Southern Storm (Southern 3)

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she jokes and starts the car. “You do know that I’m a bartender, right?” she says, and I just look at her. “You do know that I’m almost a shrink.”

“What’s your point?” I ask her.

“My point is that people talk. Women, especially, so you may not have women in your house, but you have women,” she says, putting the truck in reverse. “And all those women are waiting with bated breath to see who you’ll pick.” She looks away from me and backs out.

“I pick you,” I say to the empty space in front of me as I watch her drive away. I walk to my truck and make my way over to the diner. The bell rings over the door when I walk in, looking around at the tables that are full. Most of the people look at the door and smile at me when I walk in. Mr. Lewis comes out of the back kitchen and smiles at me. I walk over to the counter and sit on one of the red stools in front. “Hey there, Mr. Lewis.”

“Mr. Mayor.” He smiles big. “What can I get for you?”

“I’ll have two cheeseburgers fully loaded,” I say, looking up at the menu board that hasn’t changed in over ten maybe even twenty years. “Some fries and rings with that also.”

“Will do,” he says, turning and walking back into the kitchen. The door opens again, and I look over my shoulder to see that it’s Grady. He stops at a couple of tables on his way to the counter and takes the stool next to me.

“Hey,” he says. Mr. Lewis comes back out, and Grady places his order. “Did Jacob call you?”

“No.” My thumbs move on the counter as Delores comes out and puts two Cokes down in front of us with a smile. “Why?”

“I’m going to grab a couple of guys and go over to Savannah’s to put some wood up tonight,” he says, and I look at him confused.

“Why would you be doing that?” I ask. He avoids my eyes, and I know deep down that this has to do with my father. I can feel it in my bones.

“Seems everyone is busy,” he tells me, taking the Coke and bringing it to his lips, “with no spare time.”

“Is that so?” I ask. He just nods and looks over at me. “Interesting.”

“I think so, too,” he says.

“Do you need help?” I ask, and he shakes his head. “I can drop off the food and then come back.”

“Nah,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s all good. I have two guys coming in to help me.”

Mr. Lewis comes out with a bag in his hand. “Here you go.” He hands it to me. “I’ll put it on your tab.”

“Thank you,” I say. “Add Grady’s also.”

“Now that, Mr. Mayor …” Grady starts, and he hides his smirk when he says the next line. “They could count that as a bribe.”

“Fuck you.” I shake my head, laughing. “Let me know when it’s done.” He nods, and I walk out of the diner. When I pull up to my house, something inside me shifts when I see her truck parked in the driveway, and I park right behind her.

Opening the door, I don’t hear any noise. “Hello?” I shout, but when I make it into the kitchen, I can’t find her anywhere. My heart starts to speed up, and I jog up the steps and go to the spare bedroom. I find her bag on the bed, but that is it. I walk to my bedroom and see that she isn’t in there, and when I jog back down the steps, I look out and see that she is lying in the hammock. Opening the back door, I walk down the steps and head across the grass. She sways side to side, and her eyes are closed. The sound of a branch breaking under my foot makes her eyes flutter open.

“Hey,” I say softly. “Were you sleeping?”

“No,” she says, “but I was resting my eyes.” I watch her, taking in how beautiful she is, and with the sun going down, her eyes are a darker blue. “It’s so relaxing.”

“Come and eat,” I say. “Then you can come back once you’re fed.”

She gets off the hammock. “Fine.” We walk into the house side by side, and she devours her burger, fries, and half the onion rings. “God, that was good.” She gets up and cleans up, then looks at me.

“Do you think I can take a bath?” I just nod and don’t say anything because the fact that she’s going to be under my roof naked and in a bubble bath makes my cock so hard I almost groan out in pain. “Great,” she says and walks away, going upstairs.

I clean up the kitchen and try not to think about the fact that she’s upstairs. I try not to think about the fact that I want to see her naked, and that I’ve been thinking about it more and more recently. I try not to think about the fact that I want her here more and more. I try to also talk myself down off the ledge. It takes Grady an hour to text me that they’ve finished at Savannah’s house and then another text from Tony letting me know that it’ll take him three days to get everything replaced and back to normal. Grabbing my laptop, I scan my emails now and make a list of things to follow up on.