Page 103 of Keeping Kaitlyn

I’m to blame for that and it’s something I need to fix.

I wait for Went to lock the truck doors and set the alarm before he joins me on the sidewalk. “Peggy—her husband owns the grocery store and she works the register—is going to stare,” I warn him quietly while I slip my hand into his. “She’s also going to call everyone in this town with a working phone number to tell them that Kaity Barrett waltzed into her store out of nowhere with a giant with neck tattoos to buy coffee and paper towels.”

“Should I showhermy nipple rings?” He asks me with a devilish grin.

I laugh. I can’t help it because he’s doing it again. Somehow making what feels like an impossible situation manageable. Like I’m strong enough to handle whatever my father and Brock decide to throw at me.

“I love you.” It tumbles out of my mouth before I have a chance to reel it in but rather than feel embarrassed or panicked about saying it out loud, I feel good. One more bucket item list crossed off. “Come on,” I say, smiling up at his slightly dumbstruck expression before he has a chance to answer me back. “Let’s go start some rumors.”

FIFTY-NINE

WENTWORTH

Kait was right. not only didPeggy stare, she called the entire town.

No sooner did we walk through the front door, our invasion announced by the short trill of a bell attached to the top of it, than the woman behind the register, wide-eyed like she was watching Big Foot grab a shopping cart and pick out bananas, picked up the phone next to her cash register and started dialing.

By the time Kait and I had finished shopping, there were a couple dozen people in the store, pretending to shop while watching and whispering about us.

Look at the size of him, and all those tattoos…

She’s wearing a wedding ring—they both are…

She practically left Brock Morris at the altar and here she is, buying bread and eggs like she didn’t break his heart six years ago...

I’ll be honest—if the choice were between Brock and this one, I get it…

I wonder if she knows that Abbey married him instead…

Through it all, Kait acted as if she didn’t hear a word of it. When one of them was brave enough to approach us with aKaity Barrett, is that you? It’s been so long—where the heck did you get off to?she’d stop and smile. Reward their bravery with small talk and an introduction to herhusband.

Sheila, this is my husband, Went. Went, this is Sheila—she’s a nurse at the urgent care, across from the post office.

By the time we made it to the register thirty minutes later, every one of them knew a condensed version of our history. That I’d rented Northpoint for a few weeks, the summer she was supposed to marry Brock and we fell in love. When it was time for me to leave, she left with me, rather than follow through with the wedding.

I know it was cruel of me but I had to follow my heart. Brock is such a catch, I knew he’d be okay.

She was good, so convincing, no one heard the bitterness in her tone when she said it but me.

“Thanks for your help, Peggy,” Kait said with a sweet smile while I hefted our box of groceries off the counter. “You have no idea how much we appreciate it.”

It took everything I had not to burst out laughing before we got outside and left them all behind.

“Diabolical,” I tell her as soon as we’re on the sidewalk and heading for the truck. “You’re fucking diabolical, Sunshine.”

“That’s what we callgaming the systemaround here,” she tells me with a tight smile. “At least now, whatever happens, Brock can’t lie about what happened to me to threaten Abbey anymore.”

Sliding the box of groceries onto the hood of the car, I reach for her. Wrapping my hands around her waist, I lift her, my cock stiffening the instant she wraps her legs around me. “What are you doing?’ she whispers while I carry her to her side of the truck.

“Giving them an encore.” Instead of opening her door, I press her against it. One arm anchored under her ass, I lift the other to wrap my hand around her throat, stroking my thumb over the skipping beat of her pulse. “Gotta make sure they keep talking…” I whisper against her mouth before I kiss her, my tongue sweeping past her lips to tease and tangle against hers until I feel a soft whimper vibrating against my palm. Tearing my mouth away on a groan, I look down at her. “Let’s get the fuck out of?—”

“You thought we were done?” she says with a slight, out of breath smile. “This was only act one.” Tightening the grip of her thighs around my hips, Kait levers herself up to press another quick kiss to the corner of my mouth. “We’re going across the street to the diner and you’re going to buy me dinner, so we can tell the other half of the town whodidn’tanswer their phone, all about our epic love story.”

Grinning down at her, I shake my head. “Is that right?” I say, pressing my hard-on into the juncture of her thighs, suddenly not giving two shits about who’s watching or what they think about what they’re seeing. “And what if I want to take mywifehome and fuck her instead?”

A shadow flickers across her features when I say the wordwife, there and gone before it has a chance to catch hold. “I’d ask you if you always get what you want.”

“No…” Shifting the hand I still have wrapped around her throat, I skim the pad of my thumb across her cheekbone. “Not always.” Leaning over her, I press a soft, lingering kiss against her mouth before straightening with a sigh. “Alright, Sunshine, let’s go spread some more rumors.”

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