Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Avery
It had been a long day. A very long day. The wedding and being on the dance floor in Reid’s arms felt like it had happened a lifetime ago. All I wanted to do was crawl under the covers, put my head on the pillow, and sleep away the stress currently creeping up my spine.
I knew Jacob was going to be a problem. Maybe it was naive of me, but I didn’t really expect him to come to Trickle Creek and challenge me in person. My cousin was more of a hide-behind-a-lawyer type.
Having him here was definitely going to complicate things. Not the least of which were my feelings for Reid, which were growing and changing and…well, becoming more and more complicated all the time.
I spun, a pillow in my hand when the bedroom door clicked open and he appeared. “I made sure to lock the door.”
“You did? But I thought you said no one locked their doors in Trickle Creek?”
“They don’t.” He leaned against the closed door. “But you do. So I locked it for you.”
My heart did a weird flippy thing, and my feelings twisted up into the next level of complicated.
“Thank you.”
He shrugged and for the first time, I noticed he had leaves in his hair, and his dress shirt was dirty and untucked. And were those scratches on his arms?
“What on earth happened while you were locking up?”
Reid shook his head and held out a duffel bag. “I threw it out the window earlier and it landed in rosebushes.”
“Oh.” I tried to stifle the giggle with my hand, but it didn’t work. I crossed the room and took the bag from him, giving his arms a once-over. The scratches didn’t look too bad. “I didn’t think of that. Thanks for doing that.” I let my fingers linger on his skin. “Thanks for all of this. I didn’t expect Jacob to just…”
“Were you going to tell me what a problem he was being?”
Suddenly exhausted, I left him standing by the door and moved toward the bed. “I was hoping I could handle it. I sent him a copy of our marriage certificate and that should have been enough.”
“But it wasn’t.”
I shook my head, flipped the blankets back, and crawled into bed.
Without another word, and with an expression I couldn’t read on his face, Reid took his duffel and moved past me to the attached bathroom.
The stress from the last few hours seeped from my pores, and for the first time, I wondered whether we were going to be able to pull this off. I had no idea how long Jacob planned to stay or what his agenda was beyond making my life difficult.
That wasn’t entirely true. I knew exactly what his agenda was. He wanted to prove my marriage to Reid wasn’t real so he could challenge my right to the inn. My lawyer had already warned me that if I was found to be in violation of the terms, the will would be null and void, and the inn would be put up for sale. Considering I didn’t have any money besides the small amount that was part of my inheritance—that I’d also lose—I wouldn’t be able to buy it.
Not only that, but all the money that I’d put on credit to start the renovation while we waited would come due and I’d have no way to pay the debt.
It had been a risk. A big one. I knew it at the time, but I did it anyway because I’d been so sure it would all work out okay.
Now…I was having doubts.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and dropped my head back against the headboard, willing the headache that was rapidly forming to go away.
“You should have told me.”
My eyes snapped open to see Reid standing in the bathroom door with nothing on but a pair of boxer shorts.
“What are you…what…did you…” I tripped over my words, unable to form a coherent thought as my eyes raked over his bare chest.
I knew he was strong. I felt those muscles when we danced and when he wrapped his arms around me to hold me close while he kissed me. But knowing was different than seeing. And I was seeing a lot.
“Do you have a headache?” He stepped closer, his face a mask of concern.
“What?”
“You were pinching your…”
Reid touched the bridge of my nose so gently, I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath.
“Yes.” I nodded. “A little bit. It’s just been…” I blew out a breath. “Well, it’s been a lot today.”
“It has.” He smoothed his fingers over my forehead and down my cheek. “And it’s not over yet, because…” He shrugged and looked to the other side of the bed.
“Oh.” It was only then that I realized that, of course, Reid was going to be sleeping in my bed with me. Logically, I knew that with Jacob here and in Reid’s bedroom, there weren’t any other options. But somehow my brain hadn’t made the connection of what exactly that meant.
Or that it was only a few hours ago when my bed was exactly where we were headed.
“Don’t worry.” He moved around to the other side of the bed and pulled the covers back. “I promise to be a perfect gentleman.”
I knew he would. Even if I didn’t want him to be. And if I wasn’t so emotionally wrung out, I definitely wouldn’t want him to be.
The mattress sunk under his weight, and I braced myself a little to keep from rolling into him.
“Unless, of course, you don’t want me to be.”
For a moment, I considered the stress relief that Reid would no doubt be able to provide, but ultimately it wasn’t right.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of me wanting it or not.” We were lying so close I could feel his hot, pepperminty breath on my cheek.
Reid shifted beside me, the movement slow and deliberate, as if he were giving me time to adjust to his presence. His arm brushed mine, sending a spark of awareness racing through me.
“I get it,” he said after a moment. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”
But that was the problem—I wanted to explain myself. I wanted to at least try to explain the tornado of feelings that I couldn’t quite name, the pull toward him that grew in intensity by the second. I wanted him to understand how hard it was trying to remember that this thing between us wasn’t real.
I needed him to know that my hesitancy wasn’t about him or even about me; it was about trying to make sense of everything that was happening.
“You’re overthinking.” His voice cut through the haze of my thoughts.
“You don’t know that.”
He smiled, just a little. It was an expression I was seeing more and more from him. I liked it. More than that, I liked that he seemed to reserve it just for me.
“Sure I do. It’s written all over your face. You’re lying here, worrying about everything except what it is you really want.”
“What I want doesn’t matter right now.”
“Doesn’t it?” His gaze dropped to my lips.
My breath caught.
I couldn’t answer. My heart beat too fast, and my thoughts were too jumbled. Instead, I did the only thing I could think of—I closed my eyes, hoping the darkness would give me some clarity.
The silence stretched between us, heavy and charged. I felt the heat radiating from his body, the way he was holding himself back. It would be so easy to close the distance and give in to this thing between us.
But instead of moving closer, he whispered, “Goodnight, Avery.”
I opened my eyes to find him already turned on his side, his back to me. The tension in the air eased, but it left something raw and aching in its place.
“Goodnight.”
I turned to my side, too, and stared at the wall, waiting for sleep to pull me under. But even as I felt myself drift off, I couldn’t quite shake the lingering warmth of him beside me—or the quiet certainty that this wasn’t the end of whatever this was between us.