16
Spur led the way outside, wondering how Olli would categorize his walk. Probably as a stalk or a storm or a stomp. He’d seen her upset, and she’d taken a few minutes to calm down before she’d joined him on the steps the day she’d overheard him talking to his mother.
He took a deep breath, wishing he had a house full of air conditioning to have this conversation. He didn’t want to have this talk at all, but he’d never been good at hiding how he felt, and when he’d gone to Olli’s perfumery, he’d known she’d see right through him.
He exhaled and turned around after pacing away from the house to the shade of a big live oak. Olli walked toward him, her step less sure and less angry. She looked terrified of him, and some of Spur’s anger deflated. He didn’t want to be the Big, Bad Wolf. Not with Olli.
She stopped on the very edge of the shade and ran her hands up and down her arms. She looked around. “Your place is really nice.”
Spur blinked, because he didn’t know what to say to that.
“You’ve never invited me over here,” she said, looking at him.
Spur felt the weight of her displeasure, and he shifted his feet. “I didn’t mean to be…” He waved his hand through the air. “Scary.”
She tucked her hands into the pockets of her shorts. “You used to really intimidate me.”
“Did I?”
“You’re short and to the point,” she said.
Spur nodded, because he was. “I forget sometimes that not everyone I’m dealing with is a horse or a dog.”
“Or a sheep.”
Spur ducked his head, his anger fading but his frustration lingering. “Why did you ask for men to meet with you on that website?”
“It’s for testing,” she said. “For my colognes. I have five I’ve fine-tuned based on your feedback, and I just wanted to narrow them to three. Then maybe to one.” Her nervous energy hit him in the chest.
“Blaine said you didn’t tell him any of that.”
“It said for a couple of hours.”
“Yeah, Olli. How long do you think it takes for a man to sleep with a woman?” He folded his arms, because how could she not get what she’d done? “How many men signed up?”
Olli’s eyes blazed. “I don’t have to answer to you, Spur.” She turned away and started walking across the grass. “I can handle myself. I know what I have to do to make my products viable for the market, and that requires testing.”
“Was my opinion not good enough for you?” he called after her, all of his fury returning. Why couldn’t he ever be good enough for someone?
She didn’t answer, and while Spur usually liked watching the woman walk away from him, he didn’t right now.
He’d called after her before and chased after her previously. That was when he’d made a mistake. She’d made one this time, and while she’d come to talk to him, the few sentences she’d given him were not enough.
She’d made him spill his guts and confess his feelings for her. She’d never done that, and Spur had never needed her to. Until now.
He started after her, his long legs eating up the distance between them. “Olli,” he called, and she spun back to him near her car.
“I don’t know what else you want me to say,” she said. “I am trying to expand my business, and I know how to do it. I got testers with my candles. Every scent I put out goes through a panel.”
“I don’t care about that,” he said.
“What do you care about, Spur?”
“When I screwed up, I sat on your steps and told you exactly how I feel about you. You have never done that for me.”
“This is about me having men over to do a panel on the colognes,” she said. “I didn’t tell anyone that we were just friends.”
“How do you feel about me?” he asked.