“Sylvia packed my bag. She must’ve thought I didn’t need a swimsuit.”
Had this been a real honeymoon, she’d have been right. “Sorry ’bout that.” It’s gonna take some mental jujitsu to erase the image of Paige’s naked body from my mind. “Do you want some breakfast? Thought I’d make us some omelets.”
“That would be nice. Thanks.”
When I get back to the cabin, I lock myself in the bathroom, wrap my hand around my aching dick, and let my mind wander back to that incredible view off the dock. I go off in an embarrassingly short amount of time.
After I clean myself up, I head for the kitchen and get to work.
She returns fifteen minutes later.
“Food’s almost ready.” I don’t let myself look at her, but out of my peripheral vision I see that she’s wrapped in a towel.
“I’m going to take a quick shower. Like, five minutes.”
I give her a thumbs-up and return my focus to our omelets. When she emerges from the bathroom, her sweet floral scent follows her. It must be her soap because it’s not an overpowering smell like Amber’s arsenal of perfumes.
After I plate our food, I place everything on the small kitchen table. “Did ya have a nice swim?”
“Yeah. It was great. I was so hot last night.”
“I’ll mess with the AC. If we can’t get it working, we should open all the windows. Maybe we’ll get a breeze going tonight.”
Now that we’re alone without my brothers and neighbors, I’m struggling to think of what to say. I’ve missed out on so much of her life. I want to ask her if she enjoyed college. If she made friends. If she had fun cheerleading for the Broncos.
“Do you think Harlan bought the wedding?” she asks after she swallows a bite of the omelet.
“Yeah. You did a good job seeming into me.” Paige had me fooled at times. I’d start to worry her real feelings were getting involved, but then she’d flash me one of those fake smiles, and I’d realize she was just acting.
She pushes food around her plate with her fork. “Are you meeting with him soon to get that loan?”
“First thing Monday morning.”
“Great.”
“We’ll move your stuff into my bedroom when we get back. We can bunk together, but I’ll take the couch. If that’s okay with you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Not this discussion again. I’ll take the damn couch, Rhett.”
I’m not letting her sleep on the couch for the next six months. I guess we’ll figure it out when we get home.
Paige takes a sip of her water. “Is Amber going to be okay when she finds out about us?”
“I don’t give a fuck how she takes it.” Just the mention of my ex makes my blood pressure rise.
She stares down at her plate. “I just mean, if she doesn’t take it well, won’t that be hard on your boys?”
I grab my mug of coffee. “They’ll get to know you, and it’ll be fine.” When she doesn’t say anything else, I sigh. “I’m sorry I used that tone with you. Amber still pisses me off.”
“I get it.”
I don’t know if this is the right time to share this with her, but she deserves to know. “You were right about her sleeping with Kacey Miller, but I didn’t figure out she was sleeping around until I found her fucking Cash McAllister.” It’s like my ex went out of her way to find the worst person possible, the one she knew would piss me off the most.
Her eyes widen. “She didn’t.”
“Oh, yeah, she did. There’s nothing more embarrassing than needing to take your kids to the doctor to get a paternity test.”
She reaches across the table and grabs my hand. “Amber’s an idiot. This is her loss. Most of the women in this town would give their left tit to be with you.”
