Real Men Don't Break Hearts(4)
Sure, and the tooth fairy is real, too.
“But why does he want to buy this building anyway? He lives in Sydney. He hardly ever comes down to Burronga.”
“He’s looking for a good investment property; that’s what he said.”
That made no sense to Ally. The rent she paid for the shop and the upstairs flat was hardly spectacular. For all its old-world charm, the building was in constant need of repairs, and the rooms were awkwardly sized and inconveniently positioned. Hardly a prime choice for a savvy investor.
And what about the outstanding rent she still owed Mr. Cummings? The worm in the pit of her stomach reared its ugly head again. The building might have potential, but she was hardly an ideal tenant. And knowing what Nate thought of her, he wouldn’t need much excuse to boot her out. She’d lose the shop and her home.
Ally gulped down the rising nausea. “About the rent I owe you…”
“I know you’re good for it, and I told Nate, too.”
“You told Nate…” The bile bit the back of her throat again. Oh God, things couldn’t get any worse.
“It didn’t seem to trouble him.” His face brightened as if he’d been struck by a brilliant idea. “Why, he might be able to give you some business advice on how to run the shop.”
Business advice! She’d sooner trust a rattlesnake.
Mr. Cummings gave her an encouraging smile as he opened the door of the store room. “Now I know you and Nate are going to get along fine, just fine.”
Like Tom and Jerry. Like oil and water. Yes, just fine.
Still dazed, she allowed him to usher her back into the main shop. Nate was resting against the counter watching Tyler as she re-stacked the lavender soap. Ally’s eyes slitted as she took in the closing gap between Nate’s and Tyler’s heads and the nonchalant ease of Nate’s figure as he leaned against the counter, one thumb hooked into his belt.
Bloody hell! Nate just couldn’t help himself. Ally marched across the shop, clomping her heels on the wooden floorboards, and Tyler sprang back. “Have to dash off and pick up Chloe.” Grabbing her shoulder bag, Tyler hoofed it out of the shop.
Nate straightened up, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets. “Everything okay?” he said to Ally and Mr. Cummings.
“Oh, everything’s capital. Ally just had a few concerns,” Mr. Cummings answered breezily. “But I’ve set her mind at ease, haven’t I?” He rubbed his hands together and started bouncing on his heels again. “I’d better be off and have a word with my lawyer before he clocks out for the weekend. I’ll see you two later.” With an exaggerated bow to them, he exited the shop.
Ally sucked in a deep breath and turned to Nate. Okay. They were alone now. No need for any pretense; they could speak their minds. But instead of speaking, he strolled around the shop, inspecting the goods, moving with the animal grace she couldn’t help remembering. The cut of his suit highlighted his superb physique, the charcoal gray accentuating his olive coloring. Even though she despised him, she had to admit he looked as handsome and alluring as ever. Alluring but bad for her, like cinnamon doughnuts.
She frisked her upper arms, annoyed at how he still got to her, no matter how much she resisted.
He stopped in front of a rack of hand-knitted Angora sweaters. “Wow. Who buys this…stuff?”
Hmm. She was sure he’d meant to say, Who buys this crap, before he’d corrected himself.
She answered stiffly, “You’d be surprised.” And so would she. The Angora sweaters had been languishing in her shop for ages. Privately she detested the twee knitwear, but the woman who made them was an old friend of her nana’s, and Ally would never hear the end of it if she dropped the Angoras.
He moved on to the glass cabinet housing Tyler’s eye-catching jewelry. “Now this I like. You should sell more of this stuff.”
She scowled at him. Who did he think he was, waltzing about like he owned the place? Hang on. He would own the place soon…
“I can’t believe you bought this building half an hour after you ran into Mr. Cummings. It sounds too irrational to be true.”
“But isn’t that the kind of crazy thing you expect from me?” A mocking smile flitted over his lips.
“I expect a lot of crazy things from you, but not buying a property sight unseen. Why, you haven’t even had a pest inspection done. There might be termites under the floor.”
“Are there termites under the floor?”
“Not as far as I know…”
“Looks like I’m safe, then.”
“But—” She shook her head, perplexed. “But why buy any building here in Burronga? It’s not as if you live here anymore.”
“I do still have a house here.” His expression grew a little cagey.
She remembered the house. Nate had gone to live with his older brother Robbie after some arguments with his stepfather, according to Seth. A few times she’d picked up Seth from his cousins’ house but had never ventured inside. Robbie had been a rough and ready kind of bloke. He’d roared around in his souped-up truck, his muscled biceps hanging out the window, swaggering and obnoxious but mysteriously attractive to countless girls. And Nate had been no better.
She tipped up her chin and sent him an insolent glare. “So, what, you’re going to move back here or something?”
He couldn’t miss the meaning in her look. He jutted his jaw back at her. “You have a problem with that?”
Callous brute. He still couldn’t resist tormenting her. She felt like picking up one of those lavender soaps and hurling it at his stupid head. Wasn’t it enough to learn Seth was getting married right here in her hometown without Nate barging into her shop and stirring the memories even further? Didn’t he know he’d picked the worst time to announce he was thrusting himself into her life? Or maybe he did know, and he just enjoyed rubbing her nose in it. He knew about Seth and Paige, and he’d deliberately come here to watch her squirm. Well, to hell with him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Not by a blink of an eyelash would she betray what she knew about Seth’s upcoming marriage.
“How much time do you have?” she retorted.
He blinked, straightened up. “You really can’t stand me, can you?”
She gave a brief laugh. “You don’t say.” Her temples had started to ache again. Moving behind the counter, she began to slam the soap bars into order. Bam, bam! She whacked them into a topsy-turvy stack.
“Are you still mad at me about Seth?”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“I’m sorry about what happened at your wedding,” Nate said, much closer.
She hadn’t heard him approaching, but his sober tone made the back of her neck prickle. She searched his eyes for a hint of insincerity and found none.
Nate drummed his fingers on the counter, the tattoo loud in the sudden silence. “I should have found Seth and dragged him to the church and made him explain himself to you face-to-face,” Nate continued, “not cower in some bar miles away.”
Her head snapped up. “Oh. So you’re just sorry for the way Seth jilted me, not for the fact that he did jilt me.”
“It was cowardly of him. He should have manned up.”
The bar of soap was in her grip. Before she knew what she was doing, she hurled it straight at him. Mouth gaping, he dodged it by just a few millimeters. “What the—”
“Man up? Man up?” She flung another soap bar at him. It zipped past his ear and crashed into a row of candles. “Is that all you care about? What about the fact that you turned him against me, that you talked me down to him at every opportunity, that you sabotaged my relationship with him?”
“You’re crazy. I never did—” He ducked as another lavender missile whizzed past his head. “Will you stop throwing bloody soap at me!”
“You’re such a damn liar!” She thought she’d gotten over the whole episode, but perhaps because she’d never had the chance to scream and yell, she’d bottled it all up, and Nate’s arrogant reappearance was her opportunity to finally vent everything. In a strange way it felt good to get it all out. “Let’s face it—you never liked me, and you hated the thought of Seth and me being together. You were jealous of what we had, so you deliberately destroyed it, you sad, miserable, cocky waste of space!”
She snatched up another soap, but before she could throw it, Nate grabbed her wrists and pinned her hands down on the counter.
“You’re right. I didn’t like you.” His fuming face was just inches from hers. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the faint stubble on his gritted jaw, the veins tracing his temples, the icy chips in his irises. His hot breath burned her cheeks. “You were a prissy Goody Two-shoes who looked down your nose at me like I was scum. You thought I was a bad influence on Seth, and you didn’t care what he wanted. All you cared about was having a fancy wedding and a husband to take care of you. Jeez, why d’you think Seth spent so much time with me? It was the only way he got to enjoy himself.”
Ally could hear the blood swooshing against her eardrums, could feel Nate’s hard grip on her skin, but she couldn’t seem to move or to speak. All she could do was stare at him and drink in all the terrible things he was saying.