Nate stretched in his chair, trying to work a kink out of his neck. These long hours were killing him, but it was the only way to free up time for t-ball and Charlotte. He glanced at the clock. There was less than an hour left till he’d see her.

His office door opened and Sam came in with a thick stack of papers. “I need your signature on a few things.”

Nate picked up his pen and signed as Sam pointed to where he needed the signatures. “And initial here, then sign and date the last page.” When Nate had finished, he said, “That’s it for today.”

“It’s about time. You’re such a slave driver.”

An expression that was almost a smile drifted over Sam’s face as he looked over the contracts one more time. “I have to be lately. You mind is always somewhere besides business.”

“Sam, would you be unhappy in my employment if our plan works out?”

The man straightened and met Nate’s eyes. “As long as I’d still have something to keep me busy after you sell everything off.”

“Not quite everything. And there’s still my charities to manage and few other pet projects. I’d still keep you hopping.”

“Then I won’t be giving notice anytime soon.” Sam paused before leaving. “By the way, you have a meeting in Kansas City on Wednesday.”

Nate paused. “With who?”

“The CEO. And I’ve made arrangements to set up an off-the-record meeting with Mr. Mabry afterwards.”

Nate nodded and followed Sam to the door. “Sounds good. It’ll make things tight though.”

They paused next to Sam’s office. “I still say your chances of getting Charlotte to accept your invitation are slim to none.”

Nate pounded him on the back then walked to the front door, calling back over his shoulder, “You always underestimate my powers of persuasion, Sam.”

But as Nate got in his truck and drove downtown, he knew it was all bravado. He had absolutely no confidence in Charlotte agreeing to anything. Hopefully tonight, she would get to know him better and trust him a little more.

As he pulled up in front of Give Me Sugar, he was disappointed not to see Charlotte’s car already there. He got out anyway. Before he could even shut the truck door behind him, he heard a woman’s voice call his name from across the street.

He turned and saw Justine coming out of her aunt’s salon. She was walking across the hot pavement in her bare feet, doing an odd shuffle because her toes were in some kind of pink foam contraption, and her head was covered in foil.

“What the—”

Before Nate could mutter another word, he saw a truck turn onto Main Street from a perpendicular road half a block away. Parked cars would conceal Justine from the driver until it was too late.

“Justine, stop!”

“What?” she asked, but kept shuffling forward.

Without another second’s hesitation, Nate launched himself across the road just ahead of the truck, and plowed over Justine. He rolled to keep from cracking her head on the pavement, and his shoulder hit hard.

As the truck rumbled by, Nate laid still, afraid to open his eyes. When he heard Justine crying, he realized he had to face it sooner or later.

The first thing he saw was Justine’s face, contorted by shock and tears. Her foil covered hair trembled around them, and her heaving chest was pressed to his. “Are you okay?” He asked disentangling himself and sitting up. He rubbed at his shoulder, wincing as he rotated it experimentally.

“Thanks to you. You saved me,” Justine said, her voice getting louder with each word. Then she launched herself at him and banged her nose to his as she pressed a kiss on his very unwilling mouth.

He gripped her shoulders and pushed her away. Her lips still reached for him in a fish-like pucker that would give him nightmares for years.

“You two-timing low-life. How could you do this to me?”

Nate looked past Justine’s foil flaps and saw Charlotte standing over them with her arms crossed. “Charlotte, help me.”

“You look like you’re doing fine to me. You said not to listen to all the rumors. I should have known better than to trust you.”

Nate was more irritated than he remembered ever being in his life. With an edge of panic at what Charlotte thought, and a very real desire to get out from under this boney leech of a woman, he said, “Justine, get off of me before I throw you back in the road.”

Justine gasped and sat back. Not trusting her not to jump on him again, Nate pushed off the pavement and got to his feet. He stepped away, and pulled his shirt down. As he peeled a sticky candy wrapper off his jeans, Justine moaned.

“I think I’m going to faint,” she said in a weak voice.

“Then I’d suggest you go sit on that bench over there. And look before you go cross the road from now on.”

Not waiting around for Justine to think of another way to hang on him, Nate grabbed Charlotte’s hand and pulled her back across the road, careful to take his own advice and look for cars first.

When he got to his truck, he pulled her up next to it. She leaned back, biting her lip. “Now what the heck are you talking about? You know darn well I’d never—”

But before he could finish, Charlotte burst into laughter. She laughed so hard, she had to wipe her eyes and hold herself up by grabbing his shoulder. And as irritated as he was, he was smart enough not to step away. Whatever it took to get Charlotte to touch him voluntarily.

“That was… the funniest thing…I’ve ever seen.”

“What was?” Nate’s voice was one step away from a growl. “When she nearly got herself run over or when I almost broke my shoulder trying to save her?”

Charlotte’s eyes were still sparkling with humor. “When she was trying so hard to kiss you and you were holding her off, but her lips were like…”

Nate watched as Charlotte imitated Justine’s pucker-lips, and decided there was only one way to stop her. He bent down and pressed his lips to her distorted ones. Charlotte breathed in sharply through her nose, then her lips relaxed beneath his for an instant before she started kissing him back. When her lips parted slightly, it took every ounce of his strength to step away. “That’ll teach you to make kissy lips at me,” he said, darkly.

For once, Charlotte didn’t have a comeback.

Nate looked around and saw that Betsy and Justine were glowering at them from across the street in front of the Cut and Curl. To his left, Millie and all her customers were watching them through the windows of her shop. “Let’s get out of here. Where’s your car?”

“Jill dropped me off,” Charlotte said, her voice quiet and a little shaky.

“Good.” He took her hand again and walked her around to the passenger door. Surprisingly, she didn’t argue about getting in, so in only a few seconds, he was able to back out and escape all the curious eyes.

“Where are we going?” Charlotte asked.

“My house.”

“You kissed me,” she said, staring at him.

“You deserved it.”

“Why are we going to your house?”

“Because we’re going to have dinner together one way or another.”

“What exactly happened back there?”

“The fool woman came running at me and didn’t even watch for cars.”

Charlotte slapped a hand over her mouth, but was unable to stop the chuckle in her throat. “If you were trying to convince people you and Justine aren’t having a fling, rolling around with her on Main Street probably wasn’t the way to do it.”

“Hardy har har.”

A minute later, they pulled up to his house and passed through the gate, Charlotte said, “Wow. Your house is beautiful. It looks like something from Gone with the Wind.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you like it. I’ve been restoring it for the last several years. Let’s go inside and let my cook know we need dinner and then I’ll give you a tour.”

“Sounds good.” But as she walked up the steps to the veranda with him, she said, “I admit I’m surprised you didn’t have a custom-built mega mansion delivered on a flat-bed trailer.”

“One room at a time, maybe?” He pinched her side. “You’re so funny tonight. Seriously though, I’ve always loved history and this place fascinated me as a kid. I hated seeing her falling apart.”

“That’s awesome. Looking at it now, it’s hard to picture this place anything but perfect.”

Nate nodded and looked over his home with pride. “I’ll show you pictures from before the renovations. Let’s go find Sara and see what she can whip together for us.”

But before he even opened the front door, the sound of a car coming through the gate caught his ear. Charlotte turned with him and they watched together as a gleaming black Audi swept around the circle drive.

“Oh no.”

“You know who it is?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes.” He turned to her. “It’s an old friend of mine. She… we...”

“Spit it out, Nate.”

“That’s just it. I don’t know what to say. She wants more than friendship from me, and I was okay with that until I met you. But we haven’t had a chance to talk about that yet.”

“You and her?”

“Yeah. So, keep that in mind, please? I have no idea why she’s here.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s pretty obvious to me. You certainly have a lot of pots on the fire.”

Before Nate could think of a suitable retort, Alexa got out of her car and came towards them, climbing the steps with an exaggerated sway to her hips and a firm click of her heels.

“Nate, darling. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Her eyes had barely left Charlotte since she got out of the car.

“I’m afraid you are. I wish you’d called.”

“You’ve never minded me dropping by before.”

Nate clenched his teeth together. “Charlotte, this is my friend Alexa.”

“Nice to meet you,” Charlotte said, her voice perfectly polite, but tighter than usual.

Alexa just nodded. Nate watched her in surprise, wondering if she’d always been this arrogant and he just hadn’t noticed. This was an incredibly awkward situation.

“Charlotte and I are going to have some dinner. Would you like to join us?”

“Actually, I think I’ll text Jill to come and pick me up,” Charlotte said. “You have company now and Jill is only in town one more day. We should do this another time.”

Nate hated the thought of Charlotte going home, but he knew he could deal with this better if she wasn’t here. “I think you’re right.” He gripped her hand. “But I’ll see you at the game tomorrow?”

She nodded and pulled out her phone. He shook his head. “Let me ask Sam to take you home.”

Charlotte nodded. “That would be faster.”

Nate led the way inside and said, “You know your way around, Alexa. I’ll be right back.”

Charlotte followed him down the hall. “She’s been here a lot, huh?”

The universe really had it out for him today. He could practically see Charlotte pulling back from him emotionally. “Yes, but it’s not like you’re imagining.”

He knocked on the door to Sam’s private quarters, then stood awkwardly in the hall while they waited.

Charlotte looked around with curious eyes. “I guess the tour will have to wait.”

His chest warmed with hope. Maybe she wouldn’t completely shut him out. Man, this woman was impossible to figure out.

Sam opened the door and Nate said, “Sam, something’s come up. Can you take Charlotte home for me?”

Sam’s eyebrows rose. “Of course. But what came up?”

“Alexa’s here,” Nate said.

Sam didn’t say another word, even though his expression said it all for him. Sam knew this was the worst possible thing that could have happened to Nate tonight, and he didn’t even know about the Justine disaster. Nate would never hear the end of it once he had.

“I’ll call you later,” Nate told Charlotte.

“Okay,” she said, following Sam back down the hall. Then she looked back over her shoulder. “I might even answer.”

Nate followed slowly, pausing in the doorway to watch as Sam left with Charlotte. He sighed and turned to find Alexa.

“Well, that was a surprise, darling,” Alexa said as he went into the formal living room. She was reclined against the back of the leather sectional, her heels kicked off on the floor.

“What was?”

“Finding you at home with a woman. I’ve never known you to have a fling before. Who is she?”

Nate leaned against the mantel of the fireplace. “She’s the mother of one of my t-ball players. They moved in about a month and a half ago. She’s a hairstylist.”

“She’s very pretty.”

Nate looked straight at her. “She’s beautiful.”

Alexa’s brows rose. “Well, if it’s like that, darling, there’s nothing more to say. I hope we can still be friends?”

The tension in Nate’s shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “Of course. Thanks for being so understanding.”

Alexa smiled. “I just want you to be happy. Now, did I hear you have a t-ball game tomorrow? I’d love to watch.”