by ML Nystrom
“Sounds like a plan.”
Twelve
I opened my car door, and a very eager dog scrambled over me to escape the vehicle. “Ouch, watch the claws.”
He turned and gave me a doggie huff before exploring the perimeter security of the cottage.
“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice, Pal. I told you several times if you’re going to live with me, you have to have your shots and regular baths.”
He answered me by cocking his leg up and peeing on a tire.
“Oh, you turkey! That’s such a nice way to say thank you for a warm home and regular food.”
Garrett’s work truck stood parked close by, and Pal decided to water that one as well. The canine shook himself from head to toe and trotted off
“Don’t you roll in anything nasty!”
“You think he’s really going to understand you?”
I turned to see Garrett come out of the farmhouse, where he’d spent the day working on the kitchen. He had on a heavy plaid shirt, jeans, and a tool belt. A ping of lust hit my belly as visions of book cover models sped through my brain. I’d bet he would make a best seller just with his picture.
“No, I know he doesn’t understand me. He does everything I ask him not to. So far, he’s torn the stuffing out of his bed, chewed up two pairs of my favorite shoes, and buried a small mountain of treats in the sofa cushions.”
Garrett chuckled. “There’s an easy solution to that problem. He can move back to his old accommodations.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Ew. I’m not going to make him live in the dirt under my cottage, especially after paying for grooming. Besides, he belonged to someone once and is used to being indoors.”
“How do you know that?”
“No microchip, but the vet said he’s already been neutered.”
Garrett shuddered. “Oy. That’s a horrifying thought.”
I shrugged. “Not so much for me. This free dog is already costing me enough without an additional surgery.”
“So you’re claiming him?”
“I think he claimed me.”
He smiled at my joke. Goodness me, he was handsome.
He jerked his head to the interior of the house. “Want to come in and check out your kitchen area? Owen came by earlier today and helped me get the appliances installed. The faucets are in, and I just finished the last of the cabinets.”
As I passed him, I caught a whiff of his scent. It was a combination of sawdust, grease, sweat, and man. Not at all like the spicy cologne Karl used to wear, but I found it oddly attractive.
The kitchen was magnificent, even without paint. The knotty pine cabinets gleamed with their light varnish and black strap hinges, giving them a rustic look. Wood countertops would have been nice for looks, but I went with granite for durability, and the tan and black peppered stone fit the look perfectly.
“It’s almost too pretty to use.” I clapped my hands together in delight.
Garrett moved to the large double door refrigerator that had the doors zip-tied shut. “This big mother isn’t plugged in yet. No sense in opening her up until you need her.”
Gah, why did my mind immediately go to sex? “Everything looks fantastic, Garrett. You’ve made me very happy.” Wanna make me happier? Take me on the kitchen counter.
He flushed red as if he heard my thoughts. “Come look in the dining room.”
I followed him into the spacious room.
“We had enough leftover countertop to build a second one here for buffet service. The extra wall space helped with that. All the plaster cracks are sealed, and new trim put up. All we need now is your paint colors. We’ll finish putting in the wood floors after the walls are done, then you’ll need to figure out if you want rugs in here or runners, and what pictures you want on the walls.”
I sighed. Garrett’s eye for detail was amazing and his vision lined up with mine as if we shared brain cells. I had a big dose of physical lust for the man, but I also had a great appreciation for his talents as a craftsman. Garrett MacAteer had more to him than big shoulders and a cute ass. A lot more. “This is going to be great. Are we on schedule?”
Garrett nodded. “Yeah, but barely. I’d like to be ahead if possible. We’re not out of winter yet, and from what Beverly tells me, Mother Nature can be a real bitch this time of year. She said they’ve had winters where barely any snow falls, and others that snowed and iced over for days to weeks. Even the kids got tired of it and prayed to get back to school.”
“We got the same kind of weather in Charlotte, but I have to say living in a downtown luxury condo is not the same as living in a barebones cottage outside of the city. Winter wasn’t that much different from other seasons. It’s definitely prettier here. And colder.”
“Yeah, speaking of which, is your furnace problem sorted now?”
I ran my hands over the smooth counter. “Yes. I have a new unit on the way. If you can take time to install it, that would be great.”
I looked up as Garrett groaned. His eyes burned on my fingers as they trailed over the cold stone. He jammed his hands into his pockets and shook himself, much like Pal.
“No problem. Just let me know the delivery date.”
Silence descended between us. I was completely attuned to him. Every shift of his weight, every gesture, every breath.
“Garrett?”
“Bertie.” His voice was rough, and he cleared his throat. “Bernadette, I think—”
I didn’t let him finish. I stepped into him and pulled his mouth to mine. He resisted for half a second, then let me kiss him. I licked at his lips, opening them to me, making him accept me, until, with a harsh growl, he let go. He lifted me to plant my ass on the open counter and pushed between my legs. Memories of this move from New Year’s Eve had me gasping and clutching him tight. Lust pooled low in my belly.
“Yes,” I moaned.
He explored my mouth, tasting and touching. The flavor of cinnamon lingered on his tongue. I knew he chewed gum sometimes when he worked.
I ran my hands down from his neck, over his wide shoulders to his firm chest. The thought occurred to me that while I’d had this man’s dick inside me, I’d never seen him naked. My fingers had the same idea as they popped open the buttons to his plaid work shirt. I pulled it down over his arms, partially trapping them. He wore a thin tank top underneath, and without hesitation I dug my fingers into it and ripped it down the middle. Garrett let out a hissing breath as his chest was bared.
I placed my palms over his skin. He radiated heat as I let them slide over his pecs. When I rasped his nipples with my thumbs, he jumped and groaned into my mouth. I did it again. And again. The sense of having power over this man went to my head. Garrett started shaking as I pinched and rolled the hard nubs, feeling their rough texture as they tightened. His hand gripped my hips as his mouth devoured mine. Heated desire filled me as I reached lower, over the ridges of his stomach, to his belt buckle, just past the zipper. He snatched my hand away as best he could with the shirt restricting him. Mere centimeters of air were between me and my prize.
He pulled his mouth away and buried his face in my neck. His breath sawed in and out of him like he’d just run a marathon. “Please don’t touch me now. I’m about to embarrass meself.”
That made me want to touch him more. “Garrett, we’re both single adults and wildly attracted to each other. We can go over to my place and share a bed this time.” My voice came out thick with need. He wasn’t the only one about to embarrass themselves.
“Bertie, we agreed the night we got together like this, it was a fluke. Both of us were in bad places and needed each other at that time. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you now. I do. I want you so bad, it hurts. But I know me. If I come inside you again, it won’t be just to scratch an itch. It will be because you belong to me. You’d be my woman, and I’d be your man. If we go to bed right now, it would be more about getting off, and I don’t think that’s right for either of us. I can’t do friends with
benefits, ’cause I guarantee my heart will get involved. I don’t think you can do that either, can you?”
Part of me wanted to answer him with a resounding yes. I wanted him to fill that aching void inside me bad enough I’d say anything to get him in my bed and body. The problem was that another part understood his logic, and he was right. Friends with benefits, fuck buddies, booty calls, whatever the title, my emotions would be a part of it. As much as I wanted to be wired that way, I wasn’t, any more than he was. Both of us were too vulnerable, and our hearts sat on the line. Honestly, it was kind of refreshing and nice to hear that he had that much integrity. There was still a part of me that was scared to death of losing him, and another part that feared the unknowns of gaining him. My brain overruled my hormones, and my only question was: What do we do now?
He stepped back and shrugged his shirt back on his shoulders. The tank lay in tatters on his chest, and I tried not to stare at the clean lines of his abs. “I have an idea for you. I think we should go on a date.”
I didn’t expect that sentence. “A date? You mean like dinner-and-a-movie kind of thing?”
He let go of my hand and placed both of his on my knees. “Yeah. That’s what two people do when they meet and are interested in each other, right? They go out, get to know each other, that sort of thing. Asheville has lots of restaurants. Might look for a place that has a band on the weekends, or we could go see a show. What do you think?”
His hands circled my kneecaps. I suspected his movement came from nerves as he waited for my answer. Dating. I hadn’t done that in a long time with any kind of seriousness. I didn’t count the setups my sister kept trying to make for me. After Owen, I put the kibosh on it and hadn’t been on one since. The idea of going out with Garrett sparked excitement in me. “I think that’s a great idea. This weekend?”
The tension visibly bled out of him. “Sounds good. Saturday night okay with you?”
“Sure. What do you want to do?”
“How ’bout we start with the dinner-and-a-movie thing and see where it goes?”
I smiled with genuine anticipation. “You’re on.”
Garrett sat back in his truck after driving away from Bertie’s place. He was in a good place. Better than he had been in a long time.
“A date,” he whispered out loud over the growl of the engine. “I have a date. With Bertie. Saturday night.”
He was excited by it. Excited by her. There was no doubt of the physical attraction, but there was more to it than that. She was smart but not pretentious, and that meant a lot to him. Joy teased him about only having a high school diploma, but Bertie didn’t seem to judge. She listened to him when he had advice about construction needs and appreciated his expertise. He thought about how comfortable she acted in her own skin. She could be in a power suit or in sweats and still be herself. He admired that about her, and his intrigue grew daily. He liked her, and not just as a friend.
Too soon. But was it really? Was it too soon for him to find a new woman in his life? Rebounds often didn’t work out, and maybe this would be the same, but fear about the future wasn’t enough to deter him from trying.
“It’s a date. More is yet to be determined,” he told himself. “And I can’t wait.”
Thirteen
A date. I had I date. What did I wear? A bit dressy or casual? What should I order at the restaurant? Rabbit food or a real meal? Would there be a goodnight kiss? I’d better not eat anything with onions or garlic. What if he ate onions and garlic?
My mind raced like a teenager going out for the first time. Appropriate, since I hadn’t been on a real date in over ten years. Karl and I had stopped going anywhere other than the occasional restaurant, and I couldn’t remember the last time I sat in a movie theatre.
I watched from the porch as his truck drove up to its usual spot in front of my cottage. My heart pounded, and my head grew light as he got out of the vehicle. Damn, he was a handsome man! Nice khaki pants, blue dress shirt, and his black leather jacket. Casual, made even more so by the tan cowboy boots on his feet. I swallowed twice as he approached in his easy sauntering manner.
“Hey.” His greeting came from his smiling mouth. “You look nice.”
“Right back at you.” Goodness, how did my mouth get so dry? “You look nice yourself.” If only he knew how long it took me to pick out my outfit. Because of the cold weather, I chose a pair of boot-cut dress pants that had a high waist with a houndstooth pattern, and a black mock turtleneck with a front keyhole cutout. My black boots had a short heel, and I carried my thick red winter poncho. I didn’t style my hair, just let it dry and curl on its own, but I took extra care with my makeup. My eyes were smoky, and I had on a dash of red lipstick.
He reached out a hand to me. “Ready to go?”
I picked up my clutch purse and took his hand. “Yes.” Butterflies flew around in my stomach, and I moved stiffly as I tried to get them settled.
“Nervous?” he asked after I climbed into the truck cab.
I buckled the safety belt before I met his gaze. “I admit it. I am a little nervous.”
He smiled. “Me too.”
Those butterflies took off again. This time in the form of 747s.
He took us to a basic chain restaurant. Not exactly a foodie’s dream, but a safe bet for two people that didn’t know each other all that well. We ate and talked. He told me about growing up in a working family, traveling from job to job, living in an RV with his brothers for most of the year and only going back to what they called “home base” a few months out of the year. He went to so many schools, it was a miracle he graduated high school. What he didn’t talk about was his ex-fiancée.
“All I can tell you is I thought I loved her and she loved me. It didn’t work, and I’m trying to rebuild my life. Maybe I can tell you more sometime, but right now, I’m still working through it, and it wouldn’t be right to dump everything on you. Make sense?”
I nodded and started to fold an extra paper napkin on the table. The remnants of the chocolate lava cake we decided to split sat between us as we lingered in the restaurant before heading to the movie theater. “I get that. There’s a lot to process about Karl and me that I didn’t expect. I’m not sure I need to dump all that on you either.”
He grinned at me and took one last bite of the sweet. “We can save that for date number two.”
“So we’re having a second date?” I completed folding the paper napkin into a swan and placed it in the middle of the table.
“Absolutely.” He poked at the figure and picked it up to take with us.
We drove to the big AMC theater near the mall. I liked that he opened the doors for me and treated me like a lady. Maybe old-fashioned, but I enjoyed the attention. Garrett took my hand in his as we walked up to the box office. “What kinds of movies do you like?”
“Action, drama, chick flicks of course, some thrillers, but nothing with bloody horror or slasher films. They freak me out too much.”
He smiled. “I guess you never saw the original The Thing from 1982?”
I shuddered. “Yes, I did. Karl owns a collection of classic horror films, and I sat through more than one of them. He never did get that I didn’t like them and couldn’t understand why I got mad when he asked me to watch one with him.”
“Why did you?”
I perused the offerings scrolling by on the lighted marquee. “It made him happy. I guess we do things we don’t like for people we love if it gives them a little joy. What kinds of movies do you like?”
Garrett turned to the marquee. “I don’t have a particular preference. I like the same ones you do, but I don’t have a problem with horror movies. Since I picked the restaurant, you pick the movie.”
I grinned. “How ’bout the new rom-com?”
He looked at me in amusement. “Sounds good.”
“Maybe the Broadway musical film?”
A pained expression crossed his features. “Sure.”
“Or the Disney carto
on one?”
He grimaced a little. “I took Mattie and Sarah to see that one last Sunday afternoon, but if you really want to see it, I’ll watch it again.”
“You sat through a Disney princess film for your niece and nephew?”
One shoulder came up. “It had some good songs.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst into laughter. Several people gave me weird looks as they walked around us to the ticket booth.
“That’s so funny!”
“Sometimes we do things we don’t like for the people we love.”
I stuck my tongue out at him for repeating my words. He laughed at me and put his arm around my shoulders as we made our way to the growing ticket line.
Warm fuzzies landed in my stomach at his touch. I could get used to this. “How ’bout the latest Marvel release? Can’t go wrong with superheroes, right?”
We got our tickets and declined popcorn, but we did get a drink and two straws. He grabbed the big paper cup in one hand and took mine in the other. I snatched a few napkins as he led me into the theater. It had the fancy reclining seats and filled quickly. We settled back and watched the ads, chatting about films we’d seen and enjoyed and one we didn’t like. I folded a crane, a fish, and a flower. He examined them all and smiled at them.
He had his arm around me the entire time we watched the film and I stayed acutely aware of his presence. He chuckled when I jerked at the sudden jump scare scenes, and stroked my fingers during the poignant moments. At one point, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Do you always cry at movies?”
I sniffed and whispered back, “Commercials too.”
He kissed my temple before settling back in his seat.
A moment later an icy shower of liquid landed on me as a full cup of cold soda poured down over the balcony. I screeched and scrambled to get out of the seat, but because of the reclining angle, I couldn’t jump up immediately. Garrett had the presence of mind to hit both chair buttons to raise the backs. I twisted and yelped as little chunks of ice slithered down my bra several times before the motors got us into a position to stand. Other moviegoers around us started watching the show I was putting on rather than the action sequence on the screen.
