Page 19

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I prompted, "What? No commentary from the peanut gallery?"

"I've got a few things I'd like to say." He inhaled slowly through his nose. "None of them are directed at you."

I’d never heard him sound like that. He was angry. Not performatively angry. Not the kind of outrage people put on when they wanted credit for caring. Actually angry. For me. Which was ridiculous.

And inconveniently sweet.

I forced a smile and tried to lighten the mood. "I'm a thirty-year-old woman hiding in a barn, and you don’t have any commentary on that?"

Damon leaned back, the barn wall creaking. "You'd be surprised how many people are hiding in barns."

"Metaphorically?"

"Mostly. Though this town does have a suspicious number of barns."

I huffed a laugh.

He sighed. “Everybody's hiding from something.”

"Wow. Are you secretly a therapist?"

"Nope. But I watched three seasons of Ted Lasso."

"That explains the emotional intelligence."

"And the excellent hair."

I shook my head, smiling despite myself.

Then reality crept back in. I had to go back to the BBQ. Face Kenny. Face Annie. Face approximately fifty relatives who considered other people's business a competitive sport.

I dropped my head against the wall. "Well, this was fun, but I can’t hide in here all night."

I needed to, suck it up, Buttercup, as my Auntie Beverly liked to say.

"Look at me,” Damon instructed with an authority that had me tingling from head to toe.

I lifted my eyes to his.

Big mistake.

Up close, Damon was unfairly beautiful. His jaw was strong, his mouth full and entirely too tempting, and those hazel eyes had little flecks of gold I'd never noticed before.

The tingling migrated to my core.

Really? Now?

He was trying to give me a pep talk, and my body was acting like he'd just suggested we find a horizontal surface.

"You are Mikayla Fucking Parsons," he said. "CEO of St. Claire Global. Smartest woman I've ever met. Funny as hell. Stubborn enough to argue with a brick wall and somehow convince it to move."

"That's oddly specific."

"I'm not finished."

My lips twitched.

"You're brilliant. You're strong. And from what I've seen, you've got a bigger heart than you let anybody know."