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The minute I saw her walking into my kitchen, my body tensed. Brynn is naturally beautiful, with bright blue eyes, dark lashes, full pink lips, and soft brown hair that I can’t stop wondering how it would feel against my fingertips.
Not that I have any intention of finding out if her hair feels as silky smooth as it looks.
I have no intention of touching Brynn again.
Last night was a mistake, and I'll make sure it's not repeated.
What caught me off guard this morning was that Brynn didn’t walk out with her hair perfectly styled, a full face of makeup, and her tits smashed together and hiked up to her chin.
It’s not common for me to be in the proximity of women who aren’t dressed to get my attention.
If I was going to date someone, I'd pick someone with Brynn's natural approach rather than the puck bunnies that show up at Oakley's after a home game slathered in makeup and doused heavily in perfume. Perfume that it turns out I'm usually allergic to because I can't stop sneezing as they walk past.
Not that it matters what kind of woman I'd date. It’s been eighteen years since I’ve been in a long-term relationship, and I don’t have any interest in breaking my impressive streak any time soon.
The second my phone picks up reception, I call Rita.
If I want to take Brynn to Rita’s apartment, I need to do it before the storm gets worse.
Scallywag's is only fifteen minutes from here. As long as Rita has a spot for Brynn, I can get her packed up and moved over in the next hour.
“Rita, how’s the bar holding up?” I ask when she picks up the phone.
“Thanks to you, hun, everything held up through the night. Silas called earlier and told me about the hotels around him. Sounds like they’re in bad shape over there. How are you holding up?”
“That’s actually one of the reasons I’m calling. I had a woman show up on my front door last night claiming to have rented my house for a writing retreat and booked it with that online scam property management company. I let her stay with me last night since there was nowhere else for her to go, but I was hoping that you still have that other room available above the bar.”
“Oh, that’s so terrible. That poor thing. Of course, I would be happy to take her in, but I’m afraid that I already offered up the room to one of our regulars and his family. She could sleep on the floor in the living room with the children, but that’s less than ideal, I would think. Especially since you have a spare bedroom available,” she says.
Damn, Rita’s place was my last hope for getting Brynn out of my house, but packing her into a small two-bedroom apartment with five other people doesn’t feel right.
“What about your house next door?” I ask.
The house is boarded up so it would be safe enough in that sense but Rita’s generator is a lot smaller than mine and can only run the fridge. Rita has a full-size generator at Scallywag's, so they never felt the need for more than enough power at the beach house to run the fridge whenever they left due to a storm.
Brynn wouldn’t have running water or toilets. And since the house hasan electric stove, she wouldn’t be able to cook either.
It’s not a great situation for her to stay next door, but staying with me isn't any better.
The storm might pass us by tomorrow afternoon, but it could be days or weeks before we get full power back and Brynn would be without basically any for too long.
“Send her to my house? I can’t imagine how she would be any safer there than with you. And if she’s there to write, you probably won’t even see her. She’ll be busy writing in the guest bedroom,” she says. “Is there a reason why you don’t want her there?”
Rita’s been trying to set me up with every single woman she comes across ever since she met me. If she knows that I’m trying to get rid of the beautiful author staying in my house, she might try to board up the front door while we’re sleeping so that neither Brynn or I can escape.
“No reason. I just think she’d be better off with you. But, you have enough on your plate. I just figured if you had an extra room, I’d see if it’s still available.”
“It sounds to me like you already have the perfect spot for her. She’ll certainly be more comfortable, and who wouldn’t want a big hunk like you around when a storm is raging outside? I’d say she’ll be getting plenty of inspiration.”
The very last thing she says starts to cut out—I'm losing reception again.
“Rita, can you hear me?” I ask but the line gets muffled and I can barely hear anything she’s saying.
“Rita… are you there?”
Then the line goes dead and my fate is now sealed.
It turns out that I’m stuck with Brynn until this storm passes.
