The mere thought of facing them fills me with dread. Unless I find somewhere else to park the trailer, I’m facing six months of excruciating awkwardness. If I can have the Airstream towed to one of the town’s trailer parks, I can leave the team to complete the flip without me. I could even pick up some contract work locally to see me through financially.
Tyler has barely had time to engage the park brake when I’ve undone my seatbelt and am out of the truck. There’s no need to say goodbye to Zoe with the little girl still fast asleep. A glimpse of her through the window has me wanting to open the door and hug her, but I resist.
My primary focus now is my desire to run away and hide inside my snug little trailer and lick my wounds. That and make lists about what I’ll need to do in order to have the trailer away from here come tomorrow night.
I’m close to the orchard when Tyler catches up with me. “Wait, Lily.”
While I stumble to a halt, I can’t bring myself to face him. I’ve already faced enough humiliation thanks to my fertility, or lack thereof. I’m not putting myself through any more of that, at least not on purpose.
There’s no missing Tyler’s heavy sigh, and I brace myself for the inevitable, but it doesn’t come. Rather, he wraps his arms around me from behind, dropping a kiss on my shoulder. “Sorry, I just need time to process everything, okay?”
I still don’t fully relax, waiting for him to drop me like I’m hot and get the heck out of there. He, however, has other ideas, kissing the side of my neck, his breath coming in puffs that warm me. “Do you have any plans for tomorrow?”
This… this isn’t what I’ve expected, leaving me unsure how to answer. If I agree to seeing him again, won’t that just prolong the agony? And yet, as I stand with my back being warmed by his muscled chest, it feels so natural, so right.
Unable to speak, I answer with a jerky shake of my head, enough to let him know I’m free, even if I’m unsure about it all.
“Great. Zoe and I will pick you up at ten.”
“You will?”
He turns me around and nods in confirmation. “According to Zoe, you’re her new best friend and you’re invited to our picnic tomorrow.” He pauses before continuing. “And I want you there because I think you might be my new best friend, too.”
As declarations go, it’s not momentous, but it’s enough. It’s more than enough to have me reaching up on tiptoes and kissing him, as though my life depends on it.
* * *
Monday morning and I’m woken by Tyler turning up at the trailer at the break of dawn with coffee, donuts, and that sinful mouth of his.
He puts this to good use when, after gobbling his way through a donut, he gobbles his way through me. As a bit of a sugar addict, I’m not sure what claims my attention more. The jelly donut I’m sucking the middle out of, or Tyler sucking on me?
Either way, I come close to choking on the sugary treat when a climax hits me unawares. I’m not complaining though, because I can think of worse ways to go.
It’s after I take a glazed donut from the box that I have a naughty thought of my own. A quick check of the diameter of the hole, and I know exactly how I’ll enjoy the rest of my breakfast.
While swinging it around on my finger, my gaze drops to his cock and I arch an eyebrow. “Okay, now it’s my turn!”
As delicious as the sweet treat is, I don’t hurry, meaning we both enjoy it.
This leaves Tyler with only just enough time to wash away all the sugar before the team arrives at eight, as I’d stipulated in the contract. While they could start earlier, I’m conscious of wanting to stay on the good side of the neighbors I’ve yet to meet. Nothing fires people up more than their morning being interrupted by banging and crashing.
With Tyler off pretending he’s just arriving on site, I jump in the shower, pleased that this time the water is hot. Unlike Tyler, Mitchell had been useless around the house, with us having to get someone in every time anything needed fixing.
While he was more than capable of completing a root canal and costly veneers, DIY left him floundering and angry.
As I wash away the stickiness of this morning’s fun, my thoughts return to the picnic the day before. We’d started out at the northern end of the beach, but the wind meant we’d risked sand in our sandwiches.
This saw us packing up and heading for a glade deep in the forest, the wind leaving us alone as it roared through the treetops. As we lay back on the picnic blanket and watched the clouds scudding across the sky, it was as if we were still feet away from the surf.
Thanks to Zoe’s ears having the listening capabilities of a spy satellite, there hadn’t been a chance to discuss my revelations at the aquarium.
This had led to an unspoken truce, in which Tyler and I simply relax and enjoy each other’s company. And I was okay with that, even if I knew we’d have to face my demons soon enough.
Technically, we could have talked about it when Tyler arrived with breakfast, rather than… The memories have me licking my lips, surprised to find I’d missed some powdered sugar in my haste to shower and get over to the house.
Okay, I’d been happy enough to avoid the issue this morning, too.
TYLER
