Sunshine Over Snow (Summer Lake Seasons Book 3) Read online

  “Well, it’s Saturday night. We both usually go out with everyone. Do you want to go together?”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Is that a yes, or a not really?”

  “It’s a yes, but I’m wondering how it will work. What will everyone think—what will they say?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Not really. I just … I guess I expect they’ll be surprised.”

  “Probably, but I think they might like the idea. You’ll get it much easier than I will—all you’ll hear is that you need to be careful. I’ll be the one getting all the ear-ache about how I’d better not mess up.”

  She smiled. “I can’t argue with you there. But I’m more concerned about you messing yourself up.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if we do this and then you change your mind and …” She wanted to let him know that she knew how he was.

  “I told you. I don’t want to keep playing the field. I want to …”

  It was obvious to Roxy that he didn’t know what he wanted. He liked the idea of exploring things with her, but it was uncharted territory for him.

  He surprised her by reaching over and taking hold of her hand. “I like you, Roxy. You said this morning that we might hate each other by the time we got home today. I knew we wouldn’t, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much more I’d like you after spending a few hours with you.”

  He glanced over at her, and the look in his eyes took her breath away. He was usually so laid back, but now he looked determined. “I want to keep spending time with you. I’ll no doubt screw up here and there, but it won’t ever be intentional.”

  She smiled. “I know.”

  “What about you, though? How do you feel? Do you think there’s enough between us to give this a try?”

  She stared ahead for a long moment as he turned his attention back to the road. Did she? Yes, she’d liked him for a long time, but she’d never given any real consideration to whether she’d want to explore a relationship with him—because he was too much of a ladies’ man. Now, he was asking her if she was interested, and she had to weigh whether she really was—and if she trusted him enough not to go straight back to his womanizing ways.

  He squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to answer right now. Think about it.”

  “I don’t need to. I might be a fool, but I want to give it a try.”

  He grinned at her. “That’s great.”

  “I hope it will be. But I warn you now, Mr. Perkins, if you jerk me around, you’ll put our friendship at risk. So, maybe you’re the one who needs to think about it. I’d rather not even try than have things go badly between us and mess up the way everything is now.”

  He squeezed her hand again. “I won’t jerk you around, Rox, I promise. I’ll be honest with you about everything.”

  She believed him. He might have been with a lot of women, but he wasn’t what she’d call a player. He didn’t string anyone along. He didn’t tell women what they wanted to hear just to get them into bed—he told them he wanted to take them to bed, and it was up to them if they went. She knew most did.

  A shiver ran down her spine. If this carried on the way it was heading, she’d go to bed with him, too. Part of her was excited at the prospect, but the little voice in her head was warning her to be cautious.

  It was almost five by the time he pulled up in front of her house. “Do you want to come in?”

  He held her gaze for a long moment before he shook his head. “I’d love to, but I’ve got stuff I need to do before tonight. If you still want to go with me?”

  “I do.”

  “Okay. I’d better go and take care of my errands, and then I’ll get ready. What time do you want me to come get you?”

  “Whatever time works for you.”

  “Does eight work?”

  “Yep.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back here at eight.”

  “Okay.” This felt weird. She’d thought he might come in with her when they got back. Memories of that kiss on her doorstep last night left her hoping for another one. But she could see her neighbors coming out of the house and walking up the path toward the truck. She didn’t want them to see her kissing out here. Especially not kissing Logan. His reputation was well known around town, and she didn’t want them thinking the worst of her.

  She smiled at him and opened the door. “I’ll see you at eight then.”

  He was leaning toward her, but she scrambled out of the truck quickly and opened her front gate. She didn’t even look back in her attempt to avoid the neighbors.

  By the time she’d let herself in and dared to go peek through the window, Logan was gone.

  She laughed as she held up her hand to see how badly it was shaking. What kind of fool was she? What did it matter what the neighbors might think? What anyone might think. She’d cost herself a kiss, and probably confused poor Logan. But what the heck? If they were going to start seeing each other, there’d be plenty of kisses—and more—to come.

  ~ ~ ~

  Logan slung his arm around Roxy’s shoulders as they walked across the square toward the Boathouse.

  She smiled up at him. “What are you smirking to yourself about?”

  “Just that it feels good to be going in here with you.” He didn’t want to say that he liked the novelty of arriving here with a woman. Usually, he came alone but didn’t leave that way.

  She made a face, and he could tell she was thinking the same thing. He didn’t want to start their night out on that note. He tightened his arm around her and stopped walking. She looked up at him again.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just want to make things a little bit righter before we go in there.”

  She smiled. “It’ll be fine. You’ll see. Angel called me when I got home. She wanted to know how this afternoon went. I think they all do. And from the sounds of it, they’re all rooting for us to get together. They like the idea.”

  He searched her face. “Zack called me, too. I got the same idea. But I’m not worried about them and what they think. I’m concerned with what you think. I need you to know that I’m hopeful about us, Rox.”

  She smiled. “You are?”

  “Yeah.” He lowered his face to hers. It felt like the perfect moment. He wanted to kiss her. But he chickened out at the last moment and instead pressed his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. She’d made a run for it rather than kiss him when he’d dropped her off earlier. Maybe it was too soon.

  The look on her face told him that he should have gone for it, but it was too late now. The door to the Boathouse opened, and the sounds and smells of the busy restaurant filled the quiet square as a group of people came out.

  He winked at her. “I want you to tell me how much hope you think there is after we leave here tonight.” He stepped back and straightened his shoulders as if preparing to go into battle. “After we brave whatever they’re going to throw at us.” He held his arm out to her. “Are you ready to go do this?”

  She laughed. “I am. Bring it on. We can handle it.”

  His heart buzzed in his chest when she said that. It sounded good to him—very good. He liked the idea that they could handle things together; that maybe, between them, they could handle anything life wanted to throw at them.

  He took a deep breath as he held the door open for her to go in ahead of him. He needed to rein it in a bit. First, he needed to figure out how to handle spending a whole evening in the company of his friends and a … he smiled as the thought hit him … his girlfriend. She wasn’t just a woman. She was his friend, and he was starting to hope that she would be his girl.

  He followed her inside and took her coat as she shrugged out of it.

  “They’re over there.” Roxy pointed to where the girls were sitting at a couple of the high-top tables.

  He made a face. “I’m guessing the guys have gone to get the drinks in. What do you want? I’ll meet you over there.”

 
She laughed. “So much for let’s go do this!”

  He gave her a rueful smile. “I’m ready. I can do it. I just don’t think it’s wise to throw myself to the lions as a first step.”

  “You could have a point there.” She looked over to where Maria, Angel, Amber, and Jade were not all staring at them. “I’ll take the first barrage of questions, but don’t think that’ll get you off the hook completely.”

  He laughed. “I don’t. I just want to have a drink in my hand before I face them.”

  “Well, don’t take too long about it. I need one, as well.”

  “Do you want a gin and tonic?” He knew that she liked those and was rewarded when she smiled and nodded.

  “That’d be great, thanks.”

  As he watched her walk away, he realized that he was still holding both their coats.

  “Want me to hang those up for you?”

  He jumped when Ben, who owned the place, spoke beside him. “Jesus, Ben! You scared the crap out of me.”

  Ben laughed. “Sorry. I should have waited a minute. I could see that you were miles away.”

  Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you going to be the first to warn me off?”

  Ben shook his head. “Nope. The opposite, in fact. I’ve been waiting to see the two of you get together for a long time. Ever since you took over at Four Mile and wanted to use the conference room to start pulling the team together. Roxy went out of her way on every little detail to make sure that ran smoothly for you.”

  “She did?”

  Ben smiled. “She did. And you’re different around her, too. I’m not going to give you a hard time. There’ll be enough people doing that. I just wanted to let you know I’m in your corner if you need me. I think it’s a great idea.”

  That meant a lot to Logan. He respected the hell out of Ben, and hearing him say that he was in his corner made it feel like he was doing the right thing.

  “Go get your drinks. I’ll catch up with you all later.”

  Logan spotted Colt and Zack at the end of the bar but didn’t make it to them before Kenzie, the bartender called to him.

  “What am I getting you, big guy? It’s on the house.”

  Logan grinned at her. If Kenzie was going to give him her blessing, then he felt like half the battle was won. “Thanks, Kenz! I’ll take a beer and a G and T for Roxy.”

  She scowled at him. “These are from Ben, not me. I’ll be watching you. And if you screw up …” She didn’t need to finish the sentence.

  He got the message loud and clear. Kenzie was not someone he’d like to piss off. No one in their right mind would. “I hear you, but how about you give me a chance? I like her a lot.”

  Kenzie’s expression softened into a smile. “Aww. Don’t get me wrong. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you. But you need to know that if you mess with my girl …”

  He held his hands up. “I know. I know! Believe me, I get it. I don’t plan to do anything that could upset her.”

  Kenzie’s scowl was back. “But you’re a guy. Just because you don’t plan to, doesn’t mean you won’t. Like I said, don’t screw up.” She set the drinks on the bar.

  “Thanks.”

  She turned away to serve the people standing beside him, and Logan picked up the drinks and carried on to where Luke had now joined Colt and Zack, and the three of them were watching him.

  “Okay. Before anyone says anything. Yes, Roxy and I are here together. And no, I don’t plan to screw it up. Does that answer your questions and mean we can move on?”

  Colt laughed. “Let me guess; Kenzie just read you the riot act and put you on the defensive?”

  He nodded. “To be fair, I was already feeling a bit defensive. I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t need everyone getting on my case.”

  Zack grasped his shoulder. “We won’t get on your case. We’ve got your back.”

  Logan shot him a grateful look. He didn’t want to say anything sappy, but it was good to be reminded that these guys cared about him as well as about Roxy. They wouldn’t give him a hard time just for the sake of it.

  Chapter Nine

  “Where’s Austin tonight?” asked Jade.

  Roxy shrugged and looked at Colt. He was the most likely to know.

  He shrugged, too. “I left him a message when I got off work, but I haven’t heard back from him. Maybe he wanted a night in. I know he’s been busy lately.”

  Logan grinned. “He has. He’s presold four of the new builds at Four Mile in the last couple of weeks, and that’s aside from all his regular listings.”

  “Do you think we should text him and make sure he’s okay?” asked Maria. She was like the mother of the group in some ways, always keeping tabs on everyone and caring about them all.

  Colt nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I planned to do that when I got here.” He grinned at Logan. “But I forgot when we all got started grilling you.”

  Logan laughed, and Roxy felt her cheeks color up when he put his arm around her shoulders. “Yeah. I’m glad we got that out of the way. And now you all know that I’m wooing our Roxy here. I’m hoping that instead of giving me a hard time, you’ll give me some pointers when I look like I might screw up.”

  “Aww,” Maria caught Roxy’s eye. “I’d say he’s doing very well, so far. Though the important thing isn’t what any of us think. It’s what you think. How’s he doing?”

  Roxy kept a stern face and turned to look at him. She couldn’t keep it up when she saw the panic in his eyes. It made her laugh. “Jeez, you’re going to have to find your sense of humor again, Perkins. I was only going to pull your leg.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought I’d screwed up already, and I had no idea how.”

  She laughed and rested her head against his shoulder for a moment. “Nah. You’re fine.”

  Zack grinned at him. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I get the feeling that when you do screw up, you’ll hear all about it straight away. Right, Rox?”

  She laughed, but it made her feel icky. She didn’t want to set things up along the lines of Logan being on trial and her being ever ready to call him out or set him straight. Her smile faded as she realized that that had, in fact, been the dynamic of their friendship up until this point. She’d always made sure that she let him know how much she disapproved of his ways. She turned to look at him, and he smiled.

  “Do you want to dance?”

  “Sure.”

  They made their way out onto the dance floor, and he slid his arm around her waist, drawing her closer as the band started playing a slow ballad.

  She laughed and looped her arms up around his neck. “Was this deliberate?”

  “What?” He gave her an innocent look, but she could see the laughter in his eyes.

  “You brought me out here just in time for the erection section.”

  He laughed and looked down at the couple of inches of space that he was keeping between their bodies. “I was hoping you wouldn’t remember that.”

  Her heart started to race. She was confused. Did he mean that he was keeping his distance so that she didn’t notice, or that he didn’t have … didn’t feel that way about her and was hoping that she wouldn’t remember that he should?

  “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  He hooked two fingers under her chin and made her look up into his eyes. Damn. They were beautiful eyes—big brown ones that she could happily get lost in. Except not right now. Right now, she was too busy trying to avoid them so that she wouldn’t have to admit that she was freaking out about whether he was even attracted to her.

  “Come on, Rox. You just went stone-cold on me.”

  “Sorry. I … you …” She looked down at the space between them again. “I don’t understand what you meant. This is the erection section, but the way you’re keeping me at arms-length tells me that it’s not—not with me.”

  His eyebrows knit toget
her. “What do you mean?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Forget it. I was just being stupid.”

  He continued to search her face as if he might find the explanation there. Somehow, it seemed that he did. Under other circumstances, it would have been comical to see the change in his expression when the light came on for him. He shook his head in disbelief. “You think I’m keeping you at arms-length because I’m not … feeling it for you?”

  She shrugged and wouldn’t meet his eye. She felt really stupid now and wished that they’d just let the moment pass. She shouldn’t have said anything.

  His closed both arms around her waist and pulled her close against him. A wave of heat rushed through her as her breasts pushed against his chest. Their bodies touched from the knees up—and if she’d needed reassurance as to whether he was attracted to her that way, she now had it—in a big way.

  A sigh escaped her lips before she could stop it. He held her gaze and looked deep into her eyes. “Does that help?”

  She ran her tongue over her bottom lip and nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

  “Good. You’d be crazy to think that I don’t feel that way about you, Rox. I just didn’t want to scare you off.”

  She bit her bottom lip. Scary wasn’t the word that came to mind for her.

  “I’m trying to do this right. I know what you think of me, and I don’t want you to think that’s all I want. I can wait.”

  She pressed her lips together. He might be able to wait, but the way he was still swaying her to the music and the way her body was reacting to the hard proof of his attraction pressing into her, she wasn’t sure she could!

  The song came to an end, and she took his hand and led him off the dance floor. The poor guy was trying to do the right thing. She didn’t want to make it any harder for him. She had to bite back a slightly hysterical giggle at that thought—he was already hard enough.

  ~ ~ ~

  “That was easier than I thought it’d be,” Roxy said as they made their way out at the end of the night.

  “It was,” Logan agreed. “None of the girls gave you a hard time when I wasn’t around?”

  “No. They like the idea. They think it’d be kind of cool if we were together. I used to hang out with Maria and Angel all the time, but now that they’re with Zack and Luke, it’s different.”