Page 46 of Dumped for a Christmas Tree Farmer

“He’s not your dad, you know,” she spits.

My brows scrunch together. This is about her dad?

“I’m aware. Your dad is just being polite, that’s all. Is this why you stopped talking to me?”

She squares her shoulders, her eyes glassy until her features harden, her chin jutting out in defiance.

“Mav is going to get bored with you. He’s here because of me. You should remember that.”

She shoves past me as I feel her ex’s cum slip down my thigh.

◆◆◆

Mav and I slip through the doorway, and I bend low to pick up the cat and plop her on the couch after planting a kiss on the top of her head. I make sure Mav gets an eyeful of my ass as I do. The cat meows loudly at the man who filled me at dinner, lifting her paws up onto the arm of the couch and stretching out to be stroked. A purr vibrates from her throat as Mav’s free hand trails the length of my back. I guess she’s not the only one who wants to be petted by this man.

I shouldn’t feel thrilled that my cat with no name is as enamored with Mav as I am, but I am. It’s even sweeter knowing the little terror hates James.

Stepping into the small kitchen, I wrap my hand around the neck of the whiskey bottle, lazily dragging it along the wooden table. The scrape cuts through the silence of the cottage as neither Mav nor I say anything. Slinking toward the bedroom, I sip from the bottle before turning and crooking a finger at Mav, my pulse hammering in my throat. I’m going to be so goddamn loud this time, I can feel it. I’ve held back from him. In the office above the bakery, the B&B, and now the bar. Damn this man. Damn him for leaning into the side of me that wants to feel desired. To have a man so desperate he has to sink into me in my local dive bar.

That shouldn’t have turned me on as much as it did. Watching Holly and James fall apart, so publicly started off as a turn-on, but I couldn’t even hear them by the time the orgasm exploded through me. I could barely see. Blind to everything around me, only feeling the length of him pumping deeper and deeper with every minuscule rock of my hips.

I hear the thud of his boots following me down the hallway to my bedroom. He’s not been in here yet, not seen the only space that I considered my own until Mom died. Bringing him here, the only man except for James that’s been inside this room, means something. It’s over between James and me. The life I thought I wanted, the love I thought I wanted, it’s not real. James isn’t the man I made him up to be in my head. Sure, he’s not a terrible person. Not someone you could lump in with the likes of criminals or murderers. But he’s a dick. An utter, utter dick that treated me carelessly, and the worst part is that I let him.

I step into the space, flicking on the fairy lights wrapped around the slats of the headboard, basking in the warm yellow glow. Mav’s footsteps pause behind me, his strong hand spreading across the base of my spine as he bends me down onto the bed.

“I wanna fuck you so hard, Indigo. The bar . . . it might have been the hottest thing I’ve ever done. And I thought that after the bakery, and then I thought that after the B&B, but every time I have you, you surpass every expectation, every assumption I have.”

His heavy boot kicks my foot away, spreading my legs further as my shoulders take the brunt of my weight on the mattress.

He takes the bottle of whiskey, swigging before putting it on my dresser and closing the door. We don’t sleep at all.

Chapter Nineteen

December 30

Mav

“I’m not trying to get back together with Holly.” I shouldn’t have to say it, not after the last few days, but I want it out there. I want Indy to know my intentions. Holly’s forgotten, gone. She has been for days. The second she tried to get me back, the thick lump in my throat had my stomach churning. The thought of touching her again, kissing her, even talking to her . . . I wasn’t turned off to the idea; I was indifferent. There was no hatred, no anger, just a sad sort of pity with an urge to get away from her and go back to Indy as soon as possible.

Indy’s eyes widen, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, yet she seems to relax. Her hair is mussed up, frizzy at the edge of her face like she’s done a workout. Her skin is damp from sweat, her cheeks pink. She’s so pretty, I can’t believe James let her go. Our morning sex, as if sex could even best describe what I just did to her, had me breathless, with a cramp in my right thigh and a feeling of euphoria I’ve only ever felt when I bought my first property.

Despite the lingering sense of dread that’s building deep in my stomach, I can’t stop looking at her. Like I need to soak in every moment of her because I know that I can’t stay here indefinitely. Not with my job in the city, not with my plans to expand and take over Seattle’s property market. Her life is here, her mom’s business too. I fight down the feeling that I’m not worthy of her love. She likes me, I know she does, but is it enough to come to Seattle with me? Could I even ask her to?

“You don’t have to explain, but—” She pauses, her eyelids fluttering like she’s working out the right words to say. “I’m not trying to get back together with James either. He’s actually kind of gross.”

I bark out a laugh, pulling her against my chest. “You deserve everything, Indy. To be someone’s everything. To be put first, to be considered. To be cared for . . . you deserve to have someone look after you for once.”

She shrugs. “I’m used to it.”

My jaw clenches as I grit my teeth, and I try to mediate my frustration for our situation with what I can do about it. If she doesn’t feel the same, the anger is moot. “Do you like living here?”

“Sure, it’s my home.” Her fingertips trail along my abs, and I clench. I feel her smile pull against the cheek she’s resting on my chest and decide to clench them again.

“Have you ever wanted to live anywhere else?”

“I was going to move to Seattle after high school. I got a full ride at Elwood University, but my mom was sick, and it’s only ever been the two of us, so I didn’t go.”

“What about after she died?” I ask, knowing that she didn’t, but I don’t fully know why.