Page 37 of Almost Love

Oakley rolled his eyes and caught himself, chuckling when he realized it was the most Clementine thing ever. Carin and Lucas looked at him with matching frowns, so he sighed and waved them off.

“She’s been busy, so we haven’t seen each other since then.”

“You’ve been broody, sunshine,” Carin said with a smirk.

“Because I have to put up with assholes like you and Fox on a daily basis.”

Lucas laughed and Carin grumbled. For the next hour, the three of them laughed and joked about everything but Clementine. She was always there in the back of his mind, though. He didn’t know how to shake her off. After that kiss, and before if he was honest, she’d earned herself a spot in his mind, no matter what kind of situation he found himself in.

When they finished for the day, he wiped Lucas’ back clean and spread ointment all over his skin. With everything wrapped up and protected, they helped the firefighter back into his clothes and saw him out. Oakley was cleaning his workstation when his phonepingedreally loudly, echoing through the shop. His heart stalled and he took a minute to catch his breath as two morepingscame through. Instead of rushing to check his phone, he finished wiping everything down, tossed the used gloves and tissues into the trash can.

When he was breathing normally, he reached for his phone and his stomach tightened at Clementine’s name. He opened the texts, a smile stretching over his mouth as he read her messages.

Clementine

Fifteen minutes.

*sends address*

It’s the house with the bright yellow front door.

He didn’t bother to reply, just left her onReadand then raced through the process of shutting down for the day. Grabbing his jacket and bag, Oakley rushed out of the shop and into his Jeep. He forced himself to calm the fuck down, because his hands were shaking. Loading the GPS with her address, he started his Jeep and attempted to calm his racing heart as he drove.

As the robotic voice directed him, he reminded himself of everything he and Kristof had talked about. He could change his mind, he could take it easy and hell, maybe she’d taken so long becauseshewas nervous too. When he pulled up into the driveway of a gorgeous townhouse with a bright yellow door, Oakley grabbed his phone and called his dog sitter.

When he started working at A Fine Needle, he was bringing Gracie in every day, but knew that it wouldn’t work out long term. So Auburn offered her cousin to help out. Deana came by thrice a day to check on Gracie, feed and walk her. And on the days when he was going to be late, she stayed with his dog. Thanks to her flexible schedule, Deana rarely had issues showing up last minute when he called. Like that evening. Oakley had no idea what would happen that night, but he wanted someone to be there with Gracie either way.

Once Deana confirmed that she was on the way, he hopped out of the Jeep, not bothering with his jacket. That was one lessthing to take off later. He ran his hands over his clothes before ringing the bell, then waited the longest four minutes of his life before the door swung open to reveal Clementine.

Sweet fucking god.

She was a vision and he didn’t know where to put his eyes first. Maybe everywhere and then follow it with his hands.

CHAPTER 11

In the days since she’d seen Oakley, her confidence levels had plummeted. She’d been so charged up after making those vagina cupcakes, that walking into the tattoo shop and kissing him had been easy. Now, four days later, she was wondering if it had been the right decision. They were still new friends and maybe sex could upset that balance. There was also the whole thing where she knew he liked her and still decided to follow through with this friends with benefits thing.

It would be so easy to say that she didn’t feel the same way about him, but that would make Clementine a liar.

He made her feel things she didn’t know how to fully wrap her head around. Goosebumps when his green eyes landed on her, the aching need to smile when she usually wouldn’t and not to forget the fact that she was horny baking.

She still believed that he was the right person to scratch her itch, because he ticked all the boxes in her mind—handsome, funny, charming, liked her the way she was and enjoyed her dessert. But what if she was so bad that he changed his mind after the first time? Moreover, what ifhewas so bad, she would never want sex again? Just because Oakley could kiss didn’t mean he could show her a good time too.

God,that kiss.

She’d replayed it in excruciating detail every day. The way his strong arm wrapped around her waist, the firmness of his torso against hers, the slow and steady way his mouth plundered hers. She’d been kissed before, but none of them had made her feel so thoroughly satisfied the way Oakley did. She wondered if he even knew the effect he had on her that day. She had played it cool, like she was totally in control. Truth was, she was hanging by a thread and he was holding the other end.

If you asked her, Clementine wasn’t sure if it was the sex that made her nervous or if it was getting more attached to Oakley. In her last session with her therapist, she’d made it seem like everything was okay. Everythingwasokay, but that was last week. When her biggest concern was fending off the crush she had on Oakley. This week, it was something more.

Outside of Mack, Rhiannon was the only one who really knew about her concerns with sex—“we don’t call themissues, because it’s not a bad thing”. Despite not being a sex therapist, Rhiannon helped her get out of her head whenever the topic was brought up. Therapy had always been important and finding Rhiannon when she moved to Wildes had been a gift. Initially, her sessions were filled with wondering if running a business in a saturated market was the right thing or not. Then it shifted to her friendship with Mack and how she struggled to meet other people. Eventually Rhiannon got the truth out of her—she didn’t respond to sex the way everyone else did.

They talked about her sexual history, lack of interest in masturbation and the fact that so few people ever really got her hot and bothered. They discussed the pressure she was putting on herself for not being interested in sex and slowly worked through those problems. She hadn’t mentioned Oakley yet, because Clementine was still trying to understandwhatwas going on. She knew that if anyone would have advice for her, itwould be Rhiannon, so she made a note to talk about it at their next session.

Until then, she would let her very conflicted and confused mind be filled with Oakley. Everything about their interaction at the tattoo shop that day was different from what it had been so far. The low way he rumbled certain words, the possessiveness in his tone and the obvious desire he had for her was more than she expected. When she mentioned the surly mountain as a possible option to scratch her itch, his response had excited her. If Oakley knew that she very honestly believed he was the only one that could satisfy her, would he be thrilled? She was tempted to tell him as much, but that required talking to him.

Every time she picked up her phone and stared at his number, her heart would start to pound. Yes, she was excited at the prospect of seeing Oakley again. However, letting him into her life that way? A little scary. Talking about her sexual experience, or lack thereof, was easy in theory. It had taken her a long time to tell Rhiannon about it, so telling the man she made a sex deal with was daunting. Building up the courage to take the step was taking longer than even she would have liked. She was ready, but also…she wasn’t.

That afternoon, she’d experimented with a new donut while working on cake tasters, and her mind was filled with images of Oakley pressed against her. It had been incredibly troubling when she caught herself puckering her lips for a kiss as she stared at a wall. Thankfully nobody else saw her doing it and she was able to stop herself from spiraling. She was even moregrateful for the appointment she had to help keep her mind occupied for a few hours.

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