Page 18 of Double Booked

“I know what you mean.” And I did. There was something about Riley and our connection that I had previously only felt with one other person, Justin. After him, I never thought I would feel that again until I met Riley. And now both of them are in my life and with a little luck and lot of communication, maybe I would be able to hold onto both of them.

CHAPTER 10

RILEY

Colton’s hand was a comforting warmth around mine as we walked hand and hand around Oakville’s ‘downtown’ Sunday morning. It felt like people had paid more attention to us at Daisy’s Diner than their own meals while we ate brunch. Colton had apologized when we sat down but there was no avoiding it. Welcome to small town living. Plus, he hadn’t made it to the grocery store this weekend as I had surprised him. In fact, we barely left the bed all weekend we had been so immersed in each other.

Colton squeezed my hand and I looked up at him. He smiled softly at me and my stomach fluttered. I wasn’t the swoony type but Colton had been nothing short of perfect this weekend. Even the ache between my legs was perfect although I held in a slight wince as we stepped off a curb.

“Maybe we should skip hiking this afternoon,” Colton suggested, concern furrowing his brows. I wasn’t used to someone paying this close attention to me. I didn’t know what to do with these new feelings.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be fine. I’m not the first woman to be sore from sex and I want to see more of the area.”

Colton tugged me closer so he could wrap an arm around my waist. “I know you’re not, but you’re my girlfriend. Worrying about you is part of the job description.”

I blushed but didn’t have a response. We hadn’t had an official conversation about labels but Colton had started calling me his girlfriend and I didn’t hate it. So that was something. It still felt like a dream sometimes. Like he was a dream, or a figment of my imagination. He was definitely a man written by a woman, that was for sure.

“I’ll be fine though, seriously. You said the hike was easy.” There were two trailheads that we could take to get to the waterfalls at the lake. One was a more strenuous six mile hike but the other was an easier two mile hike.

Colton led us into the corner grocery store. We grabbed a few snacks for the hike and he grabbed the groceries he was going to need for the week. We rounded one of the aisles and ran into a familiar face.

“Hey Justin,” I greeted, Colton still turning the corner behind me.

Justin looked up from placing a box of pasta in his cart. “Colton, Isl– Riley. Doing some grocery shopping?”

Colton slung an arm around my shoulders. “We are. We’re headed out to the lake later to hike to the falls.”

“That sounds fun,” Justin said. His tone almost seemed wistful. I knew from my conversations with Colton over the last few weeks that he and Justin usually hung out every weekend but since I was here, I was throwing a wrench into their plans and I felt a little guilty.

“You should come with us,” I offered.

Justin’s eyes widened and he looked at Colton. “No, you two should spend time together.”

“I insist,” I said firmly. “I know I’m getting in the way of guy time this weekend.”

“You’re not getting in the way of anything,” Colton said slowly. “But if you’re good with it, Justin, you should come.”

Colton and Justin exchanged a long look, speaking a secret language with their eyes before Justin nodded.

“Okay, you’re going to Cumberland?”

Colton nodded. “At one.”

“We’ll pick you up.” I said before Justin could offer to drive separately. I appreciated he was trying to respect our time together but I didn’t want to come between the two of them. Well, at least not that way… Stop it. I scolded my brain. I had read one too many romance books lately.

“Besides,” I added. “I need to start hearing some of those stories. Colton’s a little perfect and I’m beginning to think he’s a very good robot.” I said this last part in a stage whisper and the corners of Justin’s eyes crinkled.

“He is pretty perfect,” Justin agreed solemnly, a twinkle in his eyes. “But I think I have some stories. Starting in the third grade…”

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Colton cut in but he was grinning. “You two will have plenty of time to gang up on me later. We’ll pick you up at one.”

Colton ushered me down the aisle and I laughed. I turned my head over my shoulder and saw Justin staring at me with a strange look on his face. I winked at him just as we turned the corner and I saw a smile on his face right as we turned the corner. By the time we finished in the dairy section, Justin was gone.

“Thank you,” Colton said softly as we got the groceries stowed in the back seat of his truck.

“For what?” I asked, taking his hand as he helped me into the front seat. I needed a freakin step ladder for this thing.

“For inviting him. If you don’t want to…”

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