Page 3 of Falling for You (Balsam Cliffs #2)

It’s been three months since I’ve been home to Balsam Cliffs. I left the day after the Valentine’s Day dance and I’ve used excuse after excuse to stay on campus instead of going home since.

I can’t face Roman. Not after he rejected me that night. My brothers didn’t help by trying to pummel any guy who dared to look in my direction. I’m still fucking pissed at them. If they weren’t so damn protective, Rome might have felt like he could tell them.

I’m embarrassed too. Embarrassed that I dressed how I did to get Roman’s attention, embarrassed that I let all those men touch me and dance with me to make him jealous, embarrassed that I threw myself at him and he rejected me. And pissed he won’t just man up and tell Hunter we’re together.

But mostly, I’m so fucking hurt. I had to go through all of this alone.

Never telling a soul what happened after I left the dance that night.

Never telling anyone what happened weeks later.

I suffered alone. Because I couldn’t tell anyone that I fell into bed with the man I’ve had a crush on since I was still in braces, and thought blue glitter eyeshadow was cool.

Or that it exploded in royal fashion in my face.

I never acted on my crush until he showed interest last year at a bonfire we had on our family’s private beach at the inn that I help my brother, Liam, run.

That was the first night I slept with Roman Thomas. And the night my whole life changed. I knew then and there that I would fall hard and fast, and I’ve just been biding my time until he realizes all of this and falls too.

What we shared couldn’t have been one sided. There’s no way he doesn’t feel what I feel. It’s electric, a magnetic pull.

Today though, my safe haven of being at college is closing in on me. It’s graduation day. My whole family, including Roman, is coming to see me graduate with my Master of Business Administration.

I have to face them all and then move home to Balsam Cliffs. Live with the pain of seeing Roman everyday, and not one of them knowing my secret.

My name is called from the speaker on the stage, and I follow my spot in line.

Climbing the small set of steps with the thick polyester gown sticking to my legs, crossing the stage, shaking sweaty hands, getting my diploma, and smiling for all the photos before sneaking out of my row and finding my family.

Why are these things so long? And it’s so hot under this damn polyester cape.

I finally give up on looking for my group in the sea of faces and text Mom.

Me: Going to Starbucks on campus. I escaped. Meet me there.

Mom: You got it. Be there in a minute. Want me to bring everyone or just me?

Me: Just you, please.

Mom knows part of why I haven’t been home.

She knows that I’m tired of my big brothers thinking they get to run my life.

And that I need a break from them. I’ve only really spoken to Liam and that’s because I have to so I can do the books for the inn.

If it weren’t for the inn, I wouldn’t be talking to him either.

So I appreciate Mom not bombarding me with the whole family and giving me a minute with her alone.

But she definitely doesn’t know about Roman, and I don’t know if I’m ready to see him at all. A small part of me hopes he didn’t come today, but the other part of me will be hurt if he doesn’t show up.

I take a seat facing the door so I can see when she gets here. Thankfully it’s pretty dead since everyone is still at the graduation ceremony.

My thoughts of Roman run wild as I wait. The hissing of the machines is the only thing that interrupts my thoughts and brings me back to the present.

Mom swings the door open, her silver locks blowing behind her with the gust of wind swirling as she opens the door. I stand up quickly as she runs to me for a hug.

“Hey, Mom.” I squeeze her back. I’ve missed her so much these last few months.

“Your brothers aren’t happy,” she says, chuckling. I roll my eyes, not caring if they’re happy or not.

“They can handle waiting five minutes for me since they want to control everything else,” I scoff.

“You know they just want what’s best for you, honey.” She tries to soothe me but I don’t fall for it. Mainly because I’m not going to tell her that they want to keep everyone away from me, scaring Roman into hiding our relationship, then ending it before it could even start.

She levels a stare at me, making me squirm. “Fiinnnneee. Let’s go. They can meet us at my dorm. I’m not going back to meet them.”

“Emma,” the barista yells out to the empty coffee shop. I grab our drinks and hand one to her.

I need a few minutes to prepare for seeing Roman, so I walk slowly next to Mom.

“He didn’t come,” she says once we step back out into the sunshine.

“Who?”

“Roman.” I stare at her with my mouth open and my heart racing.

“Why would I —”

She cuts me off, “I might be old, honey but I’m not dumb. That boy thought he was sneaky but I have a clear view out my kitchen window all the way to the road. He even tried with that hoodie practically wrapped around his face each time, but I’d know him anywhere. I changed his diapers.”

“Ugh. I thought we were being so secretive.” I slap my forehead with my palm.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” She winks. “Besides, I’m not ruining that relationship by letting your brothers find out.”

“It’s already ruined. He’s too scared of Hunter. He ended things before Valentine’s Day. I went to the brewery after the dance, and he rejected me again. But maybe that’s just his easy way out.”

“Then it’s his loss. You’re a catch.” She grabs my hand and walks with me the rest of the way in silence.

Allowing my mind to war with itself on how I feel about the fact that Roman didn’t show up for me today.

I park my Jeep in front of the old cabin near Mom and Pops’s house.

It’s just a short walk through the trees to their front door, and the furthest spot away from Liam and Cooper.

I didn’t want to move into my room at Coop’s cabin or take money away from us during the busiest season by taking my old room at the inn.

So I’m staying in the old cabin that we haven’t renovated yet.

Is it a safety risk to stay here? Absolutely.

But do I have my freedom from prying older brothers? Absolutely.

I don’t have to pay rent, but I do have to renovate it while I stay here with Hunter as the contractor. A ploy I’m sure that Mom worked out in her head to get him back in my good graces.

I’m sure that renovating a cabin with my brother will definitely help the situation at hand, there’s no way we won’t argue when his job is to literally invade my space and destroy it.

Yeah, this can’t go badly.

My front door swings open and my future sister-in-law walks through. “I’m here and I have wine, cupcakes, and ice cream,”—she scrunches her nose at the sight—“and cleaning products.”

“You are my favorite friend.” I take some of the items from her hands and place them on the kitchen counter. I’ve already been cleaning for hours since everyone left. But the cobwebs in the corners tell a different story.

“I’m your only friend.” Violet laughs.

“Doesn’t change the sentiment.” I narrow my eyes. “Besides, Willow is definitely my friend. Meaning I have two. But you brought wine and cleaning supplies, making you the favorite.” I pull out some of the leftover solo cups from who knows when, inspecting the inside. They’ll do.

“Girl. This place is rough.” She spins on her heel, taking in every square inch of the old cabin.

“I know. The bedroom is clean, and has a good mattress. Mom ordered a new king for me with new bedding so at least I will sleep well.”

“Oh that will make all the difference.” Violet walks away to the bedroom to check it out.

The cabin is small. Probably only eight hundred square feet total.

One large room makes up the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

There is one bathroom and one bedroom off to the side, and a wrap around porch surrounding the whole place.

The back has a gorgeous view of the ocean over the edge of the cliffs and is basically the cabin’s only redeeming quality.

My granddad built every cabin on this property facing the ocean from the backs of the houses. And not one obstructs the view of another. That’s kind of our biggest selling point. Every cabin has an ocean view.

“This will be so cute once it’s all done. Do you know when Hunter is starting?” She pulls out a wine opener from her purse.

“He said he’ll be by tomorrow to talk about what I want to do. But I know Liam already gave him instructions since we’re making this the honeymoon cabin and he now feels overqualified for opinions on being blissfully happy.”

I roll my eyes at the thought of them having a meeting behind my back on my cabin.

I’m supposed to be partners with Liam. I run the business and customer side, and he runs the maintenance side.

But sometimes I feel like he just wants to keep me in the baby sister category even though he couldn’t run the inn without me.

And that’s not just me being cocky. He really couldn’t.

I’ve brought this place back to life financially, including when Pops told us there was a secret second mortgage on the place, and Gunnar had to bail us out of foreclosure.

But because of me, Gunnar is getting paid back, and he doesn’t even know it.

But Willow’s non-profit has been getting anonymous donations for the last few months.

“So spill it. Why haven’t you been home really? I know it wasn’t because you were busy. You were making it home every weekend for that sexy mystery man with a great ass that I caught sneaking from your room a few times.”

Ugh, not Violet too.

“Uh… I don’t know what you want me to spill if you already know.”

“The details obvs. I mean the man had a killer ass that you could probably bounce a quarter off but I don’t know who it was or why he was sneaking in and out.” She stares at me waiting for the gossip as she sips the wine I poured for us.

“Well he ended it. So that’s all there is to it.” I relax into the couch that’s probably older than me, trying to give off an air of nonchalance.

“It was Roman, wasn’t it?”

I spit out the sip of wine I just took, “How the fuck did you know!”

“I didn’t, but now I do.” She smirks at me, “I had my suspicions. Why would someone be sneaking out at four in the morning when I’m getting up. I can’t believe it was Roman for real! Why the hell did he end things?”

I raise my eyebrows, “Really? You couldn’t begin to guess, Nancy Drew?”

“Oh shit. This is why you’re so pissed at your brothers.

They definitely don’t know. I would have heard it from Liam.

So let me guess, Rome got scared and ended things before the guys found out.

Or they got too serious.” She leans forward, really getting into the gossip.

I don’t blame her, she doesn’t get out much with having to get up so early in the morning to bake breakfast and pastries for the guests.

“Ding, ding, ding,” I point to her. “He ended things the day Wyatt almost caught him leaving the inn when he stopped by after his shift. Rome had just left, and pulled his hoodie down over his head to walk back to the brewery. Luckily Wyatt must have been tired so he didn’t see him or question him.

But it was enough to scare him away from me. ”

“So what about the Valentine’s Dance? You went back didn’t you? I mean I saw your Jeep was gone.” Her brows are furrowed as she tries to figure out the timeline.

“I did. And he rejected me. Literally pulled my hand off his glorious cock, and left me without an orgasm and feeling dejected,” I pout, trying to make the conversation lighthearted despite the pain pinging around in my heart.

She leans back, unwrapping a cupcake. “Oh my God. What an idiot. What are we doing to get him back?”

“Nothing!” Everything I can. “That was humiliating. If he wants me, he can tell Hunter like a man, and then come grovel for my attention.”

“I love it. We’ll make him grovel so hard he… he…,” she pauses looking for a word.

“No. We’re not doing anything. I’m just here to live my life.

I’m done with that shit. I’m done humiliating myself with him and constantly looking over my shoulder for my brothers.

” I shake my head. “But if you could get Liam to chill on chasing guys off that’d be great, because ya girl needs a real orgasm from a real dick. ”

After we finish off the wine and two more cupcakes, we get to cleaning. A playlist that ranges from George Strait to Ginuwine streams through the small speaker I brought with me.

As we clean I make a note on my phone of the things I need to get from Portland tomorrow. Portland is the closest city to us and it’s about an hour south of Balsam Cliffs. So I want to make sure I get everything I need in one trip.

I add thrifting a new couch to the list, or depending how badly my brothers piss me off, I might just expense a new one to the inn.