Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Flynn
“You okay, man?” Tucker Black asks, pulling up a seat at the small bakery table.
He takes a hearty sip of the largest size coffee Ivy offers and sets it on the table.
I don’t know the man all that well. He’s a friend of Hudson and Reid who helps run rafting trips for the lodge.
Like most of us, he has a military background.
But I don’t know much about him aside from that.
“Just waiting to meet Tabby,” I say, staring at the untouched cinnamon roll on my plate. I would wait to share it with my daughter on any normal day. But today, I don’t have the appetite for it at all.
“I’m waiting for someone, too. But she might be a few minutes. Mind if I hang out until she gets here?”
“Sure,” I say, not really meaning it but not having any good reason to say no.
“Did one of them get to you, too?” he asks.
“Them who?”
“The bridal party. The one staying at the lodge.”
“How do you know about the bridal party?”
“Long story,” he says, shaking his head and reaching for his coffee.
“You should’ve asked for the whole pot,” I say about his gigantic cup.
A shit-eating grin appears on Tucker’s face. “I haven’t slept much this weekend.”
“Neither have I.”
The bells jingle overhead, and both our heads snap toward the sound. But it’s just Agnes Collins, coming in for her morning coffee. It’s anyone’s guess if she’ll harass Ivy about penis-shaped desserts. Agnes is a wild card.
“You love her?” Tucker asks me.
“Yeah,” I say, because where does lying get me anyway?
“You told her that?”
“Not exactly.” Though telling her I want her to stay more than anything was pretty damn close to admitting how I truly felt. But I stand by my decision. I have to let her go. I have to know if she wants to be here, and only time will tell me that.
“You should try it,” Tucker says, pushing up from his chair.
“You take your own advice?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says, his gaze on someone outside. “Freaked her the fuck out at first, but only because she felt the same way and didn’t want to admit it.” He claps me on the shoulder. “Good luck, man.”
Maybe I would tell Devin how I feel, if only it weren’t too late. Any minute now, Fred will take the bridal party to the airport. In mere hours, they’ll board a plane and leave Cinnamon Creek behind them.
“This seat taken?”
I freeze, convinced I’m hearing voices. But that lavender scent surrounds me like an intoxicating cloud, forcing me to look up.
“Devin?”
“So funny story. I’m going to stay in Cinnamon Creek whether you like it or not.”
I want to be excited, but the earlier fear is still heavy in my chest and it’s preventing me from getting my hopes up.
“You’re sexy when you’re grumpy, but I much prefer you with a smile,” she says, slipping into the seat across from me.
“You’re staying?” I repeat, mostly to clarify that my ears haven’t deceived me.
“Yep.”
“For how long?”
“I thought about forty or fifty years.”
“Why?”
“Not the reaction I was expecting,” she mumbles. “Because I love you, dummy. And because I’ve also fallen in love with this town. I’m ready for a fresh start. I want to see where this goes, even though it’s risky. Plus, Tabby told me that the local clinic is looking for a nurse.”
“Tabby?”
“She’s at the lodge, running a few minutes late because of her mom’s wedding stuff. She told me to make sure you don’t take a single bite of that cinnamon roll until she gets here.”
“You’re really staying?”
“Apparently I’m not the only one. Must be something in this fresh mountain air that appeals to city girls.” She leans across the table, lowering her voice. “Or maybe it’s the big, strong mountain men with cocks that dreams are made of who are convincing us to stay.”
“Do you only love me for my cock?” I ask.
“I also love you for your cock.”
“Well, I also love you for that amazing ass.”
“I think you two need this more than I do,” Agnes Collins says, sliding a box onto the table and walking off.
Devin opens the lid as Agnes leaves the bakery, revealing a cupcake with a green, penis-shaped gummy lodged right in the center. White frosting dribbles down the side.
“Who was that?”
“Just one of the many interesting residents of Cinnamon Creek you’ll get to know and love during your forty-to-fifty-year stay.” I cup her cheek, grazing her soft skin with my thumb. Two nights ago, that cheek was covered in mud. She looked every bit as beautiful then as she does now.
“So, here’s the thing.”
“The catch?”
“Well, I’m supposed to check out of my room this morning. In fact, I need to get back to the lodge now to pack up my things. Know anywhere I can stay?”
“I have somewhere in mind.”
“There’s that deadly smile I know and love.”
I’m grinning like a fool, but I don’t care. The idea of waking up every morning with Devin in my bed has me giddy like a fucking teenage boy scoring a date with the prom queen.
“Wait, how did you get here?” I ask.
“Fred dropped me off.”
I glance out the window, but there’s no sign of the shuttle van. “Maybe I’ll take this cinnamon roll to go and meet Tabby at the lodge. I need to tell her you’re moving in.”
“If it’s too soon, I can find my own place,” she says.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time, baby,” I say, my voice low against her ear as we stand up from the table.
“But I’ve claimed you for my own. That means you sleep in my bed.
If that part wasn’t clear, I’m more than happy to remind you just as soon as you pack your bags and move them into my bedroom. ”
Devin flickers her gaze to mine, a wicked gleam in her emerald eyes. “Promise?”