by Melissa West
“So, I’m just going to get on with it.”
“Please do.”
“I came here to make a truce.” She peered at him for his reaction.
His eyebrows lifted. “A truce.”
“Or something. Whatever the word is. I need your help, and I’m betting there’s something I could offer you in return.” Then she pointed at him before that dirty mind of his could explore. “And not that kind of offer in return.”
He threw up his hands, but he was smiling. “Hey, I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I’ll never admit a thing.”
Sophie shook her head, but she smiled as her gaze met his again. “I need the town to like me, at least a little, and they love you. So I thought maybe you could help me. Maybe we could go to lunch from time to time or something, act like we’re friends. Show them you like me, so maybe they will, too.”
“You’re asking me to help you steal my business? I don’t think so, sweetheart. I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’m not an idiot either.”
“No, not your business. Just the little stuff. With some of the women around town, stuff that would work for me that you aren’t really handling. Like AJ&P.”
“I cover AJ&P.”
“I know, but you don’t grow cherries, oranges, or raspberries. Let me have that business. Just the stuff you don’t grow.”
She could see that he was considering it, a tiny thread holding him there, and she needed to tighten its hold around him before he took a step back and broke the connection. “Please. I’ll help you do something, too. Maybe convert part of your farm to organic. Could only help you.”
Zac shook his head. “Got that already covered, thanks. I don’t think there’s anything I need.”
“You have to. Everyone needs something. Maybe something for Carrie-Anne. Something she wants? I could help her with makeup or nails or something. Think of something she wants that you aren’t giving her and I could help.”
Zac turned away then, like he’d thought of that very thing already but wasn’t so sure he wanted to ask. Or maybe he didn’t trust Carrie-Anne with her, which made her sad. Because she really was a nice person. Really.
“You could be there for the makeup stuff of course, if you wanted. I know you don’t know me well enough maybe to trust your daughter with me, but—”
“I trust you. It’s not that.”
“But there is something?”
He faced her then, his top teeth clamped down over his bottom lip, his eyes squinted in thought, those strong arms of his crossed again. Sophie wished she could ask him to relax his arms at his sides so she could focus, because damn. But before she could contemplate how to talk to him without staring at his biceps, he said, “No, never mind.”
“What? Just tell me. I’ll do it, anything. I need to make a home here. I need it. You have no idea how badly I need this.”
With new interest, Zac studied her, a thousand questions in his eyes. But even if she wanted Zac’s help, she wouldn’t tell him the real reason she’d moved to Crestler’s Key. No one could know.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked again.
Zac drew a long breath, and then the words tumbled out in what sounded like a long, exhausted sigh. “Carrie wants me to date, wants to see that I’m at least trying. Her friend Reagan’s mom said something and . . . I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair and peeked over at her again. “This sounds crazy.”
“You dating? Not crazy at all actually. I could fix you up with someone. Oh! Maybe Glenda.”
“Actually, I was thinking we could kill two birds with one stone.”
Sophie froze. “What do you mean?”
For a beat, Zac didn’t say anything, and Sophie feared he’d backtrack again, when instead he took a step toward her. “You need the town to like you, and I need my daughter to trust that I’m okay. So we pretend to date. Carrie feels better because I’m not alone here all the time, so she doesn’t feel guilty when she leaves, and you get some good-faith points with the town. Two problems, one solution. Done.”
Now it was Sophie’s turn to laugh. “Pretend to date. Us? We hate each other. You’ve got to be out of your mind.”
Zac shrugged. “Maybe. But seems it would take care of both of our problems. We hang out—nothing too serious so Carrie doesn’t grow attached. I couldn’t have that. Just a little light dating, show the town we’re friendly, make my daughter feel better, and then after a few months, we can stop it. No big deal.”
“You’re serious.”
“Dead. I don’t want to risk women coming around here all the time, getting too attached, and messing with Carrie’s life and well-being. This way, I control it. And it helps your case with the town. Win-win.”
Sophie turned away, the remnants of a laugh still on the verge of spilling over. He couldn’t be serious. Couldn’t be. Yet as she glanced back at him, studied his expression, the sincerity in his eyes, she could see that he was absolutely serious.
“Okay, let’s say for argument’s sake that I consider this. How would it work? Would we set rules? Like no dating anyone else or something?”
“Neither of us is dating anyone else anyway.”
That stung, but Sophie couldn’t deny it. “True.”
“So it’s settled then?”
Sophie bit her thumbnail and met his gaze again. “No physical stuff.”
“Of course. Except, you know, the basics.”
“The basics?”
Zac took a step toward her and reached out his hand as though it were the most natural thing in the world, then linked his fingers through hers. “This.”
Sophie stared down at their interlocked fingers, curious what the tingly feeling working up those fingers and into her arm was all about. Maybe she was just tired. “And what about kissing.”
Their eyes locked.
“What about it?”
“Should we, you know, kiss? On occasion? Just to keep up pretenses of course.”
Zac considered it, stared off into his kitchen, then at a photo over his fireplace, before regarding her with something like uncertainty. “We’ll take that as it comes.”
Sophie nodded, her belly flipping and flopping with thoughts of Zac’s full lips on hers, those strong arms around her, securing her to him. Lord Almighty, she might not survive fake dating Zac Littleton if kissing was involved.
“Is that nod a yes?”
“Something tells me I don’t have much of a choice.”
“With me, you always have a choice. Despite what you think, I’m not a bad guy.”
Sophie tried to swallow the lump forming in her throat. “I’m starting to see that.”
“So, dating?”
“I’ll agree to a few dates.”
“A few dates?” Zac scratched his chin and flashed her one of those warm smiles that promised sweet dreams and happily-ever-afters. Things Sophie would never know. But maybe for a few weeks, she could pretend that a life with a man like Zac was possible.
“A few dates.”
“I can work with that.”
Chapter Six
The smell of apples and cinnamon filled the air, powdered sugar dotted Sophie’s dress in three spots, the scene reminiscent of happy, bubbly times, and yet she still couldn’t pull her mind away from Zac and their agreement. And whether she’d made an epic mistake.
For one, it had been four days since she had spoken with him. Four long days without a word. If this was the way Zac Littleton dated a woman, then it was understandable why he struggled to get a date. And maybe that was why he offered this agreement in the first place. Maybe he hated dating and preferred to just screw around, but didn’t—couldn’t—say as much to his daughter, so he needed to fake date Sophie so he could continue his shadowy escapades, all the while the town would know he was cheating on Sophie. And maybe he’d even get one of these escapade-ers pregnant, and then the whole town would think Sophie was a fool. But
then maybe—
“You’ve been quiet.”
Sophie glanced over at Glenda, who pulled another pie from the oven and placed it on the cooling rack with the others. Apple. Peach. Blueberry. Each a different recipe that Nana had taught her all those years ago when she would visit, stand on the stool Papa had made, and watch in awe as Nana turned powder to pie.
What would Nana say if she knew about this plan Sophie had agreed to, all in an effort to secure more business. There was a certain ickiness to it that made her want to call Zac and say she had changed her mind. But then, if she were honest, really honest, she was curious about what spending more time with Zac looked like. What it felt like. How he might act when she was supposed to be his date instead of his enemy. Would he still produce that sexy, annoying smirk of his, like any second he might laugh at her . . . or would he sweep her into his arms and press his lips to hers and—
Get a hold of yourself!
“Earth to Sophie.”
“What? Oh, yeah. I know, I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”
“Like?”
Like tall, tattooed farmers.
“Nothing really.”
Glenda pulled off her oven mitts and walked around to where Sophie was dropping lemon tarts into cellophane bags. “I’m your friend.”
“I know. Kind of hard to forget the only one I have,” Sophie said with a little laugh that sounded an awful lot like a little cry.
“They’ll come around.”
Sophie shrugged and dropped three more tarts into the bags, tied a ribbon and a Fresh Foods daisy logo tag onto each. She might not be the best baker in town or the number-one farmer in town, but no one could argue with her presentation.
And yet, presentation did not pay bills.
“See that’s actually part of the problem. I don’t know if they will come around, which is why I really don’t have a choice, right? I mean, it’s my business and I need to do something, or else it’s going to completely fail, and I can’t fail at this. I need to stay here and succeed. But how can I succeed if no one trusts me, which is really why there’s only one thing to do. And I’m committed. And—”
“Soph,” Glenda said, patting her hand. “I love you. But I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. So let’s back up a taste and start again. What do you mean you have no choice? No choice about what?”
Clenching her eyes tight, Sophie drew a breath for courage and released it, the words spilling out before she told the whole damn town and ruined everything even before they started. “I’m pretending to date Zac Littleton so the town will like me.” She pressed her hands to her face, smearing more powdered sugar in her Bratz doll hair, which she still wasn’t used to but couldn’t do a thing about. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m crazy and it’s stupid and I don’t even know how I got myself into this, but I think—”
“I think it’s genius!”
Peeling her eyelids open, Sophie peeked over at her friend. Maybe she was insane, too. “Seriously? You think it’s a good idea?”
“No, I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard, certainly the best idea you’ve come up with. He’s the quintessential town golden child, and you’re the black sheep. Mix the two together?” She clapped her hands like she was forcing the two to become one, which felt a little like what they were doing. “It’s like a black-and-white cookie or marble cake—total perfection. They’ll love you by default, trust you by default. And then they’ll buy your stuff to support you because you’re one of them. I love it!”
Sophie wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, but isn’t that deceptive? I mean, what happens when we fake break up? They hate me again?”
“Oh, you’ll have to make it so he dumps you. That’s the only way it’ll work. He’ll rebound fine because he’s homegrown and all, but you? If you ended it? You’d become the town pariah, and we can’t have that. So make sure he dumps you. Preferably in a public place like AJ&P Bakery or the market or something.”
“This is crazy.”
“Crazy awesome. I’m so excited!” Glenda’s eyebrow lifted, and she smiled like Sophie had just announced her engagement. “Whose idea was it anyway?”
This was still the hardest part for Sophie to digest. “Zac’s. I went there to ask him to kind of be my friend around town a little, and he basically said what’s in it for him, and I said anything—you know, shy of sexual favors. And he said he had something, and now here we are.”
“Wait—you took sexual favors off the table? Have you seen his body?”
“Actually, yeah. When I went there, he was wearing pajama pants and nothing else.”
Glenda dropped the pie she’d been holding, and Sophie tossed her hands. “Well that’s ten bucks down the drain.”
“I’m sorry. My mind locked on Zac Littleton with no clothes on, and it short-circuited. Damn, how big was it?”
“Dear God, my best friend is a sixteen-year-old in a woman’s body. I didn’t say he was naked. He was wearing pajama pants.”
“Oy. Missed that part. But the rest must have been a sight to see, huh?”
Sophie thought back to his bulging pecs, his rippled abs, that defined V of his pelvic muscle, and then the dark trickle of hair that trailed from his navel down into his pajama pants. “Yeah . . .” she said with a sigh that aggravated her more than it should have. She was a living, breathing woman with working vision. Of course she found Zac attractive. She’d have to be blind not to, and even that wouldn’t stop her with that rugged, deep voice of his. The more she thought about it, the more dangerous this little agreement became.
“So no sex?”
“Um, well . . . we didn’t really talk about that.”
Glenda scooted closer. “So sex isn’t off the table? That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. And what about other stuff?”
“We’re just pretending. It’s not like that.”
“But it could be like that. If you wanted it to be, right?”
Sophie let that idea settle over her before shaking it from her mind. “No. I’m probably going to tell him I can’t do it anyway. It feels too dishonest.”
“Not dishonest, just a little marketing with the town’s preferred product.”
A little marketing. Hmm, saying it like that made it seem less horrific in Sophie’s mind. “Maybe . . .”
Just then the door opened to the Fresh Foods store, located at the entrance of her farm, where she sold her baked goods and had fresh produce ready for customers to grab what they needed and head on their way.
Sophie expected one of her regulars to walk through the door, but instead she watched as a frantic Annie-Jean Carlisle rushed toward her.
“Hey there, honey. I heard you had a solid supply of Granny Smiths?”
“Me?” Sophie glanced around, sure Annie had stumbled into the wrong store. “Here?”
Annie quirked an eyebrow at her. “Yes, you. You’re the one standing there, aren’t you?”
“But I thought you bought from Zac?”
“I do. But he’s out, and he sent me here, and I have a huge order for turnovers due tomorrow, so if you don’t have them, then I’ll need to head to Lexington, and I hate that drive. So Granny Smiths or no, dear?”
Sophie’s brain had stopped working at Zac sent her. Zac. So he was serious—they were doing this. Wow.
“Honey, I’m old, and my time is like gold. Either show me to the apples or to the door. I’ve got orders to fill.”
“Right, right. Sorry.” Sophie clapped her hands together loudly, which caused both women to stare at her like she’d lost a few marbles. She swallowed hard and forced herself to appear less spazzy. “They’re right here.” She walked to the far left side of the store to the stand full of vibrant green apples. “And we have more if you need them.”
“I do. I’ll take all of this and then five more bags. Do you sell them by the bag or crate?”
Sophie’s head spun as she tried to process what Annie had said. “Did you just say all of them? As
in, all of them?”
“Yes, dear. Do you have hearing problems, because if so, I can recommend a good ear doctor in Triple Run. Otherwise, I’ll just take my apples please.”
Sophie reached forward and hugged Annie-Jean before she could stop herself. “Thank you. That’s just . . . thank you!”
Annie-Jean extracted herself from Sophie’s hold with a worried look on her face. “You’re not in Doc Sanders’s care, are you?”
“Me? Oh no.”
“’Cause I don’t really do business with anyone under his care. Risk and all.”
“Of course.”
Sophie continued to stare at Annie-Jean, who looked at her as though she’d lost her mind.
“The apples.”
“Oh! Right.” Scooting off to the back before she said or did anything else embarrassing, Sophie pulled down crates from her shelves to box up the apples.
“So . . . you’re going for scary, huggy lady as your tactic to get the town to like you?” Glenda asked as she reached for another crate.
“I know. God. I just freaked out. She’s taking them all. Like, every one of them.”
“I heard her. So Zac did this? No way is he actually out of apples. He runs an orchard, for Christ’s sake.”
Sophie considered that for a second. “You’re right. He sent her here to help me.”
“Now it’s time you help him.” Glenda waggled her eyebrows, and Sophie bit her lip.
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
They came back out with the crates and together packaged everything up, then helped Annie-Jean carry it all to the AJ&P van she had parked outside. Finally, when they had everything packed in the van, Sophie beamed at Annie-Jean.
“Thank you again. Truly.” She leaned in to kiss Annie-Jean’s cheek, but Annie jerked back.
“Um, you’re welcome.” She shook her head as she slid into the driver’s seat and peeled away.
“Smooth. Now your one and only new customer thinks you’re hitting on her.”
Sophie laughed as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God, she so does.” She giggled still harder, but she was too happy to be embarrassed now.