Chapter 46 #2
I slide my phone back into my pocket and continue walking until I get to Brutal Reads.
The inside of the bookstore is cozy and warm, and the bookseller looks up from his spot at the register.
He’s got a paperback open and closes it when he sees me approach with the shoebox.
The book he’s reading has a cartoon cover with a couple kissing, but I’m betting there’s some spice between those covers.
A man who reads romance novels? Maybe I should try to set him up with Lola and get a rival bookstore owner love story going.
Lola was so happy when I told her I’m staying in Maine.
She screamed and threw her arms around my neck.
I didn’t share the whole story of what happened, of course.
Jake didn’t jump up and down or cheer, but I could see the relief in his eyes.
My brother and I have work to do on our relationship, but I’m happy I’ll be around to do it.
“Callie, hello.” Finn slides off his chair, and his cute dog lifts his head from the ground to watch our interaction, tail wagging.
“Hey, Finn. I brought the items we talked about the other day.”
“That’s grand, let’s have a look.” Finn’s Irish accent is charming, and he seems like a good guy.
I reach in to grab the book page art I created since impulsively stopping in last week and word vomiting to him about my hobby.
“Here’s a hedgehog.” I pull out the animal creation made out of the pages of an old romance novel. “I thought it’d be cute. I can make other animals, larger or smaller.”
“That’s adorable,” Finn says, picking up the paperback hedgehog with googly eyes and glasses.
“This one is more intense, but there could be tourists that want to take it home as a souvenir, or summer families looking to decorate their lake houses.” It’s an open book, the pages carved out and folded to look like a birdhouse with origami birds on the house and flying around.
I even wrote Lake Savage in calligraphy as if the birdhouse has a name, like so many of the houses here do.
“Gorgeous. You really have a gift.” Finn takes the creation from me and glances around the shop, as if picturing where he would hang it.
I love the stillness that doing book crafts gives me. I’ll never forgive Shane for making me feel bad for it and then taking it away when he fled to New York City. Fuck him for trashing all my supplies and hating on my hobby.
I guess it’s enough punishment that he’s dead.
“How about we do it on consignment? If I sell an item, you get sixty percent of the sales.”
“That sounds amazing.” My cheeks heat. I never imagined selling my creations, and it’ll certainly not pay my bills, but I love the idea of it.
“Can you bring in a few more little animals?”
“Absolutely.”
He holds up the birdhouse. “I think I’d like to buy this one to decorate the shop. I can pay you for it today.”
I nod, my heart full.
“I bet we’ll sell a load of these in the summer.”
I walk out a few minutes later and head to my car, texting Wes that I’m on my way.
Me
I’ll be home in ten
Wesley
fucking finally, Calliope
drive safely, but hurry because I want to ravage you multiple times before your sister arrives
I bite my lip and throw my car in gear, my heart beating faster as I make my way to the cabin.
Wes hasn’t stopped tracking my every movement, and I’m here for it. He’s obsessed with me, and I’m obsessed with him. More than a little bit, too.
I feel completely safe for the first time in my life.
“Hey!” I call when I throw the door open. The cabin smells delicious, a sweet potato turkey chili cooking in the crock pot mixed with the scent of apple pie, as usual.
“Hey, Calliope.” Wes is facing away from me mixing something in a bowl. If I had to guess, it’d be fresh homemade whipped cream for the pie.
He’s wearing an apron… and nothing else. This man’s ass is so muscular and perfect, it should have its own social media accounts.
I chuckle and leave my coat and shoes at the door, then pull off my sweater so I’m in my bra, then wiggle out of my jeans on the way to the kitchen.
“You have a great ass.” I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his waist, pressing my body against his bare backside. Our skin pressed together feels divine.
Wes turns from the counter and takes my face in his hands before leaning down to kiss me.
“I see you understood the assignment.” He lets his hands drift down to my waist.
“I always understand the assignment when it comes to you, Wes.” I slide my hands down to cup his ass and press him against me.
“Mmm. You do, sweetheart.” Wes leans down to place a soft kiss on my mouth. “I still can’t believe I found you.”
“Yeah, your life was pretty boring before you met me.” I wrap my arms around his torso, and he layers his arms on top of mine. This man is the least boring person I’ve ever met.
“It was… incomplete before you. Now I have you and Noah. That’s all I’ll ever need.”
I tug on his neck until he leans down to kiss me again.
Wes is my family now.
Jake is, too. Lola. Meadow. Honey Bunny and Sir Fluffy.
I feel like I have a true family to support me.
We stay with our lips locked together for a long moment, the calm before the storm as I can feel the hard promise of what’s to come pressing against my belly.
I am so lucky to have Wes. I’m lucky we found each other, and that he managed to break down those impenetrable walls I’d built around my heart.
He convinced me I am worth loving.
Worth protecting.
Both by him.