Perfect Secret by Molly McLain

Chapter 8

ALANA

“Rumor has it you and a certain mysterious cowboy were seen canoodling in the town square last night.”

I snap upright behind the service counter, a roll of receipt paper in hand, to find Tate Michaels smirking at me with a brown paper bag full of groceries on her hip. As one of Mason Creek’s biggest gossips and author of The MC Scoop, her comment sends an instant wave of dread through me.

“Canoodling?” I roll my eyes and go to work replacing the paper in the register. “We were walking home from Pony Up.”

“Home?” Her brows lift and I curse under my breath. “So, it’s true he’s living above the store with you?”

“Not with me,” I correct her and consider whether or not I should explain about the small room, but honestly, what was the point? She was going to spin the story how she wanted to regardless.

“He’s cute.” She flashes a genuine smile and for a fleeting second, I wonder if she’s simply making friendly conversation instead of digging for dirt. Then I remember that there’s no line for Tate. No boundaries. Anything and everything goes, because just like I need money for my bills, so does she.

“Hmm.” My only response is a hum as I try to pretend I’m not already dreading her next headline.

“Anyway, it’s good to see you dating again,” she offers with a shrug before she heads off toward the exit, quickly falling into step with none other than Hazel Jackson.

Great. Just freaking great.

Then again, maybe that’s exactly what I need. At least, if I’m going to actually do this thing with Holden. Which I’m not sure that I am.

As if on cue, my phone lights up on the counter with a text from the devil himself. Quickly snapping the receipt roll back into place, I snatch up my cell and thumb to the message.

Wilder said he’s not paying me any more overtime this week, so I’ll be home early. Wanna grab dinner and give this town something to talk about?

Oh, they’re already talking. Or at least they will be as soon as Tate whips up her article.

You really want to do this? I text back.

Hell yes. I mean, spend a little time with a pretty lady or spend my Saturday night on a crappy bed, playing on my phone? Not a tough choice, darlin’.

I laugh to myself, my cheeks heating at the compliment and the realization that he’s serious about helping me. And maybe because he’s not exactly hard to look at, either.

Okay, I’m down. Where are you thinking?

Wren’s Café. Five o’clock okay?

Perfect. See you after work?

Looking forward to it.

Excitement warring with nerves in my stomach, I close out of my phone and set it aside.

Truthfully, I have no idea what I’m doing with Holden. He isn’t wrong that I’ve been feeling all sorts of restless lately. That seeing my friends so happy and in love isn’t slowly eating away at me and making me question so many of the decisions I’ve made. But is playing this game with him really the right approach? I’d be happy to simply have my friends again. I don’t necessarily need romance, though I wouldn’t be averse to it, either.

God, that’s a crazy thought. Me in the dating game again. It’s been such a long time that the concept seems so foreign, yet I can’t keep the smile from my face. Especially when I think about getting my feet wet again with someone like Holden.

I know, I know. He isn’t sticking around and he’s only offered to help kick-start my social life again. But…

Would it really hurt to enjoy myself a little during the process?

* * *

“Dang, Colorado, you clean up nice.”I can’t help but smile at the handsome cowboy standing outside my door. Jeans, a snug black T-shirt, and a perfectly broken-in Stetson to match. “You smell good too,” I add, though I already knew he would. The fresh, citrusy aroma of his body wash had been wafting into my apartment for the past twenty minutes, while he showered.

Holden tucks his hands into his pockets and chuckles, his eyes dancing over my flowing top and skinny jeans, before he dips his chin. “Looking pretty good yourself, darlin’. I really like when you leave your hair down.”

I touch a hand to the mess of waves draped over my shoulder as familiar warmth spreads over my skin. “Thank you.”

“You ready to go?” He tips his head toward the stairs and I nod, grabbing my purse and closing the door behind me. As soon as we’re outside, he reaches for my hand.

“You okay with walking again? I figured everyone would be on a nice day like this. Might catch a few more eyes.” He winks and I press my lips together in a smirk.

“You’re taking this awfully seriously, Colorado.”

“Something you should know about me… I don’t half-ass anything, darlin’.”

“I see.” I let him lace our fingers and lead me around the rear corner of the market and onto Old Bridge Road. Cars pass by in the street ahead of us in the town square, and I suck in a nervous breath. “You should probably know that people are already talking about us. In fact, there’s this online thing—”

“The MC Scoop?”

My steps falter a bit as I blink up at him. “You’ve heard of it?”

“Found it when I was playing around on my phone and looking for the local news the other day. Ain’t nothing sacred around here, is there?”

I laugh. “Not a thing.”

“Gotta love small towns.” He chuckles as we fall into stride, the warm evening breeze flitting around us. “So you said you grew up here?”

“Yep. I’m a Mason Creek lifer. Wasn’t what I’d planned, but here I am.”

He gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Nothing wrong with coming home, darlin’. Especially not to a place like this.”

“No, though, if I’m honest, I wasn’t thrilled about the decision when I first made it.”

“Why did you then?”

Because I was a foolish, broken-hearted girl who thought she had no other choice? “Just seemed like what I needed,” I say instead.

“You came back after you broke up with Megatron, right?”

Wait, did I tell him that or did he hear it from Wilder. Either way… “It’s embarrassing, but yeah. I was lucky to have made it through the end of the semester.”

“Nothing to be embarrassed about. Shit happens sometimes. The important thing is that we don’t let it get so far under our skin that it changes us.”

I give a nervous laugh. “Yeah, about that…”

He flicks a glance my way. “What about it?”

I hesitate for a moment, not sure I want to confess my biggest weakness to a guy a barely know. But then I remember he’s only here for a short time, so what does it matter?

“I definitely let it change me,” I confess, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear as the breeze blows and a car horn honks in the distance. “I am one-hundred-percent certain I wouldn’t be here in Mason Creek right now if it hadn’t been for C—” I stop short, not wanting to say his name out loud. “If it hadn’t been for the breakup.”

In my peripheral, Holden’s eyes narrow slightly before he nods. “Ah.”

“See? Embarrassing.” I laugh again, but there’s nothing funny about it. I hate that I gave so much of myself to Cory. I hate even more that I had no idea I’d built so much of my life around his aspirations until he was gone and I was left struggling to figure out mine.

“Nah, darlin’, I think you’ve gotta flip how you’re thinking about this.” He gives my hand a squeeze as we near the town square. “It might seem like you changed course because of him, but I think in your heart of hearts, you came here because you knew you belonged here.”

“Hmm.” I give a skeptical smile and he chuckles.

“Let me ask you this…” We slow to a stop at the intersection in front of the bank and he turns to face me. “Is there someplace else you’d rather be instead right now?”

“Not really.”

“You don’t regret not living in the big city? Working some fancy corporate job?”

I laugh. “Definitely not. I like being close to my parents, even though I don’t see them as often as I should. And now Aiden is here, too. My friends…” I sigh and he cocks his head to the side.

“So this isn’t about the place you’re living in—it’s about how you’re living.”

Damn, he’s good. “How are you this perceptive?”

“I’ve always had a knack for figuring people out, darlin’.” He winks and leans down to brush a kiss across my cheek just as a police cruiser pulls up to the intersection, the passenger window already rolled down.

“What the hell is this?” Aiden barks from the driver’s seat. I bristle and try to drop Holden’s hand, but he holds on tight.

“Just taking your sister to dinner,” he says as he turns to face my brother, who’s now leaning across the console to get a better look at us.

“Why?” Aiden snaps, brow creased.

“Because we’re hungry?” Holden chuckles like being busted by my brother is no big deal. Or maybe because he knows it is and doesn’t care.

“You hold hands with everyone you have dinner with?” My brother lifts his chin to our joined hands and my face is so hot, it might burst into flames. It isn’t that he’s caught me with a guy, but rather because he thinks this is real and part of me is embarrassed that it’s not.

“No offense, Faulkner, but how I treat my dates is none of your concern. Unless it’s illegal to be sweet on a girl in public in Mason Creek, which I’m pretty sure it’s not, given the way you were tongue wrestling yours the other day at the bar.”

Aiden’s expression falls and his jaw sets tight. I expect him to have another smart-ass comeback, but he doesn’t say anything. He just glares at me for a long moment, before he bites off a curse and drives away.

“Is he always this uptight about you dating?” Holden asks as we watch Aiden’s taillights.

“I have no idea. I haven’t dated in forever, remember?”

Holden sticks his tongue in his cheek and nods, almost to himself. “He’ll be out at the ranch tomorrow to read me the riot act, no doubt about it.”

Crap. “I’m sorry. We don’t have to do this…”

Holden turns to me again, his brows raised above a lopsided grin. “Don’t think you’ll get rid of me that easily, darlin’. I made a commitment to you and I fully intend to follow through.”

“Yes, but I don’t want my brother hating you for something that isn’t even real.”

Mischief flashes in his eyes and he takes a step closer. So close, in fact, that his chest touches mine and my traitorous nipples pebble at his heat. “We might be playing around, but rest assured, beautiful… when I touch you, I do it because I want to, not because it’s part of the game.”

“O-oh,” I squeak, and Holden chuckles as he leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead.

“Let’s get to the café and get you fed. If your brother is going to hate me, it sure as hell isn’t going to be for starving you.”