Page 10 of Mistlefoes

An Ex by Another Name

I could stay here forever.

Jill and I had ended up relocating to her computer at her house, rather than staying at the shop. The snow had been pouring down when we’d walked home. Almost as if I’d been dreaming, she’d invited me to stay for dinner after I’d gotten a basic website going for her. It still needed a lot of work, but at least, she had a landing spot on the web.

“Stay for dinner?” she’d asked after I’d demonstrated that a search now brought up her shop based on the SEO I’d used for it a couple hours earlier.

“Yes. Can I help?”

“No. Consider it a thank you for the work on my site.”

“No problem.” I followed her from the office and took a seat at the breakfast bar between her living room and the kitchen. “How is everything?”

She paused as she pulled food from the fridge. “Fine.”

Fine? Her tone said anything but that.

“Things are going okay at the store?”

She took a long breath while she bit her lip then turned toward the counter beside the stove. “No. Not really.”

“What’s wrong?” I leaned forward on my elbows, fighting the urge to get up and go to her. My arms ached to wrap around her while I demanded she tell me what was wrong, so I could make it better.

She lifted a shoulder, not looking at me. “You know. The sales are still good, but the business expenses have doubled. Honestly, I’m thinking of moving back home.”

“No,” I denied.

“You know the only reason I came to Cherish Cove to open the store with you was because you had friends here and thought this would be a great place for business. And it is. It was. Don’t get me wrong. I love this town, and I’ve made so many friends here, but it might just be time to hang it up and head back to Missouri. I’m thirty-two. Maybe, it’s time to stop…playing…around.” Her voice trailed off, the last words barely audible.

“No,” I repeated, my feet moving me around the counter before I could even think better of it. Grasping her shoulders, I turned her toward me, and her glistening eyes broke my heart. Lifting my hands, I cupped her face. “We can make this work. No matter what you think, Idid notcheat on you. I never would.”

“Jack…”

“I have a bigger retail space. Move in with me there. We had a ton of ideas. We’ll do them. There’s space for both of us.”

“Your store name is stupid,” she muttered, her eyes pinned on my neck.

“We’ll change it. We’ll come up with something that works for both of us—becauseHappily Ever Afterdoesn’t exactly work for me. Not as a bookstore name anyway.”

“Jack,” she sighed again.

Using my thumbs, I lifted her chin, forcing her to look up at me.

“Stay,” I half-begged, leaning in and feeling her jagged breaths wafting over my lips.

“Fuck it,” she muttered. Startling me, she went to her toes and moved closer to me to meet my mouth halfway. Her arms wrapped around my neck as we kissed, relief almost buckling my knees at having her in my arms after so long. Our lips moved together desperately, needed forcing the kiss to deepen.

I pressed her against the cabinet while my hands skimmed along her sides, up her back, into her silky hair. Jill never tried to stop me, just pressing closer and lifting her leg around my hip. Without a second thought, I seated her on the counter, and her other leg wrapped around me, too.

“Fucking hell, Jill,” I muttered against her lips. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

She didn’t answer, just sealed her lips over mine again. I pressed her mouth open, sliding my tongue along hers to explore. She groaned, arching into me, her hands skimming back to splay on my chest—exploring, not pushing me away. Good.

My ears started to ring as all my blood drained down to my dick that throbbed against her, begging for more. More wasn’t on the menu as suddenly Jill pushed me back.

“It’s my mom,” she gasped out. “If I don’t answer, she’ll just keep calling.”

“Okay,” I breathed, out of breath myself. I knew she wasn’t exaggerating. Her mom did have a tendency to keep calling, immediately thinking her little chick was in trouble if she didn’t respond promptly.

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