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I sucked in a breath, enamored by the pink, raised line. I wonder what caused it, but was too embarrassed to ask. Especially when it was giving this sunshine personality a bad boy edge that made my pussy tingle with anticipation.
I shifted my weight, trying to make the aching emptiness inside go away. My level of horniness lately was ungodly. I needed to get a grip on myself and stop reacting like a middle school boy working his way through puberty.
“I’m glad you’re satisfied.” His gaze dropped to my mouth, and he darted his tongue out to lick his bottom lip.
He was thinking of me the same way I was thinking of him, and that caused the excitement to amp up. I was new to this whole thing. I got pregnant with Kyle when I was seventeen. I’d lost my virginity to a man named Andrew when I was only fifteen. He was twenty at the time, and a definite manipulator. I’d never been in a real relationship, never pursued someone I was attracted to. Kyle and Andrew did that for me.
I didn’t know how dating worked. Was it appropriate to be forward? Probably not when this man was doing a job for me. He was selling me the house, and I was a client. Surely, he had a girlfriend too. He was good looking, in shape, and a business owner. Women probably ate that up. I knew I was.
“Erm…” I coughed, glancing at the folder in his hands. “Paperwork?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice shaky. He cleared his throat and opened the file. “Ugh. You said you had a check for the full amount? You’re not doing a loan.”
I nodded, opening up the purse in my hand. “Yeah,” I said, fishing for the certified check I got from the bank yesterday.
When Dad passed away last year, he left everything he had to me. His girlfriend, Kay, hadn’t even gotten the house. It was actually a bit shocking to deal with because he even made it so that I couldn’t sell it to her. He wanted me and Paisley protected, which I got. But Kay had lived with him for twelve years, and he never thought to make sure she was taken care of. I wasn’t sure what he had been thinking when he set that up, except that maybe he knew she had money of her own and would be fine without the house.
Because there was nothing in the will preventing me, I let her live in the home rent free. She only had to pay utilities. I paid someone to fix up all of his collectable vehicles and sold them. All of them except the Stingray. That one had too many memories to let go. I wanted to restore it myself, and pass it down to Paze one day.
Plus, with his life insurance, I’d been set. It made the decision to leave Kyle easy. Buying the bar, the land this tiny home was sitting on, putting some into investments with my lawyer's advice, it made me set for a very long time. It made it so that Paisley would never have to be uncomfortable in life too.
I handed over the check in its full amount. My hands shook as I did. Four of Dad’s cars had paid for this fresh start, and though I was only holding a small piece of paper, the weight of it was so fucking heavy.
Leaving Kyle had been official a long time ago. Two days ago, when I signed for the bar, my new start had been made legal. But now, handing over the check to the first place I owned myself–the first place Paisley and I would call home since I left North Carolina–everything was seeming real now.
Hendrix sensed my mixed emotions. He pressed a soft hand on top of my shoulder, squeezing it. “Hey. You’re crying. Is everything okay?”
I sniffled, nodding my head while I tried to force out a soft laugh. “Yeah,” I said, wiping my eyes. “Sorry. I’m fine. This is just bittersweet.”
“Yeah?” he asked, dropping his head to make eye contact with me. He watched me, as if he were trying to make sure that was the truth.
I nodded, trying to keep the waterworks at bay. “My dad would have been disappointed in me for not building this myself.” I took the pen from him and started signing the papers.
“Would have? He passed?” Hendrix asked, tucking the check into his folder.
“Yeah. Last year.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure losing a parent is tough.”
“Yours still alive?” I asked.
He shrugged as if he were indifferent. “Not close to them.”
“I’m sorry. That must be hard, too.” I knew it was hard, because I wasn’t close with my mom. She was still in Pennsylvania. She hadn’t shed a single tear when her seventeen-year-old daughter came home pregnant to announce she was moving to North Carolina with her boyfriend.
A mother should have cared.
I still hadn’t forgiven her for that. Probably never would.
We finished the paperwork. The entire time I tried not to hit on this man. But that was extremely hard. This day had been a rollercoaster of emotions, and I hated it. I blamed it on the rough goodbye I had with Paisley this morning.
Hendrix offered to unload the boxes I had in the back of the car. It wasn’t much. Just some clothes and photos. We moved here with very little. Everything I did have was in the hotel. I’d pack it all up and check out tomorrow since the minivan was still there. The van would stay parked at the hotel until Chrissy got here to help me move it.
Tomorrow, after I was finished moving, I could head to the grocery store and stock up the fridge.
“Get on the dating app. Have some fun.” Chrissy, my best friend, spoke through my earbuds.
I’d just got done complaining about being bored without the baby. She also had been thoroughly filled in on the hot mechanic and sexy tiny home guy. I snorted at her suggestion. Online dating scared me. Probably because Dad spent my teen years forcing me to watch Dateline and sharing horror stories of young girls being kidnapped, raped, and murdered.
