school nickname rolling off his tongue with a sly smile.
“Jo, okay? Leigh Anne gets a pass because she actually knew me as Joey growing up,” I say, putting a finger against his chest. “But to you, I’m Jo.”
“Okay, Boss, whatever you say.”
I narrow my eyes at him, and press my hand harder into his chest, backing him up toward the counter until he hits it and stops abruptly.
He’s laughing so hard, I’m having a hard time holding onto my serious I-mean-business face.
“I am not going to let you get under my skin today, do you hear me?”
His lips stretch up into that familiar smile. “I get under your skin?” he asks.
Crap. I did not just admit that out loud.
I groan. “No, that’s not what I meant,” I say, fumbling my words and walking away. “I just mean you’re not going to start today.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he says, grabbing a carrot from the cutting board.
I turn back to stir the sauce, hoping he can’t tell that I’m blushing. My entire face is flushed and warm.
“Why don’t you head out back with Knox and do manly things together?” I say. “Make him take you out to his shop and show you what he’s working on or something.”
“You’re the boss,” he says.
I turn around, my eyes widening. He just isn’t going to let up, is he?
He meets my eyes and winks, and I swear I just want to jump over the island and wring his neck.
Which of course brings to mind an image of us jumping on the island together and making out. What the heck is wrong with my brain?
I shake my head and try to push these images from my head. I don’t know what is wrong with me lately. After my run-in with Bryan the other night, I made a specific effort to avoid Colton most of the week. I just didn’t want to deal with all the questions I know he wanted to ask. I switched a couple shifts with Knox and didn’t really have to spend much time with Colton until last night.
Luckily we were so busy that we didn’t do anything more than work our butts off for most of the night, and when it was all over, I left the guys to do all the cleaning while I went home to get some rest.
I was exhausted from watching the door all night to make sure Bryan didn’t try to sneak inside. Slim was under strict orders to send him away if he showed up, but when I asked at the end of the night, Slim said he hadn’t seen any sign of the guy.
Dad had been pissed to hear that Bryan came into the bar. He agreed with me about putting in an alarm system at the house, and it’s scheduled to go in next week sometime. It might end up being overkill, but I don’t want to take any chances of repeating what happened when I was in high school. Bryan just isn’t the type of guy that can be trusted to act like a civilized human being. Especially when he’s been drinking.
“What are you thinking about?” Leigh Anne asks. “You look so angry all of a sudden. Is Colton really getting to you that much?”
I shake my head. “No, gosh, no. Colton’s fine,” I say. I pause and set down my spoon. I didn’t want to mention what happened to anyone, but Leigh Anne has more experience with this stuff than I do. Maybe she could really help. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
She picks up the knife and gets back to work cutting carrots. “Of course.”
“When you were still living on campus after what happened to you, how did you handle it when you ran into him?” I ask, hoping I’m not going to upset her by talking about this. “I mean, did he ever threaten you or try to talk to you again?”
Leigh Anne studies me. “Has something happened to you?” she asks.
I close my eyes and sigh. I should have known better than to start a conversation about this when I know I’m not ready to talk about it.
“I wasn’t raped, if that’s what you mean,” I say. “I just went through some hard times with a guy back in high school, and he showed up again at the bar the other night. It was really tough seeing him again. I’m just not sure how to handle it. Emotionally.”
She takes a deep breath. “It’s a difficult thing to handle, when you’ve been