18. Cian
Chapter 18
Cian
I t’s been three days since I fucked Scarlett.
But I’ve been to her house for dinner each night since then and I’ve given her orgasms in the laundry room both last night and the night before.
God, she’s spectacular.
We’ve also talked, brainstormed some things for my ninth graders, made treat bags for her friend Amber’s little girl’s dance recital, and listened to the Wait ’Til I Tell Ye podcast with Mariah and Ruby.
Last night Ruby had to go to work early, Henry stayed back at the B&B, and Greta was at home, so it was only Mariah, Scarlett, and me. It felt really fucking good.
Probably too good.
Because Scarlett is still counting down the days until our get-to-know-you arrangement is over, and I’m already sure that I’m never getting over her.
But I still have fifteen days—well, fourteen days and a few hours since it’s now nearly five o’clock—to convince her to extend our time together to…well, forever.
I resist the urge to whistle as I head up the sidewalk toward Scarlett’s garage from the bed and breakfast on the still-warm September Friday.
I cross the large, paved parking area to the big, wide-open doors where I can see just a glimpse of her arm and hip where she’s bent over the blue Honda with its hood up.
The garage was her stepfather’s and still boasts his name on the sign for Brian’s Garage .
I prop my shoulder against the door and ask, “How did the prim and proper preacher’s daughter learn to fix cars anyway?”
Scarlett peeks around the hood and gives me a surprised smile as she straightens.
“Brian said I could preach to him if I did it here and handed him tools while we talked.”
She steps out from behind the car. Her hair is held back by a bandana. She’s in black work boots and blue coveralls, though they are partially unbuttoned, showing a gray tank underneath.
There is nothing inherently sexy about what she’s wearing at all. The coveralls are dirty and streaked with grease. Her boots are scuffed. She’s got a smudge of something—again, probably dirt or grease—on her cheek. But fuck…I want to bend her over that car.
“You preached to Brian?”
She pulls a rag from her back pocket, wiping her hands. “It was one of my mandates from the church. I had to preach to the whole family. Brian was the only one who really listened.”
“While he fixed cars?”
She smiles. “Yep. At first, I’d watch him work while I talked. Then he’d hand me the tools, show me what to do, and then oversee my work while he told me his thoughts on whatever I was “teaching” him.” She leans a hip against the car. “He knew a lot about the Bible and the church—widely and my dad’s—and Christianity. He’d been going to church and religion classes since he was a kid. He was raised Catholic and as an adult was a regular at the protestant church Greta’s family goes to over in Billsly.”
“Did you argue?”
“A little. But mostly he’d just tell me a different perspective.” She looks down at her hands, wiping the rag she’s holding over her palm. “He’d also show up in my dad’s church about once a month. That helped me out because my dad thought it was because I was ‘getting through to him’. Brian told me it was because he wanted to support me and because he wanted to experience how my dad taught his congregation. Said it helped him understand me better.” She looks up. “Brian never tried to talk me out of going to my dad’s church. He understood that I wanted a connection there. But he wanted me to really understand what Dad was teaching me.”
“And you picked up car repair along the way,” I say, watching her. I’m fascinated by her. Maybe I didn’t know the real her. I didn’t know all the details, certainly. But every time I learn something new, I fall deeper.
She nods, not looking up. “Yeah. And when I needed a job, all I could think about was how Brian just patiently, day by day, little by little, taught me this thing that could actually support me.” She smiles. “Okay, he taught me more than one thing. But this thing that I could make money at.” She lifts her head. “So I went garage to garage, asking if they needed help until one said yes. Pete. He paid me almost nothing at first, but then I slowly won him over, proving I was more reliable and harder working than any of his other mechanics and he increased my wages and paid for me to go to the community college to take some formal classes to learn some additional skills and—” She shrugs. “Here I am.”
I push off the wall and walk toward her. “Do you like this job?”
She looks around the garage. “No.”
I’m surprised. “Really?”
“I don’t hate it. I like feeling capable. I like being able to help people. But no. This is not a dream job. It’s just something I can do that people need and that contributes to the town.”
I stop just a foot in front of her. I’m glad this isn’t her dream job. Because I have a better idea. But I also wish this woman was happy with something in her life. I know she loves her daughter and sister, but even there I sense a tension. She wants them to be happy and Mariah’s issues at school and Ruby’s issues with Henry upset Scarlett.
Things aren’t how Scarlett would like them to be, and I cannot tamp down the urge to fix it all.
She looks up at me and tucks the rag back into her pocket. “So, what are you doing here?”
“I haven’t seen you all day. Ruby and Mariah said you’d be almost done.”
She glances at the car. “I still need to do a few things for Diane, but she doesn’t need it back until…” She laughs. “She doesn’t have a set time she needs it back.”
I smile and close the space between us. “Why can’t you just let Diane give you casseroles to help you out?”
Scarlett shrugs. “Because I don’t really need those casseroles. I feel guilty taking them, I guess.”
“Do they help you?”
“Sure. It’s nice some nights to just throw something in the oven and not have to worry about ingredients and recipes and taking the time to put it together.”
“And that gives you time to spend with Mariah, or to do something else like laundry, or to just relax, which is also valuable. So you shouldn’t feel guilty.”
“I just know there are other people who need help a lot more than Ruby and Mariah and I do.”
I lift my hand and cup her face. “It’s okay for people to take care of you, Scarlett. Just because they want to. Just because they care. It doesn’t have to be a need thing.”
She takes a breath. “I’m just not used to that.”
I fucking hate that. Hate. It. This woman should be cherished . But on the other hand, it means I can come in and do it and there’s no one I need to shove out of the way.
“Ruby’s taken care of you, right?” I ask.
I know that’s the biggest reason Henry and Ruby can’t be together. Henry needs to be with me, and Ruby feels she needs to be with Scarlett.
“Yes. Definitely,” Scarlett agrees.
I wonder if she realizes that she’s pressing her cheek into my hand.
“But by being emotionally supportive and physically being there for me, she’s also had to do without a lot of stuff. We’ve had crappy apartments, stressful finances, and schedules to juggle. One of the reasons Ruby started bartending and then dancing was because it was at night. I would drop Mariah off at daycare around eight, then work during the day. Ruby would come home after her shift, sleep for a few hours, then pick Mariah up from daycare in the late morning. I’d come home and take over and she’d go to work. It saved us a lot of daycare money by having Mariah there only for about three hours a day.”
The more I hear about the ways these women, girls really in the early days, had managed, the more I respect them. And the more I want to take care of them all from here on.
“Ruby has to work tonight,” I say.
Scarlett nods.
“And Mariah told me she’s going to Greta’s for the weekend.”
Scarlett rolls her lips in and nods.
“That means you and I have Friday night all to ourselves.” I run my thumb along her jaw.
“It does,” she says. “And I was thinking…”
There’s a little sparkle in her eyes now and I definitely want to hear this.
“What if we went to Columbus tonight and got a hotel room?” she asks. “We have the house to ourselves tonight. Ruby won’t be home until around two thirty. But…” She wets her lips.
“But?” I prompt.
“We could go out to dinner. And we wouldn’t have to worry about anyone in town seeing us together.”
“Are we worried about that?” I ask with a frown.
She shrugs. “Kind of. You’re a college professor just traveling through. It’s probably better if the town doesn’t find out we’re sleeping together.”
“I shaved my beard, dyed my hair, and am wearing glasses so we could spend time together and people wouldn’t know who I really am,” I remind her.
“But that was before everyone was going to get to know and love you as a teacher,” she says.
I feel my chest squeeze. “You think they’re going to love me as a teacher?”
She smiles. “Of course. You’re fun and charismatic as hell. You’re so excited about all of it. I know that’s going to show and the kids are going to love having you around.”
Warmth spreads through my chest unexpectedly. I clear my throat. “Thanks.”
“But that makes it more complicated than if you were just hanging around waiting for your car to get fixed,” she adds.
“Why?”
She sighs. “If you were just Professor Brady, you could have played aloof. Mysterious. You could have laid low. But as a teacher, you’re not going to be able to help showing your enthusiasm. You’re going to be very engaging and enjoy the job, and they’re going to like you, and want to get to know you, and will include you in things.”
“You want me to be aloof in the classroom with the kids?” I will try. I’m not sure I can pull it off but if that’s what Scarlett needs, I can try.
“No,” she says quickly. She laughs lightly. “I don’t think you could pull that off anyway, but no. I want you to enjoy it.”
She seems sincere. “I guess that does put more of a spotlight on me, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
She seems amused that I’m just now truly realizing that. I probably should have said no when they asked me to take over this class.
“I thought these eighteen days would be just us,” she says. “Now it involves the whole town.”
She seems a little…jealous? A couple of days ago she was fighting the idea of spending this time getting to know each other. But now she seems annoyed that she has to share me. I don’t smile at that, but I do like it.
“And you’re upset about that?”
She frowns and steps back. My arm falls to my side. “No,” she says after a moment. “Because you’re so excited about it. It just means that when you’re going to happy hour at the bar with the teachers and to football games and tailgates, I won’t be with you. We’ll have less time together and we’ll have to be careful when we are together. I don’t think they’ll like me dating you.”
“Why not?”
She shakes her head, her smile a little sad now. “The last time I dated the new guy in town that everyone loved, I tried to trap him with a pregnancy, and he got run out of town.”
I frown. “Everyone loved Eli?”
She nods and hugs her arms over her midsection “Very much. He was a great youth pastor. When he left town, they blamed me for taking someone away from the kids and community that was doing good work and helping people.” She shrugs. “I’m sure they’ll feel the same way about you.”
I step forward. “They can not feel like you don’t deserve anything good.”
“A lot of them do,” she says.
And she does. I realize it as I study her eyes. She believes that they’re right to feel this way about her and punish her.
“So you lay low and don’t go to happy hour at the bar or to tailgates and football games. You just do your work and quietly help whoever comes along—like Amber and Diane—and that’s it. You don’t let them see you enjoying life or having fun.”
“Ruby and I go out. Amber has even joined us a few times. And we’ll do things with Mariah and Greta. Movies. A couple of football games.”
There’s a wistfulness in her eyes and I hate it. It’s clear that she wishes she could do more.
“Because people have already determined Ruby is a lost cause?”
She nods. “Guess so.”
“And Amber?”
“Amber is new to town and is an amazing stylist. That gives her some power. They want to stay on her good side. She doesn’t go to any church at all and is nice to everyone and doesn’t let people gossip in her salon. She is just a really good person who doesn’t take sides. She goes out with other people too. I guess everyone gives her a pass because she’s equally nice to everyone. They figure she doesn’t know better about me.”
I think that over. I’m new to town, will be an amazing teacher who they need—that gives me some power—and I won’t go to any church at all. But I will take sides. I’ll be on Scarlett’s side every time. Fully. No matter what.
“I definitely want to spend this weekend with you. And if you’re more comfortable somewhere else, that’s fine,” I finally say.
I had intended to whisk her out of town anyway, so this is all great. But I have a very strong urge now to parade her around this town and show everyone that she’s amazing and special and mine .
Clearly that’s jumping the gun. Not only would that clearly make her uncomfortable, but I need to fully establish the mine thing first.
That clears the worry from her eyes, and she grins. “I just thought it would be easier to stay naked the whole time. You never know when Ruby might be around or if Mariah and Greta might pop in. And that way I don’t have to be quiet if we wake up at four a.m. and want to…”
Her cheeks are pink but I fucking love that she just said all of that.
I step close and lean in, cupping her face and dragging my thumb through the grease on her cheek. “So my little witch needs a proper all-night-long fucking where she can beg and scream?”
She sucks in a breath, but nods.
“Anything you want from me, Scarlett. I told you that.”
“Great,” she says on a breath out. “There’s a hotel in Columbus that has?—”
“Except that.”
“What?” Her forehead wrinkles.
“Come on. I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
“Yes.” I take her hand and start toward her little office where I assume she has her keys and other things she needs to close up for the weekend.
“But…no hotel?” she asks.
“Who said that?”