When he had made it back to town, he had driven by her place, and when there had been no lights on in her apartment, he had to make sure she was home and not stuck in the ditch or lost. Though she had been drinking at the bonfire, he didn’t think she was too drunk to pass out but drunk enough not to drive. And drunk enough that he was worried about her.
He had noticed her right away at the bonfire, but he always noticed her right away wherever they were. No matter the location or the size of the crowd, she was always who he looked for and found. Since the night out at the bar, she had been avoiding him. Well, she wasn’t talking to him, but every time he saw her, she was looking his way.
After an hour at the party, he couldn’t help but talk to her, to touch her. All he had wanted to do was slip his arms around her and kiss her again, but he had opened his mouth and stepped in it. Before he knew it, she was attacking him. And he was loving it. Mia was a feisty fighter, and to have that feistiness in his arms was amazing.
He had actually been about to kiss the fury away when Anderson had pulled her off of him. He still wondered what she would’ve done if he had kissed her. Would she have fought harder or kissed him back? With Mia, he never knew.
Running his hand over the now paler purple hair, he noticed it had faded in the last few weeks from when they were in the bar. Though the color was weird, it was soft and silky, and it made him never want to stop touching it. Up close, he could see her real hair color coming though, a rich brown that made her hazel eyes look brown. The purple made them look more of a gray.
He could spend the night like this, with her head on his lap, but he knew Mia would be stiff and sore, which would make being on her feet the next day miserable. Carefully, he slid out from under her and went into her room. Pulling back her covers, he looked around the room and smiled. He saw her personality in every corner. Fun and homey.
Returning to the living room, he picked her up in his arms. He had heard her complain about the extra weight that she carried, but she was still easy to lift. Laying her gently on the bed, he slid the robe she was wearing off her shoulders. Underneath, she wore just a white tank top and pink lace panties. The material of the tank top was so thin that he could see her breasts, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Lifting the blanket over her sexy body, he paused to take one more look. swearing quietly in regret he ran a thumb over one of her nipples, only to be rewarded when it pebbled, and she moaned in her sleep. His cock twitched at the sound, and he swore again as he pulled the covers to her chin.
She mumbled something as he went to shut off the light in the bathroom she had left on. Then he once again got her a glass of water and two aspirin, and put them on the bedside table. Taking her phone, he opened it—she hadn’t set a password—and turned on her alarm for five am, since she had to open the café at six. He hoped she only needed an hour to get ready.
Kissing her forehead, he was about to leave when he turned back to her. Pulling a condom packet out of his wallet, he ripped it open and put the wrapper next to the water glass. This time he didn’t do anything to the condom, just dropped it on the carpet, still tightly rolled. She loved a good practical joke.
Smiling, he kissed her forehead again. Because he could.
On his way out of the apartment, he turned off the TV. Shutting her door behind him, he chuckled. Once again, she was going to be so pissed at him. Maybe it would end in her attacking him again. He could only hope.
CHAPTER7
Once again,she was trapped in Landstad North Dakota on Valentine’s Day. The only thing positive about it was that it was her last one in this place. Next year, she would be in Grand Forks or maybe Fargo. Anywhere but here.
Also, once again, the café was serving meat loaf. Sure, it was shaped like a heart, but it was still meat loaf. Same thing every year, yet people always ordered it and made comments like they had never seen meat shaped like a heart before in their lives.
Since her café windows faced the town’s only flower shop, or actually the drug store that sold flowers, so she had spent the day watching men go in and come out from the place. Bouquets and bouquets of flowers walked out. She saw men she knew and men she had never seen before. But none of the flowers were for her, because once again, she had no one on the most romantic day of the year. This year, she hadn’t even tried, though she wasn’t going to tell that to her mom.
What she did have was the same old customers who came in every day. Sat at the same places and ordered the same thing. Bringing another order of the special from the kitchen, she straightened her red sweater and watched Anderson come in through the door. He wasn’t wearing a coat, even though the temperatures were bitter today. But the walk across the street was short.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Anderson. Do you have big plans for Ruth tonight?” Mia asked about her friend. It was their first holiday as a couple. Her heart instantly sank at his surprised expression. “By that reaction, I see you have no plans. Did you forget? You can’t forget; it’s Ruth.”
Ruth hadn’t had a date on Valentine’s Day for way longer than Mia. She was a little mad that Anderson had forgotten. Writing their orders down—she didn’t have to ask with these two—she sent it to the kitchen for her cook and leaned on the counter.
“I forgot,” he admitted, sitting heavily on a stool.
“Anderson, it’s your first Valentine’s Day as a couple. This is big. Did you get her anything at all? Ordered something online maybe?” Mia asked.
“No,” he said sheepishly.
Mia glared at him. “No card? No flowers? No nothing?”
“I forgot,” he reminded her.
“What are we going to get her? In Landstad today?” Her mind ran through all the places he could get her something, but nothing seemed right for her friend. Not on the first one. flowers wouldn’t cut it.
“I don’t know. I messed up, again,” he admitted, his eyes downcast and dejected.
“Again?” she pressed. This wasn’t sounding good.
This morning when she had woken up, she had been happy to know that at least Ruth would have a good Valentine’s Day. Now she was beginning to think nobody in this entire town was having a good Valentine’s Day and that they should have just cancelled the holiday altogether. It would be for the good of the town.
“I hurt her feelings this morning.” He didn’t really tell her anything.
“How about giving her a day off? She was saying she doesn’t get a lot of alone time lately. I think she kind of misses being alone. You can still see her in the evening, but she can spend the day doing what Ruth does,” Mia said, getting a little excited as she talked. Ruth had been a virtual hermit up until a few months ago. Whatever she had done to keep herself busy all that time, Mia didn’t know.