I can hear the regret in his voice, and I answer it with a small frown. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I really should be going.”
Reid stands up, and helps me put on my coat. “At least let me walk you to your car.” He puts some bills down on the bar, and signals to the bartender. I quickly realize he’s paid for my drinks as well as his own, and the nachos that we both ended up snacking on.
“Reid, you don’t need to pay for me,” I chide as I rummage in my purse for my wallet. His large hand comes up to cover mine and I look up at him to see a warm smile on his face.
“Please, just let me. I had a great time tonight, thanks to you.”
I hesitate, and his hand gently squeezes mine.
“Okay. Thank you,” I murmur back. This man is seriously too good to be true. We walk outside to the parking lot, and over to my car, which is under a streetlamp. “So, this is me.” I don’t know how I want tonight to end, but Reid makes the decision for me when he leans down and softly kisses my cheek.
“I know you said you don’t kiss strangers, but we aren’t strangers anymore, are we?” His warm breath tickles my cheek.
We are, considering I know nothing about this man and have kept everything important about myself a secret, but I don’t care in this moment. Who knows which one of us makes the decision to turn our heads, but we do. And now it’s not my cheek that he’s kissing, it’s my lips, and it feels amazing. He groans and slants his head to take it deeper. His hands are threaded in my curly brown hair, and he’s holding me with the perfect amount of gentle strength. I can feel the intensity of all his focus being on me, on us, and on this kiss. It’s powerful, heady, and it’s sending warm waves through my body that coalesce between my legs. I bring my arms around his waist and let them drift down his back. I don’t know what’s come over me, I’ve never felt this sensual and forward in my life. But something about Reid makes me lose all inhibitions, and I swear if we weren’t in the middle of a parking lot, I would be begging him to tear off my clothes and take me.
But we are in a parking lot.
And I have a daughter waiting for me.
Layla.
The thought of her snaps me out of the lust-filled spell Reid has me under, and I take a step back. We’re both breathing heavily, and my hand comes up to touch my lips. They are swollen from our kisses and the fire in Reid’s eyes is almost enough to elicit a moan. Whether it’s a moan of disappointment that this can’t go any further, or pure desire, I don’t know.
“I have to go, Reid.”
He nods and takes another step back, sliding his hands into his pockets. When he speaks, his voice his rough. “Goodbye, Abby.”
He watches as I get in my car and start the engine. As I drive out of the parking lot and turn toward Dogwood Cove and the responsibilities waiting for me there, I glance in my rearview mirror.
As Reid grows smaller and smaller, and the distance between us becomes longer and longer, I slip into mom mode, relegating my memories of tonight into a little box in the back of my mind.
For one night, I wasn’t Abby Martin, single mom and unemployed insurance claims adjustor turned stand-in farmer. Tonight I was simply Abby, single woman, spending an evening with the most handsome man I have ever met, and probably will ever meet.
Too bad Abby will probably never have another night like tonight.
Chapter two
1 month later
Reid
“Mr. Corser, we have a problem.”
Words no principal wants to hear at four o’clock on a Friday, especially not two weeks before winter break starts. I lift my head from my computer where I’m trying to finish up some emails for a districtwide anti-bullying protocol I’m in the middle of updating. One of my grade one teachers is standing in my doorway, twisting her fingers together nervously.
“What’s wrong?”
She takes a nervous step into my office, her eyes going everywhere except at me. “Well, see, next Monday is the annual grade one field trip to the Martin Farm. The kids look forward to it all year. They get to explore, meet the animals, and learn all about Christmas trees. The problem is, we need to have enough chaperones, and one of our parents just backed out with the flu. I’ve reached out to the other families, and to all of the support staff, but no one is available on such short notice. So I was wondering if maybe you would join us.”
The last sentence is said in a rush, as if she’s hoping that saying it quickly will soften the blow. It’s not that I don’twantto go on a field trip to a farm, it actually sounds like a lot of fun. It’s more the fact that as Miss Denton herself knows, I’m under multiple deadlines right now, both for our school, and for the district. Plus, our winter concert is coming up, and I stupidly agreed to help construct the set. Granted, my friend Ethan is helping — okay, more like he’s doing most of the work and I’m helping, but still. My workload is maxed out and losing an entire workday to head to a farm isn’t going to help. But part of the job of being principal of a small-town elementary school like I am is pitching in to help whenever it’s needed.
“No problem, Miss Denton. I’ll clear my schedule for Monday.”
The look of relief that comes over the young teacher’s face is almost comical.
“Thanks, Mr. Corser. Have a good weekend.” She’s sounding far happier than she was when she first walked in, which I guess means I did my job. I give her a nod and a small smile, effectively dismissing her. Now I really need to buckle down and finish these goddamn emails. Looks like my weekend won’t be spent heading into Victoria to meet up with Finn, Ethan’s college buddy who’s moving to town in the new year. Nope, I’ll be deep in work mode trying to wrap up all of my administrative work so that next week isn’t a total disaster.
I open my phone and text Finn, cancelling our plans for the weekend. Not that they were anything special, just a session at the rock climbing gym, and maybe hitting a bar. Still, it would have been fun. I haven’t been out since the night I ended up at the bar in Westport after a spectacular failure of a date. Granted, that night ended up being pretty fantastic, thanks to the gorgeous woman I ended up sitting beside.
