Trick - By Lori Garrett Page 0,19

and conversation. They’ll be here in three hours.” He stands from his rocking chair and carries his glass in, humming his favorite Mozart tune.

I’m a little shell shocked. I planned on letting my father know exactly what an independent, confident woman I was. How the hell did it wind up that he didn’t listen to me at all and suckered me into some kind of dinner party with a guy I had no interest in meeting?

I pace along the porch, chewing a thumbnail and checking the window to see if he can catch a glimpse of me from inside. Daddy hates my nail chewing habit. Which just makes me chew harder. I am a grown woman, dammit! If I want to chew my nails to nubs I will.

I’m about to march in and tell Daddy...what? I’m not ready to face him. I have to prepare to do battle with my father. Even when I approach him fully armed, like I had this afternoon, things tend to blow up in my face.

I slide out my phone and run my thumb over the number Daisy sweet-talked off Jared, the bartender who works with Gunner, for me.

I could call Gunner. Ask him to come over on his bike and take me away from this hellish, polite dinner that will bore me to tears.

But I’m not sure he’d come. He and I had sex so amazing, I curl my toes and hug myself tight just remembering. My body shook and burned for his touch all night and into the morning. It was, hands down, the most mind-blowing sex I’d ever had.

But it was that. Sex.

It wasn’t making love.

Every now and then, Gunner would let his guard down and say something or almost say something to let me know he cared. That it made me think that if I could just hold him tighter, show him how good we really are together, he’d open back up. Love me again.

Then he would it all snap shut, often in my face.

I know he was pushing away to protect himself. To protect both of us. But I’m not about to back down. I’m ready to leave Piedmont to start a new life. I’m ready to say goodbye to friends, family, and all things familiar and walk away.

There’s one exception: Gunner.

I can’t trick my heart into believing I don’t care, don’t love him. And I’m ready to fight for his love, one last time. If I fail, I’ll leave forever and close my heart. If I succeeded, I’ll leave with a heart full of love and Gunner by my side.

But that’s a dangerous plan to pin my hopes to. Three years ago, I’d have bet my life on the fact that Gunner and I would never spend a day outside each other’s arms. I couldn’t have been more wrong. But maybe I’d seen trouble brewing and turned a blind eye.

“Come in with me!” I yelled as the water lapped around my thighs. “It’s like a bath!”

“That’s the problem.” Gunner was lying back on the beach, his muscled arms behind his head. He wasn’t wearing anything but low-hanging board shorts that just caught his hips and a tattered baseball cap over his dark hair. His every muscle was defined from the hours of work he did during the day on Mr. Daniels’ farm.

He rarely had a full day off, but work had been cut short by the Daniels’ anniversary trip to Houston. Unexpectedly, Gunner was mine, all mine, and I’d gotten the keys to our beach house and told Daddy I was taking Daisy. Who was pretty pissed to miss a trip to the little gulf town filled with bars that didn’t card hot girls.

I loved being with Daisy, but I needed to drink in every second of alone time with Gunner. We’d only just had sex for the first time, and I was having trouble getting him back in bed.

It was embarrassing and confusing. I’d been a virgin, but I thought I’d made him happy. Why wasn’t he more interested? I figured the problem might fix itself when I donned my skimpiest string bikini, but for the first day of our time together, Gunner did nothing but gaze at me from under his ball cap and put some suntan lotion on me with quick, uninterested swipes.

When I couldn’t get him into the water, I felt like all my embarrassment and uncertainty came to a head. Right there, in the ocean, my lip trembled and I started to cry from