Not the Rebound Guy by Abby Knox (best classic romance novels txt) 📕

realize it’s country music night tonight. I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m not the biggest fan, but that’s hardly the problem. The problem is country dancing often involves a lot of coupling up. And Garrett and I are not a couple.

Thankfully, he sees my nervousness as I scan the bar for any signs of Nora, and doesn’t try to drag me out to the dance floor right away.

I swig my beer a little less graceful than intended and say, “I know I was weird about you staying with Grams when I first found out, and I’m sorry. And I’m really sorry that your house burned.”

Garrett nods his head. “I appreciate that, but it’s all good. None of the animals were in the house at the time.”

“Animals as in, more than just the dog?”

He looks at me like he’s waiting for me to mock him. “Helen and Gertie are the most attached to me, so yeah, if I’m inside, they’re inside. But Big Bird and Grover wander in off and on. The rest of the chickens keep to themselves. Carl, the potbellied pig, only comes inside to watch Jeopardy. He hears that music and comes running across the yard; it’s quite a sight.”

I squint at him. “You know what, while the contractors are working on your house, you should tell them to add some doors that close.”

He laughs and says, “I’ll take that under advisement.” And then he winks. God, that wink is too adorable and totally uncalled for.

“Still, that all sucks so bad. How did it start?”

“Gertie chewed up some old wiring that wasn’t properly maintained. I didn’t realize it until too late. The next time I started the broiler? Snap, crackle, pop. Kitchen wall caught fire right away, and it spread to the upstairs. I’m just glad it happened while I was awake.”

I shiver at the thought of him or any animals being hurt. “What were you cooking?”

Garrett’s eyebrows knit together in bemusement. “No one ever asked me that. Tortilla chips.”

I grin and sip my beer. “Here’s something you might not know. They sell tortilla chips at the market.”

He grins back at me. “Do they?”

“Yeah,” I say. “They got the good Mission kind too. Not just Frito-Lay. Take that under advisement, too.”

“Aw, but homemade is better.”

I cock my head to the side. “Burn-your-whole-house-down better?”

“Nah, just-singe-the-kitchen-and-bedroom better.”

“I look forward to a side-by-side comparison of these amazing house-destroying chips,” I say. “Maybe topped with some slow-roasted filets of house-destroying goat.”

Garrett rolls his head back and laughs loudly. Boy, am I glad he has a sense of humor about all that’s happened to him. It’s not like me to blurt out jokes at someone else’s expense, and I apologize.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t make jokes about goat meat.”

“Gertie can’t hear you; we’re good,” he says.

“Still. I feel like you need an opportunity to mock my sad story now. You want to have a go?”

“Absolutely,” he says. “Grams told me you broke up with your boyfriend and came here for some R&R and to get your mind off things. But she didn’t say why the breakup happened. If that’s too personal, we can let it go for now.”

I’m happy this isn’t a date because I would hate to ramble about my ex if it were, even if it were a date with a rebound guy. Which it isn’t. Not either of those things.

“A few weeks ago, he went on a spiritual quest, or a retreat, or whatever you want to call it, to Ecuador. I told him he was an idiot for going, that people should just leave those villagers alone. He came home and said he’d met the woman of his dreams while tripping on ayahuasca. She was on a plane to New York to be with him when he told me all this. Basically, he cheated on me and had no regrets about it because it was a spiritual experience. Fated mates or whatever. So, that’s four years of my life down the drain. Wasted with a guy who I thought was nice enough for me to overlook his hang-ups.”

For the first time today, a shadow washes over Garrett’s face. “What sort of hang-ups?”

Oops. I shouldn’t have hinted at that.

“It’s nothing,” I say, my cheeks heating.

He leans forward across the booth and says conspiratorially, “It’s not nothing if you had to make a choice to overlook it for four years.”

I take a long swallow of my beer. And then another. And then I down the rest of it, enjoying the cold, tasteless burn of one-dollar domestics. I would kill for a craft brew, but I know better than to say shit like that in Piper’s Grove.

“All right then, since we’re friends and both adults, I’ll just tell you. He wouldn’t…you know.”

“No, I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking,” he says.

“You’re smirking, Garrett. I know you know what I’m saying. He wouldn’t…”

“If you can’t even say it, then maybe that’s the real problem.”

I don’t know why but this makes me feel flames shooting out of my ears as my temper flares. “Jared refused to go down on me, okay?”

Observing him, I can see him working hard to control his reaction. He’s trying not to spook me. He goes from shock to dismay to concern in about three seconds.

“Wow.”

“Sorry, that was too much.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t be sorry. He should be sorry he’s missing out.”

My thighs clamp together automatically. “Excuse me?”

Garrett leans back in the booth, spreading out as casually as if he’s on his own couch. “I’m just saying. If a man likes women but doesn’t eat pussy, he ain’t a real man.”

He’s just saying this as a friend, Eliza. He doesn’t mean your pussy, specifically. Still, dark and dangerous things are happening between my legs, and my imagination runs wild.

I put my lips to my bottle, forgetting it’s empty. I look around for our server, clearing my throat. “I think I need another beer.”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Eliza. I was just speaking in general. I don’t find sex uncomfortable to talk