She walks slowly beside me, our hands grazing when we walk into the backyard. Ethan is the first one who sees us. "What happened to you?" He looks over at Amelia.
"I was getting a bowl on the top shelf in the kitchen and fell on my ass," she says without skipping a beat.
"Where were you?" He looks over at me, and my tongue gets bigger in my mouth.
"What the hell kind of question is that?" Amelia says, pushing his shoulder. "I don’t need a man to help me get a bowl."
"Obviously you do?" He points at her. "You should go see Grandma. I’m sure she has some home remedy in that book of hers." He takes a look around before he tells her the next part. "Yeah." He turns, looking out at the crowd of people who are there. "Reed showed up with Hazel today."
"Hazel who?" She turns and tries to find him in the crowd. "Dammit. She’s one of my best waitresses,” she hisses. "He needs to stop dating my staff members."
Amelia looks at me and then back at Ethan before walking away, and I have to roll my lips when I see her put her hand on her back. "I feel bad for the guy who has to deal with her," he says, and I can’t look him in the eye. I feel like I’ve lied to him.
"He’ll be fine," I mumble out. "I’m going to go and get some food," I say. "You coming with?"
"Nah," he says. "We ate already."
"Okay," I say, looking around to see if I can spot Amelia. She looks over at the same time as I spot her, and I motion with my head toward the food. She nods and walks to me, and I try not to laugh.
"Hey," I say when she gets close enough, and I can’t stop the smile on my face. My hand itches to grab her face and kiss her.
"There you are." I hear over my shoulder and turn to see Billy coming toward us. "I was wondering where you were," he says. He slaps me on my shoulder, smiling, and then going to Amelia. Her eyes light up when she smiles at him. "You look tired."
"I didn’t get much sleep last night," she tells him, and I look down at the grass as the gnawing guilt hits me.
"Go get something to eat and get back home," he tells her, then turns to look at me. "You make sure you take her right to bed." He slaps my arm. "See you tomorrow."
"Well, you heard the man." She smirks at me. "You better make sure you take me straight to bed."
I laugh, shaking my head. "I couldn’t even look him in the eye," I admit. "I thought for sure he would know that I saw you naked." She puts her head back and laughs. "It’s not funny. Even with Ethan, I couldn’t even look at him."
"Your secret is safe with me." She steps closer and looks up at me, and if we were anywhere else, I would kiss her. Instead, all I can do is look into her eyes and smile, hoping she knows just how bad I want her.
"Good to know," I say softly. "Now, let’s grab something to eat, and let’s get you home to bed."
"Yes, please," she says, turning and walking toward the table of food. I watch her go and then feel eyes on me. I look around, seeing everyone doing their own thing and no one really looking at me. I ignore the uneasy feeling that I get, telling myself it’s only because of the guilt I feel in my gut for lying not only to her family but also to her.
Chapter 26
Amelia
I feel him kiss my shoulder and then slide out of bed. I open one eye and watch him, my heart skipping a beat when I do. Everything, and I mean everything, about him is perfect. He grabs a pair of shorts from the laundry basket that sits in the corner of the room and puts them on. "Why are you putting on clothes?" I try to get up, but my body feels like it just did a five-hour workout.
"I’m going to get you coffee." He looks over at me, and I see my mark on his chest. "Because we have to get going." He comes back over and kisses the same shoulder I felt him kiss before.
I turn over onto my back and look out the window at the sun straining to come in through the curtains. I look over and see that it’s past ten o’clock. My eyes close again for a second and then I smell the coffee coming from the kitchen. It’s become our morning routine, him getting up and making me coffee.
It’s been one week since I asked him to take me to bed. It’s been one week that I’ve woken up every single day with him holding me, kissing me, touching me, wanting me. Last night at the bar, I almost slipped and leaned in to kiss him when he made me laugh at something. I caught myself right before I got on my tippy-toes.