Chapter Eighteen
· Adriana ·
Bravetown was about to go all out for the last night of the harvest festival, free park entry for Wild Fields residents, food trucks outside the saloon, and a giant fireworks display to tie up the night.
Even though summer season in the park was officially over, summer itself wasn’t.
I hadn’t even dug a cardigan from my dresser for the nights I sat out on my porch with Brooks.
The last few days with him had easily been one of the best weeks of my life.
Sharing my tiny home with him and Skye resulted in some terrible cooking experiments, an impressive blanket fort, and a lot of time simply coexisting in the certainty that you weren’t alone.
Mom was completely besotted with Skye too, and had subscribed to a streaming service for the first time in her life just to buddy watch Skye’s favorite documentaries with her.
And every night, Brooks kissed me silly.
We kept things PG even if Skye had never wandered out of the bedroom after lights out, but with the way Brooks kissed me, I always fell asleep with a contented smile on my lips.
I was aware of some other things happening, too.
Things I should have been paying more attention to, like the interview requests in my emails, or the Google Alerts telling me that my old album was being streamed more, and videos of me and Brooks from over three years ago were going viral.
Pretty sure there was a meme about manifesting your middle-aged celebrity crush to notice you with my face on it.
Those things were easily ignored when I remembered my backstage panic attack, and that I didn’t know where to direct the attention.
I didn’t exactly have any new music to promote.
It also helped that Brooks still came to the saloon for my lunch breaks, but instead of keeping me entertained with his guitar, he now bent me over the bathroom counter or spread me out in the stairwell with his head under my skirt.
We hadn’t actually had The Talk. Being physical with him came so naturally, there wasn’t even a moment of awkward fumbling that would have given pause to go, What in the murky hell are we doing?
Maybe we should have sat down to discuss feelings and boundaries and our future, especially with the rock on my finger.
But I was trying to give myself the chance to feel lucky.
I didn’t want complicated anymore. I’d been drowning in complicated for years.
With every smile and every touch, Brooks made me feel good.
Being with Brooks was easy. I focused on that.
Unfortunately, I counted my chickens before they hatched.
My oh-so-perfect week was ending in a sweltering day that had sweat trickling down my neck and into the thick blouse of my uniform.
The volume in the saloon was nearly unbearable.
The staff balcony was still empty until after the daily showdown between the sheriff and the bandits, but guests filled every single seat downstairs.
The problem was that a third of the saloon staff was down with the forty-eight-hour flu, so I’d gotten stuck with a double shift.
“Sorry for being late, your mother insisted I bring these as a snack.” Brooks leaned against the bar and set down a box of cherry tomatoes.
“What are you doing here? Are you here to pick me up?” I asked over my shoulder as I shelved freshly washed glasses. “Did I forget to tell you that I’m working late?”
“No, you told me.” He stepped around the side of the bar to stand next to me. “If the place is understaffed, as one of the owners, I think it’s my responsibility to make sure things run smoothly. I’ll just help out for the night.”
“Why? Do you know anything about bartending? Did you leave Skye home alone? She can’t be here. The fireworks will go crazy later.” I knew that I should be grateful for the help, but my mind just spouted all these ways of refusing it anyway.
“It’s been about twenty years but that’s how I kept myself afloat while playing open mic nights.
” Brooks picked one of the short aprons off the wall and fixed it around his waist. I watched a little too closely at how his fingers flexed and the veins in the backs of his hands popped as he tied a perfect bow.
A couple of hours ago those hands had been all over me.
“And Skye is staying with your mom tonight.”
I hesitated because there was a good chance Brooks would get in my way more than he’d be helpful, but realistically, people wouldn’t get bitchy about waiting for their drinks if Brooks was serving them. “Ugh, fine.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You know, for someone who can barely reach the top shelf in her own kitchen, you suck at accepting help.”
“Yeah, well…” I huffed. “I’m trying.”
“I know you are.” He stepped behind me and slid his hands around my waist, just to give me two gentle reassuring squeezes and kiss the back of my head.
Even though nobody was around to overhear him, he still lowered his voice to a rumble by my ear.
“I see you working through your hesitations when I offer to help. You’re doing so good, arguing less.
We’ll just have to work on the thank-you part. ”
“It’s hard.”
“I know, Addie baby.” He kissed my temple. “I’ll make it easier.”
I swallowed and turned around between him and the counter, pasting on a big smile. “Happy thoughts, please?”
“Can I kiss you?”
Sweet sincerity lay in his voice. I’d never met anyone who treated me this carefully. God, this man was turning my knees to Jell-O. “Yeah, that would be nice.”
His mouth brushed against mine for a moment, his mustache grazing my skin. The kiss lasted just long enough to make my pulse flutter and not a second longer.
“For what it’s worth,” he continued in that low rumble, lips hovering over mine, “I have a few ideas for how I can give you a hand, so you can practice saying thank you.”
“If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, I won’t need a whole hand. I’ll be very thankful for two fingers already.”
“Addie, there’s so many things I can do to you with my hands that have nothing to do with how many of my fingers your sweet little pussy is clenching around.”
Heat shot to my cheeks but before I could double- and triple-check that we were still alone and no one had overheard, Brooks kissed me again.
Harder this time. His hands on my face, pulling me to him, his teeth on my lips until I opened up for him.
I dropped back against the counter, the edge biting into the curve of my ass as Brooks pushed a knee between my legs, leaning in until the hard muscle of his thigh pressed against me.
And somehow, the kiss alone was reassurance enough, because Brooks had told me from the start that he reserved this kind of kiss.
That’s how I would kiss you if no one was watching.
I tilted my hips, desperate to feel more of him.
His thigh nudged higher and slotted right against me, layers of fabrics providing rough friction against my sensitive skin.
I gasped at the sudden spark igniting in my core.
I was not the kind of girl who got easily turned on in public where anyone could see.
Until now, apparently. “Skye is staying with my mom all night?”
“Yes.” He breathed hard.
“Okay, good. Later then.”
Brooks nodded and kissed me again. Slow. Careful. His leg slid out from between mine, and his fingers slid along my waistband, inch by inch, straightening my blouse out.
“Awww, lovebirds. I wanna speak to the owner please. I have concerns about hygiene considering the two bartenders are drooling all over each other.”
I broke out of the kiss before Esra had even finished saying lovebirds.
The stunt show cast members were often the first ones out of the park, because once the showdown was over, they all hurried out of their costumes and through the staff walkways behind the scenes to keep the whole fantasy of the characters intact for the kids.
Clearly, Esra and Noah had rushed over faster than usual today, because Esra still had a full face of stage makeup, and Noah was carrying his scuffed black bandit costume hat and had the black bandanna still slung around his neck.
“Don’t talk to me about workplace hygiene.” I grinned and pointed at the hat. “I know what you two get up to in those costumes.”
“Excuse me?” Noah stilled. He wasn’t the kind of guy to kiss and tell, so I wasn’t surprised that he blanched at the notion of Esra telling me about how kinky things could get with the masks and the leather of their costumes.
“Don’t worry, I’m a fan. I’ve only heard good things.”
Esra giggled and winked at him. “Just girl talk, swooning over my boyfriend. There’s so much I get to brag about.”
“Yeah, congrats on the huge dick,” I added.
“Oh, Jesus. Did she give you the pin to my bank account, too?”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear any of that,” Brooks muttered.
“You have much to learn about the people here,” Esra laughed and shook her head at him.
“There’s free accommodation for younger staff members, around the other side of the park,” I said before Brooks had time to question why Esra was seemingly laughing at him, when she was just goofing off, and he’d have to figure out how to ask for details, “but you can imagine the shenanigans of putting like ten people in their early twenties in a shared house, then putting four of those houses next to each other, especially in a small town like Wild Fields where that basically constitutes your entire dating pool.”
Esra nodded and shook her shoulders. “Work in Bravetown, live in Bravetown, of course you’re gonna get frisky in Bravetown.”
“I see.” Brooks mulled over the new information, then focused on me. “Did you ever live on-site?”
Esra grabbed Noah by the arm and turned him around. “Let’s go secure a table before it gets too busy.”
“Nobody’s here yet,” Noah said, confused.