Page 29 of Finding Alfred
“I did too.”
Alfred bit his bottom lip and looked away. “It’s just that once my feelings were hurt, I had a hard time letting it go. I’m afraid you’ll do it again.”
I scooted in beside him on the bed. “Al, I never meant to hurt you. I would never, ever intentionally hurt you. But if I do. Say so. Like right then. Be like,hey, that hurts my feelings.” I spoke in a funny, deep voice to make him laugh, despite the seriousness of the conversation, and it worked.
He punched my arm. “Stop.”
“Okay. But I’m serious. Tell me. I may not even know otherwise, and I don’t want to hurt you. We’ll talk about it.”
“As long as it works both ways.”
“It has to, because you hurt my feelings, too.” I snuggled in against him, burying my face in his neck and languishing in his scent.
“I’m so sorry. Forgive me?” He ran his fingers through my hair.
“Of course. Does that mean we’re going to try again?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Let’s do it right this time.”
Chapter twenty-four
Finally, the new buzz in town wasn’t about me or Queen Gaming. A new business opened in town, a creamery shop. I wasn’t sure how the community would handle a stranger moving here and opening a store. I mean, they were generally welcoming and seemed to love Eddy and his business here, but Eddy had a connection—Brock.
I didn’t know anything about this guy, McClain. But he was bringing us this new place to go, hang out, and grab sweet treats. What wasn’t to like about that?
I passed the busy little store on my way home. I still wanted to squeal every time I thought of home. That was now Jackie and his place. My center of existence. I’d always loved his house, but it was even better now with the pool and other little changes we’d started making. I had to give up my secluded little spot in the woods, but Jackie’s whole house was a secluded spot in the woods. And of course, I had farther to drive to get to work, but the route took me straight through the center of town, and I needed my daily coffee fix anyway.
Now Main Street was even busier due to the new shop, but I didn’t stop since I wanted a shower and change of clothes first. And I needed to pick up Jackie.
When I finally parked in front of our cute house, I stomped up the steps. Right after I moved in, Jackie had his friend, who helped with the pool, come over and add decorative trim around the eaves and a fresh coat of paint to the front porch. It didn’t look anything like the cottage rental I had left, but it was still cute. He’d done it because he knew how much I liked the outside of that little house. He even planted roses along one side of the porch. I’d loved his place before he did all that, but I loved it more now, because of his efforts more than the appearance.
It was still summer and hot as fucking hell fire. I needed to convince Eddy that shorts were appropriate for the office when it was nearly ninety degrees out.
“Jackie?” I pushed the front door open. “I’m home.”
“Hey!” Jackie came barreling down the hall and right into my arms. He planted quick kisses all over my face. “Missed you.”
“It’s only been a few hours.”
“I miss you every minute you’re away. Why can’t you work from home?” He had only asked that a million times, and I suspected he was planting seeds with Eddy on that one, probably via Brock.
“Because I would never get any work done, and neither would you.” It would be tantric sex sessions all the time. Since I moved in, we were constantly touching, which led to sex more times than not. Not a complaint. I loved him touching me. In fact, Jackie grabbed my ass and gave it a squeeze.
“I like these slacks on you.”
“I bet you like them off me better.”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Let’s make that happen.” He leaned closer and kissed along my neck, having discovered my hotspot long ago. But I had zero complaints. He melted me into a pile of goo.
“Okay. A quickie. Then, shower so we can go.”
“Go? Go where? I thought we’d grill some steaks and hang out at the pool tonight.” Which is what we did nearly every night, though it wasn’t always beef on the grill. We also cooked chicken and fish, and we’d even skewered shrimp. Summertime was perfect for grilling, and Jackie was pretty damn good at it. So suddenly we were eating things other than sticky buns and cupcakes, though we still had those too. And so far neither Brock or the bakery seemed to be taking a hit to their sales because of the new shop opening. I hoped it stayed that way, but I was also happy to have a new option.
So, it was another sweet treat I wanted to try now. “Did you already forget? The creamery? Duh.”
“Oh yeah. We’re meeting Nate and Kit there, and he’s one of my best friends. And I don’t have many of them.”
