Roxie shook her head. “She won’t. She’ll be awful.”
He’d been planning on that. “Then they’ll do it because you’re one of us and we protect our own.”
“But I’m not from here. I don’t even have many friends here.”
“So? Do you think anyone really likes Celeste Beaumont? She’s mean. Nicer in the last few months but mean, and yet the whole town came out to help her when her husband died. I’m sure she tossed every casserole brought to her door, but they were brought.” Did she think people around town didn’t like her? She always seemed so confident, but he knew that could often hide insecurity. “Roxie, the people here know what you do for them.”
She waved that off. “I break up bar fights. I hand out tickets.”
“And you risked your own life to save three people caught in a flash flood a few months ago. No one’s forgotten that.” It had been the night his sister had gotten trapped on the other side of the highway with Harry. The storm had been sudden, and the sheriff and his deputies had done heroic things that evening. Roxie had risked getting swept away by fast-moving flood waters. She’d put herself out there and gotten all three of the passengers in that car to safety.
“It’s my job.”
He shook his head and moved in. “It’s more than that. It’s who you are. You’re the one who runs in when everyone else is running out. You put yourself between people and danger, and you don’t think twice about it. You might be a little standoffish, but that’s the only thing keeping you from having a bunch of friends. How many people in town have invited you to supper?”
“A lot. I thought maybe they wanted me to not give them tickets or something.”
He should have found a way to get in her life earlier. It would have saved her so much trouble. “No. They’re trying to offer you hospitality. And some of the mommas are probably trying to see if you would do for their sons.”
She groaned. “Well, then I’m glad I didn’t go. It’s weird, right? Inviting someone you don’t know to dinner.”
She only thought that way because she hadn’t gotten used to small-town life yet. The odd thing was, this current crisis might force her to face some of the good things that could come from living in Papillon. “Not around here it isn’t. After all, how would you get to know a person? All I’m trying to say is they’ll help you. You don’t have to worry. It’s already in motion.”
“I know I should thank you.”
He wanted her to rely on him. “You don’t have to. I would do this for you no matter what.”
She stood there as the moment lengthened. He could practically feel the air crackle between them. He knew what chemistry felt like, and this went far beyond the mere physical. They worked on so many levels. He had to find a way to make her understand.
She huffed suddenly. “You know you didn’t have to live here. The story works perfectly fine without you living here. In fact, it would have worked best if you’d been a guy I just started dating. That would have been a good scenario.”
But then she would be able to keep her distance. “How would you have explained me being at your place with you in your PJs and me without a shirt on? We’d obviously spent the night together.”
One side of her mouth tugged up in an adorable smirk. “Since you outed me for the concussion, we could have been coworkers who are barely dating and you did me a favor.”
“Wouldn’t have worked. There’s no way your parents would’ve believed that.”
She frowned suddenly. “Well, we could have said anything at all since my mom couldn’t see past your chest. Do you ever wear a shirt?”
Sweet jealousy. He could work with that. “I’m more comfortable this way. And you need to follow my lead on this one. I’m excellent at crafting a fiction. I’ve got the whole thing down. See, in my head, we’re real close. We’re definitely a very affectionate couple.”
“No, we’re not. We’re super casual. Almost like bros.”
He moved in again and noticed she didn’t move away. “Nah, we’re definitely in that ‘crazy in love, can’t keep our hands off each other’ stage.”
She turned her face up and put her hand out. She touched his chest, her palm open. She didn’t push him away, merely kept her hand there, right over his heart. “Is that what we are? Fake us, that is?”
His whole body started to hum. That was what being close to her did to him. He felt parts of him that had been dead so long come to life. It was about far more than his body. “Absolutely. And think of all the benefits.”