Julian studied her face, realizing she was actually being honest with him, and he started to wonder if she wasn’t right. He’d enjoyed doing something different. Even though he didn’t see it as something that might touch people on a deep level, maybe it wasn’t always necessary to be touched that deeply. “So sometimes it’s just okay to be entertained?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Underneath your sarcasm, you’re pretty insightful, Red.”
“I hate that name,” she said through gritted teeth.
Julian saw a glimpse of hurt cross her beautiful face, and he was instantly regretful that he’d ruined an actual discussion between them. “I’m sorry, Kristin. I was teasing. I never meant to be mean.”
She shrugged it off, but Julian could tell that he’d touched a nerve with her. Unfortunately, just as he wanted to expand on his apology, he spotted his Amesport fan club. “Shit! Here they come. How in the hell did they find me?”
Kristin shot out of her chair and grabbed his hand, tugging him across the room and then behind the bar. “Get down,” she hissed as she put her elbows on the worn counter.
Julian felt ridiculous as he crouched behind the bar, but he didn’t feel like interacting with a crowd of hysterical young women tonight. He’d already tried to reason with them, and they’d practically ripped his clothes from his body. They weren’t polite, and they were far from reasonable.
“Ladies? Can I help you?” Kristin asked casually as the crowd of young women came through the door.
“We’re looking for Julian Sinclair!” a high, excited voice exclaimed.
Kristin shook her head. “Sorry. I can’t help you. And we don’t chase people down like rabbits in this town. The Sinclairs are part of this community, and we respect the whole family for what they’ve done to help Amesport.”
The same overenthusiastic woman answered. “Oh, we don’t live here. We’re just here to find Julian. We heard he was here. We’re his biggest fans.”
“If you care about him that much, then you’d let him have his privacy. I understand he’s dating a woman in this town, and I don’t think he’d appreciate you screwing that up for him.”
There was a chorus of groans as the women were notified that he might be off the eligible-bachelor market.
“He’s getting married?” another female asked in a disappointed voice.
Kristin shrugged. “He might be. Look, ladies, Julian Sinclair is just a man like any other. You don’t even know him. Maybe he’s not worth going crazy over. Personally, I think you have to know a guy to actually like him.”
“But he’s so hot.”
“He’s amazing.”
“He’s gorgeous.”
Kristin broke into the barrage of compliments. “I’ve heard he can also be a real dickhead,” she told the women with an enormous eye-roll. “Being handsome could never make up for that.”
“Sometimes it can,” one of the females whined. “But if he’s off the market, I guess we should give up. We have to get back home anyway. Our parents are going to be pissed that we took off a few days at the college to drive to Amesport.”
“I’m sure they won’t be happy,” Kristin told them ominously. “But the fewer days you miss, the easier it will be for you.”
The young women left looking heartbroken. Kristin strolled over to the door as the last girl left, flipped the sign to “Closed,” then turned the lock on the door.
Julian rose up and watched her as she sauntered back to the bar. “You heard I was a dickhead?” he asked, amused. “And who am I marrying here in Amesport?”
“Nobody. But you wanted them off your back. It worked. They’re going home now that they think you’re off the market.”
Julian frowned. “Did somebody actually say they thought I was a dickhead?”
“Nope. I made that up myself. But I’m sure somebody has said it somewhere.”
He laughed because he couldn’t stop himself. Kristin was about the crankiest woman he’d ever met, but he liked her style. No bullshit. No pretension. As he recovered, he admitted, “I owe you. Thanks.”
“Don’t think I won’t collect,” she warned him. “It’s not like you’re even a friend.”
Still smiling, he strode over to his table. He put his sunglasses on the visor of his cap and jammed it back on his head. “I look forward to you collecting, Kristin. Anything you want is yours. You were amazing—except maybe for the dickhead part.”
He walked over to the door, unlocked it, and then cracked it open. “But you’re very right about one thing.” He turned and looked at her, not missing the fact that she looked flushed.
She put her hands on her hips. “And what’s that?”
His gaze roamed hungrily over her flame-colored hair, her soft skin, and her curvaceous body as he answered mysteriously, “I am definitely just a man.”
There was no answer, and Julian didn’t expect one as he walked through the door and closed it softly behind him.
CHAPTER 13
“Xander overdosed. He’s in the hospital,” Julian informed Micah as he arrived back at the guesthouse.
Having just dropped back in to the guesthouse for a few minutes to get some stuff this morning, Micah had been certain he’d be back to Tessa before she woke up. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen now.
He looked at his brother, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt just like him, Julian’s usual humor totally absent from his expression.