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Chapter 6
Anything that could possibly go wrong often does – as well as a thing or two that couldn’t possibly.
My alarm beeps, and I groan. Five a.m. normally comes too early, but it most definitely comes too early when there’s an arm pinning me to a hard, warm body cuddled behind me in bed.
Cole nuzzles my neck before whispering, “Don’t go,” in my ear. His scratchy barely awake voice has me rubbing my butt against his already hard length.
Another alarm beeps. Alarms will go off every two minutes until I get out of bed. The snooze button is easy to hit, but a new alarm every two minutes? It forces me to get up and get going every dang time.
I groan. “I need to get to work.”
“You work too hard.”
I freeze at his words. It’s nothing new. Everyone in my family thinks I work too hard. But they don’t know how difficult it is to be the sole owner and operator of a business.
I peel his arm off of me and roll out of bed. “I need a shower.”
I hurry into the bathroom before awkwardness can flow out of my mouth. Do I kick him out of my bed? My apartment? Or do I tell him to get up when he’s ready? I have no clue. I don’t specialize in mornings after. In fact, I don’t usually do mornings after at all.
Things are much simpler if you keep it to sex and goodbye. I’m a big, fat liar. I’ve never done sex and goodbye either. I don’t exactly have an advanced degree in sexual encounters. Last night was my first one-night stand.
When I open the door to my bedroom after a quick shower, I notice the bed is empty. My heart squeezes. Where did he go? Stop it, heart! Out-of-towner. We don’t get involved with out-of-towners, remember? Fun and sexy times only!
I dress in my uniform of a white blouse and dark slacks. It’s not actually a uniform, but the clothes feel like one since the moment I put them on I become ‘Ellery the Innkeeper’, and ‘Ellery the Fun Person’ disappears. Although, if I’m being honest with myself, Ellery the Fun Person hasn’t made many appearances in the past years since I bought the old mansion to renovate it to make a bed and breakfast.
I walk into the living room and screech to a halt when I notice Cole at the stove in my kitchen.
“You’re still here?” Do I detect a hint of hope in your voice, Ellery? Knock it off. You know better.
“I know you have food available at the inn, but I doubt you get much time to eat during the breakfast service.” He’s not wrong. “I thought I’d make you a breakfast sandwich.”
“A breakfast sandwich?”
“An egg and sausage muffin, but way better than any fast food restaurant food.”
I’ll take him at his word as I haven’t eaten at a fast food restaurant since I graduated from college over nine years ago.
“It smells good.”
He removes the toast from the toaster and sets it on a napkin. “Listen,” he tells the plate, “we should talk.”
And here I thought I was maneuvering the whole morning after thing so well. “What about?”
He frowns at me. “Don’t be coy.” Before I have a chance to deny it, he continues, “I’m in town for another week. Then, I’m back in Chicago. If my firm gets the contract for the community center, I’ll be in town quite a lot over the next two years. We can make this work.”
Hold up. “Make what work?”
“Us. A relationship.”
A relationship? “I don’t do relationships.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “At all?”
“Let me re-phrase, I don’t do long-distance relationships.” Although, truth be told, I haven’t done many relationships either.
“And as I explained, I’ll be in town often over the next two years.”
He’d still be away more than here. He’d be free to do whatever the hell he wants when he’s not here and I wouldn’t be any the wiser. Been there. Done that. Have the scars to remind me of what an idiot I was. Not again.
