Forbidden Harmony (Harmony Falls #3) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,55
asshole.
She came out of the bathroom. She was dressed and her auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her face was still a little flushed but other than that, you couldn’t tell at all that she’d just been fucked.
That thought bothered him and he grimaced inwardly. What the hell? They didn’t want the town to know they were fucking – that was the last thing they wanted.
“I’m sorry but do you have a shirt I can borrow? The zipper is still, uh….”
He set his beer on the counter before crossing to the dresser. “Right. I’ll pay for a new dress.”
“Oh no,” she said, “you don’t have to do that. I think the zipper can probably be fixed on it. I just need something to throw on over the top of it because I can’t, you know, zip it up.”
He rummaged through the dresser and found a long-sleeved dress shirt he’d forgotten he had. He handed it to her, and she slipped it on. It hung to her knees and he watched as she rolled the sleeves to her elbows. She bunched the bottom of the shirt around her waist and tied it before smiling hesitantly at him.
“How’s it look?”
“Fine,” he said.
Truthfully, she looked damn hot in his shirt and he had the sudden urge to strip her down and take her right back to his bed. Instead, he grabbed his beer and took another long swallow as she walked to the door, grabbed her purse, and put her heels on.
“Okay, well, uh, bye, Preacher,” she said.
“I’ll walk you downstairs,” he said.
He followed her down the staircase. She paused at the bottom of it. “I still owe you for the piercing.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
“Oh, I can’t do that. I know you charged me less than you normally do for a tattoo and -”
“I said don’t worry about it.”
He could hear the annoyance in his voice, and obviously she could too because she winced and hurried out into the hallway. She peered down the connecting hallway at the service door. “Is that the back entrance into the alley?”
He nodded and she said, “I’ll slip out that door.”
“You don’t have to do that,” he said. Jesus, now he really felt like a dick.
“I don’t mind,” she said. “It’ll be busy out front and there’s no point in a bunch of people seeing me leave your shop wearing your shirt.”
She walked down the hallway. “Bye, Preacher.”
“Addison, wait.”
She paused with her hands on the exit bar of the door.
“I’ll give you a ride home.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “I bought a bus pass.”
“You don’t need to take the bus,” he snapped.
“I don’t mind. Besides, it’s not really keeping a low profile if I’m riding around on the back of your bike.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Was I, um, okay in bed?”
He stared at her in surprise. How the hell could she think she wasn’t? He’d come like a fucking fire hydrant, hadn’t he? “You were fine.”
She winced again and he cursed inwardly. What the fuck was wrong with him?
“Sounds like I definitely need more lessons,” she said, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
“I didn’t mean -”
“I really should get going,” she said. “Let me know if you’re interested in, uh, doing another lesson next week. But I’ll understand if you’re not.”
“Addison -”
“Bye, Preacher.” She gave him a little wave, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the alley.
Chapter Fifteen
“Thanks for picking me up, loser.” Addison buckled her seat belt as Daniel pulled away from her apartment building.
“No problem.” He laughed when she reached over and tied a friendship bracelet around his wrist. “Another one? I already have three on my wrist. You’re not just sitting at home making friendship bracelets and pining for that asshole Harrison, are you?”
“No. Honestly, I’m kind of over making the bracelets now and I’m back to knitting. But I have a pile of friendship bracelets to hand out.”
She sat back in her seat, staring out the window as her brother drove toward Kira’s place.
“You doing okay, butthead?” Daniel said. “I know I haven’t been around much, but I’ve been busy at work and…”
She reached over and patted his arm. “And since Kira stopped inviting you to the barbeques, we don’t hang out as much. I’m sorry. I should be making more of an effort to do stuff with you too.”
“It’s cool,” Daniel said. “It’s my fault I got kicked out of the Scooby gang.”
“You weren’t kicked out,” she said. “Kira just needed some time to…”