SCRATCHING.
I sat up in bed in the dead of night, my heart pounding as I heard the same sound that had woken me all week. Scratching at the front door.
I’d just fallen asleep after my very confusing interaction with Miles in Belle’s bedroom, and my head was swimming from thoughts of him and what could possibly be at my front door. I swallowed my fear as I pulled the covers from my body and slipped my feet onto the floor. I straightened my pajama top and shuffled through the bedroom to the living room and over to the front door.
Flashbacks of being attacked by a raccoon at the door when I was a kid raced through my mind. I thought after all these years I would be stronger…
I wasn’t.
My hands shook as I tried to angle my head enough so I could see through the front window to the door.
Nothing. I couldn’t see anything.
The noise stopped, and I slowly let out my breath, hoping that it wouldn’t hear me and come back. I closed my eyes and willed my pounding heart to stop. Then I tiptoed back to the bedroom and crawled under the covers.
There was nothing there, and I was fine.
But, just in case, I pulled the covers over my head and lay there like a scared child. There was something about this place that made me feel small again.
I closed my eyes and hummed the lullaby my grandmother would sing to me when I got scared. I hated that it still brought me comfort after all of these years—but I was so confused by Miles and my feelings for him that I needed to pull out the big guns to calm my mind.
Scratching.
I muffled my scream as my body immediately tensed. I shot my hand out from beneath the blankets and grabbed my phone. I needed someone else to witness this. Miles still hadn’t installed the camera like he said he was going to. So, I was left thinking that I was going crazy and hearing things.
Miles picked up on the third ring. “Shelby?” “Miles?”
He cleared his throat. “Do you—”
“There’s something scratching on my door.” I closed my eyes, hating that I felt this weak.
“What?”
“My door. The front door. There’s something there, and I can’t—” It suddenly dawned on me what I was doing, and I pulled the phone from my cheek and pressed the red end-call button. I shook my head as I buried my phone deep in my pillows and flopped down.
What had I been thinking? I didn’t want Miles to come here. The last thing I needed was for him to rescue me. I was confused enough about the man. I shouldn’t have him in my space when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to push him away or pull him in for a kiss. Why was I asking him to confuse me more?
“That was stupid, and we aren’t going to do stupid things anymore,” I murmured to myself as I flipped to my side and felt the comforter settle around me.
I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing. As long as I was in here, whatever it was out there couldn’t hurt me.
The sound of the front door slamming open startled me. Fearing the worst—that a Sasquatch finally figured out how to open the door—I peeked out over my comforter only to see Miles standing in the doorway of my room, his eyes wild.
He scanned the room, and as soon as he saw me in bed, he headed toward me. I wanted to protest, but I was too distracted by his bare chest.
His pajama bottoms were slung low on his hips. My stomach lightened when I saw he’d clipped Belle’s baby monitor to his pocket.
Suddenly, the blankets were being pulled off, and Miles’s arms slid under me.
“What are you—”
“I can’t protect you and my daughter in separate houses. So, for tonight, you’re coming with me,” he growled as he pulled me against his chest.
Every atom in my body was zinging from the feeling of my bare skin against his. His heart was pounding, and I could feel his tense muscles as he kept me close, walking through the cottage, across the porch, and over to the inn.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he walked. There was a moment there when I saw him glance down at me, but I didn’t have the strength to meet his gaze. I needed to focus on where he was taking me, not the fact that his heart was pounding as hard as mine.
He didn’t set me down as he reached his hand out and found the door handle. He didn’t stop once we got into the kitchen. He didn’t stop until he was standing next to his bed, holding me over it.
“Miles,” I whispered, not sure I was going to survive the night if I slept next to him.
“Shelby,” his voice was gruff as he gently laid me down. “Please. Let me take care of you for the night.” He knelt down in front of me, his head dipped down as if he were carrying the weight of something unimaginable on his shoulders. When he glanced up, there was a pain in his gaze that took my breath away. “I failed you before, and I can’t…” His voice broke, and suddenly, realization dawned on me.
“Miles, I—”
“Don’t. I’m not asking you to talk about it. I just want you here, where I can see you. Where I can take care of you.” His gaze dropped to my hands grasped together on my lap. I couldn’t tell if he was just looking or if he wanted to grab them.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted him to do.
“Will you do that for me?” He slowly raised his gaze back to meet mine. Not able to take the intensity of his stare, I glanced around the room.
“Are you sleeping in the bed with me?” I asked, not sure which answer I wanted to hear.
His eyebrows rose. “Do you want me to?”
I chewed my lip and watched as his gaze drifted down to my mouth before rising back up to my eyes. I should have said no. I needed him to leave…but I didn’t want him to.
“Yes,” I finally whispered.
He swallowed, every muscle in his jaw shifting. He stared at me for a moment before he nodded and stood. “Okay.”
He rounded the bed while I scooted to the top and pulled the comforter out from under me. Miles stood next to the mattress and glanced around as if he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. I pulled the comforter back, exposing the sheet.
“Come on,” I said.
His gaze moved to mine and then he obeyed. I felt the mattress shift under his weight as he settled next to me. He had his arm bent and resting under his head as he lay there on his back.
“I promise you’ll be safe here,” he said. All I could see was his profile. “I know,” I whispered. There weren’t a lot of things that I knew, but in
this moment, I knew that Miles would protect me.
I’d never thought this man could love a little girl like he loved Belle. She was his world, and he carried his daughter’s monitor around like it was his lifeline. He’d changed.
His body stiffened at my words. Then he slowly tipped his head until he was staring at me. I could see that he wanted to say something; I just wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to hear it.
I dropped my gaze to the mattress as I lay there on my side, drawing circles on the sheet. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready for whatever he had to say.
“I’ll install a camera tomorrow,” he said.
“Thanks.” I brought my hands up under my chin as I snuggled deeper into the pillow tucked under my head. “I’m exhausted,” I said as I closed my eyes.
“Go to sleep,” he said. I didn’t mind the commanding tone he took as my entire body relaxed.
Whatever was going on between us could be sorted out tomorrow. For tonight, I was going to lie here and revel in the fact that, for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t alone.
And it felt amazing.
 |
THE SMELL of bacon and maple syrup wafted into the room, waking me. I shifted against the mattress, stretching out my hand to feel for Miles. And then I felt stupid when I came up empty-handed. Who did I think was cooking if Miles was still in bed?
And then it hit me. I’d looked for him. Which meant I wanted him to be here. With me. In bed.
I closed my eyes and brought my hand in close to my heart as I curled around my stomach. What was happening? Why was I feeling these things? This was Miles. He wasn’t my prince charming or my knight in shining armor. He was confusing me, that was all.
“Belle.” Miles’s whisper pricked against my ears.
I squinted as I watched him tiptoe around the bed with a tray in his hands. Belle must be with him because his gaze wasn’t on me but on something on the other side of the room. And from the grimace on his face, he wasn’t too happy with what she was doing.
Not wanting to make this awkward, I stretched and moved to sit up.
Miles eyes widened as he stood next to the bed. “You’re up.”
I nodded and used both of my hands to push myself up into a sitting position. “Yeah. I just woke up a few minutes ago.” From where I was sitting, I could see that Belle had pulled open one of the dresser drawers and was now pulling out Miles’s boxers.
“Belle,” he said again, this time louder. I giggled at his reddening cheeks.
“Hang on,” he said as he set the tray down on my legs and hurried over to scoop her up. After he tucked his boxers back into the drawer, he blew a raspberry into her neck, slipped his arm under her bum, and held her to his chest.
“I made bacon and French toast…” He paused as if he suddenly realized he’d let out a secret.
“My favorite?” I asked, my chest swelling to the point where it felt like it was going to burst.
He stared at the food before he slowly brought his gaze over to meet mine. “Your favorite.” There was so much emotion in his voice that it lowered a whole octave.
“Thanks,” I said, not sure what I was supposed to say to that.
He studied me for a moment before Belle brought her little chubby hands up to his cheeks and pressed on them. That broke his concentration as he glanced down at her.
“You eat while I go feed this monster,” he said as he kissed her cheeks and she giggled.
“Okay,” I said, pulling the tray further up onto my lap.
He stared at the comforter before he nodded and moved to leave the room, pausing at the door for a moment and then disappearing down the hallway.
I stared at the empty space he’d left behind, wondering if he was going to come back. And then I started wondering if I wanted him to come back.
Shaking that thought from my mind, I grabbed the little pitcher of syrup and drizzled it all over the French toast.
If I didn’t have feelings for Miles before, I certainly did after I inhaled that breakfast. My tastebuds were tingling, and my stomach felt satisfied as I set down my utensils and moved the tray off my lap. Just as my feet touched the ground, Miles came into the room as if he’d been waiting in the hallway.
“You done?” he asked.
I nodded and watched him close the space between us. When he leaned forward to grab the tray, I suddenly realized how close he was to me. His chest brushed my shoulder, and he must have realized it as well because he glanced over at me and completely froze.
I held his gaze, scared of what I might find there but also intrigued by the way his look made me feel. It was like the taste of French toast and the feeling of home were all wrapped up in his gaze.
“Did you like it?” he asked, not moving to pull away.
“What?” I asked. My gaze drifted slowly down to his lips before I forced it back up.
He saw. And he wasn’t shy about seeing. Heat burned in his gaze as he leaned half an inch closer to me. “The breakfast,” he said. It was so quiet and low that it sounded more like a rumble in his chest.
“Yes,” I whispered, moving the same distance toward him. What would it feel like to kiss him? To feel his strong arms wrap around me. To feel them pull me closer until I wasn’t sure where my body ended and his began.
He grinned. “I’m happy.”
“You are?” He nodded.
“Hey, Miles?” Mrs. Porter’s voice snapped us both from our trance. Suddenly, he was standing in front of me with the tray wrapped tightly in his hands. “Yeah?” he asked, tipping his face toward the door but not making any indication that he was going to move.
“Just wanted to let you know that I was here,” she said, her voice growing closer.
Panic filled my chest as I began to slide off the bed. Miles set the tray down and wrapped his hands on my upper arms, pulling me up. Then I was against his chest as he dropped his arm around my shoulders and guided me toward his closet doors.
Once I was inside, he pressed his forefinger to his lips and shut the doors.
“Oh, here you are,” Mrs. Porter’s voice was in the bedroom now.
The doors weren’t see-through, but I could see shadows. “Here I am,” Miles said as he turned to face her.
“I thought I heard someone in here…” Mrs. Porter’s shadow had appeared. “Did you make yourself breakfast in bed?”
Miles crossed the room and picked up the tray. “Yep. It’s what I like to call a little R&R,” he said as he moved behind Mrs. Porter and started to walk forward, effectively guiding her shadow out of the room.
“R&R?”
“Yeah, it’s extremely important…” Miles’s voice faded.
I let out my breath. That had been close. Too close. I winced and shook my head. I needed to be more careful. The last thing I needed was a rumor going around Harmony that I was dating Miles. The scandal. The things people would say. It would feed the rumor mill for far too long. I wasn’t even sure what was going on between us, and the last thing I needed was for others to confuse me.
Miles returned five minutes later with an exasperated look on his face. Whatever had happened between us last night and this morning, I forced it into the lockbox in my mind. That’s where it needed to stay.
He pressed his finger to his lips and nodded toward the front of the inn. I tiptoed down the hall, bypassed the kitchen where I could hear Mrs. Porter singing to Belle, and escaped out the front door.
Luckily, no guests saw me and my walk of shame as I padded across the porch and down to the dewy grass. I made it back to my cottage, cursed the stupid front door and whatever had been scratching at it, and then hurried inside. I shut the door behind me and let out my breath.
That had been… Unexpected.
