Page 30 of Love You A Latte

“Holy shit!” she says, clutching a hand to her chest. I follow her up, reaching out to comfort her, when I sneeze again.

I fall back to the bed and roll my eyes.

“Are you sick?” Addison asks, her eyes tracing my face, looking for any signs that I might not be feeling well.

“Nope,” I say, then tug a lock of her hair with a grin as I appreciate her naked form.

Her pretty cheeks flush and she pulls the sheet up to her chest. I angle myself up to lean into her, inhaling her sweet scent and pressing my lips to her throat.

“You’re even more gorgeous in the daylight,” I say, then kiss her lightly on the lips.

“Oh my god. Don’t you have to work?” she says, eyes darting to the window as her voice rises with alarm.

“Nope,” I say, stretching out on the bed and smirking when her eyes go to my chest. “I texted Jaime last night to open for me. Said I’d be in when I got in.”

Addison looks at me with disbelief for a second before she laughs. We take our time getting ready for the day, sharing tender looks and soft touches before I head downstairs to check in and Addison leaves to take Moose home. Jaime has everything well in hand, although we’re a little short on bakery items since I didn’t get up to make anything.

At least we have Alex’s usual delivery. The people will survive, I remind myself, then set to helping out.

When Tori arrives for her shift, I let them both know I’ll be stepping out for a bit again, and they give me questioning looks. I rarely leave, and when I do, it’s normally to go shopping for books next door with Everly.

This outing won’t be nearly as fun, though. I have tomeet with the sheriff to show him the letters and see what else can be done about the Derek situation. Part of me wishes Addison were here to go with me, but I know she has work to catch up on and this isn’t her fight, despite what she might think.

When I walk into our small police station, it’s early afternoon already. The officer up front ushers me back to the sheriff’s office without any questions, where I take a seat and share the information with him. I hand over the letters I’ve placed in a plastic bag, answering his questions and hoping I’m doing the right thing. I don’t want to cause drama or disrupt the town, but in this case Derek brought it on himself.

I also play the video again, and he requests a copy of it to compare to the letters. He lets me take pictures of the letters before he puts them in an evidence bag to get tested for prints, saying it’ll be a few days before they have anything concrete.

He does offer to help me file a restraining order though, which he suggested after I told him about Derek not allowing me in for groceries. I guess I have enough evidence, and considering Derek doesn’t seem like the type of guy to let things go, I take the sheriff up on the offer.

I complete and file the paperwork, including a clause that would allow me to shop at Derek’s store for one hour once a week with him either off the premises or confined to his office for that time (as suggested by the sheriff) and then I finally haul my weary ass out of there.

I’m sick of dealing with this, but I feel a heady sense of relief, too. A burden I didn’t realize I was carrying is no longer weighing me down. I avoided dealing with Derek for so long, not wanting to cause trouble or start a local business war. Or even worse, make accusations and then not be believed. It feels good to have stood up for myself and done what’s right. I know I need to make my own wellbeing more of a priority and this was a step in the right direction.

I see a missed call from Addison, so I call her back on my way out to my truck.

“Where are you?” she says. “I’m at Roasted but Tori saidyou left.”

“Yeah, I went to drop the stuff at the sheriff’s. Heading back now.”

“Oh, right! How did it go?”

I fill her in as I drive back, and she proposes celebratory drinks. I don’t feel like working, and Tori and Jaime have it well in hand, so I agree and we head down the street to the Sioria, Everly’s hotel, which also houses the nicer of the two bars in town.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ADDISON

It’s only mid-afternoon, too early for many others to be here on a random weekday, so we head into the bar and have our pick of the seats. I request something fruity and sweet, while Frankie orders a spiked Arnold Palmer.

“Not what I expected you’d get,” I say, sipping from the straw that came with my frozen pink drink. It’s sweet and tastes like summer. I suck down more of the alcoholic juice.

“What did you expect me to get?” Frankie says, one eyebrow cocked as they raise the glass to their lips. My eyes follow the movement and get hooked on their mouth as they swallow and then lick their lips.

“I don’t know, something more badass I guess.”

“You think I’m badass?”

I glance pointedly at their very badass boots, then let my eyes trail the tattoos lining their skin. They shrug and nudge their knee into mine.

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