That motherfucker landed, lifted his head, and pecked my window again.
I punched the glass and he jolted away. My hand stung like a son of a bitch, but it was worth it. I just shook out my hand and started up the engine. Looking over, I saw Amelia had reached the door to the hotel and paused for a moment, a huge grin on her face.
“My hero!” she hollered over her shoulder as she ran inside the hotel and the door swung shut, laughter echoing behind her.
What a fuckin’ night. My hand ached, my ego was bruised, and my balls had been assaulted by a peafowl.
But I’d kissed Amelia and it had been heaven.
11
Amelia
Not gonna lie, my vibrator got some heavy usage last night and I wasn’t sure what that said about my mental stability. Not the need for a vibrator. I was one hundred percent for women using them to satisfy their own needs. I meant the fact that I only had one man in mind each time I flipped that switch on.
Fucking Titus Jackson.
My best friend.
It was only six in the morning and I had a full day of stuff to do around the hotel. And yet, I found my fingers typing out an SOS via text message to my gaggle of girls. The Hell Raisers were the only ones who could set me straight. I needed a clear answer on what direction to take. Getting a phoenix tattooed on my back was supposed to mean I was starting over in life. As in, getting over Douchebag and getting back on the path to owning my own B&B. Looking after myself and not letting a man derail me.
Titus was a freaking freight train coming in the opposite direction, blindsiding me and pushing me off the rails. And even though my heart pounded double time just thinking about the way he’d felt between my legs, his hands dancing across every square inch of my skin, and the way he’d shooed off a peacock just so I could get safely inside, I wasn’t sure letting a man turn my head was the smartest thing to do. Was I just repeating a bad pattern?
Amelia: Ladies, we need to chat. In person. STAT
Lucy: I’m on my way to the apple orchard with Roxy. You’re welcome to come if you don’t mind a toddler hijacking the convo at inappropriate times.
Hazel: Oh! I’d love to pick some apples! I have an idea for an upside-down apple cake!
Lenora: What kind of problem are you having? I just need to know whether to bring toys from my shop or just alcohol.
Amelia: Hmm…both??
Hazel: My favorite kind of party! Sex toys and alcohol!
Finnie: I’ll be a designated driver as it seems y’all might be plastered by the time we leave with our apples.
Lucy: Same. ; )
Amelia: Okay. See you in an hour. I have to call in sick and sneak out.
The rows of apple trees went on for seemingly miles. There was something so comforting about the smell of apples in the crisp fall breeze. The sun was out, but the wind kept me tugging my sweater around me. I’d been coming here to pick apples every year for my whole life, sometimes with my mom, sometimes with friends, but this time, I wasn’t focused on the activity. I kept one eye on Roxy darting under the canopy of tree leaves, each shiny apple drawing a gasp of excitement, but focused on telling the girls what had happened between Titus and me last night.
“What? That’s amazing!” Hazel jumped up and down, dropped her basket of apples, and slammed me in a bear hug.
I chuckled at her enthusiasm, but sobered when the rest of my friends gave me more tempered smiles. My stomach was in knots from putting it all out there, but then again, these were my girls. If I couldn’t trust them, I couldn’t trust anyone.
“So? What should I do?” I asked, shifting from foot to foot.
“I think you should do Titus,” Lucy answered with a cheeky grin.
“Hear, hear!” Finnie added, everyone cracking up.
My cheeks flushed red, and I had to admit, the molten heat spreading through my core told me I liked that idea very much indeed. And that made me so jumpy, I put my hair up in a bun just to have something to do with my hands.
“He’s ridiculously hot, I’ll give you that. I mean, who knew the lanky kid would grow into his limbs and then grow slabs of muscle?” I had to take a deep breath to calm my heart rate thinking about him outside the hotel without his shirt on. “But I’m so worried we’ll ruin everything if we do. Like, what if we sleep together and it’s horrible? Or it’s good, but we don’t last as a couple and then we’re awkward around each other? I’ve been friends with him since sixth grade! I can’t be flippant about possibly ruining all that!”
I started walking, then realized they weren’t following me. I turned around to find them all giving me patient little smiles that sparked irritation. I hated not being in on a secret.
“What?”
Lenora stepped forward. “I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that Titus has been harboring ‘more-than-friends’ feelings for you for years, so I doubt acting on those feelings will really change anything. If you both feel the same way now, that would mean you’d get along even better, right?”
I tilted my head and considered what she said. Something about the idea of Titus always having had feelings toward me set my stomach into a flip-flopping frenzy. “I don’t know about that. We’ve just been friends. That’s it.”
“I only moved here recently, so I only saw Titus when you were dating Daire, but I thought he was perennially grumpy. Only after you broke up with Daire, did the free-spirited Titus
