Filthy Scrooge

“You mock, but I’ve been taking care of you for years.”

It was more like the other way around, but I let Mel keep her delusions. And I didn’t need to tell anyone else that I was pretty sure I was in love with Lincoln Murdock. Not only would she think I was crazy, but I was almost certain I might be.

Because no one fell in love in two days.

Except maybe you.

I ignored that little voice and told Mel what she wanted to hear. It was just easier that way. “I’ll be home on the twenty-sixth. Don’t worry.”

“Good. Once your brain is back online, you can figure out if you still want to see Lincoln Murdock socially. You might be doing it backwards, but maybe you can do the dating thing.”

“I don’t think we’re going there. There’s little hope on that front.”

“Dick’s out of the bag?”

“You are a terrible person.”

“I know. Take care of you.”

I smiled and said it back, just like always. “Take care of you.” I shoved my phone into my pocket and started back up the pier.

Where the hell was Linc? I caught sight of him and waved.

He was holding a white to-go bag from one of the restaurants we’d passed earlier. The half smile he’d been wearing was gone.

“Hey.”

A muscle flexed in his cheek. “Ready to get out of this cold?”

I smiled and tried to hook my arm in his, but he switched the bag to that hand so it was impossible. “Um, yes. More than ready.”

“Good. I found a spot a little closer now that most of the families have dispersed.”

I tried to smile up at him, but he was looking straight ahead. “My feet thank you.” I stopped him. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

I frowned. “Right. Then lead on.”

18

Scrooge

“I’ll be home on the twenty-sixth. Don’t worry.”

“I don’t think we’re going there. There’s little hope on that front.”

I heard her words again and again in my head as we walked to the truck. We’d made a deal, and I knew she was leaving, but after today…

My fingers flexed on the bag’s handle.

After today, I thought there’d been something else between us. So fucking stupid. Why would she want a pathetic guy who got jilted? Not just left at the altar, but left by a woman with another man’s baby in her belly.

Yeah, that was exactly the kind of man a woman like Kay wanted for a future. But I was damn well good enough for a lay. Multiple days of sex to be exact.

I was definitely capable of that. And I’d take it. Because if I couldn’t keep her, then I was going to get her out of my system one way or another. Maybe if I fucked her until neither one of us could move then I’d be able to breathe around the shards of glass in my chest.

The ride back to the cabin was quiet. She tried to fill the space with chitchat, but I couldn’t streamline the rage building inside me. It was all I could do to keep the truck on the road.