Part of Your World(18)

I had no idea if he’d actually be there. He was. And the second I heard his voice, I knew I was spending the night in a bed that wasn’t my own.

I’d scoured my closet for the right thing to wear. I checked the weather in Wakan. It was sixty today, so I picked jeans, some plaid rain boots that could be hosed off if I stepped in poop again, and a flannel with a white tank top underneath it. I looked exactly like someone trying to look woodsy.

I debated calling Gabby to ask her for help with what to wear, but then I’d have to explain why, and I wasn’t ready for that talk at all.

Daniel was not someone I could introduce to my friends. Ever.

They would never get it. Frankly I barely got it.

My set of friends didn’t know people with tattoos. Or beards. Or goats. Gabby’s husband, Philip, was some big money manager guy, and Jessica’s husband, Marcus, was a hotshot lawyer. Daniel was too young and too different from the men they were used to. He was too different from the men I was used to.

Maybe that was the allure…

There was definitely something very non-demanding about him. I didn’t feel like I had to summon stimulating conversation or dazzle him. And he was so fun. Neil would have never hustled his friends in a bar.

Neil would have been horrified to be in that bar.

I packed some silky sleeping shorts and a matching black tank top. Not too sexy, but definitely not frumpy. I didn’t want to look like I was coming there solely to seduce him—which I totally was—but I also didn’t want to look like I wasn’t making an effort.

I showered, shaved my legs, did my hair and makeup, packed a quick overnight bag, and headed south before I had time to talk myself out of it.

I listened to Lola Simone the whole way down.

I decided, since I couldn’t get to know my new sister-in-law in person, I’d do it through her songs. She had eleven albums, and I started with the first one. It wasn’t really my kind of music. Sort of pop rock. Very early Britney Spears, which I guess made sense, since according to her Wikipedia, Lola was sixteen when she made this. But her lyrics were pretty good.

This time when I drove through the tiny town of Wakan, I looked around. Half the businesses were closed on the sleepy main street. An ice-cream and fudge place, an old-timey photo shop, two boutiques, and half a dozen restaurants had unlit neon open signs and “gone for the season” posters in their windows. The motel I’d seen the other night on the drive in had a “closed for the season” message on the marquee, and the RV park next to it looked abandoned too. But even in the off-season, Wakan was charming.

The town was nestled between a river and bluffs. All the buildings were redbrick with old-fashioned lampposts lining the sidewalks. Almost every shop had a black metal historical landmark plaque, though I was too far away to read the inscriptions. I crept past an antique shop, a bakery, and a pharmacy that looked like it’d been there since the 1800s, with a faded mural of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox painted on the brick side.

There was a tiny bookstore, a barbershop, and a single café called Jane’s Diner with an OPEN sign hanging from a chain on the inside of the door.

I drove half a mile more and finally turned down the gravel drive of Daniel’s rental property. A sign I hadn’t seen the last time was illuminated on the corner. The Grant House, 1897. The same year Royaume Northwestern was built, I noted.

Daniel was waiting outside—holding the baby goat.

My heart leaped the second I saw him.

I didn’t know how I was going to feel seeing him again—if it would be awkward or whatever had attracted me to him might be gone. But the moment I laid eyes on him standing there, my pulse zinged.

He was even handsomer than the last time—maybe because he had warning? He was wearing jeans and a black Jaxon Waters T-shirt with a loon on the front, a thick brown leather bracelet on his wrist. His hair seemed more styled. Sort of coifed up. He looked like he’d gotten ready.

It was funny that Daniel’s version of getting ready was a level of dressed down that I’d never seen on Neil. But it fit him. And God, was it attractive.

Daniel had that lithe, toned body type. Not a bit of fat on him, but he was muscular enough for it to not look lanky on his tall frame. I remembered he had broad shoulders sprinkled with freckles. Every time he’d lifted me, his abs had crunched like an accordion…

My face flushed thinking about it.

I parked. As I got out, Daniel came up to the car door to meet me.

The dog bounded between us, tail wiggling back and forth. He stopped in the middle of his excited greeting and let out a long roooooooooo!

Then he jumped on me.

I caught him with an oomph, staggering back.

“Hunter, down!” Daniel pulled him off me with his free hand, still cradling Chloe. “Sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay. I came dressed for it this time.” I smiled at the kid. “You’re really milking this, aren’t you?”

“I know what I have.” Then he leaned in and kissed me.

It was sort of surprising. I mean, I was here for this, so I expected kissing at some point. But the sensual kiss as a greeting made this feel oddly familiar. Like I’d been here a dozen times and was just coming back again.

Chloe was pressed between us, and she began nibbling on my shirt button. I started laughing, and Daniel smiled against my lips. “Are you hungry?”