Mae Blake couldn’t believe what she had just done. She never went to the bar, and she never had drinks. Not that she could blame alcohol for this. She was very much sober when she went home with the town’s bad boy. Caleb Dowd was known for sleeping with and leaving women. It didn’t matter that she'd had a crush on him all throughout high school. He did not settle down, and Mae had just given this man her virginity.
Caleb had wanted Mae for a long time. Knowing he was the only man she’d been with, there was no way he was going to let anyone else have what now belonged to him. He was not ashamed and he was going to keep on chasing her.
All Caleb wanted was to settle down, to have a life with Mae, but his reputation could threaten to tear them apart. He was not willing to give up without a fight. They are perfect for one another. And he had a plan.
But will Mae finally say yes?
“Mae, I know you’re in here,” Caleb said.
Why did his voice have to sound so good?
She stayed quiet, because maybe if she was silent, he’d get the hint and just leave. Of course, there was no such luck, and she heard him moving between the stacks. Spending all her life in this bookstore, helping her grandfather, she knew exactly where she was going, but somehow, Caleb seemed to know as well.
Before she realized what was happening, she had been pressed up into a corner with no way of escaping.
Caleb wrapped an arm around her waist, and pressed her hands above her head. “I finally caught you,” he said.
“What are you doing?”
He tutted. “You know, I don’t like when a date sneaks out without even a backward glance.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking a—” She didn’t even get to finish as Caleb took possession of her lips, and all thought fled her mind.
Mae wasn’t going to kiss him, however, his kisses were so damn addictive, and there was no way she could say no. Kissing him back was the only option, especially as he ran his tongue across her bottom lip, and she moaned.
Caleb let her go and sunk his fingers into her hair with one hand, and with the other, he ran his hand down and grabbed her ass, making her moan. She felt the hard ridge of his cock as it pressed against her core. There was just no thought left for her. She belonged to him in that moment.
Even as reality set in, she tried to think of reasons not to kiss this man. The resident bad boy. He didn’t have the best reputation, and it kind of scared her. All the women wanted to date him, including the married ones. He was every woman’s wet dream, and there had been rumors about him helping wives cheat on their husbands.
Caleb broke the kiss and she pulled away from him.
“You can’t do that,” she said.
“I can’t? Are you going to tell me you didn’t want my kiss?”
Mae had never been a liar, and she was not going to start now. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Well, Mae, I find it hard to believe you snuck out on me.” He gave a little tut.
“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.
