Room For You (Cranberry Inn) Read online

  “Oh no you don’t,” he said, squeezing me tighter. “I’m gonna teach you to relax and have fun if it kills me.” He jumped again, slamming his feet harder this time. Water covered my back and flew all the way up over my head. I blinked several times before my vision was clear enough to see Brody lick the water off his lips and flash that killer smile again. I threw my head back and laughed just as hard as the girls, quite relaxed in Brody’s sturdy arms.

  After another hour of playing in the rain with Brody and the girls, I was chilled to the bone and desperate for a hot shower. I grabbed my stuff out of our bathroom and headed to the guest wing of the house. Passing the first bathroom, I slipped quietly into the second and dropped my stuff on the small table in the corner.

  “Oh, Kacie … you do look like a wet dog,” I said, staring at myself in the mirror. I sighed, pulling off my t-shirt that was completely plastered to my body, and cursed out loud at my decision to change into jeans after breakfast. Trying to pull them off was like trying to pull a sumo wrestler through a child’s inner tube. I kicked and struggled until they were off and in a heap with the other wet clothes on the bathroom floor.

  I stood, examining myself one more time in front of the mirror wearing only my bra and panties. “A wet dog who needs to hit the gym, no less.”

  Just then, the bathroom door flew open and Piper came flying in. “Sorry, Mom, gotta pee!” She rushed by me, pulling her pants down as she ran.

  “Piper!” I called out, “You have to learn to knock. You can’t just barge in on people.” I turned to shut the bathroom door and stopped dead in my tracks. Brody was standing in the hallway, carrying a bath towel, staring right at me.

  “Uh … sorry,” he said, covering his eyes like a toddler playing peek-a-boo while I jumped behind the bathroom door. “I was about to knock when she ran past and opened the door. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Um … I think the bathroom down the hall is … available.” I was glad he was still covering his face because I was certain mine was twelve different shades of red.

  “Okay, thanks. Sorry.” He mumbled through his hands and turned to walk down the hall, bumping into a table my mom had full of picture frames, knocking almost all of them over.

  “Shit!” He hissed as he bent over and picked up the frames, trying to put them back the way they were but they kept falling over, taking new ones with them like dominoes.

  Closing the door gently, I grinned to myself as I heard him continue to struggle with the frames. I lectured Piper on the importance of knocking before you barge through a door. She got dressed and scampered off as I closed the door behind her, locking it securely.

  Embarrassed as I’d ever been in my whole life, I wanted to climb into the shower and let the scalding hot water wash away the last ten minutes of my life.

  “Well, that could have gone better.” I sat on the closed toilet lid and held my head in my hands, wondering what the hell just happened. I had raised my hand to knock on the door and before I knew it, Piper flew by me, flung the door open and suddenly I was staring at Kacie in her bra and underwear.

  It was a total accident … or a blessing. A beautiful, messy-headed gift from God, wrapped in a package of sexy curves and sparkling green eyes, topped with a black lace bow just waiting for me to unwrap it. Jesus, she looked good. Simple, but just enough to drive me bat shit crazy. Every time I look at her for the rest of the day, I’ll think of her standing there in her black skivvies, shocked as hell when she saw me. Just reliving that moment was too much.

  I stood up, turned the shower on and stepped in, leaving it on cold for a few minutes.

  The rest of the afternoon, things were awkward with Kacie and it was killing me. She avoided looking at me and left the room when I entered it. She obviously didn’t want to be around me. I wanted to talk to her and apologize again so we could go back to normal, but I couldn’t get her alone. I had a hemorrhoid named Ashley following me around everywhere I went.

  Fred kept me up-to-date on the latest weather reports.

  “Looks like they’re going to re-open that bridge tomorrow at 5AM, assuming the rain slows down overnight like they’re saying it will.”

  I’d learned that Fred spent his evenings up in his apartment watching old cop shows and listening to his police scanner, which I assumed was how he had the insider info on the bridge closures.

  “Really? Well, that’s good. I’ll work on getting my truck out before dark, then tomorrow I’ll be on my way, bright and early.”

  Fred looked over at me and nodded slowly. He seemed a little bummed to hear I’d be leaving.

  “I was thinking, maybe later in the summer, I could come back and you can show me what kind of fish we can pull out of that lake back there?”

  “That sounds great, Brody. You just come back here anytime you want. Maybe next time you can rent a room and ditch that old couch.” He reached across the island to shake my hand.

  “Fred, did we just have a moment?” I teased him, grabbing his hand and giving it a firm shake back.

  Fred laughed loudly. “I guess we did.”

  I missed dinner, instead spending the next three hours cramming branches under the tires of my truck to get it unstuck. I came inside and everything was pretty quiet. The kitchen was cleaned up except for a plate of food covered with Saran Wrap on the island. I walked over and was thrilled that the note on top had my name on it. I didn’t know Kacie’s handwriting, but I was pretty sure she left this out for me. If pot roast and red potatoes were her idea of a peace offering, I was going to marry that girl tomorrow. I sat down and dove right in.

  “Hey.”

  I looked up from my plate to see Kacie standing in the corner of the kitchen, nervously playing with her silver necklace. I stared at that necklace all night last night trying to see what was engraved on it. She probably thought I was staring at her boobs—she would have been right about that too. I cleared my throat.

  “Hey. Uh … thanks for this. It’s delicious, beyond delicious,” I replied, hoping I didn’t have gravy all over my face.

  She smiled shyly and walked over to the refrigerator, grabbing the gallon of milk.

  “No problem. Did you get your truck out?” she asked as she poured me a tall glass.

  “Yeah, thankfully. I really didn’t want to have to wait for a tow truck. Who knows how long that would have taken!”

  “Fred said you’re leaving tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to try and go early, before Ashley grabs a hold of my leg and tries to go with me.”

  Kacie chuckled, but not a sincere laugh like I’d heard over the last couple days.

  “Listen,” I continued, “I was hoping to talk to you before I left, but you seemed like you didn’t want to talk to me all afternoon so I didn’t push it. About today, in the bathroom-”

  “Don’t,” Kacie cut me off. “Really, it’s fine. I know it wasn’t your fault.” She bit her lip and started playing with her necklace again.

  “I know it’s not my fault, but I still feel bad about it. You seem so … uncomfortable around me now and that’s not how I want to leave things. I told Fred I might come back again soon, to fish with him. It’d be nice if you didn’t hate me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t hate you, I was just embarrassed. It’s been … a long time … since anyone has, you know, seen me like that. I wasn’t exactly prepared.” She stared off into the family room, avoiding eye contact.

  “Listen, what can I do to make things go back to the way they were this morning?”

  “Nothing, really. It’s fine. I’m gonna head to bed, I’m beat. Maybe I’ll see you in the morning?” She gave me a polite smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and turned down the hall toward her apartment. I knew with that smile she wasn’t done. She didn’t want me to leave like this either. My mind reeled with what I could say or do in that ten feet she had left to walk to make her stay out here and get things back to normal.

  Light bulb moment!
/>   “Kacie!” I called out in a loud whisper. By the time she turned around, I had pulled my t-shirt off and dropped my jeans down around my ankles, standing there in nothing but my boxer briefs.

  “Oh my God! What are you doing?” She giggled and covered her eyes the way I had earlier.

  “I thought it was only fair. I’ve seen you, now you’ve seen me and we can go back to normal.”

  She peeked through her fingers at me, closing them quickly when she realized I was in no rush to get dressed again. She continued chuckling and said in a muffled tone, “Put your clothes back on, you lunatic.”

  What the hell was I doing? This might be the dumbest thing I’d ever done and I’d done a lot of stupid things. I was standing in front of this girl I was unusually attracted to in nothing but my boxer briefs, talking myself out of getting hard right there in front of her. Every time she grinned at me or looked south, I had to think of non-sexual things in my head.

  Remote control. Pepper spray. Winter jackets. Golf clubs.

  “I will … if you promise to hang out here with me for a little while. If you continue down that hall, I’m going to follow you, just like this.”

  “Even you are not bold enough to do that.” She was challenging me.

  I never back down from a challenge.

  “Actually, it’s pretty hot in this house, don’t ya think? Maybe I’d be more comfortable with these off?” I wiggled my eyebrows at her and started playing with the elastic band of my boxers.”

  Her eyes followed my hands as her mouth fell open. She threw her hands up over her face again and turned around, facing the hallway but not moving forward.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll stay, just pull your pants up.”

  I lost all control of my body and let my head fall back on Brody’s shoulder as he softly kissed his way down the side of my neck. His fingers lightly raked up and down my arms, covering them in goose bumps as I let out a soft moan.

  “I’ve been wanting to do this for two days,” he murmured against the base of my neck. “And now that I’ve finally touched you, I’m not going to be able to stop.”

  His words were intoxicating and my body was already drunk with lust. My breasts felt heavy, my nipples poking against the constricting cotton fabric of my bra. He continued kissing my neck as he slipped one hand inside my bra, teasing and kneading my swollen, needy breast. When his fingers clamped gently around my nipple, I let out a hiss and reached around behind me, feeling his excitement through his jeans.

  “You keep making noises like that, this isn’t going to last very long.” He growled as he spun me around to face him. I grabbed at his jean button and fumbled to get it open.

  His eyes were on fire, egging me on with their blaze. “Slow down, Kacie.”

  “Kacie! Kacie!” I heard my mom calling. Lifting my head off my pillow, I cracked one eye open and looked over at my mom standing in my bedroom doorway.

  “It’s past ten o’clock. You never sleep this late. Are you sick?”

  I glanced over at the clock on my nightstand, and sure enough, it read 10:07.

  “No, Mom, I’m not sick, just tired. Are the girls still asleep?” I asked.

  “No, I got them up and dressed and fed them so you could sleep a little longer. This isn’t like you.”

  “I’m okay, Mom. I’ll be out in a minute, okay?” I said in a groggy haze, desperate for her to leave quickly so I could fall back asleep and pick up where Brody and I left off.

  “Sure, honey, take your time. I just wanted to check and make sure you weren’t sick.” She smiled and closed the door gently behind her.

  I buried my face in my pillow the way it had been when she woke me and pinched my eyes shut tight, determined to get back to sleep fast and have Brody’s hands exploring my body again.

  I lay there for about ten minutes then gave up, flopping over onto my back in frustration and staring up at the ceiling. That was the most action I had seen in years and I wasn’t even conscious for it.

  I looked over at the clock again … 10:19. Coffee was going to be my best friend today, but I guess that’s what happens when you stay awake until 3:00 in the morning, talking. How could I not want to stay up late and chat with him after seeing him standing there with that charming, boyish grin on his face and his jeans around his ankles? His broad shoulders and chiseled body made it next to impossible not to stare. He was irresistible and he knew it.

  I wasn’t sorry though. We had a great night with even better conversation.

  We spent hours snacking on Twizzlers and talking about everything … books, movies, our families. I didn’t have much to contribute to that part of the conversation. While my little family was happy, we weren’t going to be on a poster for the typical American family any time soon. I was an only child. My parents divorced when I was 10, and I haven’t seen my dad since, end of story. Brody’s family sounded like the exact opposite of mine. His parents were happily married for over thirty years, he had one sister and he still went home to visit often, when he wasn’t traveling for his sales job. We talked about his job briefly, though he seemed pretty bored with it and changed the subject whenever I brought it up.

  It was sweet that family was so important to him. I loved the way his face lit up when he talked about his mom and his sister. He had all the qualities I was looking for and his sexiness factor was off the charts. I started thinking that maybe I should tap into my inner Alexa and go for it for once. Constantly playing it safe only seemed to be prepping me to be the crazy old cat lady with an extensive collection of NASCAR kitchen plates.

  I decided right then to throw caution to the wind and make an effort with Brody. I jumped out of bed with a sudden burst of excitement for the day and hurried for the shower, thankful Fred had fixed it last night so there were no repeats of yesterday.

  Though if it would lead to Brody in his undies again, it might be worth it.

  Twenty minutes later, I threw on my favorite jeans and some makeup—which was in itself a rarity these days—and composed myself before I headed out to the kitchen.

  Deep breaths, Kacie, deep breaths.

  “Mommy!!!” Lucy threw herself into my arms and wrapped herself around my neck.

  “Hey kiddo. Have you been good for Gigi?”

  Piper bounced over and I pulled her in close to me too.

  “Yes, we helped her make breakfast. I was in charge of pouring.” Lucy beamed at me.

  “I was in charge of mixing!” Piper squealed.

  I kissed both of them and they went back to making paper flowers at the island.

  My mom turned from the stove with a plate of pancakes for me. “Here, I saved you some-” She stopped and looked at me funny.

  “What?” I said defensively.

  “Nothing, you just don’t usually wear makeup. You look very pretty.” She walked over and set the plate down on the island and kissed my cheek.

  I was overcome with a sudden shyness. “Thanks, just thought I’d try something new.”

  She nodded with a small smirk, like she knew exactly what I was doing. I was just thankful she didn’t make a big deal out of it and embarrass me more.

  “So, where’s everyone else?” I tried to sound nonchalant.

  “Fred’s out back cleaning up sticks and other garbage that washed up from the lake. Everyone else left early this morning when we got news that the bridge was open.”

  “Everyone else is gone?” I blurted out in a panic. My stomach dropped through the wood floor. No way would he have left and not said anything, right? Last night, we were so comfortable talking to each other—neither of us wanted to go to bed. I thought for sure he’d stay and have breakfast before he left.

  “Yep, everyone else is gone. Why?”

  “No reason,” I said back, disappointed.

  Mom looked at me suspiciously as she walked over to the island.

  “There is something for you on the fireplace bench though, from Brody. What’s going on with that?”

  My eyes got
wide and I nodded toward the girls who appeared to be elbow deep in colorful flower petals and glue, but there was no doubt in my mind that their ears were open and listening. “There’s nothing going on with that. He was a nice guy, that’s all.”

  She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes at me. “Okay, if you say so.”

  I sat at the island, watching Lucy and Piper cut little hearts and flowers out of construction paper, wondering how long I should sit and wait before I could sprint into the family room and see what Brody left for me. While Mom had her back turned at the stove, I tried to sneak a peek over at the fireplace and saw what appeared to be some kind of a red hoodie folded up with a note on it. I was straining my neck so hard to get a better look I almost fell off the stool.

  “Why don’t you just go over and see what it is?” Mom said, amused.

  I whipped back around and stared at my mom like a kid who just got caught with her hand in the candy jar.

  “I knew you liked him. Mothers know these things. Go on.” She winked and shooed me away with her hand.

  I decided not to argue with her. Instead I rolled my eyes and hopped down from the stool, reminding myself that if I didn’t want my mother sending out wedding invitations tomorrow, I needed to act like this was no big deal. As I got closer to the fireplace I saw that it was, in fact, a shirt of some sort. Before I picked it up, I grabbed the note and unfolded it impatiently.

  My eyes fixated on the phone number on the bottom of the note, the phone number that I could dial and hear Brody’s voice within ten seconds if I wanted to. Just the thought of hearing his voice again sent a jolt of excitement through my body. I set the note aside and picked up the shirt curiously. It was a red jersey with a hunter green circle in the middle that was surrounding a scene of evergreens and a sunset. Two thick green stripes, one on each sleeve, bordered two thin white stripes. Confusion flooded my brain … why did he leave this for me? It made no sense.