LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

I’ve had enough of the past for one night, and no amount of poking or prodding from you is going to get me to say more, so let it go.”

      She dug into her salad with gusto. She’d been playing with her food all evening. He doubted she was even hungry. But apparently she didn’t want to talk about Mandy and was sending a loud message for him to back off.

      Her tone had switched to Darby bossy. The tone she used when he’d pushed as far as she would allow him to push.

      Fine—he’d let the topic of Mandy go. For now.

      “At least tell me what you expect of me this weekend.”

      She paused mid-bite. Startled eyes lifted to his. “What do you mean? I told you what I expected. Just pretend you’re madly in love with me—as if I’m the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you and you can’t live without me.”

      “Okay,” he said slowly, taking measure of the panic in her eyes and wondering at his own rising panic at her words. “I can do that.”

      In many ways, meeting Darby was the best thing to ever happen to him.

      “How long have we been dating?”

      She blinked at him, as if he’d spoken in an alien tongue. “Pardon?”

      “There are things inquiring minds will want to know. Questions that are usually asked when a person sees someone they haven’t seen in a while.” He gave her a pointed look. “How long have we been dating?”

      “The simpler we make this, the better.” Glancing down at her plate, Darby stared at her food. “We’ll say we’ve known each other for years, but only recently became romantically involved. Let’s stick to the truth as much as possible.”

      Why was she so nervous? Because she was going to see the man from her past she’d mentioned? What did it matter to Blake? He should be happy if she reconnected with some long-lost love.

      Was Nix a long-lost love?

      Blake’s fries threatened to stage an uprising. “The truth works for me.”

      “Except that you’re in love with me,” she pointed out.

      His irrational reaction to the idea of Darby having a long-lost love irritated Blake. “I got that.”

      Her gaze dropping to her plate, she nodded. “I just wanted to be clear.”

      “As crystal.”

      Her cellphone rang. She pulled out the phone and looked at the number. Grimacing, she shoved the phone into her pocket.

      “Who was that?”

      “Rodney.”

      Her ex? Why was he calling? “You didn’t change your mind about getting back with him?”

      He hoped not. Really hoped not.

      He didn’t like the idea of Darby with Rodney. She was way too good for the guy. Plus, crazy as it was, he wanted to go with her this weekend, wanted to meet Mandy. And maybe even Trey Nix, just so he could figure out what Darby’s relationship had been with the man—although he had a pretty good idea.

      An idea he didn’t like any better than the idea of Rodney.

      “No,” she sighed, looking tired, as if this trip home weighed heavily upon her mind.

      He knew she hadn’t gone home last Christmas, but she had made the trip when her niece was born. During the four years he’d known her she’d gone home a few times a year, but never for more than a night.

      “Part of me wonders if I should beg him to take me back rather than bring you to my hometown.”

      No, she shouldn’t bring Rodney with her. Blake wanted to meet her family, see where she’d grown up, figure out what it was about her hometown that made a woman he admired for her confidence so unsure of herself.

      Darby was his partner and she needed his help. More than she even realized. Whatever her issues were with her hometown, he’d help her. He owed her that for keeping him on task throughout his residency and the beginning of his medical career.

      “I can behave myself. Even in a place named Armadillo Lake.” He chuckled, letting the name roll off his tongue. “Sounds like a fun place to grow up. Is there really a lake?”

      “Yes.”

      “And armadillos?”

      “Yes.”

      “Your school team were the Armadillos?”

      She gritted her teeth. “Yes.”

      “Let me guess—your school mascot was a giant armadillo?”

      Gaze lowered to her plate, Darby nodded.

      “Bet that went over great at football games.” He chuckled. “An armadillo.”

      Darby had grown still. She looked as if she were praying he wouldn’t put two and two together. Where Darby was concerned Blake always put two and two together. He grinned.

      “You were the mascot, weren’t you?”

      The next morning Darby had barely climbed out of her car before Blake fell into step beside her in the clinic’s employee parking lot. “I checked on Mr. Hill this morning. He’s insisting on going home, and he’s only been there one night.”

      She ignored him, just as she’d been ignoring him since he’d burst out laughing at her admission she’d once worn an armadillo suit to all major school sport events.

      Not a cute little armadillo suit that showed off her legs—if such a suit even existed. No, she’d been in a full-bodied, hot-as-Hades, head-to-toe vinyl Armadillo suit that looked like something straight off a cheap Godzilla movie. And all to impress a guy—to prove that she was more than a brainy girl, that she had a sense of humor and could be fun. What had she been thinking?

      “He’s giving the nurses a hard time.” With his usual persistence, Blake continued, following her down the clinic’s hallway toward their offices. “The night nurse said he pulled out his IV line. She put the line back in, and threatened to strap his hands to the bedrails if he pulls it out again.”

      Darby already knew all this. She’d visited Mr. Hill, too. Blake had beaten her to the hospital, thanks to her sleeping late, but she had checked on her two patients this morning.

      No wonder she’d overslept. Most of the night she’d lain in bed having nightmares about the upcoming weekend. Nightmares in which she’d shown up at the reunion not decked out to the nines as planned, in the new killer dress she’d bought, but wearing that awful armadillo suit. Trey hadn’t been the one laughing at her. Blake had been the one shaking his head, pointing his finger, not understanding her desire to fit in. Not understanding how she desperately wanted him to notice that she was alive. The truth, she’d realized, was that this weekend was more about him than her class reunion.

      She’d awakened in a cold sweat, certain she’d made a grave miscalculation—that thinking she could make Blake notice her as a woman was as foolish as wearing that armadillo suit had been.

      Despite having sent in her RSVP, she didn’t have to go. Most likely no one would even notice if she was there or not.

      No, that wasn’t true.

      Mandy would know. Wasn’t that why she’d sent Darby’s invitation late?

      If she didn’t go, she was saying that she was okay with her and Blake’s relationship never being more than what it was. And, although what they had was wonderful, Darby wanted more.

      She was going.

      Not only was she going, but she was going to have fun.

      And in the process of making Blake notice her she’d make Trey eat his heart out because he’d chosen the head cheerleader over the geeky, too-smart-to-be-understood school

Скачать книгу