Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
JUNE
H e licks his lips as he shifts closer to me, and my heartbeat picks up, thumping in my chest. If he aches with his want to kiss me, then we’re on the same page because my skin tingles with the need for his touch.
Sometimes, we’re opposing forces, and I want to push him away. Tonight, though, it’s as if there is this undeniable pull that’s demanding I close the small distance between us. Tonight, I want Apollo with every fiber of my being, whether Jesus is watching or not. I don’t really care.
“Juniper,” he whispers. My back presses against the closed door behind me. He leans his palms on either side of my head, not touching me but so damn close I can feel the heat from him and smell his soap.
I boost up onto my toes and close that gap, pressing my lips to his. He groans, and the sound of it makes my body come alive. Sliding my hands up his chest and then up higher so I can bury my fingers in that thick, dark hair, I feel like I’ve found heaven as he kisses me as if his life depends on it.
His hands move from the door to my ass, and he lifts me easily, pinning me in place. Instinctively, I wrap my legs around his waist and hold on as he kisses me senseless. His hands seem to be everywhere all at once, from my ass to my breasts, and then he cups my face and slows the kiss.
Not wanting to slow down at all , I circle my hips against him in invitation, which has him groaning once more.
“Jesus Christ, you’d tempt a fucking saint,” he growls.
“Don’t care about the saints.” Is that my voice? It sounds so throaty and…needy. “Just you. Let me hop down, and I’ll strip.”
When he tips his forehead against mine and takes a deep breath, I know without him saying anything that we’re not taking this any further tonight.
“Do I need to be embarrassed?” I ask bluntly.
“Fuck no,” he replies and cups my face in his hands, looking deeply into my eyes. “I want you. I’m not playing games with you, and damn it, I’ll have you again soon.”
“Okay. Just making sure.” I offer him a small smile, and the surprise in his dark eyes almost makes me scoff. Yeah, I can be bitchy when it comes to Apollo, but not now. “I had a surprisingly good time with you tonight.”
He barks out a laugh, rests his forehead on my shoulder for a moment, and then lowers my feet to the floor.
“Same goes. I’d like to see you tomorrow.”
I tilt my head, watching him. “Are we going to see each other every single day?”
“Probably not every day, but maybe every day. Does it matter?”
“No.” I push my hair over my shoulder and mentally kick myself for not shoving a hair tie into my pocket before I left the house. “Just wondering if I need to pencil you into my already-booked schedule.”
“I’ll find you,” he says with a shrug. “We’ll find the time and make it work, one day at a time. So, how does tomorrow look?”
“I could do lunch,” I decide. “You?”
He nods as he tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. I feel the ripples from that simple touch all the way down my arm. “I can do that.”
“Okay, I’ll text you, and we’ll figure it out.”
“See how easy this is?” His smile is so disarming that it should be illegal in all fifty states.
“I can think of many words to describe you…or us , but easy isn’t one of them.”
He laughs and steps back, giving me room to breathe. “Want me to follow you home? Make sure you get there safely?”
“I’ve been driving myself home for a long damn time, Apollo. You don’t need to follow me like you’re some kind of bodyguard.”
“I apologize for trying to be chivalrous.” He shakes his head and walks toward the front door. “I won’t do it again. By the way, this house? It’s going to be fucking awesome, Juniper.”
“Yeah.” I bite my lower lip and look around the space, excitement growing in my belly. “It is. Thanks.”
“See you tomorrow.” He waves, but before he walks out, he turns to wink at me, and then he’s gone.
I have to take a long, deep breath to try to calm down.
Did all of that really happen in the span of just a few hours?
“Busy night,” I decide and take one more look around. I walk through the makeshift rooms, entering and exiting through the breaks in the blue tape that mark the doorways. Apollo’s right. This is more spacious than it looks.
I lock up the chapel and then head toward my grandma’s house. Only, instead of turning down the road that would take me there, I find myself turning onto Lighthouse Way and climbing the windy road to the lighthouse.
And the inn.
There are a few lights glowing inside the inn, but I know that it’s empty. I’m so damn proud of the place. It started out as an old barn with rotten floors and walls, and at Luna’s request, we used what we could and built the inn around the old structure. She wanted a piece of the past to remain, so that’s what we gave her.
The result is absolutely gorgeous, if I do say so myself.
I park under the portico, and key in the code on the lock to let myself in. A light shines in the foyer, and I can see another soft light glowing from the kitchen.
Luna wanted to have dim lights placed throughout the inn for nighttime, so guests would be able to navigate their way through the building after dark, without the harshness of bright bulbs.
Seeing it in the dark like this, it makes total sense.
My first stop is the small dining room. The tables and chairs are set up, complete with tablecloths and candles placed in the center of the tables. An antique sideboard sits along one wall, and will be used as a buffet for treats to sit out during the day for guests to grab and go.
I pass through to the kitchen and smile. This space is just amazing. The Kinnard sisters know their kitchens, and this one is state of the art, but it also beautifully blends into the vintage feel of the inn. Anyone would love to work back here. Mira insisted that she wanted stools to sit along the outside of the huge island so guests could come and watch her cook if they wanted to.
She may even host cooking classes here, which I think is awesome.
Maybe I’ll take a class. Maybe I’ll even cook for Apollo.
“Who am I right now?”
I shake my head and peek out through the glass French doors that lead to the patio I installed a couple of weeks ago. There’s a view of the water in the daylight, and it’s amazing.
Room by room, I make my way through and find that Luna has placed every piece of furniture, every pillow and knickknack just so. It’s exactly the way she envisioned it.
Walking upstairs, I take in the rooms. Each one is themed and has a piece of original art painted by Sarah that fits in with that theme. Our sweet friend is a talented artist, and I know it meant a lot to her that Luna asked her to paint the pieces for the inn.
When I reach the last room, the largest, I’m surprised to see that the door leading out to the balcony is open.
“What in the world?” I cross over, and then I see her. Luna’s sitting in one of the two outdoor chairs, a glass of wine in her hand as she watches the scene before her. “I don’t want to startle you.”
She turns her head and smiles at me. “Hi. I saw you drive up a few minutes ago. Figured you came to see how we did today.”
“Yeah, and just to walk through, take it all in before it’s full of people.”
“I hear you. Sit with me.” She gestures to the seat next to her and then offers me her glass. “I only have the one glass, but I’ll share.”
“Thanks.” I take it and sip, before passing it back to her. “Wow, this view is just incredible.”
“I know.” She takes a deep breath, and for a long moment, we’re quiet as we take in the view. The lighthouse, so tall and strong and proud, is on the left. The way the inn is situated, the lighthouse doesn’t block the view of Huckleberry Bay and the ocean. “I love watching the lights from town. You can see just about everything from up here.”
“Grab a pair of binoculars, and we could be regular Peeping Toms.” I smile over at her. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Luna this serene, this peaceful. “You okay, friend?”
“I’m great. For the first time in over a year, I don’t feel like I have to rush or worry. It’s just done. I can sit up here, on this gorgeous balcony that my best friend in the whole world built for me, and I can look out over the property that I share with the man I love most in the world, and I know that I’m going to make a difference in the community that’s shaped who I am. It’s an incredible feeling, and for tonight, while no one else is here yet, I can just sit in the quiet and soak it in.”
“Until I interrupted you.”
“You’re never an interruption.” She smiles over at me and offers me more wine.
“Where’s Wolfe tonight?”
“Still at the garage with Zeke. They got in a new car that they’re geeking out over. And that’s fine, because it gave me time to be here for a while. I can’t wait to offer the Ford we found in the barn for rides to and from town. The guests are going to love that.”
“Oh, for sure.”
“Holy shit, you went on a date! How did I space on that? Tell me everything.”
I take in a deep breath full of clean ocean air and let it out slowly. “Worst date of my life.”
“Oh, no.”
“Pretty horrible.” I nod and pass back her wine. “I’ll wait to tell you all about it when we have Sarah with us so I only have to relive it once.”
“Probably a good idea.”
“But then your brother showed up, and I ended up having dinner with him.” I’m not going to give her all the details. And I’m definitely not going to tell her that I’m going to start seeing him. Like I told Apollo, I want that just between the two of us.
But it wouldn’t hurt to get her take on just this piece of it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her whip her head around to face me. “You did?”
“Yeah. It was nice.”
“Wait.” She holds up a hand and shakes her head, as if she can’t believe what she’s hearing. “It was nice ? Like, you enjoyed hanging out with my brother? Apollo Winchester?”
“Yes.” I want to laugh, but I just scowl over at her. “Don’t make it a thing. We called a truce for the evening and had a nice meal. That’s it.”
“With my brother.”
“I’m leaving.” I move to stand up, but she reaches out for my arm and stops me.
“Don’t go. I’m just surprised, that’s all. You hate my brother.”
“Hate is a strong word. I’d say he just annoys the ever loving hell out of me.”
We’re quiet for a minute, taking in the pretty lights of Huckleberry Bay and the sound of the surf on the cliffs below the lighthouse.
“I hope you’re nicer to each other more often,” she says softly. “It sucks when two of my favorite people fight all the time.”
I don’t answer her for a while, thinking it over. I guess I never really took into consideration how our bickering all these years has impacted Luna. Until now, she’s never said anything about it.
“I’ll try to be less bitchy,” I say at last.
“You’re not bitchy .” Luna immediately comes to my defense, and it makes me feel so much better. “You’re just stubborn.”
Now, that I can’t deny.
Suddenly, I smell the roses. “Rose is here.”
“She’s come and gone all day. I think she’s been supervising as we get the place put together. You know, I had a thought today as I was making one of the beds.”
“What’s up?”
“Maybe Rose hangs around the property because she’s not at rest. What if she’s stayed here because there’s something unfinished, or something that she needs?”
“I suppose that could be the case. I wish I were psychic because then I could ask her. Maybe it has something to do with Daniel, her one true love.”
“Maybe.” The smell of roses dissipates, and I can feel that we’re alone once more. “I don’t know why, but lately, I’ve had the feeling that she’s sad. I could definitely be wrong because I’m not psychic either.”
“No, but you’ve been with her your whole life. So if she’s sad, I’m sure you can feel it.”
“I wish I knew how to help her. She doesn’t bother me. I know she’s not harmful at all, but if she should be somewhere else, I wish I could help her go there.”
“One thing at a time.” I reach out for her hand, and she takes mine. “You’re exhausted, Luna. You worked your ass off today. I thought for sure that getting everything staged and put away would be a week-long project.”
“Once I got started early this morning, I couldn’t stop. I needed to get it all done.”
“I get it. You did so great. The whole place is beautiful, and I’m sure Rose loves it, too. When do you start hosting guests?”
“Our first reservations are for Monday.”
“That’s less than a week away.”
“Yep. The mayor and her husband will be in this room that night. We have two other rooms full, as well. I could have filled the whole place, but I thought we should start slow the first week to get our sea legs under us.”
“Excellent idea.”
“But then, starting next Friday, we’re full every night through the holidays.”
“All townspeople, on the house?”
“All townspeople,” she confirms. “But most of them insisted on paying something, even if it’s just to cover their food and utilities, which I thought was very sweet.”
“They want you to succeed,” I assure her. “Everyone is so excited and proud of you, Luna.”
“I’m so glad.” She pours more wine into her glass. “I’m so damn glad.”
Apollo ended up having to cancel our lunch because he ran into a snafu on one of his own job sites. So, instead, I took the day to drive to a job that my crew has been on to see how things are going. While I was there, I was even able to get some paperwork done, much to the delight of my accountant, I’m sure.
The sun is just starting to set when I get to settle in at the chapel, with a fresh pile of lumber and all the supplies I need to start framing in the walls of the interior of my new house.
This has always been my favorite part of any new project, seeing it start to form before my eyes. Sure, I can see what it’ll look like in my head, but watching it actually come to fruition is so satisfying.
I’ve just finished hammering in the last of the nails on wall number one when there’s a knock at the door.
“It’s open,” I call out and turn to see Luna and Sarah walk in, carrying a large tote between them. “What are you guys doing?”
“We figured you’d be hungry,” Sarah informs me. “So, we brought a picnic dinner, complete with an excellent wine and cake that I made myself for dessert.”
“I’m so hungry.” I power off the nail gun and set it aside before wiping my hands on the rag I always have hanging from the back pocket of my coveralls. “Thanks for this. You guys didn’t have to go to the trouble.”
“Are you kidding?” Luna asks. “We wanted to come check out the progress and have a girls’ night.”
“It already looks so different in here,” Sarah says, looking around.
“Honestly, I’m surprised you want to be in here after everything that happened.” I open a sandwich wrapped in parchment paper and take a bite. Flavor explodes in my mouth, and I sigh in happiness.
“The fact that it looks different helps,” Sarah replies. “Also, the fact that my psycho of an ex-husband isn’t in here threatening to kill me helps, too.”
Neither Luna nor I laugh at that, and Sarah sighs.
“I refuse to let him have any more power over me. He took a lot of years away from me, and he doesn’t get this, too. You’re my bestie, and I love you. This is your home, so that’s what I focus on every time I come in here. Besides, you had the floor professionally cleaned, and there’s no trace of anything that happened here.”
No matter how much I loved the original floors, had the cleaners not been able to remove the blood stains, I would have ripped out every board and replaced it. “The fact that you’re willing to try to be as comfortable as possible is really touching and makes me feel loved.”
“Good, because I do love you. Now, enough of that. Let’s talk about how brilliant this floor plan is. Even with the blue tape lines down, I can see how well the space is going to flow.”
“I agree,” Luna adds before popping a potato chip into her mouth. “It’s so cool. When do those windows go?”
“The crew from the church who are going to receive them was supposed to come next week, but they called today to ask if they could bring the truck on Saturday instead. I said hell yes. Get these windows out of here.”
“Did you really say hell yes to the church people?” Luna asks, making me snort.
“Hell yes.”
“They’re pretty,” Sarah says, “for a church.”
“Exactly, and this is definitely no longer that. I feel really uncomfortable that Jesus is watching me a lot of the time.”
They both snort laugh, and I join them.
“Okay, I have to tell you about the date from hell.”
“Yes, I’ve been waiting all day to hear this,” Luna says. “Spill it.”
I do. I tell them about every second of it from the minute I arrived at Three Sisters until I found Apollo standing behind me at my truck.
“I’m so glad that Apollo was there in case that schmuck decided to try to beat you up or something,” Sarah says, shaking her head. “What an asshole.”
“He thinks he can drive me out of business?” Luna’s eyes flash with anger. “As if.”
“He’s not going into business,” I inform them both. “I’m meeting with Sally and Fred Newkirk tomorrow. They’re the couple I bought this place from, and they own the land that Eric wants to buy. I’m going to do my best to talk them into selling to me. ”
Sarah and Luna stare at me for a second, and then they both cheer with glee.
“Hell yes,” Sarah says and high-fives me. “What will you do with the property?”
“Assuming they sell it to me?” She nods. “Well, there are two buildings currently standing on it. They’re abandoned, but I think I can fix them up and use them as long-term or vacation rentals. That way, it’s only two rentals, not some giant hotel run by a money-hungry idiot, and they won’t impact the inns and hotels in the area. No one goes out of business, and everyone is happy.”
“You be careful,” Luna warns me, a frown on her face. “I worry that you’ll piss off this Eric guy, and he’ll try to hurt you in some way.”
“He can try.” I shrug, not concerned in the least. “When what he wants to do to our town gets out, no one will sell to him. He can just tuck his tail between his legs and get his ass back to New York City.”
“Still, be mindful,” Luna insists.
“I won’t do anything stupid. I promise.”