His breath was hot and fast against her ear, and she turned her head enough to kiss his rough cheek. He made an appreciative sound and kissed her neck. They slowly caught their breath and after a couple of minutes he rolled away. With her eyes still closed, she felt him get out of bed, but he was back before she’d summoned the energy to open them again.
Until he pulled her close and kissed her on the mouth. Then she opened her eyes and smiled up at him. He was propped on his elbow, and he kissed her again before he let his head drop to the pillow next to hers.
“You’re not going to put this in a book, are you?”
The question surprised a chuckle out of her. “I snuck my notebook under the pillow. You didn’t see me taking notes?”
“That must have been when I had my eyes closed, trying to picture box scores and algebra equations to, uh...slow things down, if you know what I mean.”
“How can Inotuse that in a book?” She wouldn’t, but if he was going to dish out the teasing, he was going to take it, as well.
“It’s gotta be worth a whole chapter, at least.” He kissed the side of her neck, his mouth lingering there so he could probably feel the way her pulse quickened. “Maybe two.”
Chapter Eleven
Happy Monday, everybody! This morning the Old Home Day committee asked the town clerk to draw a “What I love about Stonefield” card from the box and the winner of a basket of gift cards from local businesses is Paul Jenkins! Usually we share what the winner loves about our town, but his favorite spot in town is very personal to him and his wife. Congratulations, Paul! And our friends at the Stonefield Police Department offer a friendly reminder that public indecency is against the law.
—Stonefield GazetteFacebook Post
Case opened his eyes to find Boomer standing next to the bed, staring down at him, with his front paws on the mattress. For a few seconds, he was confused because the dog wasn’t shy about jumping on the bed, but then his brain was jolted fully awake by memories of last night flooding through his mind.
Making love to Gwen. Her sitting on his couch in nothing but one of his T-shirts while they ate chocolate ice cream straight from the carton. Making love to her again.
Boomer was standing next to the bed staring at him because Gwen was in the dog’s spot. Thank goodness Boomer was a creature of habit, though, because Case had forgotten to turn his alarm on before he fell asleep. He kept an alarm clock next to his bed instead of using the alarm on his phone because he absolutely hated forgetting to shut it off and getting woken up at five thirty on a holiday Monday.
Sliding out of bed as quietly as he could, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and gestured for Boomer to follow him out of the room. Even though he had to go to work, there was no reason to wake Gwen. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t find her way home from here.
After brewing a first cup of coffee, he heard footsteps upstairs, so he hit the brew button on a second cup. He’d just finished fixing them and setting them on the table when Gwen came down the stairs. Her T-shirt was inside out and she was rocking some serious bedhead, but what really caught his attention was the utter panic on her face.
“I didn’t mean to go to sleep. How am I supposed to sneak back in now?”
He sat and took a sip of his coffee, gesturing at the one he’d made for her. “Well, you’re an adult, so you could try just walking through the front door because you’re free to do whatever you want.”
As she sat, she shot him a look that let him know in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t about to do that, and his high spirits sank a little. Would it really be that bad if her family knew she’d spent the night at his house? “I don’t want to answer a million questions about us. Or even one question.”
“Is this still about me dating Mallory in high school?”
She snorted and waved her hand. “No, you were right about that. It’s just easier if nobody knows.”
Easier for her maybe. “So tell them you got up early and wanted to ask me something about the brewery.”
“They would never believe I was up and dressed and out of the house before my mother even got out of bed.” She took a sip of coffee and then sighed. “They’re used to me sleeping later than they do, so I’ll just wait until Mom and Mallory and the boys leave, because I can probably sneak by Evie. She’ll either be in her room or be staring at her phone.”
After downing half his coffee, he pushed back from the table and stood. “I have to get ready for work, but feel free to sit here and hide.”
She must have heard the bite in his tone because he only made it halfway across the kitchen before she spoke. “Case, wait. I’m sorry. I realize how it sounds, but it’s not about you and me. I’m not sorry I got to wake up beside you. But there’s so much going on and there’s no...break from it. And I don’t want this added to the conversational chaos I’ve been living in over there.”
The earnestness in her eyes softened him. “I get it. I mean, I’m not thrilled about being some secret you have to keep from our friends and family, but I also know how they can be.”
“And how this town is.”
He realized that was part of it, too. While they joked about last night ending up in one of her books, it was something she’d experienced in Stonefield—people seeing themselves in the pages of her books and not being happy about it. Gossip about Gwen Sutton would spread like wildfire, and the locals probably wouldn’t be shy about asking her if Case was going to be in her next book. It would be embarrassing and incredibly awkward for her.
But he didn’t think that was all of it. If she was really into him as much as he wished she was, Gwen might still want to keep them a secret from the town as much as possible, but she wouldn’t be so stressed about hiding it from her family. She might be clinging to the upheaval in her family’s lives the way she’d tried to use his past relationship with Mallory—as a reason to keep him at a distance because she wasn’t staying, and everybody knowing about them would just make it messier when she left. For now, though, he was content to let it be.
“I do have to get dressed, though,” he said. “Just drink your coffee and relax, and I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Since he generally took his showers in the evening, thanks to his job, it didn’t take him long to throw on some clothes and brush his teeth. As he was heading back down the stairs, he heard the slamming of car doors across the street and knew Ellen and Mallory were leaving to drop the boys at their summer day camp before opening the thrift shop. In a few minutes it would be safe for Gwen to sneak across the street as though she’d done something wrong.
