Page 20 of Sheltered By the Surly Forester

Fuck it.Fuck all the town gossips with the sidelong looks. They've stared at me with curiosity in their eyes for too many years.

With my arm firmly around her, I walk her over to my table. "Emie, this is Brady, Barrett, and my brother Jace."

"Hey, Emie," they all murmur, taking in our body language.

She feels kind of stiff: I hope I didn't shock her. "Do you want to join us? I was just telling them about the lodge."

"Oh, no, thank you. I'm in the middle of putting together that presentation and just wanted a caffeine hit." She holds up her cup in a salute. "Really great to meet you all, but I don't want to lose my flow, you know?"

I walk her outside, then hug her close. "Don't work too hard, baby. This isn't a rush or anything. Enjoy the process. Dump some work on me, if you like."

Emie looks up at me brightly, yet her lovely eyes seem tense. "That's okay, I really am in the groove. I think another hour should do the trick."

"Okay. Text me if you need anything." She turns to leave, but I grab her hand. "Wait. Is anything wrong?"

"No." Her voice is low again as she quickly drops my hand. "Not in front of your friends. Guys are weird about public displays of?—"

I pull Emie against me, setting her coffee on the edge of Barrett's truck before wrapping my arms around her and kissing her gently. She tenses in surprise, then softens as we melt against each other.

There it is. That heat. The moment when we surrender to it, moaning softly as our kiss grows deeper, sultrier. This woman is already driving me wild – how addicted will I be in another week? Another month?

"Hey," she whispers, pushing me away with a giggle. "People are staring. Let's not be gross."

My eyes roll. "Yes, dear." My lips brush the tip of her nose, then I hand her coffee back. "Just FYI, I'm going to admire your ass as you walk away."

"As my grandmother used to say, you're a handful." But Emie definitely has a little extra wiggle in her walk as she heads down the street.

I take a moment to breathe in the fresh air, smiling to myself. I've just given the entire town some juicy gossip.

More importantly, everyone now knows that Emie is my girl.

12

EMIE

He takes in strays. Has done since he was little.

Oh man…That explains a lot, actually.

Although I'm compiling all the photo collages and mood boards I've put together for the lodge proposal while sipping my incredible coffee, my mind has plenty of energy left to spin.

I am a stray. It's true. Nobody wants to think of themselves like that, but in my case it’s the truth.

Even as my fingers fly over the keys, copying, pasting, scrolling, and arranging, my heart feels like it's slowly sinking straight down to the floor.

Josh is amazing. Incredible. Andcompletely out of my league. No one in their right mind would ever consider me an acceptable partner for him.

His friends were polite, of course. They didn’t point out this is just a fling. Since it seems that Josh has been single for a long time, they're probably excited for him to find anyone, even if it's temporary.

It's interesting that he introduced his brother to meashis brother. A few taps of the keyboard bring up a ream ofinformation on the Wolfe family. Holy wow… Family history. Founding the town. Extensive land ownership with businesses all over the place. After a few minutes of skimming, I close the windows. Whoa. That's a lot to deal with.

I'm positive Josh didn't really mean for me to meet any of his family. Then again, he merely had his arm around me inside the cafe. It's not like he called me his girlfriend or anything.

Well, hopefully I can at least stay for a few more weeks. This project with the lodge is completely riveting.

Mrs. Honeywell is eager to help when I explain I need to print out ten sheets of 11 x 17 card stock. Once I have everything together, including extensive notes, I check my email.

Jennifer and Katie have sent me more details about their project, this time with proper photos of the loft. Holy crap. It's amazing – if utterly bland. I can already see how they need to divide up the massive space, and how they need to separate their living quarters from the public space they're going to share with other photographers and content creators.

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