Chapter Thirteen
The rest of the morning felt surreal to Britt.
She kept remembering that kiss in the office and how .
.. different it felt. And she couldn’t stop thinking about that secret passageway in her closet that led to Chad’s room.
He’d made it more than clear that he wanted her in his bed . .. but was that smart?
No, definitely not—but that didn’t keep Britt from wanting to be there.
She’d never felt as attracted to any man as she was to Chad.
But was that just because of their proximity?
Was it because she’d felt safe in his arms last night while the storm raged?
Was it because she was so starved for love that she’d latched on to the first seemingly good man she ran across after being abandoned by Cole?
She didn’t think her feelings were a result of any of those things.
But what if she was wrong? She didn’t have the best track record when it came to guys.
But Chad felt different from anyone else.
Living and working side by side with him gave her a perspective she hadn’t had on any of the other men she’d dated.
If she’d been able to live down the hall from Cole and eat every meal and be with him twenty-four seven, she never would’ve moved to Maine with him. He said one thing but did another. He promised her the world, and failed to deliver on every front.
Seeing Chad interact with his family was one thing, but seeing him treat Walt, Barry, and Camden with respect told her more about the man’s character than anything else.
He also went out of his way to be helpful to everyone who came to pick up their boats.
Even though it wasn’t in the contract—she’d asked Evelyn about that—he helped each and every customer get their boat hooked up to their vehicle or into the water.
He interacted with their renters as if they were the most important people in the world. He was patient with their questions and made sure everyone understood the importance of wearing life jackets while they kayaked, even if they were good swimmers.
And when he’d told her that he wanted three kids? Her ovaries almost exploded, and she’d been about two seconds away from asking him to take her against that door and give her a baby right then and there.
It was crazy, and Britt felt completely out of her element. She didn’t think it was just lust. Chad Young was a wonderful man, and she had a gut feeling that if she messed up and let him go, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
But did that mean she was ready to take the leap and change their intimate friendship into something more?
If she slept with him, she’d be all the way in, and that scared her.
She already loved him for his kindness and decency, but she knew without a doubt that if she slept with him, she’d be totally head over heels.
The intimacy that came with making love would cement the connection she felt with Chad.
And the last thing she wanted to do was lose herself completely in a man.
She’d screwed up so badly with Cole, and she hadn’t even been this emotionally invested.
She didn’t want to have her heart ripped out if things went south again.
She’d absolutely have to leave Lobster Cove, which would be almost as painful as losing Chad.
It wouldn’t be smart to go all in so fast ... but Britt honestly didn’t think she could say no. Not when everything she’d always wanted in a partner was within her grasp.
Screw it.
She didn’t want any regrets. And not taking Chad up on his offer to share a bed would be one huge regret.
It was hard to keep the excitement off her face.
But if she went into the living room right now, Evelyn would know something was up.
She’d be giddy with excitement and would somehow get Britt to spill all the beans, and the last thing she wanted to do was talk about sex with Evelyn.
Especially since the sex would be with one of her sons.
Feeling a little cowardly, she called out from the hall, “I’m going to head over to the auto shop to meet with Walt and Barry about inventory!”
“Okay!” Evelyn called back.
Feeling relieved she wouldn’t have to face Chad’s mother yet, not when she had so many X-rated thoughts about the woman’s son swirling through her head, Britt headed toward the side door.
The weather was beautiful today, as if the terrifying storm never even happened.
But the limbs strewn all over the ground were proof that it had.
Thinking about the power of the storm made her shudder.
She hated that she had such a deep phobia.
She’d tried everything to avoid being so damn scared of them, to no avail.
Cole had thought her fear was funny. She should’ve broken up with him after the first storm they went through together, when he couldn’t understand why she was so freaked out.
The difference between Cole and Chad’s reactions was night and day.
Cole made her feel ashamed of her fear. Chad made her feel safe and understood, without even knowing the root of her problem.
Well ... safe wasn’t exactly the word, but at least she hadn’t felt as if she was two seconds away from dying, like she usually did.
Looking over at the guesthouses across the vast property, Britt smiled.
She couldn’t see what the Young brothers were doing, but she could hear hammering, the occasional swear word, and laughter.
Seeing the brothers interact was pretty much exactly what she envisioned when she thought about a “big happy family.”
She heard Walt, Barry, and Camden talking as she approached the auto shop.
Britt hadn’t been able to get a better read on Otis’s son since their first meeting, though he still made her a little uneasy.
Camden hadn’t said or done anything offensive, but she was pretty sure he didn’t care for her much, even though she hadn’t said more than two dozen words to the man.
She assumed he was standoffish because, like his father, he considered her an outsider.
Or maybe he was upset that she’d offered to help out with inventory and some of the admin work for the auto shop. But he might not know that she wasn’t being paid anything extra for the work.
Determined to be friendly even if he wasn’t, Britt plastered a smile on her face and stepped into the first bay.
“Good morning!” she called out.
“Britt!”
“Hi!”
Walt and Barry both greeted her with smiles and genuine pleasure in their voices. It didn’t escape her notice that Camden didn’t even look up from the engine he was bent over. He was in the corner, working on a riding lawn mower that someone had brought in because it wouldn’t start.
“That was some storm last night, huh?” Walt asked.
“Yeah,” she said, feeling as if that was the understatement of the century.
“My youngest crawled into bed with my wife and me,” Barry said. “My oldest wanted to go up on the roof to get a better view of the lightning, so he could get some good pictures. And the middle one slept through the whole thing. I can’t believe how different they are.”
Britt shuddered thinking about being outside in a storm like that. But on a roof? Closer to the lightning? Where you could get hit by it even easier? That was literally her worst nightmare come true.
“Take it you’re not a fan of storms,” Walt boomed with a laugh, though it didn’t feel like he was laughing at her.
Britt gave him a small shrug. “No. Had a bad experience when I was little.”
She surprised herself by admitting that. She didn’t usually admit to anyone that she was terrified of storms, but something about the mechanic made her feel as if he wouldn’t make light of her fears. And she was right.
His smile dimmed and his brows furrowed. “You okay?”
She gave him a nod. “Yeah.”
“If it makes you feel any better, storms like that aren’t common. Yes, we get rain and wind, but those huge thunder boomers and the lightning? Not as much.”
Relief swam through Britt’s veins. “Good.”
“Was there much damage to the guesthouses?” Barry asked. “Saw the boys heading over there this morning, and we can hear them working on it.”
“A little. The reservation that was supposed to check in today was okay to cancel, so now they think they can fix it before the next couple is scheduled to arrive,” Britt told him.
“That’s good. Was hoping to head over and see if they needed a hand later, but we’re up to our eyeballs in repairs down here.”
Britt nodded. “Do you have time to sit with me and go over more inventory? Or should we do it another time?”
“No, now’s good,” Walt told her. “Barry, if you can finish up here, I’ll help Britt. If we take an hour or so, I figure we can get another good chunk done.”
“Sure thing,” Barry said amiably.
“Camden, while Britt’s helping out with inventory, I’m also gonna place an order. Is there anything you need?”
He looked up from the lawn mower. “You know she’s just going to fuck it up, right?”
Britt was a little taken aback at his nasty words.
“She knows nothing about engines or cars. She doesn’t know a carburetor from a proportioning valve. How do you expect her to be able to manage inventory?”
Britt pressed her lips together in irritation.
She opened her mouth to defend herself. To mention her experience in admin.
To explain that she didn’t need to know what the parts did, just ensure that they were properly coded in the inventory system and that it was calculating the parts as each one was used and invoiced.
But Walt spoke before she could.