AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My face fell at the smile on Emerald’s face. She’d just yanked the door open for me after I knocked on it with my elbow. There, she found me standing in the hallway, a generous slice of wedding cake on a clear plastic plate in each hand.
“Actually, these are for me,” I said. “I’d give you one, but you’re kind of wanted downstairs.”
She gave me a funny look as I considered just handing her one of the slices anyway. I could go get more, but then they would be eating the cake without me.
That was definitely not my plan.
She looked back over her shoulder at Addison. When she turned back to me, she wore a smile. And then I knew what this was all about. I’d brought her friend a piece of cake. The bride had gone all Cupid on us.
“You’re right,” Emerald said. “I have a reception to attend. You two don’t have too much fun up here.”
She stomped around me and rushed off down the hall, her long dress swishing around her ankles.
When I turned back, Addison had taken her friend’s place. She was holding the door open, standing barefoot with her right foot flattened against her left ankle.
With a tilted head, she said, “You brought me cake.”
I held it toward her. “The biggest slice is for you. It’s your job to rate the bakery in Boone.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Still no bakery in town, huh?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Just Edna’s famous crullers.”
That brought a big smile. “Edna’s crullers. I miss those. I may have to grab some on my way out of town tomorrow morning.” She reached down and took the plate. “Come on in.”
To say the room was a mess would be putting it lightly. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and there was a makeup bag at the end of the bed, opened. An overnight bag sat in the corner.
“This is our room,” she said, gesturing to indicate the room as a whole. “Well, now it’s just mine. I promised to get all Emerald’s stuff packed up and downstairs by the end of the reception.”
I looked around. There was an open suitcase to the left of a big vanity. I assumed that was Emerald’s.
“I can help. Unless you think she’d be weird about a stranger handling her belongings.”
I was trying to ignore the fact that women’s undergarments were strewn across the floor, along with all the other discarded clothing. How many panties and bras could one woman have gone through in the short time she’d been here?
Emerald. That was who I assumed these panties and bras belong to. But maybe at least one set of underwear belonged to the woman now standing by the window looking out, fork in one hand and plated cake in the other.
My cock came to life again at the thought. Addison, wearing only that black bra and panties over near the window…. Yeah, I’dloveto see that.
“You’re not a stranger,” Addison said. “You’re family, right?” She looked back and smiled. “That’s how Blackbear Bluff works, especially among the logging crew.”
“Well, those of us who want to be family. Some of these guys are true mountain men. They don’t want to talk to anyone or anything. They work, take lunch by themselves, and head home at the end of the day.”
“That sounds sad,” she said.
I shrugged. “Some of them have dogs.”
That was a weird point to make. But lately I’d been anxious that I didn’t have a dog yet. We never had one growing up, and I swore when I was an adult I’d rescue a pet from a shelter somewhere.
I also always pictured myself with a wife and at least one kid by now, but it turned out I’d been too messed up to make a relationship work. Or maybe it was that I’d never met anyone like Addison.
“Grab a chair,” she said.
Returning her fork to the plate, she turned and grasped the back of the chair at the vanity. There was only one other chair in the room, and it was a cushy one with arms. It was all the way over in the corner next to the bed. I set the plate down and scooted it over, turning it around. Finally, we were both seated in front of the window, plates of cake in hand, staring out at a beautiful garden.
“If you lean forward, you can see the pool,” she said. “Or if you stand.”
I leaned forward, just as she had. She pressed her forehead to the glass. I stayed a couple of inches away, not wanting to smudge it.
