Branded as Trouble. Delores Fossen
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store.
Mila handed him the books with a little more force than she’d intended and started back to the front. Again, he followed her.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked.
“Yes! No,” she quickly amended, and then went with a “Maybe.”
She was toying with the idea of playing with fire here. If she said she didn’t want to be just his friend, it could put him on the spot. He could reject her.
Heck, he probably would.
She wasn’t anywhere near his usual type, and it didn’t matter that she wanted him to feel more for her. Mila couldn’t force him. And that’s why she needed to keep that coffee date with Dylan.
God, she had to move forward instead of being stuck in gear over Roman.
“It’s okay,” she assured him. It was a lie, of course. Mila stopped, turned and gave his arm a friendly pat.
Or at least that’s what she’d intended. He reached out, lightning fast, with his left hand and caught her wrist. He was so close again. So close that she caught the scent of his aftershave. It smelled expensive. And dangerous.
“Are you going out with Dylan to prove some kind of point to me?” he asked.
Again, with the precursor to playing with fire, she answered, “No. I’m going out with him to prove a point to me.”
That wasn’t a lie. And she could tell from Roman’s expression that he knew that, too.
“I need to take off the swimming floaties of life and venture into the deep end of the pool,” Mila continued, and wished that she’d come up with a better analogy.
“And you can do that with Dylan?”
She hated to say that any man would do, but at this point, any man would. “It’s a baby step. Coffee and conversation. I’ll work my way up to dating and a relationship.”
His grip melted off her wrist, and he looked down at it as if trying to figure out why he’d been holding her in the first place. “Why do you have to work your way up?”
Of course that didn’t make sense to a Granger. “I didn’t exactly come from a normal family, and in high school, boys were afraid of me because of my mother.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were the exception rather than the rule.” And he’d only had eyes for Valerie back then. “So, I dated a couple of misfits who only reminded me how much of a misfit I truly was.”
He shook his head. “But you went to college. You roomed with Sophie. You would have met guys who didn’t know about Vita.”
“Yes, but I didn’t meet anyone who was more interesting than the characters in the books I was reading.” And certainly not more interesting than Roman. “The weeks turned into months. Then years. Eighteen-year-old guys don’t mind a shy, awkward date, but that doesn’t fly when you’re thirty-one.”
Roman studied her, processing that. It was all true. Well, everything after the part about her being okay.
“Don’t let Dylan hurt you.” But it was as if he’d said too much because Roman lifted the books. “Can you go ahead and ring these up? I need to get started on those other errands.”
“No charge. They’re a gift.”
After she’d scolded him for thanking her, Mila thought maybe he’d scold her right back for giving his son books. But he only nodded and went toward the door. He stopped again.
Causing her heart to stop, too.
For a couple of moments, she thought he might say something about them. Not that there was a them, but in those moments, the fantasy started. Roman, shirtless, turning to her, dragging her into his arms and kissing her.
But that didn’t happen.
He walked out, leaving her to stand there and curse herself. She was still cursing when Hilda Meekins, the mail carrier, came by. Mila dredged up a smile for her so that Hilda wouldn’t think anything was wrong. Mila especially didn’t want her thinking something was wrong since she’d seen Roman leave. In fact, Hilda still had her attention on Roman and nearly walked into the door.
“Yum,” Hilda said. She handed Mila a stack of letters she took from her mailbag. “I think I had an orgasm just walking past him.”
Mila knew how the woman felt. Well, she could imagine it, anyway.
She looked through the letters while Hilda went to the window so she could no doubt continue to gawk at Roman. The first six were bills or info about new books, but the last one got her attention.
It was from her mother.
A first. But it was also a first for Vita to take a vacation to go see her family. The postmark, though, was from Wrangler’s Creek, which meant her mom must have mailed it right before she left. Strange, though, that she hadn’t just given it to Mila when she’d driven her to the airport.
Then again, strange and Vita went hand in hand.
She should probably take it to her office to open, carefully, in case it contained some kind of charm that was disgusting or smelly.
“Oh, that can’t be good,” Hilda mumbled, and for a moment Mila thought the woman was talking about the letter. She wasn’t. “There’s Dylan Granger. You think they’ll get in a fight right here on Main Street?”
That sent Mila hurrying to the window. Not because she wanted to see a fight, but because Roman might be involved. But it wasn’t Roman talking to Dylan.
It was Garrett.
And yes, judging from their body language, there might indeed be a fight. Mila dropped the letters on the counter and hurried out to them. She was still several yards away when she could hear what they were saying.
“Any reason Lucian didn’t come straight to me with this chicken-shit notion of a lawsuit?” Garrett asked.
Even though Dylan had a much friendlier look on his face, that tightened his mouth a little. Maybe because he didn’t like having his brother insulted. “You’d have to ask Lucian about that.”
“I would, but he’s not returning my calls.” Yes, Garrett was definitely pissed off. A rarity for him. That was usually Roman’s territory. Thank goodness he wasn’t there or Mila would have stood no chance of diffusing this.
“You made it,” she said to Dylan, and she hoped it sounded as if this were a planned meeting.
Dylan smiled. It was dazzling and perfect, but then he’d had a lot of practice over the years flashing it at every woman who caught his eye.
Garrett wasn’t smiling, though, and judging from the glance he shot her, he knew all about this date.
“I hate to interrupt,” she went on, speaking to Dylan, “but could we go for coffee now? Something’s come up in the shop, and I need to get back a little sooner than I’d originally planned.”
Dylan looked at Garrett, probably considering if he should stand his ground and continue an argument that should be between Roman and Lucian, not him and Garrett. Mila fixed that. She hooked her arm through Dylan’s and got him moving.
“Tell Sophie and Nicky I said hello,” she said to Garrett.
She didn’t wait around for his reaction. Mila just led Dylan across the street to the bookstore. “If you don’t mind, we can have coffee in here,” she said. That way, she wouldn’t have to lock up. Or walk into the diner after people had just witnessed what’d happened.
Of course, most wouldn’t know what had been said, but the gossips would embellish it. They’d embellish this, too. After all, she was taking a known womanizer into her store where they’d be alone. At least, they would be until Janeen showed up. Which hopefully wouldn’t