Page 14 of Cody (Maine Silver Foxes)

C ody

Fear had me distancing myself from Alina as soon as I realized how badly I wanted her.

And only her.

For myself.

Exclusively.

And that just wouldn’t do because I liked my life exactly as it was.

I grabbed the two beers and the food we’d brought out of my saddlebag, and returned to the tree I’d been resting against. By the time I turned around and sank to the ground, Alina had dressed and was making her way back to me.

Our eyes met and clung, and I was the first one to look away with a feeling of regret that I rarely felt, busying myself with the plates in my hand.

I checked them to make sure that I handed her the right one.

“Work up an appetite, Marine?”

The amusement in her eyes put a grin on my lips. “Didn’t you?”

She shrugged before sinking to the ground across from me and sitting cross-legged. “You did most of the work,” she joked. “I just enjoyed the ride.”

I chuckled and handed her a plate. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” I picked up a piece of chicken and took a bite, meeting her eyes again. “So now that you’re home again, what are your plans?” It’s best if we keep things simple and casual between us, I thought to myself.

She chewed slowly, but there was no disguising the light of excitement suddenly filling her eyes. “I owned a coffee shop in San Diego, so I’ve decided to open one up here, on Main Street.”

I nodded. I didn’t make it to Main Street very often unless it was to eat at one of the restaurants, but I knew that there were three empty stores available. “Which store?”

“The one at the end of the street. The owners came down on the price, and with the parking lot right next to it I can’t go wrong.”

Considering that parking spaces were limited on Main Street, she was right about that.

“That’s a good location,” I acknowledged.

“And that doesn’t surprise me about the owners coming down on the price, it’s been vacant a long time.

” I popped the top to one of the beers and handed it to her.

“So is coffee all you’re gonna offer?” I opened the second beer and had a drink.

“I have a few ideas,” she responded. “I don’t want to piss off the people who own the bakery, or anyone else, for that matter. I want to make sure the things I offer are unique and exclusive.”

That was considerate of her. I watched as she reached for a second chicken leg, noticing that the first one she’d set down still had some meat on it.

Instantly a distant, unwelcome memory flashed through my head of another woman who had done the same thing.

Maggie hadn’t liked eating the meat too close to the bone because of the veins running through it. She’d done the same thing with ribs.

I shook my head to myself. Why in the hell was I thinking about her at a time like this, when I was sitting across from a smoking hot woman with my cum leaking out of her?

“Are you okay?”

Alina’s soft question brought me back to the present. “Yeah, why?”

She lifted her shoulders. “You just looked as if you were lost in an unhappy memory.”

I didn’t know I was so transparent, but I didn’t explain myself, finishing my beer instead.

“So what do you do when you’re not overseeing construction projects?”

Dotty must have told her that I’d promised to handle the rebuilding of her porch.

I planned to stop in once in a while to see how progress was going and question anything I had concerns about.

None of my brothers had the time to take on a full rebuild, so she’d hired a small, three-man outfit from a neighboring town that had a good reputation.

“By the way, I’m glad you talked Mom into having a new porch put on.”

I shook my head and swallowed what was in my mouth.

“I didn’t talk her into anything. Just pointed out all the repairs that needed to be done with the existing one, and the problems I could see coming up in the future.

” I laughed. “Plus, I know Dotty well enough to know she wouldn’t have been happy with a patch job. ”

“It would have been wasted money,” Alina agreed. She set her plate on the ground. “This is nice,” she began as she looked around the area. “I haven’t been on a picnic in forever.”

A grunt escaped me before I could stop it.

“I didn’t bring you here for a picnic.” Done with my food, I set my plate aside and reached for the chicken Alina had left on her plate.

“You’re not the first woman I’ve brought here.

” I felt guilty as soon as the words left my mouth, not sure why I’d felt the need to say it.

Maybe because I didn’t want her to think I’d singled her out, or that what was happening between us was more significant than it was.

I could tell immediately that I’d said the wrong thing.

I didn’t need to see the look on her face to know that.

Her mouth snapped open with what I was certain would be a snarky response, but then she looked away, trying to hide what I’d already seen.

When next she directed those baby blues on me, I saw that the anger had turned to resignation.

“You don’t have to keep reminding me that you like to spend your time with more than one woman, Cody. Don’t worry. You haven’t made me feel special.”

I flinched involuntarily.

“I don’t want a relationship with you. In fact—” she got to her feet in a blur of speed, “—I don’t even want to spend any more time with you.” The hardness in her eyes could have cut glass. “I think I’d like to go back now.”

Damn. I’d fucked up. I hadn’t said what I’d said to get a rise out of her, or worse, to hurt her, but it was the truth.

Still, I could understand her resentment.

I’d been insensitive, throwing the thought of other women in her face.

No woman liked that shit. And to be honest, until Evelyn had recently overstepped her bounds, Alina was the first woman I’d felt the need to hammer the point home to, as if I were afraid that she’d forget what this was.

And with growing dread, I recognized why.

She wasn’t the problem.

I was.

Realizing I’d hurt Alina with my arrogant thoughtlessness, I got to my feet and grabbed up the empty beer cans and paper plates.

She wouldn’t meet my eyes, and I hated that.

I wanted to spend more time with her, but I doubted that was going to happen now.

I stowed the items in my saddle bag and climbed on my bike.

Words seemed unnecessary as Alina climbed on behind me.

I waited for her to put her arms around me before starting the engine.

She tentatively slipped her arms around my waist. Somehow it seemed less intimate than the ride there had been.

All the way back to King’s I thought about what I could say to try to mend things, but I didn’t know how.

I didn’t want Alina mad at me. I wanted to be friends.

Yeah, friends. With benefits, like all the other women in my life.

Somehow that seemed inadequate.

Jesus. Why was I overthinking it and making it so difficult? I made the rules, they followed them, and we would all be fucking happy. It was simple as that.

Well, didn’t that make me a selfish bastard. I deserved Alina’s anger.

I noticed Lincoln’s jeep was back when we pulled into King’s drive.

There wasn’t any sign of smoke billowing up from behind the cabin, which was an indication that the cooking was done and King had shut down the grill.

Wordlessly, Alina climbed off without my help and walked a few feet away before spinning back to me with a smile that I knew was fake.

“Oh, thank you for a good time.” Her sharp tone suggested that she’s had anything but.

I acknowledged her with a nod and then watched as she spun around and continued toward the back of the house.

Before following her, I emptied my saddle bag, knowing there was a trash can out back.

Conversation too muffled to make out reached me as I rounded the corner, where the first fucking thing my eyes landed on was Alina sitting down next to Max.

I tamped down the jealousy threatening to rise inside and made my way to where King, Cramer, and Lincoln were sitting away from everyone while they smoked cigars.

None of us smoked cigarettes, but we did occasionally enjoy a Cuban.

I dropped the trash into the can on my way by and ignored the knowing smirk on King’s face as he peered at me through a ribbon of smoke curling up in front of his face.

“Have a good time?” Lincoln asked.

I swung my gaze to him. “Yeah. Had a great time.”

“We can tell,” Cramer snorted, puffing away.

All three of them looked past me as I sat with my back to the women and Max. It didn’t take a genius to know who they were looking at.

“Fuck all of you,” I snarled, reaching for the cigar King held out to me. I bit off the end, spit it out to the side of me, and lit it.

“You must be losing your charm.”

I glared at King through the haze of smoke.

“Crashed and burned twice in one day. First Evelyn, now Alina.”

A frown furrowed my brows in response to his words. The scowl on my face obviously had given King the wrong impression. My situation with each woman was quite different. “Just to be clear, I broke shit off with Evelyn. And we’re not talking about Alina.”

I wasn’t going to talk about her, but I sure as hell was going to think about her and that date she had coming up with Max.

Max was easy-going and the most patient one of us in the group.

In spite of his background, he didn’t jump into shit without working things out ahead of time, as if he had an internal check list that he followed.

I knew if I had even hinted that I wanted Alina, he would mark her off his list and step back.

I was tempted to, but doing something like that wasn’t me, and it wouldn’t be fair to Alina.

Max had dated other women I’d been involved with.

Hell, he might have even slept with them, but I didn’t care.

We didn’t compare notes. If he’d shown interest in having something more with a woman I was sleeping with, I would have shown him the same respect and stepped back.

“Are you boys okay over there? Need anything?”

“Need my woman over here on my lap!” King called back with loud humor in his tone.

“Sitting on your lap is what got me into this predicament.” Everyone laughed when Mia stood up and rubbed her hands over her rounded belly.

“Yeah, but you have clothes on this time,” he smirked. “And I can’t knock you up while you’re still growing my son.”

As they joked back and forth it gave me the opportunity to look over my shoulder. I frowned when I noticed that Alina wasn’t there. Had she left? Maybe she’d gone in to use the bathroom to clean up the mess I’d made of her pussy.

That thought put a grin on my face.