Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
ARLAND
O n Friday, after another productive day at Everwood, I headed home to change for a night out with the guys. Twice a week, we met at a local bar for a drink and some appetizers, a tradition we’d had for years. It was something I didn’t even really think about anymore, muscle memory taking over to get me home, showered, changed, and to the bar.
The same one every time.
My headlights swept across the facade of my house when I pulled into the circular drive, and I wondered for the umpteenth time if I should just sell this place. I loved it, but it was huge and so quiet.
I didn’t mind the quiet so much. I’d become quite used to living alone and I genuinely enjoyed the peacefulness of it now, but I definitely didn’t need six bedrooms and seven and a half baths.
I rolled the car to a stop, looking up at the three stories of prime real estate that I’d bought in my early thirties. It was one of the last homes in this part of town, the others having been demolished and sold off to developers to build townhomes and condos.
The house also sat on a full acre of well-kept grounds. Realtors had been after me to sell it for years, and I would certainly make a healthy profit if I put it on the market, but I didn’t feel ready to pull the trigger just yet.
The stone-built house with its sunbathed rooms, large balconies, and spacious living and entertainment areas was home. Simple as that.
After the divorce years ago, I’d brought a new girl home with me every other week. The empty silence of the house my ex-wife and I had shared back in the day had been driving me nuts, and filling it with feminine sighs and moans had seemed like a good idea at the time.
Until it hadn’t.
Deciding that the house had been the problem, I’d bought this place, renovating it to within an inch of its life. I’d redone the kitchen and the bathrooms, installing state of the art everything. All the appliances in the kitchen had been replaced with the best and newest, the layout changed to what I liked best. I’d ripped out the showers, tubs, and floors in the bathrooms and had a bar custom built for the patio out back—which I’d also had extended quite a bit.
No matter how much I’d changed the place though, throwing myself into that project as a distraction, the new house felt empty too, even though Lisa had never lived there. Hence the women.
So many women.
It’d taken a while, but I’d finally grown tired of that lifestyle and learned to enjoy the quiet instead. Now, I just went with the flow.
I worked. I went out with the boys. Occasionally, if I was in the mood, I fucked.
I was at peace, if not completely fulfilled. Being alone was better than being with someone I wasn’t really interested in.
Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I climbed out of my car, leaving it in the driveway instead of parking in the four-car garage. I would be leaving again soon. After jogging up the few steps to my front door, I unlocked the house, not bothering to switch on any lights as I wound my way through the maze of corridors to the master suite, shedding my clothes as I went.
One thing I’d always appreciate about living alone was that. I could get naked anytime, anywhere, and leave my clothing wherever the hell I wanted without anyone nagging me about it. I made use of the opportunity often, regardless of how long it had been since I’d actually lived with someone—or how brief my time living with that someone had been.
I would collect the clothes later and take them to the laundry room, but I could do it whenever I felt like it, which was incredible. Stark naked by the time I walked into my cavernous en-suite bathroom, I started the steam shower and waited for it to heat up, which did not take long. Glancing down at my cock, I wondered if I was in the mood tonight.
It had been a while, but I would see how it went. If someone grabbed my interest at the bar, then maybe, but in the meantime, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.
By the time I was finally done in the shower, I was almost running late and I grabbed the first clean clothes my gaze settled upon in my walk-in closet, pulling up the dark wash jeans and black Henley without giving it any thought. I slid my feet into a pair of sneakers and shoved my arms into a navy blue hard-shell jacket just in case.
On my way out, I scooped up the garments I’d shed earlier and dumped them in the laundry room near the front door. Then I hopped back in the car. Thankfully, the bar was close enough to my house that I arrived precisely on time, which was a thing for me, and I joined my friends at our regular table in a dark corner.
The other three guys grinned as I dropped into my seat. Their hands stretched across the table to shake mine. Donny and Matt took up one side of the table while Greg and I had the other. I smacked my palm into each of theirs in turn.
Gregory, who I supposed was my best friend if that was still a thing at our age, scooted up to get out of my personal space as he pushed my regular order to my side of the table.
“Got that for you,” he said. “You’re in charge of the next round.”
I wrapped my fingers around the tumbler filled with whiskey and inclined my chin in thanks. “How have you dingleberries been?”
Greg shrugged, raking a hand through his rapidly graying blond hair. “Well, Jack and Logan have decided that they don’t agree with the principle of standardized testing, so they’re trying to stage a protest instead of studying. And Haleigh is thirteen, so you know…”
“I know how old she is,” I said. “I came to her birthday dinner.”
He chuckled. “No, I mean, that’s her entire identity right now. Mara and I thought we had it bad with the twins when they hit the teenage years, but we had no idea what was waiting for us with their sister.”
I grimaced. “To think, there was a time when I wanted what you have.”
“A wife and three kids?” He tossed his head back and laughed. “Eh, I don’t know, man. They’re a huge pain in the ass sometimes but they also make life worth living. So pros and cons. How are things coming along at Everwood?”
I shrugged, but then I remembered who I was talking to and I felt an unexpected wave of genuine excitement wash over me. “It’s awesome, actually. We have three new staff members starting Monday and we’re only three or four weeks away from opening.”
“It’s really crazy how fast this came together,” he said, his head tilting like he was trying to remember how long my other endeavors had taken.
Gregory and I had been friends since elementary school. We’d grown up together right here in Sun Valley, and through all the highs and lows, we’d stuck by each other. The man knew everything there was to know about me, which was also how he knew he’d lost my attention soon after I spotted two women walking into our bar.
This was a small town and I knew almost everyone, but I didn’t recognize these two, a tiny blonde and another girl. The sight of them made me do a double take. Her hair was a dirty blonde so dark she was almost a brunette but not quite. The golden threads that caught the light as she moved told me that despite the darker appearance of her hair, she was blonde.
As someone who had spent thousands on the hair of his ex-wife and who had always been expected to compliment her no matter what I really thought about the new color or style, I knew this woman’s hair was natural.
I liked that. In a world where so few things these days were real, I craved authenticity more than anything else.
The dirty blonde locks cascaded in gentle waves—that also looked natural—past her shoulders and all the way to her waist. She was curvy and soft in a voluptuous way that called to me, making my hands itch to trace the gentle slopes of her body.
All too easily, I could imagine what it might feel like to have her underneath me, her softness molding to my hardness. Unfortunately, she’d left not an inch of her skin exposed.
None of those skimpy tank tops or low-cut necklines for this girl. Instead, she wore a lightly fitted white turtleneck with jeans and brown leather boots that appeared to be brand new on her feet.
As they walked to the bar, she stepped into a pool of dim light shining from above and she looked like a damn angel, her eyes a radiant, cornflower blue as they cut our way. She didn’t linger on our table, simply looking around almost apprehensively until her friend said something that made her laugh.
I could barely make out the sound with all the low chatter around the bar, but the barest whisper of it drifted over to our table and my cock stiffened. My lips parted in surprise.
Shit. When was the last time that happened to me?
Gregory had still been talking, but he clearly noticed that I’d gotten super distracted. She was insanely beautiful, though. It wasn’t my fault.
He cleared his throat, snapping me harshly back to reality as he laughed. “Please tell me you aren’t looking at a college student. She will literally call the police on you, Arland. You look like a creepy grandpa right now.”
I grunted. “She’s not that young.”
“Dude, she could’ve been your daughter. One of my twins could bring her home and it’d be more appropriate.”
“The twins are seventeen.”
“Yeah, but how old do you think they are?” Obviously not knowing which one I’d been checking out, he turned to incline his chin at both. “Early twenties would be my guess.”
“It’s not that big of an age gap. Calm down.”
“We can find you a nice lady at the old folks’ home,” Gregory said. “Not here.”
I sighed. The girl had caught my eye and I wasn’t in the mood to justify that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about anyway. I was looking around the bar in general. Not anyone in particular.”
“Oh?” He smirked. “Does that mean I can call the boys to shoot their shot? They are my ride home.”
“Stop trying to get your children laid, you weirdo.” I wrapped my fingers around my tumbler once more and turned my back on the women.
Greg was right. She was much too young for me, but even so, I found myself sneaking glances her way every so often. I had to admit, it had been a very long time since I’d been so instantaneously attracted to a woman. It really was too bad that this one looked like she was barely out of college.