Page 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

SUTTON

Turned out I didn’t have to worry about living under the same roof as Atlas and putting my willpower to the test, because he was never home.

Always gone before I woke up and never returned until after I was in bed.

But even without him being present, he was still present .

Sending lunch to the clinic on the days I’d been too slammed to grab anything, setting up profiles for Laurel and me on all his streaming services, even leaving a stack of romance books from the library on the counter for me.

Honestly, I was getting whiplash from it all.

Worse was that I didn’t like not seeing him for the week.

Yeah, he drove me up a wall most of the time, but I’d grown accustomed to our interactions.

And now that they were gone, I actually missed them.

I was gathering my things after our last patient had cleared out of the clinic when Quinn cornered me in the back room.

“Not so fast,” she said.

“I let last week slide when you avoided me like the plague. Even allowed you this entire week to give me every excuse in the book. But two weeks without answers? I’m not letting you dodge me anymore.”

Fuck .

“Dodge you about what?” I grabbed my bag, doing my best to pretend I had no idea what she was talking about.

None at all. Certainly not about the beast of a man who was suddenly my pretend-but-real-to-everyone-else boyfriend I’d moved in with.

“Don’t even try it.” Quinn crossed her arms and stared down her nose at me, her unwavering attention making me shift on my feet.

“Time to fill me in on whatever the hell is going on between you and Atlas.”

Double fuck .

“I want to fill you in. I do. But Alicia needs to leave, so maybe now isn’t a good?—”

“Alicia wants to hear this as much as I do.”

Our receptionist came strolling in, securing her locs back with a hair tie, and smirked at me.

“Oh, I absolutely do.”

“Well, Laurel’s waiting out front, so maybe we could rain-check this?”

“Oh, please.” Quinn rolled her eyes.

“She’s got her earbuds in, completely oblivious to the world around her.”

“She didn’t even notice when I told her I was coming back here,” Alicia confirmed with a nod.

“See?” Quinn said. “No more dodging. It’s time to spill. You and Atlas are a fully fledged couple now? How did that happen?”

That was a great question—one Atlas and I hadn’t yet discussed.

So, I figured it was best to stick to the facts as closely as possible.

“Things just kind of spiraled after that kiss in One Night Stan’s.”

Her brows inched up.

“I’m not surprised. It was one hell of a kiss. Reminded me a bit of the first kiss I shared with Ford, actually, right there at that bar.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep. Well, except that we were tucked away in an alcove so no one would see, and yours was right there out in the open for everyone to see. And talk about.”

“Mhmm,” Alicia said with a nod.

“Been hearing about it nonstop around here.”

I cringed.

“Yeah, that maybe wasn’t my best idea.”

“I don’t know.” Quinn shot me a grin.

“It seems like it’s turned out okay so far. Your new grumpy boyfriend scared your weird, overzealous ex out of town, at least.”

“That was definitely a perk.”

“If I were you, it would’ve scared the hell out of me to have him suddenly show up after breaking things off.”

“It…wasn’t my favorite.”

“Well, thank god you’ve got Atlas,” Quinn said.

“And he’s not messing around.” Alicia shrugged into her coat before grabbing her bag.

“After that whole thing went down, I heard he was storming all over town with his rage face on.”

I breathed out a laugh.

I’d seen that rage face a time or twenty.

“He’s a bit like Laurel in his overdramatics.”

A soft smile tugged up the corner of Quinn’s lips.

“Bet that makes your house pretty entertaining.”

“That’s one way to put it,” I mumbled, following Quinn and Alicia as they headed toward the waiting room.

“What’s all this about, by the way?” Quinn gestured to me, flicking her finger up and down.

“You never change before you go home.”

I cleared my throat.

“That’s because I’m not going home. I’m meeting Atlas at the Harvest Festival.”

“There’s another festival?” Laurel groaned from her perch on the couch, a textbook spread out in her lap.

“How many freaking festivals does one town need?”

“I don’t think we’ve found the limit yet,” Alicia said, flipping off the lights.

“It’s true.” Quinn shrugged.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to do a lobster costume festival next.”

“So stupid,” Laurel mumbled, shaking her head.

“It might be stupid, but you’re stuck going to it,” I said.

Her mouth dropped open as she stared at me.

“Seriously, Mom? I have so freaking much homework to do. I have an AP test on Monday I need to study for, a paper due in English, and flashcards I have to make for Spanish.”

I glanced down at my watch.

I had ten minutes before I was supposed to meet my fake boyfriend to sell this to the town.

The house was a fifteen-minute drive from here, which meant I’d be really fucking late.

But forcing Laurel to attend this wouldn’t win me any points.

And it definitely wouldn’t win Starlight Cove any points.

I blew out a long breath.

“All right, I’ll take you home, but let me text Atlas and tell him I’ll be late.”

“I can take her,” Quinn said.

“I thought you were picking up Ford at the firehouse?”

“I can do both.” She shrugged.

“Besides, maybe Laurel would like to enjoy some eye candy before she closes herself off to study. They usually wash the trucks at five on Fridays. If we hurry, we might be able to catch a show.”

“Sounds good to me.” Laurel slammed her textbook closed and shoved it into her backpack.

“Let’s go.”

Alicia laughed, hooking an arm through my daughter’s and heading to the front door.

“You better hurry. It’s a good show.”

“Are you sure this is okay?” I asked Quinn as we followed them.

“This won’t mess up your plans for the night?”

She waved a hand through the air, dismissing my concerns.

“Nah, it’s fine. Besides, making my husband wait tends to have fantastic results for me.”

I breathed out a laugh.

“If you’re sure.”

“I am. You just go enjoy your date with your new man. And good luck.”

“What are you wishing me luck for?”

She shot me a grin as the four of us strode out the front door.

“You and Atlas are hard launching in front of the whole town. You’re going to need all the luck you can get.”

“Great.” I blew out a sigh, not loving that we’d apparently be the center of attention tonight.

“How big are these festivals anyway? I have no idea where to meet him.”

Alicia cleared her throat.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“Yeah, I figured it wasn’t big enough that I’d get lost.”

“No, I’m pretty sure she means because your boyfriend is here,” Laurel said.

“My wh—” My words cut off as I turned toward her, my gaze snagging on Mr. Tall, Dark, and Grumpy leaning against his SUV.

And damn, he looked good in his worn jeans, a white T-shirt that clung to his broad chest, and an open flannel.

Looking every bit of that grouchy lumberjack I’d first pegged him as.

Had he somehow gotten hotter since I’d last seen him?

“Atlas. What are you doing here?”

He swept his gaze over me in a slow, unhurried path, the move sending shivers down my spine.

Once he was apparently satisfied I was in one piece, he lifted his gaze to mine and pushed off the side of his SUV.

He strode toward me with purposeful steps.

And with his focused gaze directed solely on me, it was hard to remember this wasn’t real.

Definitely not the way he was looking at me, as if I was his to take care of.

His to protect.

“This is our first public date,” he said.

“Did you think I was going to let you meet me there?”

“Um…yeah?”

“Doesn’t seem like he’s real interested in that idea, Mom.”

Atlas peeled his gaze away from me for the first time and glanced to my right, finally noticing Quinn, Alicia, and Laurel hanging on our every word.

Okay, it was mostly Quinn and Alicia.

My daughter looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

Atlas grunted out what was probably supposed to pass as a greeting.

“You coming with, kid?”

“Not even if you paid me.” Then Laurel got a calculating look in her eye and raised a brow at Atlas.

“ Would you pay me?”

“Don’t be a brat,” I said before he could answer, because knowing him, he’d probably agree.

“You can come with us out of the kindness of your heart, or Quinn can take you home. Those are your options.”

“See ya,” she said without hesitation.

“Hope the hard launch goes great .”

“I want to say ditto, but it sounded a lot more sarcastic coming from her, and I actually mean it.” Quinn reached out and squeezed my arm.

“Let me know how it goes.”

“I expect a full report on Monday!” Alicia said with a wave.

Quinn and Laurel walked to Quinn’s car while Alicia headed to hers, leaving me behind with this behemoth of a man and enough chemistry between us to power a small country.

Yeah, so time away definitely did not help.

If anything, it only seemed to make this thing between us more potent.

“You ready?” he asked, his voice gruff.

It was like jumper cables had been attached to my nipples.

They perked up immediately at the sound.

“Not even a little.” I crossed my arms over my chest in an effort to hide my reaction to him. “Let’s go.”