Midlife Love Story

He raised one shoulder nonchalantly. “They were harmless. Energetic but harmless.”

“Does that mean you won’t accept any bachelorette parties here?”

“Hell no,” he growled. “Bring it on. Like I said, the money is too good to pass up, and they’re just having a good time. It’s all in good fun.”

I stared up at him, a shocked expression on my face. “Oh my God, you like the attention.”

“I do not,” he shot back in a low, gravelly voice.

“You do! You totally do!” I doubled over with laughter and shook my head as his cheeks turned pink in the dim bar.

“If you stay here another minute, I’m going to charge you for a second day,” he growled and gave me a gentle shove out the door. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“You don’t need to do that Grady. This is Carson Creek.”

He nodded and locked the bar’s front door, grabbing my plastic bin as if I hadn’t just said a word. “Which way?” I pointed to where my car sat, alone under a still burning street light. “So what went wrong with you and the mayor?”

I groaned and shook my head. “You’re as bad as the old women in town.” He laughed and waited me out, damn him. “It’s nothing as dramatic as people think. We just want different things in life, that’s all.”

“Bullshit,” he spat. “You two are the definition of the marrying kind, so help me understand what the hell that means?”

I shook my head. “Would you be with a woman who wanted to keep you a secret?”

“In general? No, but I have dated a few married women who required that. If there were real feelings involved though, hell no I wouldn’t accept that.”

I smiled. “Then you get it.”

Grady’s feet stopped moving and he turned to me with a dark scowl. “That prick. I’ll kick his ass whether you want me to or not.”

“Thanks Grady, you really are a sweetheart under all those muscles and tattoos.” I kissed his cheek and opened the back door so he could put the bins in the car. “But don’t beat up the mayor, it’s bad for your business. Okay?”

He nodded and waited until I started the engine and pulled away before he turned in the opposite direction and presumably made his way home. I only wondered if the redhead waited for him somewhere.

At least someone might be getting orgasms tonight. After a long week that featured four different events, I was too tired to even consider sex, even if there was someone to fill that role in my life. I dragged my exhausted body from the Escalade, stacked the plastic bins with my purse on top, and trudged up to my porch.

I screamed in fear at the movement to my left, which sent my purse tumbling to the porch. “Dammit.”

“Sorry, it’s just me.”

Chase. “What are you doing here, and why are you lurking around my property in the dark?”

“I wasn’t lurking, I was sitting on the chair over there. Why isn’t your porch light on at this time of night?”

I sighed and set down the bins to grab my purse. “I don’t answer to you. Now tell me what you’re doing here?”

He raked a nervous hand through his hair and down his face. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about Chase and even if there was, it might have been worth talking about last week or the week before. Not tonight.”

He nodded. “I understand that, I do. But I needed some time to figure out what to say to you, and to do that, I had to figure out some stuff in my head.” I stared and waited for him to continue. “There’s nothing going on with me and CJ.”

I held up a hand to stop his words. “I don’t need to hear it, and you certainly don’t owe me an explanation. If she gives you what you want, then I’m happy for you Chase.”

“She’s not what I want,” he shot back angrily.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said and brushed past him to get to my front door, unlocking it quickly in an effort to get away from this man and this conversation. I turned to grab the bins but Chase already had one in his hands. “I didn’t ask for help.”

“You don’t have to ask, not ever.” I knew he meant those words, yet they provided me no comfort. “I would like you to give me, give us another chance.”