Fall With Me (Sugarland Creek, #3) (57)

We start grabbing items off his mom’s list and he tells me what he needs for his place. Mostly essentials like milk, eggs, and bread.

“Do you cook?” I ask when I find the bagels he likes.

“Uh…define cook?”

“I’ll take that as a no. Well, that’s not good because I don’t either. We’re going to starve as a married couple.”

I hand him what he needs and he tosses it into the cart. “Don’t worry, we’ll just go to The Lodge.”

“You go there every day?” I ask, walking toward the freezer section.

“At least once a day, yeah.”

When he catches me giving him a judgy look, he scowls. “I work twelve-hour days. You expect me to have the energy to cook?”

“No, but doesn’t that get old? Or do they serve different food each day?”

“It’s on a schedule, so every Monday is broccoli cheese soup and beef tips. Tuesday is tacos. Wednesday is—”

“Wait…that sounds familiar.” I pause, trying to figure out why those food items triggered a memory.

“The soup and beef tips?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah, but I dunno why. I’ve never eaten at The Lodge, have I?”

Landen scratches his cheek, and I see the hesitation written on his face.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Nothing, it’s just that you’ve been there a couple times.”

“Recently?”

“Yeah, within the past few weeks.”

“Did something happen when I was there?”

He sighs, and we stand to the side of an aisle. “I’m not supposed to tell you things you can’t remember.”

“But I remembered the broccoli cheese soup…though I wouldn’t eat that. I’m not a fan of soup. Or broccoli.”

He wrinkles his nose. “Who doesn’t like soup?”

I push against his chest but of course he doesn’t budge. “Not the point. What happened at The Lodge?”

“You choked on a piece of beef.”

“Oh my God, how embarrassing.”

“Yeah, almost dying is so embarrassing,” he drawls out.

“This is why I didn’t like you, isn’t it?” I scowl. “Now tell me what happened.”

“I gave you the Heimlich maneuver.”

“Geez. I need a prone to accidents sign on my forehead at this rate.”

“We had a fight beforehand, and I was actively avoidin’ you until I heard you gaspin’ for air. I’d only ever panicked that hard once before in my life. I shot out of my chair and raced over to you.”

My heart swells with tenderness. Knowing we weren’t even friends or on good terms, and he still didn’t think twice about saving me.

“What happened earlier?” I ask, but again he hesitates. “Please…I wanna know.”

He exhales slowly as if he knows I’ll keep asking until he tells me. “We were at the stables and you told Ranger he was a good boy, and I came up behind you and said oh, thank you. You scowled, I made a joke about it, and then you snapped. To be fair, it wasn’t the first time I’d bothered you when you clearly didn’t want to be, but my desperate ass was greedy for any opportunity to talk to you.”

“What did I say when I snapped?” I plead, needing to hear it.

“Just…that I don’t listen and you askin’ me not to bother you wasn’t an act because you weren’t interested in havin’ any conversation with me. Then I really pissed you off when I compared you to other women who would love the chance to tell a guy why they didn’t like them. Then I apologized and said I’d never bother you again before walkin’ away.”

“Wow, I sound like a bitch.”

“I pushed you a lot if I’m being honest. I flirted with you every chance possible even after you made it clear you weren’t interested. I figured negative attention was still attention from you. You had every right to get upset.”

“You’re just tryin’ to make me feel better. It’s okay. I know I wasn’t the easiest person to be around. Socializing never came easy to me.”

“You’ve been quite social with me since the accident.”

“I know, but it literally feels like I knew you in another life and feel safe with you. Like we were more than friends.”

“I can assure you, we were not, at least in the lifetime from three weeks ago.”

“Very funny.”

“See, it’s about damn time you got my humor.” He pulls me into his chest, and I lift my head to find his lips.

When he presses his to mine, I smile.

I’ve never had this before. It feels nice.

“Remember our new rule.”

“No?”

He smirks, licking his lips. “You kiss the cowboy, you ride the hat.”

Lowering my eyes to his groin, he quickly tries to cover himself, and I laugh. “So much for not wantin’ to walk around with a boner.”

“Oh, I lost that battle the moment we kissed.”

My cheeks heat at how dirty it felt to rub against his cowboy hat in the front seat of his truck. Anyone could’ve driven by and had a free show. But it felt so good, I didn’t want to stop. His mouth on me, kissing down my neck and encouraging me to shatter with him underneath me is the most erotic thing I’ve ever done.