Chapter 28
JAMIE
The bar in Snowberry has a propped-open door, a cover band killing it at a Fleetwood Mac song, and about a hundred people inside, wearing masks and wigs.
Nobody turns when we walk in, and I immediately smile, resting my hand on the small of her back.
I enjoy walking into rooms where heads don’t immediately turn when I enter.
A woman in a shark costume tells Blaire she loves her Little Red and Big Bad Wolf fusion. A man dressed as a lobster shakes my hand and offers to buy us a round. I buy the next one before Blaire leads us away to where it’s darker and quieter.
“Finally,” she says. “I don’t want to share you any more tonight.”
The corner she picks is dark enough that the lights overhead don’t reach us.
“This is fun,” she says.
“I can think of a few things that would make it more fun.”
“Like?” She laughs, and it’s muffled through the mask.
The sound is pure happiness.
“Oh, just use your imagination,” I tell her. “The things I’d do to you if we weren’t here.”
“Mmm.”
We dance, our bodies moving in rhythm, and I wish I could kiss her, but it would blow our cover.
Each time she touches me, I’m convinced she wants the same.
Standing this close to her and not being able to slide my mouth across her is cruel.
After the next song, she goes onto her tiptoes and pulls her mask off enough to whisper in my ear, “I can feel how hard you are.” She twists around, pressing her ass against me.
I try to control my breathing as I lean into her body. The lights flash over us. I grab her hips, pressing her harder into me.
“I want you.”
“Here?” she asks like it’s a dare.
Her body rolls against me, in beat with the bass.
“Fuck. You know exactly what you’re doing.”
She laughs, placing both of her hands on top of mine. In a room full of masks, everybody’s too busy being somebody else. It’s the first time we’ve gotten to be ourselves.
I grow breathless before she pulls away, turning to face me.
Her head tilts as she dances against me.
Not being able to get closer is torture.
It might kill me. We’re lost in one another when a woman and man in two bee costumes bump into us.
They’re wasted as they start up a conversation. Blaire and I are both too polite.
“What brings you up here?”
“It’s our anniversary,” Blaire lies, pulling me closer.
“How many years?” the guy asks.
“Two.” She takes a step away from me, the moment over.
The bee calls the person carrying a tray of shots over, and I pass on the alcohol.
Then the bee’s wife comes back and looks at Blaire’s hand.
“Where’s your ring, honey?”
Half a second, maybe less, Blaire shakes her head. “I lost it recently.”
“Oh no,” the woman says.
“So, if you find a platinum band with a solitary diamond anywhere, it’s mine,” she tells the woman. Even I’m convinced. “But he promised he’d buy me a new one.”
She reaches for my hand, and I give it to her. The band starts up again and swallows the rest of our conversation.
She leans into me. “Want to get out of here?”
“Thought you’d never ask,” I say.
We leave, both smiling as we remove our masks. I kiss her before she slides into the Mustang.
We make our way down the mountain, and I make it eleven miles before my hand comes off the steering wheel and settles on her thigh.
Every quarter of a mile, it inches up a little higher.
She doesn’t stop me, just rests her hand on mine, letting me lead the way.
Her legs slightly part, giving me all the permission I need.
She rests her head against the seat and braces herself with the other hand on the door.
I drive the pass one-handed while I take her apart at thirty miles per hour.
“Eyes on the road,” she moans, letting me feel how wet she is.
I take my time with her because there’s nowhere to be.
When she gets close, she grabs my forearm and rides it out. She comes apart before we climb the next ridge that leads to Pine Haven.
She’s breathless. “You’re a menace.”
“You needed it.”
“I did.”
When we pull into the driveway of the cabin, the moon is hanging high in the sky.
It’s full and glowing bright.
She’s out of the car, standing in the middle of the driveway with her head tipped back, and every inch of that yard has gone silver.
“Come here,” she says, laughing.
“It’s twenty degrees.”
“I know.” She shivers. She looks at me. “Howl with me.”
I chuckle, and she playfully smacks me. Then she grabs our masks. We put them over our heads, and then we holler at the moon.
Our voices echo off the trees, followed by our laughter. We do it a few more times until my throat aches. It’s returned by some coyotes in the distance.
“So, at midnight, do we transform back into humans?” I ask.
“Maybe you should follow me inside and find out.”
I do that very thing.
The cabin’s warm. Her mask comes off in the doorway. Mine hits the floor somewhere beside hers.
We don’t make it past the couch. She pushes me back onto the cushions and then drops to her knees between my legs.
She works the buttons on my jacket, and I shift to take it off.
My shirt is tossed behind the couch. That’s when my phone slides out of the pocket and goes straight down between the cushions.
There’s a hole in the lining, and I can hear it land somewhere under the springs.
I dig past the springs and come up with a guitar pick, then a dime, and the cap of a pen.
Then my fingers brush across metal. I pinch around it and pull out a silver ring with one small diamond.
Her eyes widen, and her mouth falls open. Neither of us moves for a second.
I take her hand from my knee, sliding the ring onto her finger. I rub my thumb once across her knuckle. The temperature in the room changes.
She forgets to breathe.
So do I.
“It fits,” I mutter.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
I look at her, and she stares back at me. The air in the room is heavy, and the energy changes. Then she kisses me.
It’s not ravenous, like we were minutes ago.
I peel the red satin off her body and pull her onto the couch with me. The mood grows more serious.
Then a car door slams outside.
We both freeze.
“Did you hear that?” I ask, knowing it’s late.
She’s up and pulling her dress back over her body. Jeep headlights shine through the front window, and then the engine turns off.
“Shit,” Blaire whispers.
“Everything okay?”
“Stay here,” she tells me.
Blaire walks outside onto the porch, trying to adjust her clothes. The door doesn’t completely shut behind her. I search for my shirt as my heart thumps.
Who the fuck is showing up here at this hour?
A deep voice follows in the dark.
“I made a mistake. You were right, Blaire.” There’s a long pause. “I can’t live without you.”
I freeze.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. About us. About how fucking stupid I was.”
It’s the type of speech a guy would memorize on the drive over.
I wait on the other side of the door.
Blaire doesn’t say a word. The silence draws out for what feels like an eternity.
Then he says it. “I’m still in love with you.”
That’s enough.
I open the door and step outside. The guy is standing on the gravel in front of the porch, declaring his love to Blaire under a full moon. I almost feel bad about interrupting it. He stops smiling and goes cold when our eyes meet.
I smile.
“Oh,” he says.
“Teddy, I think you should go.” Blaire’s voice is neutral.
“I thought he was just a rumor,” he says.
“No,” I confirm. “Who are you?”
“Teddy. The love of Blaire’s life.” There’s an attitude in his words.
“Oh, an ex. The love of her life thing might not be the right title, my man. She’s never spoken about you before.”
He takes a step forward and stops right at the salt line. He doesn’t cross the threshold, but I can tell he’s fucking livid.
“I owe you a thank-you for letting Blaire go.”
“Can I talk to you?” he says to her in a lowered voice. “Alone. Just five minutes.”
“No. What are you doing here? Do you have any idea how unhinged this is?”
“Blaire,” Teddy says, trying to reason with her, “is he holding you hostage here?”
“What? No. You need to go,” she tells him. “I’ve moved on.”
Until Halloween.
I stand where I am with my arms at my sides. I let her handle this like an independent woman, but I’m here if she needs reinforcements.
Teddy looks down, and his face changes. He reaches for her left hand.
“Where did you get this?”
Blaire says nothing as the diamond catches in the glow of the porch light.
“I’ve been looking for this ring for five years.
” He’s got her fingers in his, and he’s not looking anywhere other than at her.
“I was going to propose to you the last weekend we spent up here. I had it in my jacket the entire drive. I kept waiting for the right moment, and then it vanished. I tore the cabin apart.”
The silence nearly strangles the three of us.
“It’s a sign, baby. One of those little nudges you’re always searching for.” He smiles. “What are the odds?”
I’ve never believed in anything like this in my life, but there are too many weird coincidences piling up around me.
I feel sick, knowing I put that on her.
She pulls the ring off her finger and hands it to him. “I was wondering why it fit so well. Let me return it to you.”
Damn.
“We’re not meant to be together.” Her voice never rises, and she stays completely calm, which is almost scarier.
I give them privacy and walk back inside.
The door doesn’t latch behind me. I wait in the small living room with my shirt on the floor. I make out every other word.
“You won’t give me five minutes?”
“I gave you years.”
“That’s not fair,” he says.
“You drove up here on a whim to interrupt my night.” Her voice stays level. “Go home, Teddy.”
Gravel moves at the bottom of the steps.
“Is it because of that guy?”
“That’s none of your business.”
She doesn’t hesitate, and it takes me a second to work out why that answer sits wrong in my chest. She could have said yes, but she chose her words wisely.
Blaire is still following the rules, the ones I also agreed to.
Standing in the dark, listening to her keep them for both of us, I want the agreement to end.
“Goodbye, Teddy.”
“Please, Blaire.”
Seconds later, the door swings open, and she locks it behind her. The engine eventually starts in the Jeep. Lights flash across the wall, and then taillights fade down the gravel driveway.
“Next time, we do a protection spell around the entire property. Not just the cabin,” she says, turning to me with a smile. “Now, where were we?”
“Want to talk about it?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No.”
The wall I’ve worked on tearing down is back up. I don’t know if I’ll be able to scale it again.
“I think maybe we should.”
“Tomorrow,” she says. “Tonight is ours.”
She takes my hand and walks backward toward the bedroom, pretending none of it happened.
The room is colder than anywhere in the house because the fireplace doesn’t quite reach it. She stops at the foot of the bed.
The satin comes off her shoulders. I kiss the softness of her neck, and she breathes out.
“Jamie.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
Her eyes are on mine, and we hold a conversation without words.
She works my belt loose while I push the satin down her hips. Her bra disappears in a snap along with her underwear. Next go my pants and boxers. The moonlight splashes through the windows and makes her bare skin glow.
“Come here,” she says.
She pushes me back onto the bed, then crawls up my body. My palms rest on her ass, holding her against me. She watches how my face changes as she straddles me, taking all of me in. When I move under her, she puts a palm flat on my chest and holds me down.
“Slow,” she says. “I want to enjoy you.”
She rides me at a pace that unravels me. I let her take what she needs.
An hour ago, I slid a ring onto that finger, and she handed it back to a man like it was their final goodbye.
I sit upright and put my arms around her back. She locks her legs behind me and keeps going. Her face is an inch from mine, and I kiss her.
She pants against my lips, moving unbearably slow. Her forehead stays against mine while she takes all of me. When the orgasm builds, she grows greedier. I love watching her entire body tense before she spills over the edge.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
She picks up her pace and falls apart. I’m losing myself with her. A groan is caught in my throat as she squeezes me so fucking hard that my vision blurs. I hold her against me, not wanting this to ever end.
“I’m proud of you,” I tell her, brushing my thumb against her cheek. “Some people go back.”
“I don’t,” she says. “I don’t do second chances.”
Five minutes later, we’re cleaning ourselves up. Her breathing slows, and she instantly falls asleep. I stare at the ceiling.
The look on her face when I slid that ring on her finger did something to me.
I’ve spent thirty-four years being the man in the room who can explain most things. Not this.
Blaire shifts against me and murmurs something I don’t catch. I move my arm so she can come closer. I don’t plan on wasting any of the days I have left with her.
She said we can discuss this tomorrow. Maybe I’ll get up and start the fire early and make coffee in the French press, like she did for me this morning.