Читать книгу The Nerd Who Loved Me - Liz Talley - Страница 5

Chapter Two

Howard Donald Long III, aka Tripp, narrowed his eyes when he realized who stood beside him. He should have recognized that tight round butt. After all, it belonged to the girl who still popped up in his dreams on a regular basis.

“Mary B.”

“What’re you doing out here…and driving that?” She pointed at his new car.

Tripp knew he should have resisted the urge to prove something to the people of Bonnet Creek by buying the BMW, but he had to admit it drove like a dream. “What’s wrong with my car?”

She studied it in the fading sunlight. “It’s a bit much, don’t you think?”

“I’m not seeking anyone’s approval.” The anymore was implied.

Mary Belle closed her mouth, stuck her hands in the back pockets of her cutoffs—the motion doing amazing things for her breasts—and looked guilty.

He shifted his gaze away from the Bonnet Creek Owls T-shirt that fit her like a second skin. He didn’t relish standing knee deep on pitted blacktop with a hard-on over a woman he’d spent nearly five years hating.

Okay, not hating. Just resenting.

Besides, he’d outgrown his crush on Mary Belle. Sort of. But he couldn’t stop the pleasure he took watching her squirm. She’d treated him no better than the mud on the bottom of her boot. She deserved the discomfort.

“You look different. More like your daddy.” She dug the rim of her flip-flop into the gravel.

He smiled the smile he reserved for pretty women and stubborn patients. “Did you think I’d have acne, knock knees and oily hair forever? Everyone grows up, Mary B.”

She raked him up and down with a bold gaze. “Sure, but you turned out pretty hot.”

And with those words, Tripp Long felt a little piece of redemption click into his soul. “I work out.”

Mary Belle laughed, and a familiar feeling stirred inside him—that old longing for the girl next door who washed her car in an itty-bitty bikini, very aware of the gawky Tripp peering out from behind his backyard fence.

Then her blue eyes met his and he saw the awareness there.

Well, then.

“So, will you give me a ride into town?” she asked.

“It’s not that far. You can walk.”