Page 18 of Off the Mark
Whatever the hell that meant.
Still, until recently I was a man who had to rely on instincts alone. There were a lot of reasons why I wasn’t gonna say yes to Charlie’s proposition. A whole lot of the reasons had to do with those same instincts. They’d led me through tough calls many times before on the pitcher’s mound. They were all screamingdon’t do itnow.
I wasn’t super sure what this chest-ache thing was all about whenever Charlie was near. But those instincts knew that being forced topretendaround a woman I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about—or fantasizing about—wasn’t a smart idea.
I pushed up and walked to the door, pulling it shut. Charlie eyed me warily until I retook my same position on the desk.
“To be honest, I need a miracle too.” I raked a hand through my hair and indicated the mess surrounding me. “It’s bad here, and I’ve got a whole community that relies on this place plus an entire staff of people who need their paychecks on time. We don’t have the money to do that right now. The program cuts that the board needs me to make will be a disaster.”
Her face fell. “Jesus, Rowan, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
I shot her an apologetic look. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Maddox. Because you’re looking for a fake boyfriend for the next few weeks when I need to be spending every damn second of those same weeks looking for funds. A lot of funds. Like,allof them.”
I slowly rubbed my palms together. “And I always want to help you. Especially since I feel like I owe you—”
“You don’t owe me, Rowan,” she said sharply. “You really don’t.”
“Charlie, you did something that I’m epically grateful for—”
But she was already moving from the chair and shaking her head. “You don’t owe me anything. Especially not for that. Do this favor for me or not, but please leave the night you injured your shoulder out of the equation.”
I blew out a slightly frustrated breath, gut churning. “Okay, fine, I will. But I…I can’t do it. The timing couldn’t be worse. Everything is falling apart around here.”
She was nodding like she understood but her shoulders were rigid, nostrils flared while she grabbed her bag. “You don’t have to apologize. It was completely weird and inappropriate for me to ask you. And it was sostupid,it never would have worked anyway. Next time I see you, let’s laugh about it over a beer, okay?”
“Charlie, can we—”
She opened the door with a look that made my chest ache again. “I hope you’re able to get that miracle. This place means so much to you that I bet you’ll figure out a way to fix it. They were smart to put you in charge, Rowan.”
“Wait, do you want to come over tonight and talk—” I stammered out, but she’d already stalked through the hallway and out the front door. Cursing under my breath, I walked over to the still-open window.
“Good luck at the race?” I called out to her.
She smiled politely, threw back a wave, and then she was out of sight.
My head fell into my hands.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
7
ROWAN
“Do you think Alice knows the true reason why this sink is always breaking?”
Dean’s voice was muffled by his position on his back, half his body in the space below the sink.
I was hand-drying dishes and crowding them in next to my grandmother’s absurdly large collection of mugs. “Oh, she definitely does. And the fact that she keeps pretending she doesn’t means she’s saving this knowledge to use as a threat or leverage later.”
He chuckled. Grunted at whatever he was tightening or loosening. Then he carefully slid out, sitting up against the back cabinets with his legs stretched out. I tossed him a rag to wipe his hands. “Flip on the water.”
I did.Whooped when water flowed out easily, swirling down the drain. “What would I do without you?”
“You wouldn’t have had a friend to sneak out with in high school,” he said. “So you wouldn’t have used the back kitchen window to sneak back in all the time.”
I grinned in response. “Not my fault jumping everyone’s back patio fences was easier and quieter than using the world’s squeakiest fucking front door.” I patted the sink fondly. “All those years of me stepping on top of you really did a number, huh?”
I extended a hand and Dean took it, letting me tug him to standing. Then I tossed him a clean towel and nodded at the rest of the dishes. He and Tabitha were here for family dinner, though Alice never let Tabitha clean up.
