“Do you have any idea the theories that went through my mind after you took off? I wondered what I did wrong. I wondered where I went wrong because I would have done anything for you. I thought there was some other rebound guy you were seeing who happened to say all the right words to you—the words I didn’t know how to express. The words that were on the tip of my tongue every single second of every day.”
I slid to the ground and held my face through my cries.
“You left me broken. You left me to go through my divorce alone. She met someone new, and I was still laying where you left me, broken. You, Erika... you broke me. She never broke me. I never loved her.” He laughed. “Can you believe it took me so long to realize I never even loved her? It was an enormous weight lifted from my shoulders when she moved out that day. I never shed one tear for her. I shed them all for you. Every single tear I cried was from you, and for you.”
I begged for him to stop.
“I don’t know what I ever did to make you disappear like you did. Understand how I feel. How you left me. I came here to see you one last time. Just to see you. I don’t even know why, but I needed to see you. And you know what? All those feelings are still there. It hurts me so much to see you, but I love it. I’d hurt every day like this if I could see you. That’s what I told myself. There’s something about you that makes me feel alive, even if it’s almost too painful to bear.”
He knelt in front of me and set his hands on my shoulders. He then tilted my head against the wall and stared in my eyes. “I am so in love with you,” he confided as he wiped my eyes and kissed my lips. “Don’t do this to me.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing...” I sobbed. “I don’t want to make you feel that way ever again. I hate myself for how things ended, for how things went. I’ll never forgive myself...”
“Shhh.” He put his finger over my lips. “It’s over. The past is the past. We can move on from here.”
I nodded.
Both of us jumped at someone knocking on the door.
“It’s your neighbor,” Brooks said in an offended tone. “Why does he always show up unannounced like this?”
“I’ll take care of him,” I said as I stood, dried my eyes, and headed for the patio doors.
“Hey.” I smiled as I let him inside.
Easton looked at me, then at Brooks. “Ah... Am I interrupting anything?”
“No,” I answered as I blotted my eyes again.
Easton gave Brooks an awkward glance.
“You ever have someone in your past just show back up out of the blue, and you realize how much you love that person? But you regret how you left things?”
Easton just stood silently as I closed the patio doors.
“Well,” I continued. “Easton, Brooks and I... go back a few years, and I moved here without ever saying goodbye. Now, I’m just regretting how I just up and left and...”
“Oh, dear,” he responded as his eyes darted back and forth between Brooks and me.
“You’re Mr. out of the blue, I’m guessing,” Easton said as he stared at Brooks.
“Convicted and committed.” Brooks smiled.
“I’m just going to tell you two one thing...”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Make up. Work it out and never let each other go. With that being said, I’ll go. I just wanted to make sure both of you were doing okay.”
Brooks and I grinned.
“Yes, we’re both doing fine,” I replied as I wandered towards the island and sat on one of the tall chairs.
“Okay, well, I’ll let myself out, and you two work it out. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you,” Brooks and I spoke in unison.
Brooks followed him to the patio door and latched it after Easton left.
“I thought you said he rarely comes around?” Brooks asked.
“He barely does. This is the most he’s stopped by in months.” I shrugged as I took some deep breaths. “Also, this is the first winter storm I’ve been through up here, so maybe he’s just checking in to make sure I’m handling things okay.”
“There’s something odd about him. The way he looks at you. The way he comes to your patio door like he’s more than a neighbor.”
“Brooks, you need to stop right there.”
“Well...” He shrugged his shoulders. “Just from my observations.”
“Well, they’re wrong. I hardly know the man. In fact, you probably know him now, just as much as I do.”
“I need to take a shower,” he blurted as he left the room and headed upstairs.
I didn’t say anything. It felt like both of us needed some space and a little time to sift through everything that was said. I didn’t blame Brooks for hurting, and I was ashamed he had to carry that inside all these years. How was I to know he was alone? I didn’t have the energy to bring up her name yet and why I avoided talking to him altogether. It was nothing he did, it was her. And I wasn’t talking about his ex-wife. I could’ve dealt with the hatred from his ex-wife, but this other girl. She pushed it all over the edge. And he hadn’t brought up her name once. Why?
Chapter Five
I cried myself to sleep that night. I half-expected Brooks to get in his truck and leave without saying goodbye. After his shower, we remained silent most of the evening. It was like we were on this tightrope, and anything could flare up past regrets we didn’t realize were still raw and bleeding between us. At any minute, we could lose each other all over again.
Why did love always have to ache? My first marriage was a train wreck before I even stepped down the aisle. I assumed things would get better, and our relationship would thrive. Well, the deep love wasn’t honest enough, and only one of us wanted things to work out, and it wasn’t him.
Our marriage ended faster than it took to organize the wedding. Everything around me was a signal I overlooked. When I brought up my concerns to friends, they portrayed it to be cold feet and had to lug me down that aisle.
My divorce wasn’t as tumultuous as Brooks’ divorce, but it wore me down. It absorbed all my energy and confiscated every ounce of dignity and pride I had left. I heard the rumors and the lies but didn’t have the will to even defend myself. Yes, I ended up with Brooks on the tailgate of his truck, nude under the stars, talking about all that was wrong, including our forbidden romance that felt so right, even though both of us were married.
Of course, his wife found out, and our entire hometown knew of our sinful secret. The tale was that my divorce was because of Brooks when it wasn’t. I was getting divorced for reasons that had nothing to do with him. Since we were already inside the small-town scandal, we didn’t have the desire to end our lucid affair and played out every fantasy we’d had that summer. If I could only go back and adjust a few things.
“Knock-knock.”
I opened my eyes and rolled over to face the door.
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” I said as I battled to wake myself up.
Brooks walked over to the side of my bed and settled on top of the comforter.
“Can’t sleep?” I asked.
He laughed as he settled on his left side and peered at me. “No. Not at all. You?”
“I might have fallen asleep for a moment, but I don’t think I’ve slept much at all. What time is it?”
“1:17. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Remember when we used to take the back roads until we found a place to park.”
I laughed. “I thought about that tonight. All the times we enjoyed each other’s company in your truck.”
“That’s a cute way to put it.”
“What?”
“You know, I was so nervous that summer.”
“Why?”
He settled his head on the pillow and moved to his back. “You. I was so fascinated with you. Nervous that I wouldn’t be good enough. That you would think I wasn’t good enough in bed, you know... things like that.”
“Why would you even think
that?”
“I didn’t want to lose you, so I was so careful to do everything right. I wanted to say all the right words and make you forget all that you were going through. I wanted to rip you from that world and take you into mine, but I knew I couldn’t. I knew he still wanted you, and you, being his wife, I had no right to make that choice for you.”
“I had already made up my mind. I was leaving him. You knew that. I had filed the papers. We had a court date on the calendar and everything. We were over, well before I filed those papers.”
He exhaled.
“Brooks.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for everything. Stopping by, finishing my pantry, keeping me company, making me laugh, keeping me from stressing over this storm.”
He grinned as he set his hand over mine. “I wouldn’t wish to be trapped in a cabin with anyone else.”
“I second that.”
We lay in silence for a few minutes, listening to the storm raging outside.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Anything,” he said as he glanced at me.
“Like without an argument.”
He acknowledged.
“I left town because of someone else.”
He laughed. “I kind of knew it. I just had a feeling about it.”
“I’m not talking about another man. There was no other man in my life besides you. You were the only one.”
He now looked puzzled as he stared at me.
“I left because of her. Alicia.”
Silence.
My heart pounded louder than it had in a long time. “I wanted so bad to run to you, I really did.”
“I wish you would have.”
“I know. But she’s the reason I changed my email address, phone number, sold my house and moved into the first apartment I could find. I couldn’t stand the rumors anymore. And she continued calling and telling me things that only you and I had talked about. Things that were supposed to remain between us. Somehow, she knew a lot more than she should have, and she shoved it in my face how you desired her more than you needed me.”
“Oh, Erika.”
“I just needed you to know that I didn’t leave because of you.”
“Can we just leave it all in the past now?”
“I’d love that.”
He laid the top of his chest over mine, set his elbows near my shoulders, and kissed me slow and hard, like we knew it was our last kiss. I shifted my hands to grip his and went into every kiss with every unsaid word I had inside me. I wanted to cry because this felt so right. My heart felt whole, and I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anyone else. I wanted to cry because I knew the moment this storm was over, he’d be gone from my life again.
He got rougher with every kiss, and his grip tightened on my wrists as he held them onto the mattress. It felt so good; his body all over mine, making me crave him with every vigorous and wanted kiss. This was what years of built-up love could do—cause you to lust over and over like a vicious cycle, not wanting to stop. I needed his hands on me and his arms around me.
My eyes caught sight of the lights flashing in the loft. Of course, I thought it was odd, but I couldn’t stop Brooks. I didn’t want to stop him. But the lights kept blinking, and he continued holding me tight against him. I was on the verge of tearing myself from the sheets between us, just to touch his skin to mine.
A deafening boom broke our pulse, and both of us stared out into the loft between our rooms.
“Are you effing kidding me right now?” Brooks sighed. “Stay here. I’ll check it out. Did we lock all the doors?”
“I don’t remember,” I said as I sat upright in bed.
“Stay here,” he said again as he raced out to the loft.
I waited for what felt like twenty minutes for him to return.
“It looks like the power is out. The box must be near your property. I think that’s the loud boom we heard.”
“For real?”
“Yeah,” he acknowledged. “Good thing you have a wood fireplace, or you’d freeze.”
“Guess we’d better get that going. It will take a bit to warm this place up. Is the power out at the neighbors?”
“I’m sure he can fend for himself. He’s a big boy.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
He left my bed and strode across the loft towards his room. I bolted from the bed and followed him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get some more wood, so we can keep that fire going.”
“I have some downstairs.”
“Yeah, but not enough to get us through until morning. Have you ever used your fireplace?”
“No,” I said. “This is the first.”
“All right. I’ll be right back.”
Once I heard the front door close, I headed back into my room and stared towards Easton’s cabin. I couldn’t tell if he had power. I wasn’t positive how many cabins were on the same box I was on. I was sure Easton’s would be since his place was so close to mine. Of course, it was two in the morning, and he would have the lights off.
I heard Brooks rustling with the fireplace downstairs and went to join him.
“I have to admit, Erika, I’ve never seen weather like this before. We’ve been in many snowstorms, but this one holds the trophy. It’s almost up to the roof of my truck.”
“No way.”
“Yeah,” he shrieked. “You might be stuck with me for a little over three days. I’m afraid of what it’s going to look like in another day or two if the snow is supposed to continue falling.”
“Well, no wonder people leave this area before the snow hits.”
I watched him place wood into the fireplace and light the fire. He sat back and stared at it for a while as I bundled up in the blanket on the couch.
“And that’s how you start a fireplace at two in the morning during a blizzard.”
I laughed at him as he stood and rubbed his hands to warm them.
“What?” He scowled as he stepped towards me.
I shrieked when he put his icy hands around my neck.
“Is that cold enough for you now?” he chuckled.
“Brooks, that’s freezing!” I wailed as I laughed.
“Let me warm up,” he ordered as he snatched the blanket from me, held me down on the couch, and lay on top of me.
Chapter Six
“Oh, shit!” I whispered as I sat up in bed.
“What?” Brooks said as he stretched out next to me in my bed.
“I was supposed to email Margo back last night, and I forgot. And now the power is out and...”
“There’s not a lot you can do. Unless your cell works. Call her. What time is it?”
“8:23.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand when she finds out we have no power and had no way to email her. C’mon.” He reached his arm out and drew me back into bed.
I snuggled up to him and closed my eyes. My body still trembled, sore and relaxed as I lay in his arms. There were few men out there who didn’t know what they were doing in bed, and I’d had my fair share of those men. Brooks was one of the few who did everything right.
“I love waking up with you,” he whispered as he kissed the top of my head.
“I love waking up with you,” I whispered back. “Thank you for starting the fire this morning.”
“No. Thank you,” he stressed. “I’ve been wanting you for so long. I had to stop myself from grabbing you the moment you opened the door when I first got here. And later that night when we talked and... ugh...” He took a deep breath. “All that built-up energy and frustration. At least I was about to release some of it. I still feel like I need you again.”
I grinned. “I’m down with that.”
“How about when we wake up?”
“How about after breakfast? You can sleep in. I’ll go down and make some breakfast. I need to get some more writing done, anyway.”
“Erika?”
“Ye
s?”
“The power’s out. What are you thinking of making for breakfast?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Erika?”
“Yes, Brooks.”
“The power’s out. How do you think you’re going to work on your book?”
“Well, Brooks, I’m going to write as long as the battery lasts. I charge it every night, so I’m hoping I have a few solid hours on it.”
“Okay.”
“You can stay here. I’ll wake you in a few hours.”
“Okay.”
I got out of bed, put on some leggings and a sweatshirt, and headed downstairs. I knew it was selfish of me, but I didn’t want him to leave. I knew he had to get back to Jaden, but I wanted my time with him too. We had a lot of time to make up for. Living here was so perfect for me, and I knew Brooks could never live here with me. He had shared custody of Jaden, and I’d never make him choose his son over me.
I was so far away from that town. Free from all the stress and the drama. Free to live my life and excel in my career without the constant distractions from people every time I left my house. Up here, no one knew my past, and I was sure if they did, they would accept me either way and not hold it against me. That was just the way everyone in this neighborhood made me feel. Accepted and welcomed with open arms. I couldn’t have asked for a better neighborhood.
A knock on the front door startled me, I dropped the glass of ice water I was holding.
Who would knock on my front door this early on a Sunday morning?
I walked over to peek through the glass.
“Easton,” I said as I opened the door. “C’mon in. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Are you without power too?”
“Yes. We are. It went out around one thirty this morning.”
“Oh, wow. I must have been in a deep sleep. I always sleep with a fan, and I never noticed the power go out.”
“Okay, just checking to make sure it wasn’t only my place.” He turned to leave.
“Easton?”
“Yes?”
“So, when we call, how long do you think it might take them to get the power back on?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Might depend on their schedule. If you’d like, I can call when I get back to my place.”
The Stranger In the Guest Room Page 3
