Page 60 of Sticks and Stones
Chapter Seventeen
When they were getting ice cream on their way to his cottage, they ran into Gabby and her husband, Colt, who invited them to Rush’s inn for a drink. Apparently, there was a band playing there that was pretty good and they wanted to catch their act before they left town.
Gunnar had always loved live music of any kind, but he didn’t know if going to the small neighborhood bar was such a good idea. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself, and take away from the act everyone had come to see.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Gianna said, grinning between licks of peanut butter chocolate ice cream.
He laughed, thinking how happy she looked at the simple pleasure. “I was just thinking I’d like to get to know your friends better, but I’m not sure if that’s the right venue.”
“Why not?” Gianna asked. “The girls said they planned to turn in early, and didn’t Levi text and ask you to come too? You’d like to see him, wouldn’t you?”
“Sure, but I don’t want to make a deal of…” He shrugged. “I don’t know if this makes sense, but one of the things I like most about this town is that people treat me like I’m just a regular guy. If I go into a place where they’re playing live music with a bunch of tourists, well, that may not be the case.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, nodding. “You’re worried people will mob you for selfies and autographs, huh?”
He hated how arrogant that made him sound, but it was a real possibility. “I just don’t want your friends to be uncomfortable around me. Maybe it would be best if we just invited them over to your place or mine. You know, where no one else was around?”
“Gunnar,” she said, dabbing her chin with the napkin wrapped around her sugar cone. “If you’re going to be the only celebrity living in a small town, you are going to get strangers approaching you. That’s just the way it is. My friends will understand that.”
“I just want them to get to know me,” he said, practically squirming in his seat as he recalled some of the riots he’d caused when someone in a large crowd recognized him. “Not the singer, just the guy. I want them to see how much you mean to me, that I’m good for you.”
“You want them to like you,” she said gently, touching his thigh.
He hated being so vulnerable, and in the weeks since he’d first banged on Gianna’s door, he felt like he’d cut an artery and bled his soul for her. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“I think that’s sweet.”
He rolled his eyes. “Babe, newsflash. No guys wants to be called sweet. Puppies are sweet. Ice cream is sweet. Grown men are—”
“Sexy?” she asked, pulling her black cotton sundress up to reveal her toned legs. “Tough?” Her voice grew breathier as she whispered, “Strong?”
He groaned, tipping his head back when they pulled up to a stop sign. “The cottage may not have much, but I did mention there’s a bed, right?”
She giggled. “You’re not really going to sleep on some old mattress with musty sheets, are you?” She wrinkled her nose. “That’s gross.”
“What other choice do I have?” he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Well, there’s always the inn.” She bit her lip. “Or my guest room.”
“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to move too fast.”
She gave him a naughty smile that made his jeans uncomfortable. “Moving too fast would be asking you to sharemybed while the girls are home. Sleeping in the guest room is no big deal, right? You did it before.”
“I don’t know if it’s such a good idea, Gi. We don’t want to send mixed messages to Ramsey and Keegan.”
“It’s just for one night,” she said, biting into her cone. “I have the day off tomorrow. I could go furniture shopping with you and help you clean the cottage so it’s at least liveable.”
“I’m not going to put you to work,” he said, frowning. “This is my project and I’ll—”
“What happened to that speech you gave earlier about us being a team?”
“Okay, fine. But I hate cleaning almost as much as you do. You think we could find a cleaning service that would go in while we’re shopping for that furniture?”
She laughed. “I’m sure we could figure something out.” Her eyes widened as they pulled into the gravel drive. “Oh my god, this is so cute!”
“Cute?” Not what he’d been going for. “Uh, like sweet, not a good choice of words.”
The dark gray, clapboard, single-story structure could use a fresh coat of paint and the pale yellow door would have to be painted a more masculine color. Maybe black. No, Gianna would hate that. White. He could live with white. It was a good, gender-neutral color.
