Chapter 6 #2
The rest of the night went by in a flash.
Atlee had never felt more comfortable with a man.
It felt as if she’d known Simon for her entire life.
They clicked in a way she never had before with anyone, male or female.
He didn’t monopolize their conversation, asked insightful questions, contributed to the conversation in a way that made time fly by.
Before she knew it, the sun was peeking through the curtains once more.
“We should probably start heading back to Fallport,” she told him in a voice that didn’t quite hide her reluctance.
“Yeah,” Simon agreed, but Atlee felt a little better that she heard the same reticence in his tone. “This has been wonderful.”
“Very.”
“You feel okay? Not tired?” he asked her. “I mean, our sleep schedule’s a little off now.”
“I’m okay. I’ll be ready for bed tonight for sure though.”
“I’m used to being up at odd hours for my job, but I know you get up early to go into work. You gonna be all right later today?”
Atlee felt warmth move through her. Her ex had never bothered himself with her sleep schedule and had always thought what she did wasn’t as important as his job as an accountant for a Fortune 500 company.
“I’ll be okay. Thanks.”
“You don’t have to thank me for looking out for your well-being. You want to shower again before we head out?”
“I’m good. You? I can head downstairs and wait for you if you do.”
“First, I’d never send you out of the room while I showered.
That would be rude, and even though this isn’t Crime Central, USA, people’s emotions are high because of the storm and being delayed in their travels.
Not to mention the holidays seem to bring out the worst in some people because of the stress associated with them.
I wouldn’t want you to be in a situation where you could get hurt because of someone else’s asshole-ness. Second, I can wait until I get home.”
Atlee frowned. That first part was sweet. Probably a little overprotective, but sweet all the same. But she couldn’t help pointing out the obvious. “You left the room when I showered.”
“Yeah, because you’re a woman and I’m a guy. You might be tall, but I’m still bigger than you and could easily overpower you. I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable with me being here while you were vulnerable in the shower.”
Atlee stared at him.
“What?” he asked, looking confused.
“That was…wow,” she breathed. “I’m not used to being with someone so…intuitive.”
His arms tightened around her for a beat before he relaxed. “It was the right thing to do.”
He wasn’t wrong. The more time she spent with this man, the more she realized that he was good down to his core. “How the heck are you still single?” she blurted.
He grinned. “I hadn’t found you yet. Go on, you can use the bathroom first. We’ll head downstairs and see if they have anything good for breakfast and if not, we can stop somewhere on the way home. Oh, maybe we can stop at Sunny Side Up when we get to Fallport?”
The fact that he seemed eager to be seen with her in their hometown, where word would get out faster than the speed of lightning that they were having breakfast together, made Atlee feel warm and fuzzy.
She hated to keep comparing Simon to her ex, but too many times, Robert had seemed embarrassed to be seen with her.
But that was his issue, not hers. She was a good person, helped out when and where she could, and was comfortable in her own skin, even if she wasn’t model beautiful and could stand to lose at least twenty pounds.
“I’d like that.”
“Great. It’s a plan.” And with that, Simon leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, as if it was the most natural thing in the world and he’d done it a hundred times before.
But the truth was, that small touch of his lips on her skin, the intimacy it implied, made Atlee feel more cared for than she could put into words.
Reluctantly, she scooted over to her side of the bed and stood. She grabbed clean clothes from her suitcase and looked back at the bed, then up at Simon. He was standing by the coffee maker, frowning at it as he attempted to figure out how to work the thing.
Atlee smiled. He had on a pair of boxers and a T-shirt, and she’d never seen anything sexier in her life. It was hard to believe he was here. That she was here with him. She’d had a crush on him for so long, and things between them had changed so quickly, it made her head spin…in a good way.
She didn’t really want to leave the hotel room in case everything that had happened went up in a poof of smoke.
Returning to the “real world” might pop the bubble they’d been living in for the last twenty-four hours.
She hoped not, but she was also a realist. Life wasn’t all sunshine and roses, and they both had demanding jobs that could make any kind of relationship extremely difficult.
But even as she stood there, Simon looked up. He caught her staring at him and gave her a huge smile.
Determination coursed through Atlee. She was going to do everything in her power to make this work.
She wanted a relationship with Simon. Wanted it enough to make some changes in her life that she’d been putting off.
Hiring more help at the food bank, for one.
That would free up some time for her that she could hopefully use to spend with Simon.
There were risks in doing that, of course.
If they didn’t work out, if the chemistry they had between them fizzled, she’d be stuck with a lot of free time on her hands.
But she wanted to think that wouldn’t happen.
She and Simon weren’t teenagers anymore.
They were mature adults who knew what they wanted.
And what Atlee wanted was a relationship with a man who respected her. Who wanted to spend his time with her. Who she could talk to. And last night proved that Simon was smart, kind, respectful…and she’d talked with him more in a single night than she had in an average month with Robert.
She returned his smile and forced herself to go into the bathroom to change.
She didn’t lock the door, proving to herself, and Simon, that she trusted him.
He would no sooner barge in on her and hurt her than he’d walk past someone in need.
She considered herself an independent woman, but she couldn’t deny being with a man who was a protector through and through made her feel good. Really good.
She quickly changed and went through her morning routine, exiting the bathroom and letting Simon take his turn.
All too soon they were making their way through the parking lot toward their cars.
Simon walked her to her RAV4 and put her suitcase in the back.
He pulled her into a long, heartfelt embrace before leaning back just far enough to look into her eyes.
“Drive safe,” he told her.
“Always.”
Then he moved forward, giving her time to pull back if she didn’t want what he was offering.
But Atlee wanted it. Wanted his lips on hers. She met him halfway and they kissed once more in the parking lot. It felt just as amazing as the day before, when they’d made out in his car on that snowed-in interstate.
They were both smiling when they finally broke apart.
“You smell delicious,” he told her.
“Thanks,” Atlee said. “It’s my body wash and lotion.”
“I like it.”
She made a mental note to stock up so she’d never run out. If Simon liked the way she smelled, she would go out of her way to make sure she always lotioned up before spending any time with him.
“Meet you at Sunny Side Up?” he asked.
“I can practically taste Sandra’s waffles now.”
Simon grinned at her and walked backward, not taking his gaze from hers until the last minute, when he climbed behind the wheel of his cruiser.
Atlee felt as if she were living in a dream. One she never wanted to wake up from. She knew things between her and Simon wouldn’t always be so smooth, but for now she was enjoying the beginning of a new relationship. A time when everything was exciting and she felt special and wanted.
As she pulled out behind Simon, Atlee realized she was smiling. Her phone rang as she drove toward the road that led to Fallport. Answering via the audio system, her grin grew as the voice of her beloved daughter filled the car.
“Are you okay? Are you off the interstate? I saw on the news that all the cars were finally plowed out.”
Talking to Renee, reassuring her, updating her on her fledgling relationship with the man her daughter knew she had a crush on, filled the miles it took to get back to town.
By the time she hung up, Atlee felt on top of the world.
Her daughter was safe, Simon Hill seemed to like her, and Atlee felt as if she was truly living the life she’d always wanted for the first time ever.
She couldn’t wait to see what came next.