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Siobhan smiled. “Oh. Trouble in paradise?”
He snorted, sipped beer and looked at her. “Got it in one.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really. It’s no big deal.”
“I’ve known you for a long time now. I’ve seen you with just about every woman in town. Including me. So don’t pretend this isn’t a big deal.” When he didn’t answer she continued. “You’re a nice guy, Nate. You deserve to be happy.”
A nice guy. He didn’t feel like a nice guy. He wanted to grab Damaris and kiss the hell out of her, make love to her until she came screaming and fell apart in his arms. Oh, wait. He’d already done that and she still denied they were anything more than friends with benefits. “Don’t you have other customers to see to?”
She glanced around. It was late and even Booze’s was winding down. There was one customer at the far end of the bar and he had a full glass of beer. “Nope. Give it up, Nate. You are one hundred percent in love with Damaris Walker. And notwithstanding that you two are supposedly dating and crazy for each other, she isn’t cooperating.”
Shit. “Why do you think that?”
“That you two are faking it?” He nodded. “Your grandma was in here talking about how happy she was that her Nate had finally found the woman for him.”
“So? That doesn’t make us fake.” He took another drink, wondering what had given them away.
“No, but the fact that Grandma K is happy, and you’re obviously not does. Why are you so bummed? It’s been months since you’ve shown more than a perfunctory interest in anyone besides Damaris. You barely even flirt anymore. And all that happened long before you and Damaris ‘got together,’” she said, putting air quotes around the last two words.
Since she had figured most of it out anyway, he found himself telling her the whole stupid story. Finishing up, he said, “I thought if we pretended to be dating, she’d figure out that we’re good together. And Grandma really does want to see me married or at least involved with someone, so it seemed like a win-win.”
“Maybe it is. She’s way more relaxed around you now than she was when you first started. She acts like she did before you started dating. But there’s a difference. She’s not holding you at arm’s length like she was at first.”
Because they had a physical relationship now. But sex wasn’t enough. Not for him. “I don’t know what to do now.”
“Have you told her how you feel?”
“That I’m in love with her? Hell, no. She’ll flip out and then run as fast as she can away from me.” He drank more beer.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Pretty much. I gave her a diamond and told her it was for her engagement ring. She about had a stroke.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want it to be fake. Maybe, like you, she wants something real.”
“I don’t think so. She doesn’t trust me. As a friend, yes. But as a lover? A long-term, serious lover? No.” He finished his beer and Siobhan left to refill his mug and take care of the other customer.
She returned with his beer and a question. “Why doesn’t she trust you? I mean, sure, you’re a flirt but you’re not a womanizer or anything.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“You’re welcome. Believe me, Nate, I see all kinds in here. At heart you’re a good guy.”
“You might be sure of that but Damaris isn’t. Some guy in her past did her wrong. But that’s all I know. She told me that bare fact but she won’t talk about it otherwise.”
“I don’t think you’re going to get anywhere until you know exactly what happened in her past.”
“Probably not,” he said grimly. But how to convince her to tell him?
“Well, there’s your answer. Tell her how you really feel and if she flips out make her tell you why.”
Make her? “You obviously haven’t tried to make Damaris do something she doesn’t want to do. The woman is bound and determined to keep her past to herself.” A lot of it anyway.
Siobhan patted his hand. “My money’s on you, Nate.”
“You know what they say. A fool and her money are soon parted.”
