Page 18 of Accidentally Mine

“That was the reason you couldn’t meet me?”

She nodded. “Did you get my message? I’m sorry. I totally forgot. And then I realized I didn’t have your number.”

Well, that was an even better sign.

We stood there, the four of us, out in front of the house, like a tableau, before Ernest clapped his hands. “Hell,” he said to me, “this is really no problem at all. I can take your aunt, dear.”

Roselynn’s aunt nearly jumped into his arms. “Yes. Re…Roselynn. We’ll be fine. This is such a beautiful setup. You two should enjoy yourselves.”

Roselynn gave her the eye of death, still hesitating. There was something that had her holding back. “All right,” she said finally, smiling at me. “Since I know you’re just as stubborn as I am and won’t let it go.”

Our gazes locked. “You’re learning.”

I stepped back from the staircase, relieved, and ran my hand over my jaw as she stepped out onto the tiny rectangle that was their front lawn.

She motioned to the picnic basket as Ernest held out his arm in a gentlemanly gesture to escort Marie toward the car.

“Don’t forget to tell him about the dizzy spells you’ve been having! ” Roselynn called after her.

Marie ignored her, blew a kiss at us and winked. “Don’t forget to tell your date what a stick in the mud you are, doll!”

I smiled at that, but mostly my smile was for the blush of embarrassment that crept over Roselynn’s pale cheeks.

She seemed to forever be blushing in her aunt’s presence.

Her aunt did seem to be rather…sexually charged.

The movies in the living room, the way she’d looked me over like a cake she wanted to devour.

She clearly had something going on in her head.

But I knew she and Ernest would get along famously. Two crazy kids from Southie, out on the town.

Ernest got her situated in the back of the car, gave me a salute, dipped into the driver’s seat, and whisked her away.

“Is your valet going to take good care of my aunt?” Roselynn asked as she knelt down on the blanket.

“Is your aunt going to take good care of my valet?” I shot back with a sly smile.

She smiled back, but there was worry in there. “I couldn’t even tell you. She’s been having a lot of mini-strokes lately and each one seems to take a little bit of my old Aunt Marie away from me. I’m worried about her.”

“Strokes? They have her on medication?”

She nodded. “She’s changed a lot since her health started to decline. She never used to be so…so…” she leaned forward, her blush deepening, “horny. It’s like the strokes are messing with her brain.”

“That can happen.” I knew better than anyone.

Although for me, my sex-drive had gone the opposite way.

That was, until I’d met this maddening woman, who was currently chewing on her lust bottom lip.

Damn. I cleared my throat. “Are they keeping a close eye on her vitals? Because it all can play a part.”

An old man in slippers and a bathrobe walked by with a dachshund on a leash. He gave us a curious look as it sniffed the basket and my shoes. I petted it behind the ear before the man pulled it away and continued along the narrow sidewalk.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be burdening you with these troubles.” She motioned to the basket and said, “You know, the park is right around the block.”

I gave her suggestion a dismissive wave. “Scenery here’s so much better. Those recycling crates lined up on the curb add to the ambiance.”

I opened the picnic basket and laid out everything I knew she’d like. Chocolate croissants. Chocolate muffins. Chocolate bars. And a thermos of coffee.

She grinned at the selection. “Yum,” she said in approval, reaching for a croissant. She sank her teeth in and moaned, and my dick woke a little more. “This is amazing.”

You’re amazing. I leaned back and crossed my legs at the ankle as she got comfortable on the blanket, reclining on her side. “Blame Ernest. It was his idea.”

“Really? He’s a romantic?”

I shrugged, noticing that people from neighboring houses were now looking out their windows at us.

“No, he’s pretty much your typical dirty ol’ Southie boy.

He just knows everything. I have a question, he has the answer.

He’s like a walking Google. That’s why I rarely go anywhere without him.

He’s also like a substitute father, in a lot of ways. ”

She let out an, “Aw,” as she finished her croissant and licked her fingers. “Well, he is a very smart man.”

I poured us each a mug of coffee, then pushed the sugar and creamer packets over to her. “All those Southie boys are.”

“Aren’t you eating anything?” she asked.

I shook my head. I wasn’t wanting chocolate right now. But I was craving this woman in a way I hadn’t craved anything in a long, long time. My head filled with visions of me nibbling chocolate off parts of her body.

“Look,” she said after a moment of staring into her coffee like it held the answer to her problems. “This was very nice, but I really can’t get involved with anyone now.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Your ex?”

Her head turned downward, and she nodded. “He was not a nice person. To me. He…I don’t really like to talk about him. And I don’t date anymore, because of it.”

She seemed genuinely remorseful, but the letdown stung.

Fuck that man. I wanted to rip his head off, for the sole reason that he wasn’t fit to breathe air.

“There’s a special corner of hell for the man who thinks he can lay a hand on a woman,” I ground out, the muscle in my jaw popping with each word.

“If a man so much as laid an unwanted finger on my sister, I’d rip him a new one. ”

She raised her head, a surprised expression on her face as she continued to chew on her lip. “But not only that. I’m only in town for a little while. I’m leaving soon. And…I can’t come back.”

I can’t come back . Not, “I don’t want to come back” or “I won’t come back,” but “I can’t come back.”

I wanted to ask what she meant, but she was clearly upset enough as it was. I dug through the picnic basket and tossed a chocolate muffin over to her. “All right. Don’t let this go to waste then. You won’t be able to get these once you’re gone.”

She put her hands over her stomach, which flattened her t-shirt against her body and only accented her beautiful breasts. I tried not to linger on the way the v-neck bared her cleavage. “I’m stuffed. I’m not sure I could eat one more, but it sure looks yummy.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a quarter.

“Heads you do, tails you don’t.” I flipped it into the air, caught it, smacked it on the back of my hand.

She was watching me like I was crazy as I lifted my hand to check it.

“Heads. Bon appetit.” I unwrapped the muffin and placed it in front of her.

“When destiny pushes you in a certain way, you can’t argue. ”

She watched me carefully. “Do you make all your decisions with a flip of a coin?”

“A lot of them. The important ones, anyway.” I winked and flipped the coin in the air, caught it and covered it. “Should Roselynn see me again? Heads for yes, tails for no.”

Her eyes sparked, and she let out a shuddery breath, watching intently.

I lifted my hand and revealed the answer.

Heads.

Her expression revealed that she might’ve been more than a little glad about that.

“So what if you’re leaving,” I said, watching her lovely face. “We can get together once more.”

She sucked in a breath, staring at the coin, clearly contemplating her response.

“Don’t fight fate, Rebel,” I said and placed the coin in her hand. “You’re not going to win.”