AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I say goodbye to Will and pat the woman on the shoulder. “Everything is just fine, and he’ll be here soon.”
Bear arrives to the campsite first, followed by Theo and the little boy. Theo’s carrying the child on his back, piggyback style.
“Colter!” The woman runs to the child. Theo bends, letting the Colter slide to the ground. The little boy runs into his mother’s embrace.
I see the look on Theo’s face and know exactly what he’s feeling.Envy.
He was too young when our mom passed away. Only five. I had just turned seven a few days before her death. That birthday is my most vivid memory of her. She made me a cake shaped like aTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, just like I’d asked for.
The woman licks her lips, tucks a strand of hair behind an ear, and gazes up at Theo. “You carried Colter back to safety on your back. I’d do anything to repay you.Anything.”
She’s offering herself to him, but I know my brother well enough to know he’d never accept. He’s reserved and even a little shy. He’s not one for random hookups.
Not like me.
But that was before Annie.
I look at Colter’s mom, trying to see her as I would have a week ago. She’s curvy, with pouty lips and thick thighs. She’s got that look, like she’d be wild in the sack. But I didn’t even notice until now. And I’m not the least bit interested.
Because Annie is waiting for me at home.
Nine
Annie
Forthefirstnightsince Hamlet’s been back in Mercury Ridge, he’s not home at bedtime. I remind myself that he’s at his brother’s wedding, and of course, he’d be home late. It doesn’t mean he’s hooking up with a drunken bridesmaid.
I try not to think of how he’d looked in his tuxedo when he left the house—handsome, sophisticated, and just a little bit devilish. Like a sexier, mountain man version of James Bond.
Why did I send him out alone looking likethat?
I should have just gone to the wedding. So, what if I was gatecrashing a family affair. Hamlet was entitled to a date, wasn’t he?
But I couldn’t risk stealing attention from the bride.
What if someone recognized me?
I must tell Hamlet the truth. In a couple of days, I’ll have to go to Nashville anyway. I may as well rip off the Band-Aid, right? Let the chips fall where they may.
The lock to the door clicks, and I hear Hamlet tiptoe into the house. “Annie? Are you still awake?”
“How was the wedding?” I ask.
He strips off his clothes as he walks to the bed, just as he did that very first night. “Two of my brothers are madly in love. Not one, buttwo.” He tells me how Romeo’s eyes filled with happy tears as his beautiful bride walked toward him. Then he recounts how Theo nearly punched a guy’s lights out for talking about his girl. “You know her. Holly. She’s the baker at Sweet Mercury. She also happens to be our sister’s best friend.”
A vision of a pretty and friendly blonde woman wearing an apron comes to mind. “That’s really nice.”
“It is nice,” Hamlet agrees, snuggling closer. “Especially since I’m in love, too.”
Love?
Did he just saylove?
My brain screams to tell him the truth, right now, before it’s too late. “Hamlet, I—”
Then his mouth is on mine and speech is impossible. I surrender, sweeping my tongue inside, deepening the kiss.
Tomorrow. I’ll tell him tomorrow.
