Page 185 of Small Town Firsts
I waited a few minutes for her to answer. When it became clear she wouldn’t, at least anytime soon, I headed into the bathroom and took care of business. The shower beckoned, but I wasn’t in that much of a hurry to wash her off me. Especially since I was fairly certain this would never be happening again.
Forget making a baby. Our friendship was probably in shreds.
Never learn, do you? Last time you thought with your dick, you ended up married to a woman you hadn’t even intended to keep dating.
Of course, that was entirely different, and out of that relationship had sprung the best thing to ever happen to me. Sure, I’d been divorced by the age of twenty-five, but eh, shit happened. Especially in my family. The key was getting out of a bad situation.
With Ally, I’d been thinking practically. The kid thing had been building for a while. Approaching her about it had only come about after I’d mulled it over from every direction. Sure, they were sticky parts. I’ll admit I hadn’t expected the sex thing to go down so well. I mean, she was beautiful, no denying that, but I didn’t want to fuck every lovely woman I saw. And it wasAlly.
So yeah, the lust had been a surprise. Even more so? The morning after, I wasn’t regretting we’d done it so much as I was regretting we hadn’t done it again before she split. And there had been no babymaking involved.
Just Ally and her soft, lilac-scented hair and rain-soaked skin. Her full lips and her curves and those perfect thighs, spreading for me…
Swallowing hard, I braced a fist on the sink. Maybe I’d better take an ice-cold shower so I didn’t go to my brother’s with a damn hard-on.
A quick glance at my phone made me curse. Almost noon. Laurie was probably wondering where I was. Oliver too. My brother didn’t like his schedule being disrupted, so his lack of a phone call was surprising.
I texted him as I grabbed my jeans off the floor.
On my way. Sorry. She ok?
Oliver
Who’s this? Not my derelict brother who was probably getting laid this entire time while I doted on his offspring.
In spite of my bleak mood, I grinned. Leave it to O.
I wish on the getting laid. More like sleeping it off.
Oliver
It being previous laying?
Gentlemen don’t kiss & tell.
Oliver
Waiting…
Asshole. I’ll be there in a few.
I finished dressing and went downstairs to check out. The woman behind the desk didn’t wink or waggle her brows or do anything to indicate she knew I’d gotten a room for the purposes of sex, but it was pretty obvious. I lived on the other side of the lake. Sure, my excuse of having a few too many to drive home might hold water, but small towns and suspicious minds went together.
As long as no one had seen Ally enter the hotel too, all good. I didn’t care what people thought of me.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Hamilton. Please come again. And give our best to Ms. Lawrence.”
I stared at the concierge for so long that my vision blurred. Then I shook my head and strode toward the door.
Maybe she knew Ally and I were friends. Sure, she did. And maybe we’d be the hottest topic of gossip by lunch. Probablybefore then. I just hoped Ally didn’t have to deal with shit at the diner.
The drive to Oliver’s place didn’t take long. He lived about a mile away from me, also on the lake. The Hamilton family home was about a mile away on the opposite side of Oliver’s. We were like three points of a triangle of dysfunction with beautiful views of the water.
I pulled up behind Oliver’s BMW and parked in the circular drive. To torment myself some more, I checked my silent phone. No response from Ally.
Surprise, surprise.
I jogged up the steep flight of stairs to the porch and went inside without knocking. I followed my little girl’s laughter into the kitchen, already smiling. No matter what kind of shit brewed in my gut, hearing Laurie was the way to put me in a better mood.
