when she felt the odd tingle of awareness race down her back and settle into her good spots.
Oh, boy.
Even without looking, she knew what that meant. Turning, she locked gazes with Stone, trying to reconcile the laid-back guy she thought she’d figured out with the guy Missy had talked about.
He was propping up a vitamin display with his shoulder-which he did quite nicely, she noted, in his loose cargoes and plain T-shirt, iPod ear-pieces hanging around his neck. He didn’t move, doing his best to perpetuate that lazy guy image he seemed to enjoy so much.
“Doc.”
“Stone.”
He smiled, slow as a Cheshire cat, and lifted his hand, revealing the bottle of Advil he held. “Getting some more of that good vitamin A.”
“You’re still hurting?” she asked while trying to decide who he was-mountain bum, or saint. Neither, she decided, but the jury was still out on who he might really be.
Strangely enough, her heart was suddenly racing as if she’d run down the aisles. An odd physical reaction to a patient.
Funny how her mother’s voice turned up in her head at the least expected times. Like now.
Oh, for God’s sake. She focused on Stone. Not exactly a hardship. “How are you feeling?” she asked since he hadn’t answered her question.
“Better. I’ve been wanting to thank you.”
“For?”
“First for the medical care.”
“No problem.”
“And second for helping out with Lilah.”
“Again, no problem.”
“And third-and possibly most importantly, for not beating me with your bat.”
She felt a smile tug at her mouth. “You got lucky.” She moved toward the next aisle-fruits and veggies, dammit, but she couldn’t just grab a fistful of candy bars right in front of him. So she grabbed some grapes even though she didn’t like grapes, and dropped them in her cart.
Shifting a little closer, he reached for the bag dispenser, just over her head, making her hyperaware of his big body and the fact that he smelled amazing.
A woman came down the aisle with four young kids, each of them screaming and yelling and beating each other with light sabers from the toy aisle. The woman started to pass by them with an apologetic smile, but stopped at the sight of Stone. “Hey, you,” she said with familiarity. “I’ve been wanting to thank you for the bag of t-shirts, the kids loved them.”
Stone smiled easily, picking up one of the boys before he could climb the banana display, setting him down by his mother. “No problem, glad you could use them. Alice, this is-”
“Doctor Sinclair,” Alice said with a much more formal tone than she’d used with Stone. “I’ve heard about you. How’s your wonderful father doing?”
“Better, thank you,” Emma said, hoping to God that was actually true.
“Good.” With one last sweet smile for Stone, Alice moved on, surrounded by chaos.
“We went to school together,” Stone told Emma, once again following her as she turned into the next aisle. The woman shelving soups sent Stone a hopeful smile combining a sultry invitation and a knowing satisfaction. “Hi there, Stone.”
“Hey, Tina,” Stone said with more easy familiarity. “How’s Danny?”
“Oh, I’m not seeing him anymore.” Cocking her head, she eyeballed Stone up and down, as if maybe he was a twelve course meal and she was starving. “I signed up for another rock climbing class. Requested you.”
He laughed softly and shook his head. “Cam takes those now.”
“Yeah? Well, maybe you could make an exception?”
“The schedule’s pretty set.”
“Well damn then.”
“An ex?” Emma asked dryly in the next aisle.
He slipped his hands into his pockets. “Sort of. We went out once.”
Uh huh. Telling herself she didn’t care, she headed up the frozen aisle toward the checkout. A beautiful dark brunette in a white tank top and a black skirt was in the middle of the aisle inspecting two different bags of frozen peas. Surprise, surprise, she nodded at Stone, though without a smile. “Hey, Wilder.”
“Serena.”
“Tell Annie her pies are ready.”
“Will do.”
“And tell your brother I hope Katie-the-new-girlfriend has dumped his sorry ass.”
“She’s the fiance now,” Stone told her.
“Yeah, I know. With any luck, she’ll wise up in time.” The woman gave Emma a long, speculative look, then strode off.
Stone turned to Emma who shook her head. “Are you three the only guys in town or something?” she asked.
“Nah.” He smiled a little wryly. “But somehow we have this reputation.”
“
“It goes back several generations.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. My great, great, great, great grandfather hung out with Jesse James. He ended up six feet under after a bar fight. That was the beginning of the legend. Or so they say.”
“The legend?”
“That the Wilder men will never amount to much.”
She watched him lift a broad shoulder as if that didn’t hurt in the least, but something in his eyes gave him away, and her amusement faded. “That’s quite a legacy to have to live with.”
“We’ve managed to do just that for generations.”
“How about
He slanted her a glance, as if surprised she’d even bothered to ask, but she knew a little bit about living up to expectations. Her mother, as wonderful as she’d been, had pinned her hopes and dreams for the elusive “great life” on her only child and that hadn’t been easy to face.
“Still waiting on the final vote,” Stone said.
Interesting. They headed to the checkout, with Stone nodding to two more people along the way.
“Everyone knows everyone here,” she murmured, unloading her cart, staring at the candy bars above the row of batteries on the last-minute stand above the conveyor belt. “I feel like I’m in Mayberry.”
“Yeah. I call it Mayberry with Attitude. But as for feeling like you don’t fit in, that could be fixed.”
“How?”
He met her gaze. “We could go out.”
“Out,” she repeated, her pulse kicking into gear.
“Get to know each other. Have fun.”
“How would that help?”
“Well…” He eyed her as he rubbed his jaw, the sound of his stubble doing something funny deep inside her belly. “Maybe it’d help you relax a little. If you were less uptight, maybe people would find you more approachable.”
Hard to dispute the truth, but didn’t make it easier to swallow. To take the moment she needed, she grabbed some batteries instead of the chocolate she really wanted. AAA’s, not on sale. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The having fun thing.”
“No?”
