32. Justin
thirty-two
“Wear that dress and underwear tonight.” It’s midday, we’re hot, we’re thirsty, but that’s all that’s on my mind right now. Her dress, her underwear, and everything Chloe. Everything I’ve wanted, within reach, right there, too stupid to take it. It’s here, it’s mine, and I want it.
Except I’m gonna have to wait. We’ve been squeezed in Colton’s tow truck for the past hour, my truck on his flat bed. Colton bitched about me taking back roads, but overall, I think he had fun maneuvering the dips and curves and scaring tourists away. I mean the guy fixes cars for a living and does stock car races for fun, so I think he’s having a little of both right now and no grounds to complain.
Now we’re dropping Chloe off at the cottage. I go to the kitchen with her so Moose can get a drink. Colton’s truck is idling on the road. I grab Chloe by the hips and pin her right where she was when we were tasting foods and I almost, almost kissed her.
Why didn’t I?
I wasted two more weeks.
I was scared, and scared is no way to live your life.
So now I go for it and kiss her long and sweet. She twines her arms behind my neck and pulls me closer to her and fuuuuck. That right there is what scares me. How she wants me, how she almost seems to need me.
Am I man enough for that? For her?
She makes a little noise in the back of her throat, her leg creeping up mine, her foot hitting the back of my thigh. Pulling me closer into her. God I want her right now. Right here.
Six weeks since I had her.
No one since her.
Not that I wanted anyone else.
“Wear that dress and underwear tonight.” She said something about taking a shower, and hell if I’m gonna miss out on peeling those clothes off her later today. “Gonna fuck you in that little dress,” I say, and she does a whole body clench around me that just nearly undoes me. “Been teasing me thirty hours, babe.” I run my thumb across her nipple, and she arches into me, throwing her head back.
Colton honks his horn, and I peel myself off her.
“Not kidding, Clo. I want you in that little dress tonight. At my place. You know how to get there, right? Staircase at the back of the pub. Gonna cook you dinner.” I give her lips a quick kiss, whistle softly for Moose to follow me, and get back in the truck.
Colton says nothing, but his eyes are dancing, and his mouth is twitching.
“Broken timing belt,” Colton says as he wipes his hands in a rag. We’re in his garage, I’m sipping a soda while he’s under the hood of my truck. “I’ll keep her a coupla days tops. You can use the Chevy.” He grabs the moving blankets from the bed of my truck and hands them to me. “For Moose,” he says.
I glance at the vintage car he’s been lovingly fixing up for years. It’s proudly displayed on the patch of grass at the entrance of his shop, gleaming under the sun. “That Chevy?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“You’re gonna need something to impress your girl when you take her out.” He slides back under my truck.
I roll my eyes. “Seriously, dude. I can borrow something from the farm. I’ll just call one of my brothers to give me a ride.” I’m dying to drive the Chevy, but from his joke, I don’t know if he’s serious or not.
“Keys are behind the door. Have fun with it. Just go easy on her. And keep Moose on the blankets.”
I guess he’s serious. “Geez, thanks, man.”
“Treat her right.”
The pub is busy when I get there late morning. I barely have time to update Shane and Haley on my truck issues.
“So you spent the night out in your truck?” Haley asks. “How d’you get Colton to pick you up?”
“I flagged down the first person I saw, a dirt bike. He called Colton when he got service.”
“Huh. That’s funny. Colton must have been busy this morning.” She wipes a perfectly clean spot on the bar, ignoring the dirties piling up on empty tables.
“Yeah?” I log into our POS and check last nights’ numbers.
“Yeah,” she trails. “Same thing happened to Chloe last night. I was trying to reach her, and this morning she finally answered, and she said she was stranded overnight and that Colton had just dropped her off.”
“Uh-huh.”
She plants herself next to me, hands on her hips. “Tinman,” she says, using my childhood nickname.
“What.”
“Spill.”
I clench my jaw but at the same time I feel happy. I’m trying to keep everything in but it’s hard. I feel like a bottle of beer ready to explode from being shaken too much.
Haley shrieks and throws her arms around me, squeezing me and doing a jumping-up-and-down dance.
“What’s going on here?” Shane asks, poking his head from the kitchen.
Haley lets go of me. “Nothing!” she singsongs and finally gets started on clearing tables.
I head to my office and give Declan a call. It’s time I get off my ass. “What’s the law about surveillance cameras?” I ask him.
“No such law in Vermont.”
Huh. “So I can put cameras anywhere?”
“As long as you don’t break privacy laws, yes.”
“What’s’at mean?”
“Surveillance cameras are legal as long as they don’t capture anyone else’s private area. Like your neighbor’s garden or inside their house. Just don’t put cameras anywhere there’s an expectation of privacy. Like bathrooms.”
“Gotcha.”
He stays silent for a beat, and when I don’t add anything, he asks, “Does this have anything to do with what you asked me the other day?”
“Maybe.” Totally.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Justin.”
“I’m just getting my thumb out of my ass, like you said I should.”
“What happened to letting us take care of it?”
“That’s actually the part about getting you specific and demonstrated evidence. Or clues, whatever. You’ll be in the loop, no worries. Expect a call late at night one of these days.”
“Can’t wait,” he grumbles and hangs up.
I spend the next hour ordering cameras online, next day delivery.
Then I head to Clark’s Meadow to help take down the tents. A bunch of guys are already hard at work, and within a few hours we’re done.
Late afternoon, I’m pouring beers when Haley walks behind the bar. “I’m going to let you guys handle this tonight,” I tell her.
A slow smile spreads across her face. “Nice. Where’re you taking her?”
“I’ll be upstairs. Need some rest.”
She swats my bicep. “Take her out somewhere nice! In Colton’s car.”
“I’m going to be at my apartment, which is right upstairs. I need some rest.”
“I’m sure you do,” she whispers.
“If you guys need anything, you call me right away.”
“We won’t need anything. It’s Sunday. It’ll be slow. Go have fun.”
I’m about to tell her I’m not going to have fun, but that’d be a lie.
“Haley! I’m serious. You guys need anything, you call me.” I know they can handle dinner service without me, but I wasn’t here last night. I won’t be here tonight either. I feel a little guilty about it.
“Hope you take her somewhere nice,” she calls out teasingly as she walks out to the sidewalk.
I don’t tell her I’m cooking for Chloe. I don’t tell her I want to see Chloe in my space, in my bed, in my shower, on my kitchen counter. I want to make her mine in any way possible, and that means bringing her to my place.
I never wanted to date anyone. I never wanted to hook up with anyone in town.
But everything changed with Chloe. I want her in my world. I want her to be my world.
And that, I’ll say it again, is scary as fuck.
The table is set, the main dish is keeping warm in the oven, apps and dessert are ready, and the salad just needs to be tossed, when a soft knock on the door sounds right at seven.
Chloe is standing there, looking shy. Pink tints her cheeks, and her smile is uncertain. Her eyelashes bat and she says a tentative, “Hey.”
I feel the same.
It was one thing to fool around at her place and in the truck.
But we both know why she’s here. We both know what this means. This isn’t a second one-night stand. This isn’t giving in to impulse.
This is us wanting to explore what we could be.
I might have talked dirty to her at her place today—telling her I wanted to fuck her in that dress—tonight means so much more to me.
“Hey,” I say, holding the door open for her.
She’s wearing the dress, but it looks like she pressed it or something, because it certainly doesn’t look like she wore it the day before at the fair and last night in my truck. She smells like flowers, like maybe she’s wearing a spritz of perfume. Her hair flows on her shoulders, and there’s light makeup on her eyes. She doesn’t need it, but I like that she did it.
She looks around my apartment, her smile deepening. Then she drops her handbag on the couch, kicks her shoes off, and turns to me. And I’ve never felt so good in my life.