Page 44 of One Steamy Pucking Meet Cute

It’s strange to respect, care about, and feel so goddamn attracted to a woman, and yet… it’s like there’s some kind of fucking chasm between us. Every day, it seems to widen. We’ve both been using Walker as an excuse to avoid sleeping with each other. Even though we share her room at the B&B when I’m in town, we tend to busy ourselves with the routine of getting Walker and ourselves ready for bed, as if we couldn’t possibly imagine fooling around once he’s down in his crib.

We haven’t slept together since that one night in Manhattan. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to fuck my hand to quench the growing sexual frustration that causes, though.

Jesse nods. “So is Caroline still planning to go through with that thing? The wedding extravaganza, or whatever she called it?”

I sigh. The “extravaganza” is probably our one true argument in the last three months. “Caroline can’t help herself from trying to turn everything into a town event for Frosty Harbor. She thinks it’ll be good for us, too. Somehow,” I add with a sour twist of my lips.

Jesse smirks. “That’s Caroline. Try to cut her some slack, though. Our mom was selfless when it came to that kind of thing. If she could turn her own moment into something the whole town could enjoy, she’d do it in a heartbeat–even if it stressed her to hell. She just… All she wanted was for the town to feel like a home. For everybody.”

“I know,” I say softly. Jesse isn’t the most emotional guy, but when he gets talking about his late parents, it’s still an open wound. “Caroline’s doing a damn good job of following in her footsteps. I’ll try to stop pushing back about it. I just… fuck. The idea of having fun and games all week in honor of our ‘wedding’ makes my stomach sick.”

“It’ll be fine, man. When it’s all over, you can just explain to everybody. You needed your contract. But nobody in town is really going to care about that. They'll be happy you did it if they know it was to help Caroline save the B&B. I know they will. There’s no one in Frosty Harbor who wouldn’t consider murder if it meant helping Caroline out. Okay?” He punches my chest. “Trust me on that.” There’s some kind of sparkle in his eye like he’s not saying something, but I decide not to press him on it.

I do feel a little better after hearing how confident he is. Jesse knows that town almost as well as Caroline. If he feels that strongly, maybe it’s true.

“Alright, yeah. You could be right.”

He gives my shoulder a squeeze just as Vlad, fully naked and tall as a fucking giant, runs by laughing. Rio is equally naked and chasing him with a wet towel, trying to pop him in the ass.

Jesse and I both shake our heads ruefully. “Rookies, man,” I say.

“Rookies,” Jesse agrees. But his eyes grow distant. “I’ll miss this.”

And there goes my somewhat improved mood. The whole season has had a dark shadow over it because I know it’s all coming to an end. The original group of my friends is dropping out, one by one.

I plaster on a smile–the same one I’ve used when people say how excited they are for our wedding. “It’ll be great, man. You’ll love retirement.” And I’ll still be here, wishing shit didn’t have to change so fast.

18

CAROLINE

My arms are folded as I watch a fresh leak springing from the lobby's ceiling in my B&B. Cade was right, apparently. I should’ve handled upgrading the pipes after the leak three months ago. Somehow, I completely forgot about it, though.

Between Walker, who is growing every day and always presenting new challenges for me as a mom, and everything that happened with Jake and the risk of losing my family’s business… well, I’m going to give myself a pass. I’m just lucky I remembered to put pants on this morning.

I look down, double-checking that I did, in fact, put on pants. Okay, it’s a skirt. But we’re not half-naked, so we’re doing good enough.

Once I shut off the water, I fire a text out to Cade, asking if he can come help.

It’s not long before a frazzled-looking woman with suds in her hair appears in the lobby, asking when the water will be back on.

I smooth things over, promising a discount to her and the other two guests who come down before I can call the rooms and let them know I’ll have the water back as soon as possible. For now, I send her back upstairs with a pitcher of water I had set out in the lobby.

Walker has graduated from sleeping most of the time to just sleeping a lot of the time. I have a play area on wheels that I drag around the B&B with me. He’s not crawling, but he’s showing more awareness of the world. I can even get him to smile sometimes. He's not laughing yet, but the pediatrician said that could come any day now.

I’m admiring him–a tactic I’ve found helps calm my nerves when I’m stressed. He’s wiggling around, swinging his arms up and down while lying on his back. His eyes are on me, and I can tell he’s actually seeing me. I smile down at him, ticking his belly and getting a smile.

His face screws up for a moment, turning red.

“Oh, don’t you do it,” I warn, lifting a finger. “Walker Scott Prince. If you poopy your diaper, I will–”

He lets out a shuddering grunt, relief clear in his little features. Then he’s smiling again as the smell reaches my nose.

I sigh. “You’re lucky. You know that?” I ask, unbuttoning his onesie and grabbing a diaper. “If you were even this much less cute?” I hold up my thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “You’d be in trouble. I might not think it’s cute that you can’t just poop all at once like a normal human. No,” I say, wiping him clean. “You think it’s necessary to poop every two or three hours. All day. Just save it up, hmm? Doesn’t that sound like fun? Wouldn’t you like it if Mommy didn’t have to do this so often?”

Unsurprisingly, Walker offers no feedback. In fact, he looks sleepy.

“Am I boring you?”

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