Sweet Harmony (Harmony Falls #1) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,22
and she obviously was attracted to him, but she’d made it clear that she only wanted to sleep with Daniel. If he kept touching her, kept kissing her, he’d end up trying to seduce her into his bed and that made him a total dickhead.
“I’m so sorry about this morning.” Kira wouldn’t look at him. “My brother is a bit… overprotective.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
She traced her fingers over the worn wood of the swing. “Are you hurt?”
“By your brother?” He had no idea what she was talking about.
“No, I mean from Tank barrelling into you this morning. He can be, um, a bit enthusiastic.”
“I’m not hurt,” he said.
She glanced at him before looking away. “Thank you again for taking the brunt of his greeting. That was really nice of you and I appreciate it.”
“It’s what we fake boyfriends do, right? Save our fake girlfriends from being flattened by horses masquerading as dogs.” He gave her a teasing grin before mentally berating himself. Was he flirting with her?
“Right,” she said.
“Hey, you okay?” She still wasn’t looking at him and he touched her arm. “You seem upset.”
“I’m not. Just, uh, a long day.” She kept her gaze firmly in her lap.
He shouldn’t be prying into her life, but he couldn’t resist. She seemed so defeated. “Look at me, Kira.”
She sighed and faced him. Her face was pale, and her eyes rimmed with red. Shit, had she been crying? Had he upset her? He’d been a dick to her this morning when he found out she was a virgin.
He cursed inwardly. He wasn’t great at emotional stuff. Lisa had referred to him as “emotionally distant” when she was trying to be polite, and “cold as ice” when she was pissed with him. He had no doubt that his refusal to show affection in public, his inability to effectively share his feelings had all added to her final decision to walk away from their relationship.
“Listen, what I said this morning was stupid of me. It’s your body and your decision what you want to do with it,” he said. “I apologize for making you, uh, feel bad about your choices.”
She shook her head and he was a bit horrified when it became apparent that she was close to crying. “No, it has nothing to do with that. I’m fine, really.”
“I might be a fake boyfriend but even I know the ‘I’m fine’ line is bullshit,” he said.
She pressed her lips together before staring at the daffodils. “I’m pretty sure I’m about to lose my job.”
“Because you haven’t made a sale yet?”
She nodded and quickly swiped away the tear that was leaking down her cheek. “Yeah. Ray pulled me into his office this morning and he was, well he was super nice about it, but he made it clear that if I don’t sell a house in the next couple of weeks, they’ll have to let me go.”
“Dick move,” he muttered.
“No,” she said immediately. “It isn’t. Ray and Rose are the nicest people around, and I owe them a lot. They gave me a chance and it’s not their fault that I suck at selling houses.”
“Maybe it’s the market,” he said. “You can’t tell me that there are a lot of places selling in Harmony Falls. It’s not that big.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but they have another agent working for them, his name is Jeremy, and he’s sold like two houses and one commercial property in the last month.”
More tears were falling, and she sniffed loudly before knuckling away the tears. There was awkward silence and feeling useless, he blurted out, “Are you looking for comfort or a solution?”
Shit. Lisa had hated it when he said that to her. He really hadn’t learned a damn thing about being a good boyfriend.
Fake boyfriend.
Instead of getting pissed off, a small smile crossed her face as she gave him a considering look.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Why? It’s a fair question. I like it, actually. It gets straight to the point, right? Anyway, I’m probably looking for comfort but since we’re practically strangers, I’m not gonna make you do that.”
She sat up a little straighter and wiped away all the lingering traces of tears from her face. “So, before we get started on learning all there is to know about Dr. Connor MacMillan, I just want to reassure you that even though we had to start our little dating ruse early, I’ll still go to your cousin’s wedding with you, no matter what.