Pieces came back in fragments. The tavern. Posy and Varek. Drinks. Flirting with—who was it? A redheaded werewolf. Adrian.
And then?—
Oh God.
She sat up so fast her stomach lurched. Her panic subsided only a little when she realized she was in her own bed and still wearing last night’s clothes, her shoes neatly placed beside the door.
Ben had carried her home. After she’d compared him to the Easter Bunny.
She dropped her face into her hands and groaned.What is wrong with me?How could she actually have said that? To his face?
And to add insult to injury, she was pretty sure she’d nuzzled his neck and told him he smelled good while he was carrying her like some kind of pathetic Victorian maiden.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand, next to a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers that Ben must have placed there. She gulped two down as she reached for her phone.
POSY: You alive?
SARA: Barely. Please tell me last night was a fever dream.
POSY: Which part?
SARA: The part where I asked my grumpy neighbor to give out candy to my kindergarteners and compared him to the Easter bunny.
A long pause.
POSY: Yeah that definitely happened.
SARA: I’m never leaving this house again.
POSY: Don’t be dramatic. He carried you home like you were made of glass. It was actually really sweet.
SARA: He carried me home because I was making an idiot of myself in his bar.
POSY: You weren’t an idiot. You were tipsy and adorable and Adrian was loving every second of it.
SARA: Is that supposed to make me feel better?
POSY: Ben growled at him when he came back. Actually GROWLED. Varek said he’s never seen him like that.
She stared at the message, her pulse racing.
SARA: What does that mean?
POSY: It means he likes you, dummy.
SARA: He thinks I’m a disaster.
POSY: Honey, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
She groaned again and set down her phone without responding. Her head was still pounding, her stomach still churning, but underneath all of it was a strange, persistent flutter in her chest.
Ben had carried her home. He’d removed her shoes and tucked her into bed. He’d left her in her own bed, fully clothed, and gone back to the tavern to growl at Adrian. Why?
She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything, except that she’d made a complete fool of herself and somehow she was going to have to look him in the eye for the rest of her time in Fairhaven Falls.
Moving very slowly, she took a long hot shower, then peeked cautiously into the living room. The curtains were still open and she could see his cottage through the window, but there was no sign of life.
I should go over there and apologize like a mature adult,she thought.Or maybe I should just pretend it never happened.
