Page 30 of Coerced

I thought back briefly on my conversations with both Mallory and Sawyer yesterday and the day I’d had overall. Even now, I still couldn’t shake that feeling of contentment and fulfillment I’d experienced.

“Maybe I’ll be like Sawyer,” I said, half paying attention.

“Oh yeah? How so?”

Bringing my full focus back to the conversation, my eyes landing on Paxton’s again, I answered, “Maybe I’ll realize this move here to Steel Ridge was the right thing for me, and I’ll feel like it’s where I was meant to be all along. It would be terrible to have made this move, only to learn I made a mistake.”

Paxton narrowed his eyes on me, questions lingering in his dark stare. “We can’t allow that to happen.”

I raised a curious brow. “We?”

He nodded slowly. “I like having you as my neighbor. You don’t even want to know about the guy who was there before you.”

“Was he terrible?”

“The worst.”

I let out a laugh and promised, “After what you’ve done for me, I wouldn’t want you to have to experience that again. I’ll do my best to try to find the good in everything I can here, so I don’t wind up having any regrets.”

“I could help with that.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday. Do you have to work?”

“I’m working tomorrow night,” I told him.

He smiled and pressed, “Got any plans for your morning and afternoon?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“How about you let me give you a little introduction to Steel Ridge? There are some spots around here in town that you just don’t want to miss, and I’d be more than happy to show you around.”

Okay.

So, Paxton wasn’t intending to make it any easier for me not to focus on how great of a guy he was.

Then I realized, I shouldn’t have to stop myself from focusing on that. He was nice. He was my neighbor. And he wanted to show me around town.

That he was breathtakingly handsome or made my belly flip nearly every time I saw him now had nothing to do with it.

So, I didn’t hesitate to respond playfully. “You’ve got yourself a date.”

If the mention of it being a date was something that made him uncomfortable, Paxton didn’t let it show. In fact, he grinned at me and said, “Enjoy your day at work today and rest up when you get home. We’re starting early tomorrow, because I’m taking you to breakfast.”

It might have been early in the morning, but it was approaching mid-September, and the humidity already made it feel stifling outside. Despite that, a shiver ran over my body. Paxton noticed, and one half of his mouth quirked, taking him from handsome to heart-stopping.

The man was flirting with me.

It had been a long time since anyone had flirted with me, but I was certain that was what was happening.

It made me feel giddy.

All I could bring myself to do was spin around and move to open my car door. I’d already revealed far too much of how I was feeling—a foreign concept to me—and I didn’t need Paxton leading me to the point I broke out into a fit of girlish giggles over the way he was making me feel. I’d be humiliated.

When I slid behind the wheel and closed my door, I chanced a glance at Paxton. He hadn’t moved from the spot where he was. Instead, he stood there with his strong arms crossed over his broad chest while donning an amused grin.

I turned on my car, put it in reverse, and offered him a shy wave.