Kate nodded. “It’s so aggravating when you’ve done nothing wrong and no one believes you.”
“Okay, fine.” Landon stepped closer to her, his gaze coming down hard on hers. “I’ve learned my lesson from the cattle drive. This time, I believe you’re completely innocent. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for you to be at my house, wet and naked, so that you needed to rifle through my room for something to wear.”
Kate was probably wrong to enjoy his apology as much as she did. She took a step, closing the distance between them. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was wearing a bath towel, and I went through the clothes in the dryer.”
“You’re going to tell me what happened eventually, right?”
She opened her mouth to do that, but the door swung open again. Jaxon came in, peering over his shoulder. “How come Angelina is driving like a bat out of hell in Landon’s truck?” He turned and caught sight of them. As his gaze went over Kate, she realized how close she stood to Landon and what it must look like.
Jaxon burst out laughing. “This is priceless.”
Landon lifted his hands as though to halt his brother’s thought process. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“I’m sure it’s not,” Jaxon said. “That’s why it’s priceless.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket. “You don’t mind if I have photographic proof of this moment, do you?”
“Yes,” Kate and Landon said together.
Jaxon chuckled again. “The straight arrow goes astray. Ethan and Dillon have gotta see this.”
Landon stepped in front of Kate to prevent Jaxon’s shot. “Do it and I will break your phone.”
“All right.” Jaxon gave up his photographic attempts and put his phone away. He still seemed much too entertained by the situation. “I take it Audrey threw up a lot?”
Kate pushed still wet strands of hair behind her ear. “Her comforter is in the wash with my clothes.”
“I’ll go check on her.” Jaxon strolled past them to the stairs.
“She’s asleep,” Kate said. “Or at least she was before all the commotion down here.”
Jaxon disappeared up the stairs. Landon’s head tilted backward, and he let out a relieved breath. “You were babysitting, and Audrey threw up on you?”
“Yes, although I think it says something about you that you immediately thought I’d been sleeping with Jaxon, and your girlfriend immediately assumed I’d been sleeping with you.”
“Angelina is just a friend.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “If she was just a friend, she wouldn’t have gotten so furious when she saw me here.”
Landon unbuttoned his suit coat. “We’ve been friends since high school, but lately she’s gotten it into her mind that we should be more.”
Well, Angelina did have good taste. “You were out on a date with her tonight. That’s not really afriendactivity, so I can see how she would be confused.”
“She asked me to her sister’s art show because she needed a date. I was willing to go, but as you heard, I told her we needed to talk. I wanted to let her down gently. This…” he motioned in Kate’s direction, “…was not so gentle.”
Oh. That changed things considerably. Kate ought to feel bad for the way she’d egged Angelina on. Instead she found herself fighting back a smile. Landon wasn’t a player. He hadn’t been flirting with her when he had a girlfriend, which meant that his flirting a few days ago meant something. He might be interested in her, or at least might have been until she’d made herself look catty by pushing Angelina over the edge. That, in retrospect, hadn’t been Kate’s best moment.
“Sorry,” she murmured. She mostly meant it. Pitying Angelina was much easier now that she knew Landon wasn’t dating her. “I’ll call her and explain that I was babysitting.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll text her.” He took his phone from his pocket. “And I’d better do it now. Otherwise, she’ll start telling people her theories about why you were here in my underwear.” He shook his head as he wrote the message. “Considering how mad you got at me for making folks think the worst of you, I’m surprised you didn’t set her straight right off.”
Kate wasn’t about to admit to jealousy. “I don’t know what came over me. I guess once people know you’re plotting to build a cowboy caddy golf course, no redemption is left. You might as well embrace a fallen reputation.”
“Uh huh,” he said, still texting.
She raised her hand to make a pledge. “But next time I show up somewhere unexpectedly in your underwear, I’ll let people know why right away.”
That earned her a smile. “Planning a repeat performance?”
“Everyone needs a hobby.”