Lark Lake Lodge

Chapter Nine

Bites and Kisses

When I woke the next morning, it was the first time in two weeks that my back wasn’t in agony. I breathed deeply and stretched. But in the absence of back and neck pain, a difference kind of irritation reared its ugly head.

My face was on fire. I reached up to scratch my cheek and as my nails trailed across, I felt bumps. I ran a hand along my face and one whole side was peppered with tiny and terribly itchy bites. I felt down my neck and they were there, too. I pulled the neck of my hoodie away from me and looked down, red bumps dotted my chest.

Dear God! What bit me all night?

I bolted from the couch and ran to the front desk, rummaging with shaking hands through my purse to find a compact. Once I opened it and got a good look at myself, I almost screamed. I looked like Two-Face from the Batman movies. One side of my face, presumably the one touching the death couch as I slept, was all bit up while the other was perfectly fine.

One irritating thought haunted me. Harlan will feel so vindicated. I didn’t have long to stew over this little nugget, as the man himself walked through the door at that exact moment.

“Good morning,” he said. He set his thermos on the front desk, acting like nothing had happened the night before.

“Morning,” I muttered as I turned my back to him and marched to the bathroom. I needed to escape and to be honest, I really did have to pee. While I was washing my hands, I caught my reflection in the mirror over the sink and groaned. I should have been glad to see that my hair had grown a bit since I’d had it cut and with a little bed messiness was kind of cute in a shaggy, brown, bangy way; or that the time I’d spent walking around the lodge grounds had given my skin a little sunny glow. But the truth of the matter was that the side of my face along my cheekbone and down my neck was a chewed up wreck and Harlan was sure to crow about it.

Knowing I was about to be served a heaping helping of I told you so , I hatched a childish plan. I pulled my sweatshirt hood over my head, experimenting with covering half of my face. It surely wouldn’t stay that way for very long, but I’d endeavor to keep my bad side away from him until I could shoo him away.

When I got back to the lobby, Harlan was pouring me a coffee from his trusty thermos. I awkwardly side stepped up to him and took it. Sipping the cup, I turned away from him.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“Great! Best night of sleep in weeks.”

“Why are you staring at the wall?”

Even if he wasn’t the most observant guy I’d ever met, he would have come around to that question. I was acting really suspicious and anyone would have noticed .

“I’m just thinking about décor. It’s so great to be able to spend more time in here and get inspired.” What a load of horse shit and what a terrible acting job I was serving up.

“Turn around,” he ordered.

“No.”

“Maisie. Turn around. What are you hiding?”

“Just leave me alone, would you?”

He put a gentle hand on my shoulder and spun me to face him, tugging my hood off.

“Jesus!”

Fantastic. It wasn’t enough to suffer the feeling of my skin being alive, I also had to make the most beautiful man I’d ever known recoil in horror when he looked at me? Banner day.

“Something bit me all over last night,” I said, looking at the ground like a child.

“Bedbugs. Wow, this is awful.” He ran his hand along my cheek. It was a wholly different experience than when he’d touched my face the night before.

I pulled back and walked a few steps away, too mortified to let him ogle my deformity any further.

“Bedbugs? Don’t they need people to live off of? This place has been empty for years!” I threw up my hands.

“They don’t need people. They just need blood. They were probably living off the possums.”

My stomach lurched and I gagged, slapping a hand over my mouth. I don’t know how I didn’t puke. The idea of being chewed up by bugs that had previously been on an all-possum diet made me want to jump off a bridge. Harlan noted my horror and a stern look came over his face.

“All right. That’s it.”

He grabbed my hand and marched out the front door of the lodge. I couldn’t help but follow as he dragged me along.

“Wait! Where are we going? Can I at least put on some shoes?” I begged .

He stopped in his tracks and let out a frustrated breath. “Go get your shoes and come right back.”

I did as he commanded. Much as I hate to admit it, something about his gruff and bossy attitude was incredibly sexy. Regardless of the fact that I now knew he didn’t want me in that way, I couldn’t help but feel a little shudder of excitement about him taking charge.

I slid on my sneakers and trotted back to his side. He took my hand once again and marched me to his house. When we got up on the porch just outside the door to the kitchen, he stopped abruptly.

“Stay right here. Don’t come in.”

Strange.

Following his commands, I waited on the porch until he emerged from the house with a blanket. He threw it over the porch railing and then stood in front of me.

“Strip down. Every stitch. Toss your clothes to the side. Then cover up with the blanket.”

Surely my ears were deceiving me. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I don’t want you bringing those damn things into my house. They’re a bitch to get rid of. So, get naked.”

If only he liked me. That would make this humiliating situation terrifically hot. I had definitely had a fantasy or two of undressing for him, but never because my clothes were infested with vermin.

Fuck my life.

He marched into the kitchen and closed the door. I peered through the long window next to the door and watched him sit at the table and crack a book. Either he was playing it super cool or he didn’t care at all that within seconds there’d be a naked woman on his porch. I swear he was a damn eunuch.

As I peeled off all of my clothes. I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving that it wasn’t too cold out and that we lived far from any potential prying eyes. I wrapped the blanket around myself. Then I took a step across the chilly porch floor to the door and knocked. Harlan opened it and after ushering me into the kitchen, he paused a moment. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve sworn that he was far less disinterested than I’d come to believe. His eyes were fixed somewhere in the region of my collarbones, just above where I clasped the blanket around me. I saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed in an almost cartoony gulp. Needless to say, he shook it off. Maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t find me attractive. He was just holding back. I tried not to let hope take root, but his flushed cheeks didn’t make it easy.

“Hit the shower. I’ll find you something to wear,” he said, turning on his heel and walking to his bedroom.

Shower time was brutal. I was so panicked about the idea of bugs crawling all over me, I kept the water roughly the temperature of molten lava, figuring scalding water would give any rogue bedbugs the hint they weren’t welcome on this host. The only problem was, half of my skin was bitten and irritated already. So, the hot water felt like a million tiny daggers. When I was done torturing myself, I dried off and borrowed Harlan’s comb to run through my hair. After wrapping in a towel, I walked down the hall to the kitchen.

Once again, I was surprised to see his gray eyes darken with what looked like desire. I’m pretty certain that a naked woman in a towel standing in his kitchen was an extremely rare occurrence, so I chalked it up to that. I couldn’t fool myself that it had anything to do with me specifically, as I’d essentially propositioned him the night before and he didn’t go for it.

He handed me a pair of sweatpants and a white undershirt. I headed to the infamous spare bedroom to change, doing my best not to get turned on by wearing his clothes. Boy oh boy, it wasn’t easy. Everything smelled like him. He had this old-school, manly smell, somewhere in the vicinity of Irish Spring, Old Spice, and Tide. I really dug it and now I was surrounded by it. The sweatpants were comically long on me and looked almost like bell bottoms as the extra fabric pooled around the elastic at my ankles. The T-shirt was soft and new. Thanks for giving me one of your good ones, Harlan. But I was a little concerned that without a bra, the cool morning air was forcing me to give another nipple show like I had on my first morning at the lodge. Ah, well. I was wearing what he provided. If he didn’t want to see my nips, he should’ve given me a sweatshirt.

I padded out to the kitchen in my bare feet. Harlan stood next to the counter, shaking a bottle in his hand. He patted the counter with his free hand, indicating that I should hop up and sit there. I guessed that he wanted to treat the bites on my face and it would be easier to be eye level. It wouldn’t be easier for me. I’d be staring into his mesmerizing eyes knowing that nothing was ever going to happen. It was the most acute torture I’d ever endure.

Nevertheless, I followed his orders and jumped up on the counter. Just as I’d predicted, my nipples popped up to say hello and I caught him stealing a glance. His cheeks pinked ever so slightly and he licked his lips. Did this guy ever tire of firing off confusing messages? One minute I was sure he was indifferent about me, and the next he looked like he wanted to devour me.

One or the other, Champ. I can’t take this yo-yo routine much longer.

He uncapped the pink bottle in his hands. “It’s calamine. Shouldn’t sting or anything. You just have to sit still so it dries.”

I realized he wasn’t going to use a cotton ball. It meant that he was about to put his hands all over me. Sure, it was in a healing capacity, but it still made a shiver go through me just thinking about it. I had to joke around with him or I’d end up knocking the bottle out of his hands and jumping his bones.

“Calamine lotion? God, you’re so old school.” I rolled my eyes at him as he leaned in and dotted the lotion along my jawline.

“Oh, here we go…”

“Seriously! Don’t you have the spray? ”

“What spray?”

“You know! The one you get for mosquito bites. I don’t know the name. You get it at the drug store and it actually works.”

“Never heard of it.”

“My point exactly!”

I was probably annoying him by how animatedly I was speaking. But I’d been meaning to call him out on living in a time capsule since we’d met.

“You’re like a 1980s exhibit at the Smithsonian. You’ve got a corded phone on your wall with an answering machine, you wash all your dishes by hand, and I have yet to see even one nonstick pan in the place.”

“That nonstick coating gives you cancer.”

“Everything gives you cancer, Harlan.”

He chuckled and started to apply lotion to the bites on my neck. I could feel his breath on my cheek and it was nearly my undoing. The itch and burn of the bites began to fade. I was so full of crackling desire, my skin felt warm and tingly wherever he touched.

“Turn around so I can get your back,” he said and I complied. “Hold on a sec.” He rinsed his hands in the sink, walked a couple of steps down the counter, and opened a junk drawer. “I’m sure I have one in here.”

After digging around, he found what he was looking for. It was a pink ponytail holder with a yellow and pink flower attached—a carryover from him fixing Shannon’s hair when she was little, obviously. The endearing vision of him smoothing his daughter’s hair into pigtails triggered a sweet pang in my chest. When he started to run his fingers gently through my wet hair, it was obvious he knew what he was doing. He twisted my shoulder-length hair into a bun at the back and expertly wound the hair tie around it.

“There. Now I can see what I’m doing.” He started applying lotion to my neck and my eyes welled up .

I was mad at myself for falling for him. It was the height of stupidity to follow up my train wreck of a marriage by tangling myself up in some tragic unrequited bullshit. But I couldn’t help it. He was nurturing, kind, smart, funny, infuriating, and incredibly sexy. A woman could only take so much. My welling tears weren’t over his lack of interest in being with me. I nearly cried because I hadn’t been strong enough to distance myself from him. I nearly cried because I’d gone past the point of no return. Whenever he finally gave me a definitive “no,” he would take some getting over.

“I guess I just don’t like change. All the changes in my life have been bad ones.”

He’d gone back to our time capsule conversation and delivered one of the most meaningful self-assessments I’d ever heard anyone say. It all made perfect sense. His father leaving was a change. His wife and daughter leaving was a change. His mother dying was a change. Change meant loss to Harlan, so he kept the world around him as consistent as possible to calm himself.

“Pull up your shirt.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I know you’re bit up on your back, too. Just do it.”

I did as he asked. I reached up to my shoulders and gathered up the fabric, pulling my head through, leaving my arms still in the sleeves, holding the bulk of the shirt in front of my chest. I don’t know what he was doing back there, but he didn’t start dabbing the lotion for an extended moment.

Please God let him be thinking about dragging me off to his room for dirty, dirty sex .

My prayers went unanswered as a cold dab of calamine lotion touched my back and it became abundantly clear he wasn’t swept away by my near toplessness.

“I do know one thing that’s going to change,” he said. “You’re staying here. No discussion. ”

“Excuse me?” I readied myself for battle.

“When I’m done with this, you’re going to go to your truck and get your suitcase. It should be safe since it never was brought into bedbug haven. You’re gonna bring it in here and settle into the guest room. I’m sick of fighting about it. And I’m sick of watching you suffer so you can stand on ceremony. You’re sleeping here from now on, and that’s final.”

The wind was knocked out of me. I couldn’t believe how far he’d gone into Harlan-calls-the-shots-land. But the thing that was the most startling was the emotion in his voice, and the fact that he rested his palm on my back. My brain was scrambled with thoughts of my distaste for his bossiness, tenderness at how much he cared, and raw sexual desire.

I spun around and faced him, still clutching my T-shirt in front of me.

“Okay. You know what? I’ll stay…but on one condition.”

He capped the lotion bottle, placed it on the counter, and rinsed his hands again—all while trying, and failing, to avoid taking quick glances of my T-shirt balled up in front of my breasts.

“Okay, shoot,” he said, crossing his arms.

“I wanna know why it’s so all-fired important to you that I stay here.” There. He’d have to say something about his need to have me in his house at night. I might not get the answer I hoped for, but at least I’d have an answer.

“What do you mean?”

He was going to make me work for it, apparently.

“I mean you’ve been giving me the hard sell about sleeping here ever since we met. Why does it matter so much to you?”

He stared at me for an excruciatingly long moment. “It’s because…I worry about you out there.”

“But why? I’m just some random stranger that showed up here without a plan, remember? That shouldn’t be your worry.”

“I’m not a monster. I’d help anyone who was stupid enough to want to freeze outside when there’s perfectly good accommodations right here.” His brow furrowed and his jaw muscle ticked. I smiled inwardly at irking him. I was getting under his skin, and maybe if I kept poking, he’d give me my answer.

“But I’m not just anyone. Why do you want me to stay here?”

He let out a low growl and threw his hands up in the air with frustration. “Because…Because I care! Okay? I care about what happens to you!”

Finally! It was a step in the right direction. And yet, it still left me unsure if his care fell smack in the middle of the friend zone or not. I had to press on. Even if it meant I’d be disappointed, I needed to know.

“Care like, how? What do you mean?”

“Well…I mean…isn’t it obvious?” He ran a hand through his hair and began to pace back and forth. A shiver ran through me as I sensed I was nearing the whole truth. “I-I checked the lodge for possums when you were scared. I brought in Dale and Annie.” He counted off his kindnesses on his fingers. “I got you a deal on windows and offered you a place to take calls, to shower, and to sleep. I cooked you dinner every night! And I didn’t take a gas can and a match to your damn truck like I wanted to every time you stubbornly said you’d rather sleep outside.” He stopped pacing, leaned his hip against the counter and huffily folded his arms. “I care. I already said it. I do all this stuff because I care about you.”

Seeing his reddened cheeks, flared nostrils, and sawing breath, my stomach tightened with guilt about pushing him. The sharing of feelings wasn’t exactly Harlan’s happy place and I’d been more focused on what I needed than what it would do to him for me to get it. Nevertheless, he still didn’t say anything definitive. No wonder the guy had been alone for so long. He was vaguer and more confusing than any man I’d ever known.

“Don’t be mad,” I said, placing a gentle hand on his upper arm, holding my wadded-up T-shirt in place with the other. “I’m super thankful for everything you’ve done for me. I just wasn’t sure what you meant by ‘care.’ I hoped it was more than just a friend thing. But if it’s not, I get that.” I couldn’t have put it plainer. I’d done the conversational equivalent of passing a note that said Do you like me? Check this box for yes .

His eyes went wide and he took a step back. Terrific. As usual, he took far too long to think about it. In the meanwhile, my brain crafted a thousand ways he intended to let me down easy.

“Wait. Are you saying you’d be up for more?” He was legitimately surprised. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t laugh,” he said.

“I’m sorry. I just…Harlan, I’ve been more than obvious about how attracted I am to you.”

“You most certainly have not.”

“Are you kidding? Last night I basically propositioned you and you turned me down.”

“What are you talking about? That never happened.”

“Yes, it did. I was like, ‘what bed do you want me in,’ and you were all like ‘definitely not mine.’” Not to brag, but my Harlan impression was spot on.

“Oh, come on! You’re making that up!”

“I may be paraphrasing, but that’s essentially what happened.”

I pulled the T-shirt back on, suddenly self-conscious of my near-shirtlessness.

“You…I…God, I’m bad at this,” he said. He took a couple of slow steps toward me. He rested a hand on my thigh and the tingling warmth of his touch nearly made me faint. “I’m more than a little rusty, so I’m not too good at picking up signs. And I wasn’t sure if you were ready to start dating again. I just wanted to be respectful.”

Holy shit.

This guy was perfection. My chest was on fire with tenderness. I reached up and ran a hand through his dark, and surprisingly silky beard. My fingers glided along his cheekbone, over his ear, and through the feathery short hair at the back of his head. I gently pulled his face to mine and our lips met. He jolted ever so slightly, but settled into kissing me back almost instantly. His mouth was soft and his beard tickled my chin. His hand slid up my leg, over my waist, and then moved under my T-shirt to stroke my back. Stepping forward, he deepened the kiss. I wrapped my legs around him and was rewarded with a low groan as his fingers glided gently up and down my back and his tongue slipped into my mouth.

“God, your skin… “ he murmured against my lips. I was desperate for him to finish his thought, but could tell from his breathy voice that it was a compliment.

My arms wound around his neck and I pulled him closer, flush against me. The thrill of the press of his hardness against my center sent a crackling shiver through me.

His hands emerged from under my shirt and made their way upward, trailing along my sides, teasing the outside of my breasts, sliding over the curve of my shoulders and along my neck, and rising to cradle my face. I noted he wasn’t put off by touching the calamine lotion that coated my cheek. His thumb stroked under my chin as he worshipped my mouth with his soulful kisses. Considering his many years of celibacy, he didn’t seem so rusty to me. In fact, it was the finest bit of kissing I’d ever been party to.

The door to the porch creaked as it swung open and Miguel walked in, reporting for work.

“I bought the perfect domain name for the site—oh shit!”

Our young friend clapped a hand over his eyes and bolted out the door, closing it behind him. He surely got an eyeful. I was wrapped around Harlan like a straitjacket and we were essentially dry humping on his kitchen counter. This must have been what it felt like having your kid walk in on you having sex. Not that I knew firsthand, but I’d been told stories about such situations by nearly every couple we knew back home .

Harlan and I were both recovering from the shock and a little embarrassed. But more than anything, I think we were both awed by the intensity of our first kiss. He stared down at me for a second with stars in his eyes.

“Wow. That was…I…”

I couldn’t resist. I leaned in for one more quick kiss and then sat back and grinned at him.

He offered me a hand to help me down from the counter. I took it and hopped down, trying to manage my disappointment. Sexy time was over.

“I better get out to the kennel,” he said. The sweetness in his gaze sent a warm shiver through me. “What are you up to today?”

“I’ve got to call the exterminator and then I’m going to the library to send some emails and update my budget.”

I made a pukey face. I’d been avoiding looking at my budget the way I avoided hopping on the scale after Christmastime. I just didn’t want to know.

“I’ll see you when you get back?” He gave me a shy smile that made my heart sing.

“You bet you will.”

He leaned in, held my face in his hand, and gave me one more kiss. His lips lingered on mine and he let out a low moan that made me melt. After a soft peck on my forehead, he walked out the door to join Miguel.

In the wake of his life-changing kisses, a giant cartoon question mark appeared above my head. In the course of a half hour, Harlan and I made out and I agreed to move into his place. Were we living together now? How far was this going to go? And what happened if it went sideways?

Before I could freak, my lips registered the memory of his mouth against mine, my arms recalled the feel of being wound around his strong shoulders and neck, my chest felt the lingering impression of our bodies pressed together, and suddenly none of my worries mattered.

Harlan liked me!