Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Holt
Pretty sure any innocence that I had left is burning off in the face of Gracie’s romance book. She pushed an entire stack on me when we left after the chili cook-off the other day. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m not much of a reader. Quite honestly, reading makes my mind jumpy. I can’t concentrate long enough to read the whole thing. Who am I kidding? I barely read the first chapter of any book, which made college interesting. Honestly, audiobooks while I worked out was the only way I graduated. But this romance book is raunchy enough to make my ears burn and my heart race. I’m also on chapter four already.
The door bangs open and I jump, absorbed in the scene I’m reading. It’s not often you read about an alien life-form double penetrating a virgin queen about to be put to death for not producing an heir to the throne. Apparently immaculate conception is a thing in this realm, though that seems like a really boring way to procreate, if you ask me.
“Need some help?” I ask, eyes still on the words, brain absolutely in the gutter.
“No, thanks! I want to make you dinner for once.” Maple’s throaty voice melds with the words and suddenly the virgin queen is moaning in Maple’s exact tone in my head. Holy shit, that’s hot.
I jump again as Maple touches my shoulder. I look up to see her trying to hold back a laugh. “Don’t tell me Grandma has you into aliens too?”
I let out a sheepish laugh, hoping she doesn’t notice how turned on I am by a smutty novel. “I was skeptical, but check this out.” I turn back to the book and read a passage. “The double-cocked purple monster had his claws around my neck, his hard lengths buried deep inside my holes like he intended to possess me whether I liked it or not. I very much liked it. He muttered something in his native language, something I didn’t understand. But then it happened. The scales on the side of his head began to quiver, and both of his cocks began to vibrate.”
Maple bursts out laughing and I join her, closing the book, but making sure to shove a sticky note in there to save my spot. “Oh my God! Grandma Gracie’s reading that?”
I stand, rubbing the back of my neck. I meant to take a shower when I got back from my run, but I forgot once I cracked open the book. Mookie is passed out in her doggie bed, completely worn out enough to not even lift her head at our laughter. “Yeah, I guess they’ve been passing it around Sunny Shores.”
Maple nearly doubles over laughing. When she comes back up, she has to wipe her eyes. “Wow. Bunch of lusty octogenarians you got there, Holt.”
With the remnants of the book in my head, I put my hands on Maple’s hips and pull her close. I give her a lewd hip swivel. “We should try to recreate the scene after dinner.”
That just makes her peals of laughter louder as she drops her forehead onto my bare chest. When she composes herself, she looks up at me, looking so damn beautiful with her wavy hair a little more wild than usual. “You have a hidden cock you haven’t shown me yet?”
My eyebrows knit. “Modern society has created unrealistic beauty standards that can really hurt a man.”
Maple laughs like I knew she would and pulls out of my hold to take my hand and tug me toward the bar. “Come on, alien overlord. I must feed the beast before we can consummate.”
I suddenly don’t care about dinner. I could skip right to the shower and consummating, but then I see that Maple’s gone out of her way to go to the nicest restaurant in town and get us takeout.
“Dock & Dine Bistro?” I ask, leaning down to kiss her cheek before taking my seat. “Are you trying to wine and dine me, ma’am?”
She opens a container to reveal grilled salmon, wild rice, and steamed vegetables. She slides it in front of me and hands me a fork. I wait for her to open her container—salad, sans any meat—before I dig into my food. We chat about our day and discuss anyone around town we could interview to see if they knew the mysterious Hank.
The second I finish my meal, Maple sweeps the containers off the bar and throws them in the trash, depositing the forks in the sink on her way. She whirls around with something behind her back, approaching the bar from the other side.
“Whatcha got there?” I can’t seem to wipe the smile off my face. Haven’t lost it all summer, actually. It doesn’t escape me how different this cohabitating experience has been with Maple. How easy. How natural.
Her hands whip around to the front and she places a book in front of me. At closer inspection, it’s a leather journal with hundreds of empty lined pages inside. The front is etched with a man and a woman in a small boat, floating in a body of water.
“It’s kind of silly, but you said Debbie does all your reminding at work, and I also know you said anchoring works for you, but I thought it might be helpful to write down the anchoring words or things you need to do each day outside of work. That way you don’t forget as much. You absolutely do not need to use it, but I saw it at Bayside Books when I was walking by to get dinner, and I just had to get it for you. It reminds me of our day on the lake.”
I butt into her rambling words, touched beyond measure. “The day I tried to drown you and Mookie?”
Maple’s cheeks are flushed. She looks so uncomfortable it makes me wonder why she doesn’t like giving gifts. It’s perfect. And thoughtful. And sweet. I stand abruptly, reach across the bar, and hook my hand behind her neck to haul her to me. My lips crash onto hers and she gasps, giving me the opportunity to slide my tongue along hers and drink in her taste. Her hands immediately slide into my hair, grasping the strands and holding me tight. Fuck, she’s perfect.
I pull back and rest my forehead on hers, both of us breathing hard. “Thank you, Maple. It’s a thoughtful gift and one I’ll absolutely use.”
Her cheeks are still flushed when I let her go, hopefully from our kiss this time. She nods, her gaze on the journal. “Grandma Gracie taught me to journal during my summers here. It’s something I’ve done ever since.”
An idea spikes in my brain, one that piques my interest so much I have to ask. “Did you write in your journal about our first kiss?”
Her gaze darts to the side. “No!”
“Really, moonbeam? I’m hurt.” I come around the bar and nudge her with my elbow. Her gaze finally comes back to mine. Even her neck is flushed at this point. “Yeah, okay. I totally wrote about it.”
I smile smugly. “Want to read it to me?”
Her eyes go wide and she shoves my chest. I don’t so much as sway from the push. “No!”
I chuckle and take her hand. “Come on, let’s go see if we can find that secret bonfire.” At her widening eyes, I add, “Without a canoe!”
We slide our feet into tennis shoes at the back door and I reluctantly pull on a shirt. We slip out before Mookie notices we’re gone. I love the little beast, but I also want some quiet time with my girl. Well, she’s not really my girl. Just temporarily my girl.
We walk hand in hand on the dirt pathway that leads around the entire lake if you walk long enough. I don’t intend to go all the way around the lake, but hearing people barbecuing in their backyards while the water laps against the lake’s edge, the buzz of insects, and the smell of marshmallows makes me happy. We’re both quiet, just enjoying a calm summer night at the lake. The silence isn’t uncomfortable, unlike when I was married to Macy. Silence then meant I was in trouble.
“Holt!” Maple suddenly whisper-shouts, grabbing on to my arm. Then she points into the distance where the pine trees get thick on the west side of the lake. “I think that’s it!”
I know what that spot is. It’s a nice secluded alcove that you can only get to easily from the dirt path. The other side of the alcove is a straight rock face up to the area where I took Maple hiking. We pick up our pace and join the group. Half the dang town is here. I lift my head to Eddy, standing by Jackie, who looks to be reading him the riot act. Not surprising. Those two fight like cats and dogs. He holds up his bottle of beer in greeting. I head that way with Maple in tow.
It doesn’t take long to also notice a jet-black head of hair that makes me want to groan. This is the danger of returning to your hometown to live. You see your exes. Maple follows my line of sight and turns to me, making a silly face with her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth. It lifts my mood instantly. We greet Eddy and Jackie, who excuses herself to get another beer.
“Thanks for the assist. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to bend over while she ripped me a new one, or if I should just stand there and take the verbal lashing. I kind of like it when her eyes go feral like that.” Eddy claps me on the shoulder and leans in to give Maple a hug.
I grimace. “You’re sick, Eddy.”
He shrugs and takes a swig of his beer. “I know.” He points to the ice chest at his feet. “I brought a couple six-packs. Feel free to have some.”
I grab one for Maple and one for myself. Eddy’s already in conversation with Will Shaw, the owner of Ripple’s, the ice cream shop that’s been here longer than we’ve been alive. He took over after his father died and his mom wanted to retire. Pulling Maple with me, I head for an open log, sitting down and making sure there’s just enough room for Maple to join me. I open her beer and hand it back to her, then open mine. She lays her head on my shoulder, both of us staring at the dancing flames coming from the giant bonfire.
“I’m surprised these secret bonfires have never caused a fire,” Maple murmurs.
“That’s one of the rules, actually. You have to always inform one fireman of the location. A few of them usually come to hang out, a couple fire extinguishers at the ready.”
Maple lifts her head, and I glance down at her. She licks her lips. I chastise myself internally for bringing her here when I could have had her all to myself at the cabin.
“Why’d you and Macy break up?” she asks out of the blue.
The night was going so well. Hearing that woman’s name is like nails on a chalkboard. Then again, to the entire town, we’re engaged. The least I can do to make Maple feel comfortable here is to tell her the full history of me and my ex.
“We should never have gotten married in the first place. I was still getting my doctorate while also working at a hospital part-time to get work experience. We’d just dated for so long, it seemed like the natural next step. She was hinting around that she didn’t want to wait for me to finish school, and since she followed me to Atlanta, I guess I felt like I need to propose.” I shrug, thinking back on that time and wishing I could shout at myself to let her go.
Maple’s thumb sweeps back and forth on mine. “That sounds…manipulative.”
I bark out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, I see that now. But it was fine for a little bit. Life didn’t change much. Except she kept pushing for more of my time when I didn’t have it to give. To punish me, she’d go out with girlfriends without me and I was never quite sure who she was with.” I scrub my hand across my face. “She was probably right. I wasn’t an attentive husband.”
Maple lets go of my hand and swivels toward me, grabbing my shirt in both hands and tugging me closer. She has a fierce look on her face that catches my entire attention. “No, don’t do that. Don’t place blame on yourself when it was clearly a her problem.”
“It’s kind of hard to think it’s not my problem when even my mom sided with her.”
Maple’s mouth drops open and her eyebrows both pinch and lift at the same time. “That’s ridiculous! Macy Bechtol has always been a mean girl, and it sounds like she never grew out of it.”
I kind of like this overprotective side to Maple. “Would it make you madder if I told you she made me feel less than because of my ADHD? She kept yelling at me for forgetting things. It was almost like she liked to see me flounder, like my inability to keep up with things just proved her right. That I was a mess and I needed her to function.”
“I’m gonna kill her,” Maple growls, eyes narrowing.
With my chest overflowing with an emotion I can’t place, I cup her face and kiss her. I kiss her for protecting me. I kiss her for the thoughtful journal. I kiss her for trying to help me instead of pointing out all my flaws. I kiss her because I’m starting to feel the lines blur between what’s real and what’s fake for Grandma Gracie’s sake.
A cheer goes up from the crowd as someone throws something on the fire to make sparks dance up into the night sky. We break apart, but don’t let go of each other.
“If you were mine, I would never make fun of your ADHD.”
I believe every word. She’s already proven to be a better person than my ex-wife. My thumbs sweep across her smooth cheeks. “If you were mine, I’d never cheat on you.” Referring, of course, to Dexter the Dick, her own menace of an ex.
Maple smiles and it’s like the sun has come back out over the lake. Her voice is barely a whisper, so low I’m sure I’m the only one who can hear her. “You know, secret bonfires aren’t all that fun when we could be back home double penetrating.”
The grin is instantaneous. I jump off the log and haul her up with me. She’s giggling as we race away from the bonfire, retracing our steps back to the cabin. I recount lines from the alien romance book as we hurry back home, each more ridiculous than the last, but it’s worth it to hear Maple’s laughter filling the air.
Mookie greets us, indignant that we left her. A few doggie treats is enough to have her retreating to my bedroom where I’m sure I’ll find a stinky present later. But that doesn’t matter because Maple’s stripped off every last layer of clothing while I got out the treats. She’s short, but her legs are long and lean. Her hair is even wilder from the quick walk home in the humid air. I can’t wait to sink my fingers into it and hold her exactly where I want her.
“You’re overdressed,” she purrs, looking me up and down. Her hands skim over her breasts and down her waist. One hand dips between her legs. A buzzing noise fills my ears and I can’t seem to look away.
A growl slips out of my mouth. I jerk into action, getting rid of clothing as quickly as I can. I say something about needing a shower first, but Maple pulls me down onto the blankets anyway.
“I like my aliens salty.”
It takes less than two seconds before I find myself between her beautiful legs and slide home, both of us groaning at the feeling of being connected. Maple hooks her feet behind my back and wraps her arms around my neck. With her lips at my ear, she whispers, “I take it back. I only like one cock.”
I shiver and then unleash, giving her everything I have with my one cock until she screams my name. I’m right behind her, falling, tumbling, losing myself in this woman.