Chapter 6 #2
I told her something I’d never shared with anyone before.
“My folks used to fight pretty bad when I was a kid,” I said, keeping my voice easy even though the words didn’t feel that way. An image of my mom with a black eye popped into my head.
“I figured out early on that if I could make them laugh, sometimes they’d stop fighting. It turned into a habit. Then my friends thought I was funny and… I liked the attention, so I just kept doing it.”
Shelly looked up at me in concern, stopping right there in front of the bottle toss booth.
“I’m so sorry, Amos.”
“A lot of times going out and having fun was better than being at home.” I frowned.
My dad hadn’t just beat my mom. He’d landed some solid blows on us kids, too.
But that wasn’t something I talked about. He was six feet under now, and I made sure my mom was well taken care of. I had ever since I got old enough to hit back.
“My dad and I didn’t get along,” I told her solemnly. “He moved out when I turned fourteen.”
Shelly was quiet for a moment, and then she bumped her shoulder gently against my arm. “That’s good, Amos. That’s exactly what I mean. You’re opening up.”
If she only had any idea how hard that was for me.
I reached over and brushed a curl back from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
“I always open up to you,” I said quietly. “You’re the only one I do that with.”
And maybe someday I’d tell her what my dad had done. And what I’d done in return.
But not today.
She looked up at me for a beat too long, warmth on her face while I wondered what it would be like to see those eyes every day of my life.
Shelly would make some man a hell of a wife someday. I wish it could be me.
Maybe she was thinking the same thing because she broke the moment, clearing her throat and looking away.
We started walking again.
“So,” she asked as we weaved through the crowd, “what do you think the timeline is on Flint and Avery getting married? Because I give it six months, tops.”
I barked out a laugh, grateful for the pivot. “I don’t know about marriage, but they’re definitely fucking. You can see it every time they’re in the same room. That man looks at her like a feral dog.”
Shelly covered her mouth, laughing. “Stop it. They’re my bosses.”
“I’m just saying what’s obvious to everyone in town. Those two are spending more time in bed than out of it. I bet they fuck in the backstock room.”
She was still giggling when she suddenly grabbed my arm and said, “Oh no. Don’t look up.”
So naturally, I looked up immediately.
Hunter Davis was ambling through the crowd about twenty feet ahead, broad-shouldered and easy-going, giving off the kind of steady, reliable energy that women apparently went crazy for.
I knew Hunter. Decent guy. Good-looking in a clean-cut kind of way that made me feel slightly barbaric by comparison.
I slid my arm around Shelly’s waist and pulled her close to my side, making the picture clear to anyone paying attention.
“Why didn’t you want to go out with him?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “He’s a solid guy.”
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “That’s the problem.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Shelly shrugged, but it wasn’t casual. “My mom loves him. Everyone does. He’s stable. Safe. The kind of man you build a life with.”
She glanced up at me. “The kind of man I’m supposed to want.”
It felt like someone was working an ice pick inside my chest, trying to pry my heart out of my body.
It was selfish as fuck, but I hated the idea of Shelly settling down with someone.
Her last boyfriend had clung on for far too long, in my opinion.
“Glad you steered clear of that train wreck. Fuck, a man your mom approves of? Those are always the wrong kind of men,” I joked.
“It’s not his fault,” Shelly said. “He seems perfectly nice. He just…” she hesitated. “He reminds me of Tucker.”
Fucking Tucker.
That guy had been some real competition.
Good job as a park ranger. Annoyingly good looks. And he’d been ready for everything that terrified me.
Cautiously, I asked, “And that’s a bad thing?”
“It is, yeah.”
I still didn’t know why she’d dumped him. He’d pulled out a ring and everything. Said he wanted to father her babies.
I’d always thought that’s what women wanted.
But Shelly was right about one thing. I might fuck like a rockstar, but I had no idea what else women really wanted.
Hunter caught our eye as he passed and gave a friendly wave, his gaze sliding over us with easy recognition before he moved on. I watched him go and then looked back down at Shelly.
I’d been wondering about Tucker for a long time.
“So why’d you two break up, anyway?”
She made a vague, evasive sound and looked away at the game booths.
“Shelly. What was that you said about opening up?”
She sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“A real girlfriend would tell me,” I said, pressing in. “And since you’re my fake girlfriend pretending to be my real girlfriend, you have to tell me. Those are the rules.”
She turned and looked up at me, her lashes fluttering in a way that was clearly deliberate and devastating. “You’re playing dirty.”
“Always.”
She groaned and leaned her head on my shoulder for a second as we walked. “I wasn’t in love with him. That’s why.”
Huh. Imagine that. My chest loosened, and I felt like I could breathe again. She’d dated Tucker for way too long.
“I’m glad you broke up with him,” I said, before I could think better of it. “I hated you with Tucker. It was a bad match.”
Shelly blinked. “Jealous? Of Tucker?”
I scoffed. “Naw. Of course not. It’s just that… we couldn’t couch-cuddle while you were with him. That was a serious problem for me.”
She bit her lip, fighting a smile. “That was a serious downfall, I’ll admit.”
Then I tried a little more of that honesty she’d been preaching and added, “I missed you when you were with him. That’s all.”
Then I playfully added, “So you should never date anyone again. We’ll just couch-cuddle forever. That’s a fine plan.”
Shelly agreed, laughing, and leaned into my side as we walked.
Then she added, “But I might want more than that someday. You know. A white picket fence, babies running around. You’ll have to get in all the couch-cuddling you can before someone else snatches me up and gives me a few of those.”
Babies.
If Shelly was entering the breeding phase of her life, that meant I was going to lose her real soon. I’d watched my sister go through that phase.
When she got babies on the brain, she couldn’t think about anything else until she’d achieved her mission. I was now the proud uncle of three little nieces.
That burned in my chest a little, and I told her, “Shelly-Rae, if I ever marry anyone, it’ll be you. That way we can couch-cuddle forever.”
But she didn’t take me seriously. No one ever did.
Hall and his girl, Cassidy, spotted us in the crowd. Then, a minute later, Zane and Mallory showed up.
That was the end of our private date time, evidently.
We all fell in together naturally, talking and laughing like we usually did, although I noticed a few curious glances coming our way.
All of us decided to head over to the axe-throwing contest at the far end of the grounds. I kept my arm around Shelly’s waist as we walked, and she fit there perfectly.
She laughed at something Mallory said as we walked, her whole face lit up and happy.
Shelly was practically glowing.
I’d been catching eyes on us all day. It was a small town, and people noticed everything. Not that I’d been exactly subtle at the Bear Den last night.
But my Friday night plans didn’t often lead to Saturday afternoon strolls at the town center.
Hell, the whole town had been watching us today.
We were going to be the talk of Red Oak Mountain for the next month, and the thought didn’t bother me even a little bit.
I liked the idea of men thinking she was taken… it delayed the inevitable.
I tightened my grip around her waist and thought about how fast I could get used to this.
Which was a problem.
Because this wasn’t mine to get used to.
It had an end date.
And I had no idea what the hell I was going to do when we hit it.
Plus, there was a serious downside to our agreement with the no-sex clause. I was still working on how to renegotiate that particular part of our agreement.
Maybe if I remind her that babies come from fucking.
I chuckled to myself.
“What are you thinking, Amos? You look sneaky right now,” she told me.
I kissed her cheek. “Naw. You just got my mind going after our conversation. I didn’t know you wanted babies.”
She looked up at me shyly. “Most women want that sort of thing. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I do, too.”
“About that baby stuff. Can we get started right away? I think I know how to make one of those.”
She laughed and swatted me, “First I need a husband. Are you volunteering?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m first in line.”
Hmm. What would it be like being married? Starting a family?
The idea felt so far away from my life. I couldn’t raise a family in a logging camp, now could I?
What Shelly wanted and what I had to offer lived in different worlds. I didn’t even have a proper bed to offer her.
My brow furrowed as I thought about all the decisions in my life that had led me to this point.
Thirty-six. Unmarried. Perpetually single.
I might have Shelly for thirty days, but what would happen after that?