One of the Good Ones (Strawberry Inn Book #1)

Chapter 13

ANGELA

Harrison: Have I told you lately how much packing sucks?

Me: A time or two, but the sooner you get back here the sooner we can go on our second date.

Harrison: That might be all the incentive I need. 

Harrison: What was the damage to the pool?

Me: The heater was completely done for. It won’t be here by opening, but it’ll be okay.

Harrison: Everything else good?

Me: We’re right on pace! 

Harrison: I’m happy for you, Blondie.

“What’s on your phone that has you smiling that way, Angie?” Chaz startled me to the point that I almost dropped my phone onto the concrete floor of the lobby. I spun around to find him with a smug look on his face. “Must be that boyfriend Mom told me about.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“But you’re admitting that it was him?”

“Fine,” I digress, “Yes, it was Harrison. He’s not my boyfriend though, we’ve only been out on one date.”

“Based on the smile his text messages bring you, I assume that it was a good date?”

“It was,” I sigh. If there was such a thing as an expert at first dates, Harrison had to hold that title. He was kind, polite, really funny, and said all the right things that had me wanting more. Even the teasing wasn’t done to be rude or malicious and I kind of liked it. Before getting in the car with him I had been so nervous. Just a handful of minutes in his presence and the butterflies disappeared. 

Part of me still wanted to insist that somebody like Harrison would never be interested in a woman like me, but by the end of the night, it was more and more difficult to believe that. When he confessed that he wanted to tell me all these inappropriate thoughts he was having I just about lost it. If I was a less decent woman I might have torn off my panties and handed them over to him because at that point they were nothing but a useless piece of fabric.

There was some tension on the drive home but it wasn’t nervousness but rather sexual tension. I could tell he was holding back. While I would normally consider myself to be very much in control if he would have made just one move I probably would have let it all go for him. The only bummer was the goodnight kiss I had built up in my head never happened. Harrison walked me up to the front door with his hand pressed securely against my lower back. We faced each other and did that thing where people stare into the other’s eyes for way too long. For a split second, I thought he was going to go for my lips, but instead, it was just a kiss on the cheek.

Just a kiss on the cheek might not be the correct description. I’ve never been turned on by a kiss on the cheek before. I never pulled out my trusty Pom vibrator to relieve the pressure between my legs left by a kiss on the cheek. His lips were so silky smooth and he lingered there for a moment. Sometimes I can still feel the warmth of his lips on my skin and it makes me wonder how his lips would feel on other parts of my skin. Harrison is dangerous, so dangerous.

But then he left. Rationally I know that he is only gone long enough to pack up his life and relocate here, but until he gets back I’m left wanting him more. The only thing that has kept my mind off missing Harrison is my brother coming in for a visit. He brought Kayla this time, I wasn’t expecting that but she’s been on her best behavior so far. I offered them my bed and I would sleep on the couch, but they insisted on staying at one of the hotels on the other side of town. I want to be angry at them, but they didn’t choose the hotel over my inn. I know if I had a room available for guests that they would have stayed here.