“If she wasn’t freaked out enough after last night to ditch you then you’re probably fine. I mean, U-Haul in comparison to some vengeful demon action.” She motions her hands like a scale. She suddenly looks pensive. “But have you thought about it?”
“Of course,” I admit. “Leaving here has always been something I wanted. It’s nothing but terrible memories and this house isn’t enough to keep me here.”
“Mary wouldn’t have ever let us leave, but now we are free. I don’t want to be here any longer either,” Juniper has put down her tea and is now fiddling with the head of her cane and biting her lip. “It’s almost too much to grasp that I can leave town and not forever be someone everyone sees as a crazy shut-in who clawed her own eyes out.”
“We could sell this house to the state, or maybe rent it out or make it a museum,” I suggest, realizing that this is the first time I ever allowed myself to think seriously about it. I’d stayed to take care of Juni, but now that role has passed.
“It’s so weird to think of leaving this place, after all these generations…” Juniper muses, face slightly pained.
“It’s just a legacy of trauma, all the way back to good old Magistrate John Madison,” I say, blowing breath out. “Our family has been a shit show.”
“And not even a good one,” she says with a snort. “It’s like the matinee from hell.
Like if Michael Bay made a Lifetime network movie while he was on sleep meds.”
“Are you going to be OK here without me tonight?” I ask her gently, patting her on the shoulder.
“I sure will,” she says reassuringly. “The only ghosts here now are all benign.
Now, go canoodle with that amazing woman you’ve been drooling over since you were 15.”
“God, even longer,” I remark. “Pretty sure I was a goner the second she broke your pinata in one whack at your 10th Birthday party and then gave me all her Twix.”
“What are some toenails on the bed when Twix on are on the line, eh?” Juniper feels my hand and stands up to give me a quick squeeze. “Go and have fun. Celebrate.”
I’m glad that the Bishop Inn is close, because the moment I jump into my truck, my nerves get the better of me. I haven’t been with anyone since Monica and besides lack of practice, the weight of the tragedy adds expectations and caveats in equal measure. I have to fight the crushing fear of losing someone else I love daily, and to add another person to care about feels risky.
I shake my head as I pull up to the curb and push the thoughts aside. I am at Kat’s door quickly and inhale deeply before knocking. The door swings open and my breath catches on exhale.
She is a vision in a plunging maroon dress and I have to consciously avoid looking at the enticing cleavage, as she sways forward to embrace me. When she beckons me in and turns to lead me, I see the entirety of her back; tone, sunkissed and completely exposed with the back of the dress dipping to where I can see the exquisite dimples on the small of her back.
I swallow and avert my eyes, willing the excitement I’m feeling to subside. I had not planned on tackling her the moment I arrived, but her body is a veritable bounty of temptation.
Her bottom sways lusciously, and when she turns, her hazel eyes are filled with a desire to rival my own.
“Erik,” she says with a provocative smile, her glossy lips perked into an inviting smile. “I’ve waited so long for this.”
“Kat,” I say stepping forward and touching her cheek gently. It feels electric, as the contact with her soft flesh promises so much more. It takes all my willpower not to just throw her on the bed and cover her with my mouth and devour every inch of her. “You are a vision.”
“Come closer,” she beckons, her lips part breathlessly as she looks at me intently.
“If I come any closer I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you,” I tell her honestly, but my words only visually excite her. “I’m barely in control as it is.”
“I do not see an issue with this,” she murmurs, refusing to release my eyes from the contact she’s trapped them in. “But if you would like to talk first, I would be amenable.”
I nod, willing my extremities to stand down. “We can order dinner and talk about what we are doing here.”
“And then?” she teases, leaning forward and straightening my collar, giving me a nose full of enticing jasmine perfume.
“And then I’m taking you to bed,” I say, my lust almost palpable in my voice.
“Mmm,” she says, further testing my resolve. “I’m eager to arrive at that time of the evening. What would you like to talk about?”
“The fact that I’m not interested in just a one night stand with you,” I say shyly, unable to meet her cat-like eyes with such vulnerability pooling in my own. Instead I look around at the posh suite. “And I hope you feel the same.”
“There is nothing I would love more, Erik,” she purrs as she sits down in a luxurious chair, crossing her legs, languidly exposing one silky thigh. As she leans forward the dress parts even more and her hip comes into view.
I lick my lips and breathe out laboriously, forcing myself to stay on topic though my erection is straining against my pants distractingly. “How do you think we should manage this?”
“I shall stay in Bishop,” she says simply, with a winning smile, her cheeks rewarding me with a flash of her dimples.
“That isn’t necessary,” I remark in surprise. Never would I have thought that she would be willing or at all motivated to stay here. “I suppose your
