Page 13 of All Inn Thyme
Ugh. I groan and cover my eyes. “How am I going to explain this to Kase?”
He runs a hand over his jaw. “I’m sorry, Mellie. I didn’t know.”
I look back at Kase’s hopeful face then back at Ty, standing there looking like a delicious snack, and I feel like I don’t know which way to turn. Go back to my ATV and disappoint my son? Or stay here and converse with the hottest man alive who just rolled out of bed who I very much would like to roll back into bed with if the circumstances were very different?
Focus, I remind myself. Okay, the garden shed will be fine. We’ll be fine. It just sucks that we couldn’t be out here closer to the gardens.
“It’s good to see you again,” he says softly. He looks unsure what else to say and this just got even more awkward. How can we go from glued to each other and kissing the other night to this?
I just stare at him. I don’t even know what to think. I’m upset about the bunkhouse, and he has the nerve to stand there without a shirt on, showing off these sexy tattoos that snake up and down his upper body. And his messy bedhead is seriously messing with my lady parts right now. I want to kiss him again, but I also want to kick him in the shins for taking the bunkhouse. Ugh. I’m mad, both at myself and at the circumstances that I know are not his fault, yet here we are.
He crosses his arms and leans against the doorway, watching me, sensing my agitation. He says nothing. Nova sits next to him, panting, her wild tongue hanging sideways out of her mouth as she looks from him and back to me.
My face feels hot, probably because I’m embarrassed and defeated. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up for the bunkhouse, and I definitely shouldn’t have told Kase about it until I checked it out. He’s going to be so disappointed. I can get over it, but explaining it to him will be a challenge.
“I have to go," I tell him. “I’m sorry about what happened at the tavern. It can’t happen again.”
He just smiles and shakes his head at me, those damn eyes on me the whole time. “Darlin’, you and me both know you’re not sorry about kissing me. In fact, I think we should do it again. And again.”
I huff. “Whatever, Ty.” I turn around and storm back to the ATV where Kase is sitting. Who does he even think he is calling me out like that? He doesn’t know me.
“Mellie, wait…” Ty calls as he starts after me.
“Momma, we don’t get our new bunkhouse?” Kase asks, disappointed.
“No, honey. We’re going back to the garden shed. It’ll be okay.”
“But I wanted my own bed and room for my toys.” He starts to cry, feeling as disappointed as I am.
“I know, honey.” I start the ATV and shoot one last irritated look at Ty, standing with his massive arms crossed over his equally massive chest, before I drive away.
Back to square one. No bunkhouse. No Ty. But damn if he didn’t look good. Even I want things I can’t have with him, I shouldn’t have kissed him at the tavern the other night.
* * *
I pull my cart behind me as I head to the next room to clean, my romance audiobook playing through my headphones, just about to get to a juicy scene.
Just then, Logan jogs over and waves. “Mellie, can I talk to you for a second?”
I press pause. “Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m sorry about the bunkhouse. It was a misunderstanding. Evan didn’t know that I’d rented it out to Ty. I didn’t know you were interested,” he says, looking like he feels bad.
“It’s okay, I understand. I can still plant my gardens out there in that area, though, right?”
If he says no, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ve already mapped everything out for that area, so if he says no, it’s all a wash. The land that the gardens are on is technically Logan and Allie’s, but since the inn and that property are side by side, the family basically just shares it all.
“Of course. Allie’s excited to help with the farmers’ market, and she’s hoping you’ll let her set up a table to advertise the bakery.”
I smile at Logan, grateful for him letting me use the land. Logan is so generous, and him and Allie make the best couple. They’ve been through a lot, though, and they’ve earned their happiness. They got married amid a custody battle against her ex who was trying to steal Caleb from her and take him back to California. Luckily, that didn’t happen. Watching them go through all that weighed heavily on me, reinforcing that I will have to face my own situation sooner or later. Seeing Allie get through everything she did gave me hope for my own situation, though. Preston is right about making sure Kase and I are legally protected.
And honestly, the garden shed is more than fine. When the greenhouse is done and the plants are out, we’ll hardly be there anyway. “Thanks.” I sigh with relief. “That will be awesome for her. I appreciate it.”
It’s not far from the truth. I have no idea what I’m doing and need all the help I can get. I’m building a future for Kase and me. I’ll just have to make the garden shed work for now. Ty can have the bunkhouse.
I guess one perk of him living out there is I might run into him from time to time. There’s nothing wrong with being friendly with him from a distance.
The problem is that now that I’ve kissed him, I can’t imagine not kissing him. What have I started?
