

“Me? Why would you think that? You show up, have sex with me, then run as fast as you can. Because hey, it’s out of your system now, right? What’s not to like? Make sure the door doesn’t hit you in the ass on your way out.”

She glanced around for something else to throw and saw a heavy frying pan on her stove.

“Annabelle, don’t,” he began.

She reached for the pan. “If I were you, I’d be running right about now.”

“We can talk about this. Be rational.”

She had to use both hands to lift the pan. “Do I look rational to you?”

“Annabelle,” he said, backing up as he spoke.

“Get out, Shane,” she yelled. “Get out now.”

He turned and left.

She waited until he was gone to drop the pan back on the stove, then sucked in a breath and told herself she wouldn’t cry. No matter what, he wasn’t worth it. No guy was. Not ever.

CHAPTER NINE

SHANE WOKE UP EARLY. Not much of a stretch, considering he hadn’t slept well the night before. He’d kept thinking about his evening with Annabelle, trying to figure out where it had all gone wrong.

Going over there was a start, he thought as he dressed and headed down to the kitchen. She was a temptation and he’d given in. That didn’t come without a price. And maybe he should have explained things more thoroughly before they got started.

He reached the kitchen. Heidi was already up. She milked her goats early and was usually the first one to make coffee.

“Morning,” he said as he walked into the room and headed for the pot.

She regarded him steadily.

He reached for the handle, but she stepped in front of him.

“I don’t think so.”

He stared at her. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t think so,” she repeated. “If you want coffee, or anything to eat, you’ll have to go to town.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a jerk and I don’t make coffee for jerks.”

His sleep-deprived brain slowly clicked into place. Right. Heidi and Annabelle were friends. Annabelle had been upset. She’d probably called her friend to talk, because that’s what women did.

He took in Heidi’s angry glare, the determination in her stance and nodded. “I’ll go into town.”

“You do that.”

Thirty minutes later, he felt as if he’d slipped into an alternative universe. He’d managed to get coffee at the Starbucks, but when he’d gone by the feed store to place an order, the manager had told him he would have to go elsewhere.

“My wife knows Annabelle,” the man had told him. “Darlene volunteers at the library. She said you weren’t welcome here anymore.”

Shane gaped at him. “This is your business, isn’t it?”

The man gave him a pitying look. “Dude, have you ever been married?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should know better.”

Shane wasn’t sure if he meant for asking the question or messing with Annabelle in the first place.

“It wasn’t what they’re saying,” Shane protested.

“You didn’t tell her you’d slept with her to get her out of your system?”

Shane swallowed. “I might have said something like that, but…”

The other man waited.

Shane drew in a breath. “Right. I’ll leave.”

“You’re going to have trouble all over town,” the man called after him. “This is Fool’s Gold. You can’t mess with one of the women and then act as if it didn’t happen.”

“I’m starting to see that.”

Shane stepped out into the still cool morning and looked around. There weren’t a lot of people on the street but those who were fell into two camps. The men ignored him and the women gave him the evil eye.

Still holding on to his coffee, grateful the Starbucks was part of a national chain and not a local place or he wouldn’t have been served coffee at all, he walked toward his truck.