her. To her family. He almost wanted to slap himself for the careless comment. Twenty bucks to him was inconsequential. Sure, as a professor at a smaller college he wasn’t earning a fortune, but he came from means. His artist mother might not have bothered to spend time with him at any point in his life, but she’d left him and Keira very comfortable financially.
That was a comfort Audrey clearly didn’t have.
“I mean…” He scrambled for the right thing to say. “I owe you for the other day.”
She raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Oh yeah?”
“For showing me to the bookstore and…” He was clutching at straws now. “Helping me clean up after the Lily incident. A few hot dogs is the least I can do.”
He handed a few bills to the cashier and passed the bulging hot dogs to Audrey and Deanna. The younger woman’s eyes widened, and she sank her teeth straight into her meal.
“Oh my God,” she said with her mouth full. “It’s wicked good.”
Audrey laughed and ducked her eyes. “Thank you, Ronan. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Sure, I did.” They grabbed their Cokes and made their way to the bleachers. “I could have walked right into Lily’s trap without your sage advice.”
“The advice I dispensed from behind the cover of a bookshelf?” Audrey laughed.
“You were the smart one in that situation. And you called Lily’s owner.” He took a long sip from his drink. “I’d say you deserve more than stadium food for that.”
She looked at him, her olive-green eyes flicking over his face as if she was trying to figure something out. As if she was waiting for a hidden motive to reveal itself. There was something so guarded about Audrey. A veneer, impenetrable and sunny, hiding the real her underneath.
He chose not to take it personally. As someone who generally kept people at arm’s length, he understood that driving and deep-seated need for self-preservation. Instead, he bit down into his hot dog. “It is good.”
“See?” Deanna shot him a knowing look. She had a dot of yellow mustard on the corner of her lip. “Told you.”
The bleachers were already starting to get full, and they found a spot with enough room for the three of them to squeeze in. As he sat, he was acutely aware of Audrey’s thigh pressing against his. With her hands occupied by food and drink, her skirt rose up her legs as she sat, and although she tried to subtly pull the hem down, she didn’t have any luck.
“So, how do you two know each other?” Deanna asked as they settled in. “I can tell you’re not from around here.”
“How’s that?” Ronan looked down at himself. He didn’t look that different from the average person in Kissing Creek, especially since he wasn’t wearing his elbow patches today.
“You’re…” She wrinkled her nose, and it struck him as so like Audrey. “Fancy.”
He laughed. “Fancy?”
“I think she means clean-cut,” Audrey supplied. “Well, aside from the beard.”
“You don’t like the beard?”
“Oh no, I do.” Pink colored her cheeks, and Ronan decided then that he wanted to see her blush more often. There was something so honest about it, a reaction that even she, with her careful veneer, couldn’t hide. “It suits you.”
“Thanks.” He was aware that Deanna was watching the two of them very closely, her brow crinkled as though she might be drawing her own conclusions. Better to correct that. “Actually, I’m Audrey’s—”
“Customer.” She cut him off and shot him a pleading look out of Deanna’s line of vision. “Ronan gets his coffee at Kisspresso.”
Okay, that was a little weird. Sure, she wasn’t lying, since he had gotten his coffee at Kisspresso most mornings and Audrey had served him whenever she was in. But the more obvious answer—which he’d been about to give—was that he was her professor. Yet, for some reason, she didn’t want her sister to know that.
It seemed the more time he spent with Audrey, the more questions he accumulated. And that was only going to make it more difficult to keep his distance.
Chapter Eight
Mistakes had been made.
Mistake number one was stopping to chat to Ronan when he called her name. Not because she didn’t want to talk to him—she definitely did—but because having Deanna beside her added a whole new level of risk.
Mistake number two was wearing a dress she knew was a little on the short side when she sat down. But laundry day had come and gone three days ago, and Audrey hadn’t found a spare moment