Reality butts its ugly head into my mind, and I frown. The two of them are almost getting too close when this . . . thing between Marina and I will go nowhere. Because that’s what always happens. Yeah, I’m into this woman more than I’ve been with any woman, but I know my patterns. This won’t last. It never does. “You’re not constantly shopping, huh? I thought that’s what all women do.”
“Oh my God,” Ivy mutters while Archer full-out groans.
Marina glares at me, her eyes narrow, her lips tight. “I cannot believe you just said that. Are you for real?”
There I go again, saying the worst thing ever and offending Marina. Thought I had it under control since we’ve been getting along so well tonight, but I guess not. I swear it’s like my brain shuts down when I’m around her, and I blurt out the stupidest things with absolutely no thought. “I was kidding?” I offer weakly.
“Yeah right,” she mumbles, her eyes hot with anger as they shoot daggers at me.
If looks could kill . . .
Hell, I can’t tell if she’s really mad or not.
Archer stands. “Hey Gage, come with me for a minute. I want to show you something.”
“What do you want to show me?” Now I’m confused. Maybe I’m the one who’s had too much wine. Or maybe I’m just drunk on Marina . . .
“Let’s go outside,” he says with a giant smile on his face, but it looks fake as hell.
I follow him outside wordlessly, the front of the restaurant still crowded with people waiting for a table. We end up around the side of the building, the cool night air washing over me as a breeze blows over us, relieving my overheated body and brain.
“What the hell is going on in there?” Archer asks.
Shrugging, I glance around, making sure no one is paying attention to us. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m confused. You seem way into Marina, and I thought you weren’t interested in her. Marina and Ivy seem to like each other. Which is great, I’m glad to see the two of them getting along so well so quick, but I thought . . . I thought this dinner was all about Marina wanting to talk to me about some proposition she has,” Archer says, running a hand through his hair.
“I think she’s nervous. That’s why she hasn’t mentioned anything to you yet,” I suggest. Hell, I’d told her not to say anything, and here’s Archer asking why she’s not. I’m just making up excuses, and it’s not like we can call her out on it at the table. That would just be flat-out rude.
Since when do you care if you’re rude to Marina or not?
It irritates that she hasn’t even told me what she wants to talk to Archer about. I’m just as much in the dark as he is. Doesn’t she trust me enough with the information?
Of course not, asshole. Remember? She doesn’t even know you.
“Well. She’s hardly said one word to me, but that’s fine. Maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it in front of your sister, which I totally get.” Archer pauses, studying me. “And then there’s you.”
“What about me?” I’m immediately defensive.
“If this is, and I quote, ‘a business proposition,’ and you’re just using her, and I quote again, ‘to get what you want,’ then you’re doing a damn good job of being the attentive, googly-eyed date.”
“‘Googly-eyed?’ Nice description,” I mutter. We’re obvious. I didn’t think it would matter in front of Archer and Ivy, but what the hell was I thinking? It didn’t help that we just had sex before we stumbled into the restaurant. I still had a postcoital glow going on, for fuck’s sake.
“It’s true! Every time you look at her, you’re like a lovesick puppy. I think you like her,” Archer says.
“I do not,” I answer way too quickly. Misery courses through me. Do I like her? I shouldn’t like her.
You fucking like her, moron.
“I’m attracted to her,” I finally say. “How could I not be? She’s beautiful.”
Archer shakes his head. “Then you better be up-front with her about this real estate deal you want to make with her dad.”
“No way. She’ll hate me for it.” She called me a scum-sucking shark or whatever the first time we met, when she discovered who I am. She finds out I want to sweep in on the property the Molinas hold on St. Helena’s Main Street—including the very bakery she’s running—she’ll hate me for life.
Shit. She probably already suspects this. She has to. Marina’s no dummy. She’s smart and beautiful and—
“She’ll hate you more if you keep the truth from her.”