Hung By the Fire (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 11

eleven

BETHANY

After knocking twice and not getting any response, I used the key Cole had given me to unlock the door and let myself into his house. I’d promised to only use it when Joy and I left the house when I was watching her…or in the case of emergency.

So, that’s exactly what this was.

“Cole,” I called out but got no answer. I dropped by bag on the floor and slid off my coat, throwing it on the back of a chair, before making my way down the hallway calling again, “Cole.” He didn’t answer, but I did hear a little babble coming from Joy’s room, so I made my way in there.

“Hey, cupcake. Where’s your uncle?” She mumbled merrily, but obviously was unable to give me any information. I needed to look for Cole, make sure he was okay. “You wait here, while I check to make sure he’s okay.” Joy answered with a look I’m pretty sure said, Where am I going to go? I can’t move yet.

Walking back into the hallway, I was just about to open the door to Cole’s bedroom when it sprang open, and I was faced with the man himself.

In nothing but a towel and some water droplets.

I’m not saying that my jaw hit the floor, but I’m not saying it didn’t.

“Morning, whiskey girl.”

Cole’s voiced rumbled over me, sounding deeper than it ever had before and I stood there unable to speak. Barely able to catch my breath. I’d seen him naked, but it had been in the harsh lights of a motel room. He stretched, gripping the top corners of the door frame with his hands and testing the limits of the towel.

The Lord himself would not have been able to create a sexier image than what was standing before me right now.

“Want something?”

Yes, please.

“Um, I, um, I knocked, but you didn’t come.” Color stole up my cheeks as I watched his lips curl up at my words.

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.”

Dead. I am dead.

“To the door. When I knocked.” You already said that, idiot.

Listen up, bitch, I don’t need the snide comments from my inner self.

As if the man wasn’t causing me enough problems, he now had me arguing with myself.

“Joy decided to get sick this morning. She seems happy as a clam after she puked all over me, so there’s that. I was a little worse for wear so had to clean up again. Don’t want to be dirty for you.” He grinned, before adding, “At least not dirty like that.”

I could think of any number of ways he could be dirty for me, but he was right. None of them involved being covered in baby throw-up.

“Well, you’re all cleaned up now I see.” I let my gaze roam his body. From the ink covering his arms to his pecs covered with the slightest sprinkling of hair, down to the six-pack of abs and happy trail disappearing behind the edge of his towel. His tented towel.

“I am, but for you I’m willing to get dirty all over again.” Lowering his hands, he stalked toward me. It was the only word I could find to fit his movements. I felt like prey, already in the sight of a predator. “What do you say, whiskey girl? You want to get dirty with me?” With each word, he moved a step closer until I was backed up against the wall, his body pressing into me.

I licked my lips and watched as his gaze tracked the movement, so intense it felt as if it were an actual touch.

“What is it about you, whiskey girl? Every day I remind myself of what we agreed to, both at the bar and that first night here. Then I see you and it all goes flying out the fucking window.” He leaned down, running his nose along the crease of my shoulder and up. Nipping my ear, I couldn’t suppress the shiver that tore through me. “At night I imagine you, naked and wanting, and do you know what I do?”

He wanted me to answer a question? Now? I couldn’t even process his words, not with his tongue tracing the shell of my ear and his hands sliding up my hips to coast underneath my sweater. Flames were left in the wake of his every touch.

“I give in. I grip my cock and remember how it felt to sink deep inside you.”

A soft cry escaped my lips, and before I knew it, I’d gripped his head, dragging his lips down to mine. We crashed into each other as he pinned me against the wall, one hand curving around my ass, hiking my leg over his hip. I could feel his cock rub against where I needed him most. The flimsy material of the towel and my leggings were no match for the heat pouring off me.

“Oh God, Cole,” I moaned against his mouth as he flexed his hips into me. “Yes, right there.”

“Greedy little whiskey girl. Wanting to get off rubbing on my cock. Is that enough for you because it sure as fuck doesn’t seem like enough to me.”

It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. I wanted more, so much more, but we were already walking on thin ice, and I wasn’t sure how much we should push it.

“Eyes on me.” Cole’s voice snapped my attention back to him. I hadn’t even realized they had drifted closed. “I want to watch them as you get off.”

I moved quicker, rocking against him as his hands roamed farther up my torso. I cursed the material of my bra, keeping his hands from fully touching me as he cupped my breasts. Raggedy pants escaped my lips. With each glide of his cock over my pussy, with each nip of his lips against my shoulder and neck, with each pinch of his fingers on my nipples, I climbed higher. Higher than I’ve ever been.

So high I feared the inevitable crash would gut me.

It didn’t stop me from seeking and taking the pleasure he offered. Threading my hands through his still damp hair, I dragged his mouth back to mine. I wanted the connection of his lips on mine, his tongue tangled with mine, as I went over the edge. Opening my mouth, I let him inside, our tongues dueling with each other. His hands skimmed downward, gripping each of my hips tightly as he took total control of my movements. Cole set the pace, set the rhythm of my rocking, until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I wrenched my mouth from his and cried out, “Cole.”

“God, you don’t even know what it does hearing my name on your lips. I want to fucking drown in it.” He bit out the words, right before finding my mouth again and claiming it. There was no other word for the way he took control.

My pussy spasmed, as if searching for something to fill it, as I crested off this high he’d taken me on.

Our shared panting filled the hallway, as we simply looked at each other, crashing back to reality. Cole reached up, smoothing my hair back from my face, before stepping back, giving us both a little bit of breathing room.

“You are so goddamn pretty, whiskey girl.”

For some reason, those simple words hit me harder than anything else he’d said this morning. They weren’t spoken with lust or desire, just a statement he uttered with the utmost sincerity; it took my breath away all over again.

Before I could find any words to say, Joy cried out from her room and we both laughed.

“Looks like we have ignored her for a little too long,” Cole said as he nodded his head in the direction of her room. “Will should be here any minute to pick me up. Can you take care of her, while I take care of this.” I followed his gaze downward, where his still hard-as-a-rock cock proudly pushed out the towel. Unconsciously, I licked my lips. His groan snapped my attention back to his face. “Whiskey girl, don’t look at me like that or you’re going to be laid out flat on the floor and I’m going to be buried inside you before you can blink.”

For a second, I tried to think of the downside to that, but then Joy cried out again.

Cole turned me toward Joy’s room and gave me a little tap on my butt.

“Hey.”

He winked and strolled into his room. “I’ll be out in a minute,” he called as he dropped the towel, “or two.”

The urge to enjoy the show was strong, but so was the amplified volume coming from Joy’s room.

“Fine. Yell if you need a hand,” I threw the words out as a tease.

Cole laughed, completely free and uninhibited and set off sparks inside me.

Sparks that seemed to be aiming right for my heart.

Shit. I think I’m in trouble.

After Cole had left and I fed Joy, I picked her up and started pacing from the living room to the kitchen and back. Though I think the baby loved it, my head was spinning in a million different directions. None of them making thinking easy.

So I did what any sensible woman would do. I’d texted my sisters.

I need you. FaceTime or Zoom. Like now!!

Cami

I’m studying, so hell yeah. Anything for a break.

Pilar

Oh, this sounds good.

Izzy

Me! Me!

Sitting on the sofa with Joy on my lap, I flipped open my computer and clicked the link Alexis had sent. They knew I was helping out Aunt Nadine’s single dad neighbor, but that was all the information I’d given them. I hadn’t even told them about meeting Cole that first night. Whether to keep it a secret or to not share him was anyone’s guess.

One by one, their faces appeared on the screen. Every day I was thankful for my sisters, both by blood and marriage. They’d help shape me and heal me after Dad’s passing. Izzy was an amazing bonus sister, and I couldn’t be happier for my brother for bringing her into our little family.

“Oh my God,” Izzy exclaimed. “She’s beautiful.”

As if Joy knew the comment was directed towards her, she giggled and waved her arms.

“She is. Hi, Joy,” Cami leaned close to the screen, curling her fingers in a wave. “Look at those eyes. I can’t stand it. You need to take her home to us. Mom would love it. She wants a grandbaby something fierce. Get on that, Izzy.”

“She can’t take her home, fool.” Pilar rolled her eyes. “She belongs to some single dad. Is he hot? Is that why we’re all here? He’s hot, right?”

Now it was Alexis’ turn to mimic her twin’s gesture. “Why are you like this? Our sister is obviously having some sort of problem. You know being back in Evergreen Lake would be hard.”

“I bet something’s hard,” Pilar whispered, which only succeeded in garnering her a withering glance from Alexis.

“I’m not getting on that right now, Cami. Though I do get on?—”

“Don’t you dare say what I think you’re going to say. I do not need to hear that, Izzy. Not at all.”

“Girls, let’s focus,” Alexis grumbled. Her self-appointed role as the “sister to keep everyone on track” shining through.

“We’re trying to figure out what we’re focusing on. You’re such a buzzkill,” Pilar complained. “Why are you bringing us down with thinking it’s something sad? Why can’t it be about hottie single dad?”

“We don’t know he’s hot, Pilar,” Alexis countered.

Both Joy and I watched the interaction taking place on the screen without a single input from me. Her eyes tracked every time one of my sisters talked, like she was following along with the conversation. So much so when they finally shut up for a second, Joy glanced up at me, awaiting my input.

This could go on all day, and who was I to disappoint a baby? So, I dove off the deep end.

“He’s so hot. Like smoking hot. Like five-alarm fire hot. Like romance novel single dad hot.”

I actually had to cover Joy’s ears from the screeching coming through the speakers from three of my sisters. Alexis’ reaction was decidedly more subdued.

“I knew it.” Pilar pumped her fist. “So, are you going to have sex with him?”

“Pilar,” Alexis bit out, “please.”

“Ummmmmm,” I murmured.

Four women equaled four different reactions. Alexis huffed in shock, Cami clapped in excitement, Izzy simply smiled, and Pilar, well Pilar danced in her seat and may or may not have made the smack-that-ass motion.

I simply laughed at all of them.

“Bethie, isn’t this only your second day watching her? How?” In fairness, Alexis’ shock wasn’t surprising. This was not “me” behavior at all.

Bouncing Joy on my knee, I realized that by bringing in reinforcements, AKA my sisters, I’d have to give up all the info.

“Well, I sort of met him the day I got into town. I stayed at a hotel. I just wanted some time on my own here before getting thrust into Evergreen Lake full tilt, you know? So I wandered around and wound up at The Reindeer Hole?—”

“Oh my God,” Pilar yelled, “you actually went in there? Were there reindeers?”

“Of course there were no reindeers, fool. It’s a bar.”

“Damn, twin. Give a girl a break. Go on, Bethie.”

Pilar and Alexis were as tight as any twins could be. They could also bug the hell out of one another like nobody’s business.

“No Pilar, there were no reindeers.” I ignored her “boo” and proceeded on. “Apparently Joy had been having a terrible time and Aunt Nadine offered to watch her while Cole left for a few hours. We, um, we met there and, well, one thing led to another, and he came back with me. It was only supposed to be one night. We agreed.”

“Damn girl. A one-night stand and now you’re the nanny to his hot single dad. You’re one trope away from being a full-fledged romance novel. Does he only have one bed?” Pilar held a finger, as if ticking off some of our favorites. “Maybe a snowstorm traps you? Oh! Is he a secret billionaire?”

Izzy, Cami, and I broke out into peals of laughter at Pilar’s ramblings, while Alexis simply shook her head. Sometimes it shocked even me how different the two of them could be.

“Could you be serious for a minute? You know this is Zoom, right? I can see you stick your tongue out at me, Pilar.” Alexis closed her eyes, likely wishing for patience.

“Could you have a little fun with this? Bethie’s had a shit year between the cheating trio and losing her job. Sorry.” Pilar nodded at me, but continued on, “So she let loose a little and had some fun. If she wasn’t babysitting for the man, we wouldn’t even be talking about this. It would have been a one-night stand, and we probably wouldn’t even know for ten years or some shit since she keeps all the good shit close to her chest.”

Pilar was right about that. I would never have told anyone if I didn’t need help now. If I truly had no idea what I was going to do with feelings swirling inside me that I didn’t really want swirling.

Growing up with three sisters, sex came up a lot. About teenage crushes and college heartbreak. About the boys, and men, that were bad for us and what we wanted in a relationship. Some of us were usually a little more forthcoming than others.

Okay. Pilar was the loudmouth, but all of us took our turn sharing. I tended to not share quite as much as the others.

“Girls, listen.” Somehow my quiet request got them all tuned in on me. Even Joy looked up expectantly. “That night we said it was it. When Aunt Nadine brought me over here that first day, we agreed we’d forget about what happened and put it behind us.”

“So, I’m assuming something changed, Bethie,” Alexis asked.

It felt as if everything had changed. Something about Cole called to me. It wasn’t a feeling I was familiar with or knew how to handle. If it were only sexual, maybe I could handle forgoing our agreement and spending more time like we did this morning. Wrapped around each other and taking our pleasure. Except it wasn’t only physical for me. Each day I spent around him, my heart grew a little more fragile, a little more not my own. I looked at the baby in my arms, the one who already owned a little piece of that same heart.

If only I knew what to do with any of it.

I looked at the women on the screen, the ones who always had my back. This is why I came to them. “Since the other day, there have been little moments where the sexual tension is ready to burn me alive, but we always catch ourselves. Shove it back into the place we carved out on the shelf so we could ignore it.” I swallowed, the memory so vivid in my head I didn’t know how I would talk about it without overheating. “Until this morning.”

With all of them more serious than mere minutes ago, Cami was the one who asked, “What happened this morning?”

“I let myself in when Cole didn’t answer. Joy was fine and in her crib, and then he walked out in nothing but a towel. Apparently, she’d gotten sick on him, so he had to clean up again. It was like I was possessed. I couldn’t keep my hands off him. We did everything but have sex in the middle of the hallway.”

A part of me, the rational, don’t-jump-in-the-water-without-looking-for-sharks part, still can’t believe what happened. Both before we spent the night and after we met again, we’d agreed.

Except agreement took a flying leap a few hours ago.

“So?” Izzy stared at me through the computer. “Your brother and I agreed to only a single night. Look how that turned out.”

Izzy had bid on a date with Matteo at a firefighter’s auction. According to her telling, they hit it off all too well during their sky-diving date and dinner went by the wayside.

“This is different,” I complained.

“How exactly?” Izzy stared me down, and I didn’t really have much of an answer for her.

“Well, for starters, I’m helping the man with this baby.” I glanced down at Joy, who even with all the chatter going on had managed to curl herself against my chest and fall asleep. The sight of which earned a symphony of “ooohs” and “aaahs” from the girls.

“God, she really is adorable. It sort of makes me wish Matteo wasn’t at work.” Izzy laughed as the rest of us groaned. “I get what you’re saying, but really if the attraction is that strong, why fight it?”

“Because I’m not made like that. I get that you thought you could have a fling with Matteo and walk away. I was already playing fast and loose with my emotions thinking I could do a one-night stand and that was before I realized I’d see him again. I want a relationship.” The comfortable weight of Joy in my arms played on my desires even more. “I want a family. Not to mention, I’m only here for a short time.”

“Technically,” Izzy spoke up again, “you being there for only a little while would make breaking the whole thing off easier. You just leave.” Something thudded in my chest at the thought of walking away. “But if there is one person on this call who knows that what you plan to do with your life is not always what happens, it’s me. I didn’t plan for your brother or my new sisters.” She smiled at each of us before continuing on, “But somehow I landed exactly in the right place.”

I hadn’t even been in Evergreen Lake for a week, and somehow my entire life felt as if it had been upended. Izzy was right, I wasn’t staying here. A fling would be the logical course of action, since my time here was finite. This place held too many memories, happy and yet sad at the same time, I couldn’t deal with on a regular basis, ones I didn’t want to deal with.

Joy cuddled closer, and the thudding of my heart started up again. I never planned on staying, but why did the thought of leaving hit me so hard?

As my sisters chatted on, a cardinal landed on the front porch railing, and I had to wonder if maybe I didn’t really know my plans at all.