Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22788 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22788 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
“I didn’t sneak out.”
“You did the walk of shame, and I had a whole breakfast planned. Coffee, some baked goods, that kind of thing.”
Why would he say this to her?
“I, uh, I didn’t think you’d want to wake up with me still there,” she said.
Also, she had been terrified. She didn’t exactly know what the protocol was for the morning after the night before. Did he expect her to leave? Did he even want to see her the next morning? It was all a little hazy. She was never the woman waking up the next morning against a man.
Caleb reached out and stroked a curl behind her ear. “If I didn’t want to wake up next to you, Mae, I wouldn’t have taken you home.” And with that he kissed her on the nose.
The sound of her doorbell pulled her attention away. She did not want her private life to be the focus of gossip, but she had a feeling that was exactly what it was going to be. Halloween Point was a small town that tended to thrive most of the year by all the Halloween activities. It was a tourist town, a beautiful, sweet, idealistic town. She had grown up there with her grandparents after her parents died in a car accident. She was the only one left.
“You owe me a breakfast, Mae Blake, and trust me, I will make sure to come and get it.” With that, he kissed her on the tip of the nose, and then she watched as he walked out of the shop.
Her customer happened to be her best friend, Emily Watts, who gave Caleb a nod of the head, acting all cool. Mae stepped out of the stacks, and her lips had to be showing that she had just been kissed. They still felt swollen to her.
“Oh, my God, you are going to tell me if the rumors about you going home with Caleb last night are true!”
Already, gossip had traveled fast.
****
“You look way too happy to be my friend,” Pete said.
Caleb turned to his friend and fellow tattoo artist, and shrugged. “I’m good.” He was trying to figure Mae out.
He’d been shocked to see her enter the bar last night. Moments before, he planned on finishing his beer and heading home. Seeing Mae had changed his plans as he was more focused on figuring out how to win her over.
Mae Blake was somewhat of an enigma. He was not used to doing all the chasing, but Mae was special, and he discovered that last night. He’d always known she was special, but when he slid inside her that very first time, he’d never been so shocked to discover her virginity. It had completely surprised him. And yet, he had known in that moment there was never going to be another woman for him.
Pete put down the newspaper he’d been looking through and stared at him. “Does this have anything to do with you and a certain rumor about a bookstore owner?”
This made him stop. “What?”
His friend smirked. “You can’t live in Halloween Point and not have people knowing your every move. I do believe someone mentioned the walk of shame. Admittedly, they didn’t call it that. They just said Mae was seen coming out of your house wearing exactly the same clothes as the night before.”
Caleb pressed the tips of his fingers to his eyes. This is not what he wanted to deal with. Mae had already snuck out of his home.
“You told them to shut their fucking mouths, right?”
Pete laughed.
“It’s the town gossip channel, Caleb. Besides, you start causing trouble, and you become the topic of conversation, so no, I won’t be telling anyone to shut their fucking mouth.” Pete folded up his paper. “You want to talk about it?”
“Fuck, no.”
He made his way over to the coffee machine. This was an odd feeling for him. Most of the time, he was the one escaping from women’s beds, or kicking them out of his own when he had enough. Taking a long sip of his drink, he tried not to think about Mae. About how good she had felt. The red-stained sheets after he took her virginity. The pain flashing in her eyes.
“Dude, what’s wrong? You look troubled?” Pete asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“You’re not denying Mae being at your place, or doing the fated walk of shame, but there’s a smirk. You want to tell me what is going on?”
Caleb ran his fingers through his hair while at the same time taking a long sip of coffee.
“Why does a woman just sneak out like that? Isn’t it supposed to be rude or some shit?”
“Holy crap, you’re actually pissed off.”
“I’m not pissed, and stop reading too much into this.” Caleb frowned.
Pete laughed. “Is it me, or is the town bad boy and bed hopper upset about a woman?”