Free Come On Closer by Kendra Leigh Castle Page A

History—not to mention local gossip—would indicate that Shane was no different from the men who populated her past. So why did hurting him hurt her, too? Confused by her reaction, Larkin tried to soothe his feelings in order to soothe her own.
    â€œThat’s not what I . . . I mean, Saturday was just kind of a weird . . . thing,” she stammered. “It’s not like I thought it meant you were all about . . . me.”
    She knew she wasn’t making it any better.
    Shane shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet, reminding her for a brief, oddly sweet instant of an overgrown teenager. “Is it really that hard to believe I’m interested in you, Larkin?
Just
you?”
    She wasn’t often at a loss for words, but she couldn’t seem to find a way to answer him. The easy answer was “yes,” of course. But that was
too
easy. The truth was, it wasn’t a question she’d given any thought tobefore this week, and now that she was being forced to, all Larkin had realized was that she didn’t know him well enough to say.
    â€œI don’t know.” It was an honest answer, at least. Even if it wasn’t what he was looking for.
    â€œWould it make a difference if you did?” he asked.
    She chewed the inside of her cheek, an old habit that surfaced only when she was incredibly nervous.
    â€œI don’t know,” she repeated, her voice softer. The way he looked at her, like she was the exact thing he wanted, the only thing, was intoxicating . . . and dangerous. He could be sweet. She’d seen it. But her friends’ warnings about him were based on more than just speculation. She knew damn well that always seeing the best in people was her Achilles’ heel. A lot of times, a person’s good qualities didn’t outweigh the bad ones, no matter what she talked herself into.
    A muscle twitched at the corner of Shane’s eye before he looked away. “This is my cue to take the hint, I think. I need to get home. Take it easy, Larkin. And don’t eat all that junk at once.”
    She laughed, but it sounded unnatural to her. “I’ll be fine. I can eat anything.”
    A ghost of a smile he clearly had to work at appeared and vanished on his lips so quickly that Larkin nearly missed it. “See you around.” Then he was leaving, his long legs carrying him away from her. Larkin stared at his back—his big, broad, gorgeous back—and discovered that she didn’t need to eat the stuff she had in her cart to be sick to her stomach.
    No. I finally have my crap together. This isn’t a good time.
    Of course, it was never a good time. Which meantthere was no time like the present, right? Maybe he was a bad boy . . . but he was also her friend. That was new. Different. It had to count for something. Her feet began to move, taking her in the direction Shane had gone before she was even aware of where she was going. The cart full of junk food sat abandoned and lonely behind her.
    If the universe kept throwing Shane in her path, well, maybe there was a reason for it. She refused to lose any more sleep over this. All the good reasons in the world weren’t going to convince her that this was a lost cause, apparently. She needed proof.
    Then maybe she could get back to her regularly scheduled program of making people smile and eating too much sugar—the things she did best. And she
would
get back to it. She knew what brought her joy.
    The lesson had taken too much precious time to learn, but she
had
learned it. Maybe—hopefully—it would allow her to work through this whatever-it-was with Shane with a minimum of pain and suffering.
    I guess we’ll see.
    Larkin found him in the baked goods section, a plastic container of chocolate chip cookies in one hand, a giant cherry danish in the other. He seemed to be debating. He also looked miserable. Her impulse to do