CAMILA
Iopen my eyes, and the smile I woke up with fades away immediately.
He’s gone.
I feel it. The loss, like a missing limb. I don’t have to look around my house to know it. Not when all the candles he set out and the bottle he brought are long gone. If it weren’t for the bread still sitting on the coffee table, all wrapped up, I would have questioned if last night even happened.
I roll onto my back and look up at the ceiling, wondering what the hell is wrong with me. I’ve all but thrown myself at him, and he didn’t even kiss me.Didn’t even try.Maybe he’s gay? I wonder for a moment but shake it away. I felt his attraction to me.
He was hard.Wasn’t he?
“Get over it, Cami!” I groan to myself before getting up and walking to the kitchen to start my coffee machine. He obviously isn’t into me.
I have a silly crush on my hot, older neighbor. I need to build a bridge and get over him. That’s all this is. A crush. It doesn’tmatter that I feel all warm and gushy around him. Or that I feel safer than I ever have in my life.
Nope.
That doesn’t matter. I pour my black coffee and wince at the heat that stings my tongue. I need to get out and head to town. Meet new people. That’s what my problem is. Forced proximity. I read a romance book like that. Two people stuck together who fall in love because, well, honestly, there was no one else. Moonlit Pines has tons of people out and about in town.
I just have to meet new people.
Reed Woodman is not the only person around.
With a plan in mind, I walk into my bedroom and get ready. I’ll start work a little later than usual. Since I work from home, I basically make my own hours. I could even grab lunch from the diner I scoped out and finally check out the little bookstore at the center of town. Maybe even grab a second coffee and Grind and Pine, the cute little coffee shop!
I quickly get ready, choosing a dress with a frilly skirt and long sleeves. I pair it with fleece-lined leggings and cute tan booties I found on clearance last year. Wrapping my bright marigold scarf around my neck and securing the matching beanie with the tan poof at the top, I grab my tan coat and step out.
All the motivation to leave starts to fizzle out as my eyes gravitate to the cabin across the street. His house is quiet, but I can make out the faint sound of power tools roaring from his workshop.
My driveway has been shoveled, and I don’t have to ask to know who did it.He’s just being a gentleman,I remind myself as I get into my car and start it up. I sit there for a moment as it warms up and am tempted to go over and give him a piece of my mind.
But I won’t. If he didn’t bother to say goodbye or at least leave a note, why should I waste my breath?
When someone shows you who they are, believe them. My mom’s voice plays in my mind, and I try not to argue about the way he showed up to make sure I was okay during the power outage. The way he held me and let me have the best sleep I’ve had since she passed away.
Because at the end of the day, he still left. Like a thief in the night. Possibly taking a piece of my heart with him.
I sniffle and shake my head, about to put my car in reverse, when a knock sounds on my driver’s window, and I scream.
“Shit!” Reed’s deep voice curses, and my eyes go wide and then I scowl.
“Why would you do that!” I scold the moment my window is completely rolled down.
“Are you… are you crying?” he asks, obviously horrified by the idea. Why doesn’t that surprise me? The big guy is one of those men scared of a couple of tears.
“No!” I lie, and I know he knows I’m being dishonest by the way his jaw clenches.
“You’re going somewhere?”
“To town.” I exhale slowly, willing my heart to slow down.
I don’t know if it is the scare he gave me or the fact that’s he’s here, standing right by my car, his hair down, a little disheveled. He looks like the best marketing campaign for travel to Moonlit Pines ever imagined. He’s the epitome of an honest to God mountain man. Romance authors would have a field day, fighting to get him on a cover of their books.
“Why?” He asked, disgust on his face.
“Excuse me?” I ask, wondering why he feels the need to know.
“You went to town two days ago,” he blurts, and I can tell he didn’t mean to by the way the tips of his ears are turning pink.That coloring has nothing to do with the cold air or the snow on the ground. I open and shut my mouth, not sure of what to say. “I just mean, umm…” His voice dies down, and it only reminds me that for whatever reason, the man can’t seem to make up his mind about me.
