0451471040 by Kimberly Lang Read Free Book Online Page A

Cindy, though, was convinced Itsy had suffered trauma—psychological, if not physical—from Tank’s bolt in her direction, so Molly carried Tank back up to the porch, where Ryan was emerging to find out what was going on.
    “Sorry, Cindy,” he called in that direction, lifting Tank out of Molly’s arms. Dropping his voice, he explained, “He doesn’t like little dogs.”
    That was funny, since Tank probably weighed only six or seven pounds himself. “I don’t think he got hold of Itsy,” she assured him. “He just startled everyone.”
    “Damn,” Ryan said, surprising her.
    Looking over her shoulder, Molly saw Cindy stalking across the yard in high dudgeon. “Oh. Good luck with that.”
    At least she’d escaped Cindy’s confusing conversation, she thought with a small twinge of guilty pleasure. Cindy would follow up eventually, but maybe when Molly wasn’t so full of baked chicken and Ms. Louise’s famous potato cheese casserole the conversation might make sense. Or she’d at least have more patience for it.
    Tate was waiting at the end of the driveway where Cindy had left him. “You okay?” he asked.
    “Fine. Tank didn’t do any damage to Itsy, did he?”
    He shook his head. “Nah, Itsy’s fine.”
    “Oh, good. Well, good night, then.” Belatedly, she noticed only Helena’s and Ryan’s cars in the driveway. Which meant Tate was on foot as she was. And since he lived two blocks past her house, he’d be walking in the same direction. If Cindy hadn’t stopped her, she’d be far enough ahead to avoid Tate offering—
    “I’ll walk with you.”
    There was no way to politely decline, which meant the uncomfortable kitchen conversation she’d avoided was now simply going to be her uncomfortable walk-home conversation instead.
    She scrambled to gather her thoughts. As she knew fine well, no one liked to hear, “I’m not interested in you,” and, dinged pride aside, she saw no reason to throw something like that in his face out of petty revenge. Tate was nice, and cute, too—tall and broad shouldered with inky black hair and bright blue eyes. If she were shopping the market, he’d be an excellent choice. But she wasn’t, so it didn’t matter. Now she just needed to get back to the friendly-acquaintance footing they’d lost tonight due to Helena’s meddling.
    Please just let it die a quiet, non-embarrassing death.
    No such luck. They were barely out of earshot of the house when Tate said, “Can I apologize now?” His voice was a mix of exasperation and teasing, and he wore a self-deprecating smile that was really kind of charming.
    “There’s no need. Really.”
    He sighed. “When Helena gets an idea in her head . . .”
    “She’s tenacious about it, I know. And I know she means well.”
    “Still”—his voice turned serious—“what you heard me say . . .”
    “It’s fine. My feelings aren’t hurt.” The need to strangle Helena was coming back full force, though.
    “It’s nothing personal. You’re a very nice person. You’re beautiful and funny and smart . . .”
    “And you’re not interested. I get it. It’s okay.” She tried to sound reassuring, but Tate just shook his head.
    “I’m just saying it’s not you personally, or anything like that.”
    “Good to know.” Before he could go on any further, she moved in front of him and held up a hand. “Can we stop this now? I don’t want you to ask me out.”
    Tate pulled back a little, and she felt bad almost immediately. She hadn’t meant for the words to come out so sharp. But the surprised look that followed nearly made her laugh. He hadn’t been expecting that. He might not want to ask her out, but considering there were plenty of women in Magnolia Beach—and the surrounding counties, too—who’d be more than happy to grab him right up, her words had to have been a shock. Considering he’d been an unwilling participant in the evening’s farce, she’d give him a pass for including her in that