Chapter 5
MILLIE
My cheeks burn from the smile I’ve been wearing for hours now.
Shade’s funnier than I expected, and I’m sure once I’ve slept off the three beers I’ve had tonight, I’ll feel guilty for assuming he wouldn’t be. It wasn’t a cruel judgment, but it was almost automatic. Maybe that does make me a cruel person.
“Do you dance?” he asks, the crinkles beside his eyes letting me know that I’m not the only one enjoying myself.
“With how many charity events I’ve attended, yes, I do.”
“I don’t mean that type of dancing, princess.”
Jabbing my wooden fork into the bowl of fries, gravy, and cheese curds, I say, “Then, no. I don’t dance.”
“Wanna try?”
“You’re the dancing type?”
I slide the poutine-heavy fork into my mouth and conceal a moan at how good it is. He wasn’t lying when he claimed this place had the best. I’ve eaten more than three-quarters of it myself while Shade’s watched with a smirk.
He keeps his hand over mine in the place it’s been for a while now, his thumb stroking my knuckles. I’ve let him touch me, not hating the steady weight of it.
“Not typically, but tonight isn’t a typical night for me.”
“I’d be shocked if runaway brides are constantly flocking to this place.”
“You never know with Cherry Peak,” he retorts.
“You’re here often, then?”
“A few times a month. The drive is a pain in the ass if you want to have a night out. I’ll only stay if Bryce lets me crash at her place.”
The prick at my side is hot and sharp. “She’s someone special to you?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” he replies casually.
Nodding, I glance down at our hands. The letters on his knuckles still make me want to laugh.
I imagine it takes confidence to tattoo your name on your body, but to do it somewhere so obvious?
The letters spelling SHADE are thick, bold, and downright impossible to miss unless his hands are tucked away.
“Do you forget your name sometimes?” I tease, cocking my head.
He chuckles deeply and taps his fingers to the back of my hand. “Nah, but you’ll remember me once you’re gone, won’t you?”
“I don’t think that would have anything to do with your finger tattoos.”
“I hope you’re right. I’d like you to remember me, Millie.”
I bite down on my lip, a restless sensation continuing to flutter in my stomach. “And what about you?”
“What about me?” he asks, a knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
My cheeks have been pink for so long I’ve forgotten what they feel like when they’re not warm.
“Will you remember me?”
His fingers slip beneath mine, the soft touch growing firmer. I swallow, our eyes holding.
“I’ll remember you, and this night, Millie.”
What if I chose to say screw it to the plans that have been made for me and stay?
I could hide out in the town he mentioned for a few weeks. I’d grab my bearings and try to figure out what I’m going to do next without the pressure of my mother’s disappointment or my father’s anger with me for leaving the way I did.
But, if I did stay, there’s no telling that Shade would even care. Despite the fun I’ve had tonight, we’re strangers, and I’m not na?ve enough to believe this man cares much about more than one night with someone.
I’m not the woman for a man like that.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, voice low and calm.
Blinking, I try to shake my feelings off. “I think I need to sleep.”
“Yeah, I bet you do. Want to leave?”
“If you don’t mind.”
He frowns, already standing beside me. I try not to think too much about the fact that he hasn’t let go of my hand.
“It’s okay to be tired. You’ve had one hell of a fucking day, princess.”
“You can stop calling me that any minute now.”
His wink is answer enough. The bartender slides a receipt across the bar to Shade, and he snags it before I can.
“I can buy my own beers,” I mutter.
“Don’t give me a hard time. I’m trying to be a gentleman.”
I laugh, the beer doing a number on me, considering how little I drink in my real life. “Fine.”
It’s almost comical how he not only grabs his wallet with one hand but insists on using his card to pay the same way, all so he doesn’t have to let go of me. There’s this natural comfortability that I feel with him, and clearly, he feels it with me too.
“Have a good night,” the bartender calls when Shade leads me away from the bar.
I give him a wave and hurry my pace to keep up with the long strides of Shade’s legs. He holds the door open for me, and I stare at the rain still falling before following him outside.
“Which car is yours?” he yells, the downpour swallowing his voice.
Considering there are only three cars in the parking lot, he has to already know, but I point to the white one anyway. When I first got here, I didn’t pay much attention to the vehicles already in the lot, but as we jog through the rain, I take a look.
There’s a dark grey, rusted pickup truck and a sleek, black two-door car parked in front of the bar, and I know without a doubt which is Shade’s without needing to ask.
He confirms my guess when he waits for me to pull my key from inside my bra and unlock my car before taking a detour to the black one.
I quickly get into the car. Water drips into my eyes as I try to look out the window and see what he’s doing. It’s raining too hard, so I sit in silence and shiver, pouting despite myself.
When the driver’s door finally whips open, my shivers disappear. I watch as he slips inside the car and knocks his knees against the steering wheel before tossing a ball of fabric at me.
I drop the key in the console and wait for him to start the car. The immediate heat that comes flowing out of the vents makes my toes curl in my socks.
“Jesus, you’re small,” he mutters, fiddling with the seat settings.
“You’re just unusually large,” I shoot back.
“Most women find that a good thing.”
I roll my eyes and then stare at what he dropped in my lap. “What’s all this?”
“Clothes. They’re clean. I wasn’t sure if you brought anything here with you, and you can’t be driving home all day tomorrow in that dress, even with the hoodie over it.”
When I lift my gaze, he’s too busy adjusting all of my car settings to notice the intensity in it.
I take in his wet, dishevelled appearance and immediately want to do something I’ve never wanted to before.
He’s so completely unaware of how attractive he looks right now, his long hair wet and messy and water running down the length of his tattoo-covered neck.
The T-shirt he’s wearing is soaked and sticks to his body, only making it harder to keep my thoughts from dipping into uncharted waters.
My breath thins as I keep myself frozen in my seat. It could be so easy to lean over the console and grab his face . . . but then what would I do? The only person I’ve kissed was just as inexperienced as I was, and the entire experience was horrible.
If I lunged at him and kissed him the way I want to right now, I’d only embarrass myself.
“Thank you,” I murmur instead.
“It’s no big deal.” Finally settled, he looks at me and grins. “They won’t fit you, but I figure you won’t mind that once you’re out of that damn dress.”
“Do you have something against my dress, Shade?”
“Other than the fact you seem to hate it, nah, princess. It’s just a dress to me.”
“I don’t hate it,” I mumble, dropping my eyes to my lap.
“You don’t have to put on a front with me right now. If you hate the dress, say that. I’m not going to tell on you.”
“So, you’re not going to judge me for agreeing to wear it, even if I do think it’s one of the ugliest dresses I’ve ever seen?”
He drops his hand to my thigh and backs out of the parking spot.
The ease of his movements as he spins the steering wheel with the heel of his palm threatens to bring back all of the desires I just pushed down.
Still, he keeps my thigh in his grip and shifts the gears with the same hand he used to steer the car before returning it to the wheel.
“No. I don’t know enough about your life back home to judge you for why you didn’t tell them to burn it instead,” he says.
My throat feels drier than it’s ever been. “I appreciate that.”
“How often do the people in your life offer you the same kindness, Millie?”
“I’m sure you can come to that conclusion on your own.”
He pauses, his jaw working as we turn onto the main street. The windshield wipers swish at a quick pace, but the rain is still falling too hard for them to do much.
“Why did you run?”
I swallow. “Because for my entire life, I’ve been forced to live a certain way, and I guess I finally found a backbone when I was being married off to someone who I didn’t love.”
A subtle jerk of his chin is the only answer he offers me, and I sit in the silence, marinating in it. I’m not sure what I was hoping to hear him say, but maybe it’s better he didn’t say anything.
It will be easier to say goodbye tonight this way.
“If you tell the woman in the office that you know me, she’ll put you up in one of the better cabins. This place isn’t one of the fancy resorts that I’m sure you’re used to, but it’s run by good people, and for tonight, you’ll be safe and warm.”
I nod along to his words, my stomach clenching painfully as the reality of staying in an unfamiliar place alone has started to set in. The rain is nothing more than a sprinkle in Oak Point, and I know I need to get inside the office . . . but I can’t seem to.
“There’s a second-hand shop in town that might have something more your size if you didn’t want to wear the clothes I gave you.
And Maggie’s is open at five in the morning for breakfast. She makes the best coffee—if you like coffee,” he adds, sliding his hands awkwardly into the pockets of his jeans.
“I do like coffee,” I blurt out.
Shade turns to look at the cabin that’s used as the camp office. “Do you want me to come in with you? I could talk her into giving you a better deal. The last week of September is shit for tourists, so you shouldn’t have any problem getting a good cabin.”
“No, I’ll be okay.” Pulling the soft clothes into my chest, I take a step closer to him, drawing his attention back to me. “I guess I just don’t know the right way to say goodbye.”
“Yeah, me neither. Usually, I avoid having to do that.”
“Should we hug?” I ask, immediately wanting to smack myself in the face.
The laugh that escapes him takes away from my embarrassment. He takes a single step forward and pulls me into his body. With his arms wrapped tightly around me, I press my cheek to his chest and palm his back with my free hand, the muscles thick and warm despite the cool fall night.
“It was nice meeting you, Millie.”
“Yeah, it was nice meeting you too, Shade. Thank you for tonight.” I pull back first and force myself to smile before nodding to the camp office. “I should head inside.”
He nods, the action clunky. “Yeah, you’ll get sick standing outside in wet clothes.”
“Are you going to walk back?”
“I’ll find a ride. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
“Alright.”
I start toward the office, every step feeling like I’m wading through tar. Shade lifts two fingers into the air and waves.
“Goodbye, princess.”
“Goodbye,” I whisper, knowing he won’t be able to hear me.
Then, I’m turning forward and rushing out of the rain, this night turning into a memory that I hope I never forget.