Not the One Read online

  She pressed her lips together because the truth was, she didn’t want him to leave. But that was beside the point! She had to stay away from him. “I don’t know what you’re implying, but I am engage—”

  “Please. If you gave two shits about your engagement, you’d already be gone by now.”

  That took her aback, and she insisted, “I have a book to finish!”

  “That you could finish at home if you wanted. You don’t want to be there. You want to be here, which is why you haven’t left.”

  She shook with anger. “You don’t know shit!”

  He just grinned at her. “I know a lot.”

  “Not about me.”

  He shrugged. “I know I’d give my left nut to suck on that right nipple.”

  She gasped, glancing down where her nipple was, in fact, betraying her. She looked back up at him, her eyes wild with rage while her body filled with something she would not give an identity to. “Go away!”

  He just laughed. “No can do, darling. I have work to do.”

  “Then get it done. And leave so I can work. And then leave town.”

  His eyes darkened, and in a low voice, he said, “You don’t want me to leave, we both know that. Don’t worry, when you figure that out, you can always find me.”

  He pushed off the counter as she glared at him. “I don’t want to find you.”

  He just smiled back at her. “Just the same, this is where I’ll be.” When he hooked his thumb to Ms. Neil’s old room, her eyes grew larger.

  “Huh? Why would you be there?”

  His grin was unstoppable. “Because this, darling, is my place.”

  And just like that, Gen saw her so-called plan implode.

  Chapter Ten

  Gawking at Theo, Gen couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “You lie.”

  He made a disgruntled face. “Why would I lie about that?”

  “Why would you buy this place? This is my place. I love this place!”

  He looked away, a soft chuckle leaving his lips as he nodded. “I know.”

  Flabbergasted, she threw her hand up. “What?”

  He looked back to her, his eyes locking with hers, and chills rushed down her spine. “I know this is your place, and when Old Lady Neil died, I knew I wanted it.”

  “Why! You aren’t an inn-runner person.”

  “An innkeeper? I thought you were the smart one here.”

  “I’m flustered!”

  He shot her a sneaky grin. “Aww, do I make you flustered?”

  “No! Ugh!” she yelled, setting the carafe on the island before she dropped it. Striking her hips, she glared at him. “This isn’t what you wanted. You wanted to be a master distiller up at McElroy’s.”

  His lips quirked. “You remember that?” Her heart was slamming in her chest as she just stared at him with what she was sure was a completely irrational and confused look. When he realized she wasn’t going to answer him, he scoffed. “McElroy will hire anyone who needs a job, but he won’t let some convicted drug trafficker be a master distiller, darling. No matter how long he’s known me.” She could only blink as he held her gaze. “I worked up there for a long time. I love it, and I do miss it, but no one wanted this place, and Ms. Neil didn’t have anyone to take it over, so I decided to.”

  “You were here?”

  His brow rose. “What?”

  “You were here in this town? For how long?”

  “Forever, except when I was in jail.”

  Her eyes widened. “I’ve come back, I’ve visited, and I’ve never seen you or even heard about you. Everyone is so tight-lipped when it comes to you.”

  He grinned. “Aw, you asked for me?”

  “Theo! What the hell?”

  He swallowed visibly as he looked away. “What, Genny? I almost ruined your life. Why would you even want to see me?”

  She knew she should have said she didn’t, she should have gone right upstairs, but she didn’t move, her eyes trained on his. “You did not. I can’t believe I was here and I never saw you. I came back every summer during college, then every spring after that—”

  “And then you went on hiatus for four years.”

  She looked away. “We got engaged. He didn’t want me coming up here anymore.”

  That made Theo laugh. “Is my big brother a jealous man?”

  “Do you care?” she bit back, her heart out of control to the point where she felt as if she was going to pass out.

  “I don’t.” He wore his hatred for his father and his brother like a badge of honor. There was no love lost between the three men, and everyone was just fine with that. She understood it; they treated him like the bastard he technically was, but sometimes it was a little too much. She felt awful for Theo, which was the main reason she’d left with him when he asked her to. It was so long ago. So much had changed, and she just didn’t understand it.

  “So why now?” she found herself whispering. “Why now am I allowed to know you still live here? Why’d you have everyone lie to me? What the hell?”

  He cleared his throat. “Well, I was hoping you’d be back that spring after you left. I wanted to meet up then—”

  “Why? You had plenty of chances before.”

  He nodded, and for the first time, gone was the playful grin, replaced by an almost shy one. Her eyes narrowed. Shy and Theo Hudson didn’t go in the same sentence. Clearing his throat, he met her baffled gaze. “Genevieve, come on. I was scum back then, a boy with no clue what I was doing except that I wanted to be able to take care of my momma and you. That blew up in my face, my pride was shattered, and I was embarrassed. I couldn’t expect you to wait around for me.”

  Her mouth fell open more, and she gawked at him as she shook her head. “But I did! For four fucking years, I came back here like clockwork, and I never saw you. No one told me shit.”

  “You shouldn’t have. I wasn’t worth it then.”

  “That’s my opinion to have. We had no closure whatsoever. You just left, and I knew nothing. I wanted to see you, make sure you were okay. Jesus, Theo, I was in love with you.” As soon as the words flew out of her mouth, she covered it just as quickly. She was in complete disbelief that she had said that. It was true, but still. It was so long ago, and it hurt, all of it. How he was taken away, how there was no contact, no fucking closure. She slowly opened her eyes to find him watching her. He was standing, tucking his hands into his pockets as his gaze met her clouded one. She hadn’t expected the tears, but could she really be surprised by them?

  Yeah, it was only two weeks so many years ago. But in those two weeks, she fell so hard for the boy who was now a man, standing across a kitchen island from her. She had been convinced no one would ever come close to him in her heart. They hadn’t. Montgomery was a different kind of love, a controlled, comfortable one, but the love she had for Theo was completely uninhibited. It was crazy, and she missed it. But this could not happen. She wasn’t sure what this was, but she could see it in his eyes. He wanted this.

  She let out a sigh with a shake of her head. “I gotta go work.”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, and when she reached for the carafe, his hand covered hers, stopping her dead in her tracks. “Or we could eat some lunch, catch up.”

  She shook her head, biting hard into her lip. “Theo, I am engaged.”

  “I’m not asking you to do me on the table. Though, I would enjoy very much covering your body in the strawberry glaze I made for the cheesecake. Eat it right off those perky tits of yours.”

  Gasping, she moved her hand out from under his, smacking his hand. “Theodore!”

  “What? It’s true. Wanna taste it? It’s sugary sweet, would go amazing with those thick as honey hips,” he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief as they roamed across her waist.

  Throwing her hands up, she groaned loudly before snatching the carafe from him. “No! I am engaged,” she said once more, and she tried so hard to ignore the fact that her insides were throb