And then both of us stalk off, picking up more of her things and quickly carrying them in before heading out for another load. We do this in absolute silence except grunts of pain here and there. Half an hour later, we’ve emptied the trailer and we’re staggering, leaning into walls when we get a quick break.
“Thank you so much. I appreciate this. I didn’t think I’d actually have time to take a shower tonight. Y’all have made that dream possible,” she laughs lightly.
My dick jumps when she mentions the shower. I’d give my left nut to see her all soapy and wet. Hell, maybe both.
“Can y’all see yourself out?” she says. I feel a morose sadness creeping over me.
That’s right. I’m just a glorified mover to her. And she’s just a new neighbor to me. Why do I keep having to remind myself of that?
I sigh and walk to my truck, Sully right behind me, yapping her ear off, trying to get an invitation.
Smarmy bastard.
But although he’s a bastard. She seems to like him. Her smile is wider and her eyes dance when she rolls them, shoving him out the door.
But he can have her, right? I don’t need or want another woman.
I just have to keep repeating it to myself and maybe I’ll actually believe it.
CHAPTER4
Angelica
Iclose the door behind the two men, glad that I went ahead and broke the news to them that I wouldn’t be selling. At least for awhile. I’m not sure both of them believed me though.
I can’t help but wonder what Gramps wanted for me when he made that little stipulation. Was he looking out for me or the two men?
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. All I need to know is I’m stuck here for a year and with how things were going, I don’t mind it.
I walk through the cabin, closing all the windows before I let Marcus out, laughing when he crouches at the back of the kennel and hisses at me when I try and touch him.
“I know. It’s new for me, too.” I glance around the rough interior of the cabin that’s actually pretty nice. It’s got all the wood you could want in one place, that’s for sure. Big, open beams on the high ceiling and a huge picture window that looks out on the mountains. There’s a sleeping loft upstairs that I hope I never sleepwalk in or I’ll tumble right down that ladder. But since I’ve never sleepwalked, I think I’m safe.
The kitchen is a little rough. Guess Gramps wasn’t much of a cook but I can work with it until I get some fixes made. There’s bare wood behind the sink and I don’t know how to use a wood stove like the one that crouches in the middle of the tiny kitchen but I guess I can look that up somewhere. I also need to find out what the internet situation is because I’ve got a job due in a few weeks. I’m working on a new submission for a magazine and it’s almost done but I still need to get some cleanup done on it and I need internet access for that. If I can’t find it here, hopefully I can go down the mountain and there’s somewhere that will have free internet access. I mean…everybody needs the internet anymore, right?
I settle down on my huge gray sofa that seems to take up a lot of the living room and stare out the window, smiling when Marcus jumps up lightly on my lap. I lift him up and cuddle into his soft silvery white fur.
“Well, Marcus. This is our new home for at least a year. What do you think?”
The cat pins his ears back and glares around the room, shooting me an irritated look. I set him down beside me on the couch and laugh, petting his fur.
“I know, it’s an adjustment. But I’m ready for something new.” As long as Jeremy doesn’t find me. My clingy ex-boyfriend was making himself into a huge nuisance and I’ve had to call the cops multiple times when he showed up wherever I was working or eating or shopping. Took awhile but I finally figured out he was tracking my phone and I disabled that function to keep him from finding me again.
I run my fingers through my hair, watching the mountains disappear into the night sky slowly moving across the window. I hope that this is it and he finally gets the hint that we’re over. Because the last time, the wild look in his eyes when the cops showed up and the way he screamed bloody murder while he was arrested, promising that this wasn’t over? That was damn scary.
I shiver and stand, going across the room to stoke the fireplace again. Then I stretch and grab a few things to go take a shower.
Standing inside the small glass cubicle that takes up a fourth of the tiny bathroom, I soap up and wash off, then shampoo my hair and rinse.
My mind drifts to the two strangers. Clay and Sully. For some reason, I like them both. Sully’s outrageous antics and flirting and Clay’s unsmiling, serious face both stick out in my mind. Both of them just have something about them that makes me feel safe in their company and it’s been a long time since I felt safe with a man.
But at the same time, I feel a pull. My belly tugs and flutters when I think about Clay’s tall, tanned, rugged body and dark as night eyes that I can’t read no matter how hard I try.
On the other hand, Sully is an open book. I can tell he wants me. His blue eyes burned with desire and my pussy clenches when I picture what those big, rough hands can do to my body.
My nipples peak as I wonder what it would be like to be with either of them. But which one?
I’m not sure. And the one thought that I have is totally forbidden. I have to choose. I cannot possibly be with both men. Even one at a time.