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“As long as we understand each other,” he says, nuzzling me.
“As long as we understand each other.”
Chapter 4
Cora
Night 4: Shep
I hip-check Shepas I squeeze past his muscled frame to set a large bowl of freshly-cooled oatmeal-raisin cookies on the passthrough. It’s time for dessert.
As soon as the bowl is down, the guys crowd the window. It’s a good thing Shep set aside some cookies for the two of us, because the bowl is emptied, one greedy swipe at a time, before the second hand on the kitchen clock makes a full rotation.
I ate dinner by Shep’s side at the end of the table nearest the kitchen door. I’m beginning to learn that the guys have their favorite seats, and they rarely change things up. Shep sits closest to the kitchen, and Jud takes the seat across the table from him. Next comes Rev and Scrap, then Doc and Brawn. All the way at the end nearest the restrooms, with no one closer than five feet to him, is Grim.
Unlike the simple fare Doc would make, dinnera la Sheptasted like something you’d eat at a high-end restaurant in some trendy city. Perfectly seared venison strips top the heaping salad, and the raspberry vinaigrette adds the perfect amount of sweet tanginess to compliment the gaminess of the meat. Shep also served up a huge loaf of crusty bread and a brick of home-churned butter to slather on the slices. I moaned over my first bite of the salad, but that made every eye in the room turn my way, so I enjoyed the rest of my meal in silence.
There was another time every eye turned my way, when Jud announced, in a surprisingly tasteful manner, that I would make my nightly cabin-guest choice by dinner time each night. I nodded my appreciation, and while the attention was still on me, I wrapped my arm around Shep’s bicep and went back to work on my meal.
Dinner is over, now, and I’m perched on a stool, nibbling a soft, thickly-textured cookie. It’s so moist it doesn’t leave any crumbs, and dried cranberries give the perfect amount of tartness. Shep is wiping off the passthrough. I was going to start on the dishes, but he’s adamant that I’ve done enough work today. I kind of like when Shep gets bossy. His accent thickens, and he wags his finger at me, channeling an old Norwegian from some kind of fairy tale. It shouldn’t be sexy, but somehow, it is.
While I devour my dessert, Doc struts in and kisses my cheek. Without missing a beat, he pulls on some rubber gloves and sinks his hands into the dishwater.
“Doc and Brawn are on clean-up duty tonight.” Shep lifts his frilly apron over his head and tosses it in the hamper with the dish towels and potholders we dirtied today. As if on cue, Brawn lumbers in, his head closer to the fluorescent panels than anyone else’s, and lifts the hamper. His massive arms flex as he carries it out back…to the spot where Jud and I had our little “conversation” before dinner. But I try not to think about that, since I will be spending time with Shep tonight.
Brawn doesn’t look my way as he passes. I’m getting used to him ignoring me, but just because I’m used to it, doesn’t mean I like it. Methinks tomorrow night, I’ll be eating dinner athisside. Maybe I’m not the only one whose comfort zone is in need of gentle stretching.
Shep appears at my side with two small glasses of etched glass shaped like delicate ice-cream cones. They’re filled with a clear-ish slightly tinted liquid. “Ice wine,” he says. “If you want some.”
Doc winks my way and starts singing a Cajun ditty while he works. Tattooed arms flex against his T-shirt as he washes and rinses, and I can’t help remembering how those arms held me in his bed two nights ago. And the other things we did. I liked those things. A lot. I want to spend time with Doc again, but my dance card is full of men who aren’t him for the next five nights.
I miss Grim, too, and I have to wait four nights to be alone with him again. And last night with Jud…just, sigh. Happy sigh, mostly. One week until I can explore more of Jud’s sweet side.
This multiple boyfriend thing is going to take some adjustment.
What will tonight with Shep hold in store? No time like the present to find out. I take the glass he offers and follow him into the common room, but we don’t join Rev, Scrap, and Grim, who sit each on their own piece of furniture around the cold fireplace. Instead, we continue through the room to the front porch.
The heavy front door creaks shut behind us, and we’re in the dark looking out on a fat moon peeking through the sharpened-pencil tops of old-growth pines. The chair I choose is built for a man. I can tell because only my toes touch the ground. Still, I get enough purchase to set it rocking. Back an inch, forward an inch. It’s not much, but it’s enough.
A thick smell of cedar and lingering cigarette smoke blankets me, and I settle back into the contoured wood. I bet Doc has been out here tonight, sneaking one of the cigarettes he’s been trying to quit. He’s doing it for me, because of the scars on my back. I don’t need him to quit, though. Life is hard enough without having to deprive yourself of something you enjoy.
“This is peaceful,” I say.
“Yes.” Shep agrees and takes a delicate sip of his drink. The glass looks ridiculously tiny in his huge hand. “I like it out here.”
I study the liquid in my glass. “I’ve never had alcohol before,” I admit. “I’m not quite legal age.” It’s September. I won’t be twenty-one until next June.
“I made yours non-alcoholic,” Shep says.
“Really?” It looks just like what he has in his glass.
“No,” he says, and I see his crooked smile in profile.
I shake my head at him. I’ve been getting to know his sense of humor today. He says a lot of things in a deadpan way that makes me think he’s serious, but then I find out he’s joking. A dry sense of humor, I think it’s called. I like it. It’s unique to Shep.
I take an experimental sip. It’s cold on my tongue, as sweet as sugar, and has a slight tang to it. “Yum.” I sip again, following Shep’s lead and taking it slow. I don’t want to empty my glass before he empties his. “What’s it called again?”
“Ice wine. Found it on the scavenge. Picked up seven bottles of it. Got some reds and whites, too. Twenty cases all together.”
