Dom fell into me and then pushed back hard. Damn drunks were always stronger than they looked. “I don need you. I got wh-whiskey comin’. Huh, Nugget?” He whipped his head left and right, looking for the bartender cleaning glasses and watching us carefully from behind the bar.
“The bar’s closing, Dom. Time to go home.” I shuffled him across the floor and almost made it to the door when he reared back and cracked the back of his head against my nose.
“Fuck!” I let him go to grab my nose. He slid to the floor and rested against my leg, unaware he’d just hit me. My hand came away wet.
Nugget appeared at my side with a stack of square white napkins. I took them gratefully and tried to stop the blood while picking up Dom again. We made it to my truck, the cold wind whipping his face rousing him enough to get the job done.
He fell asleep on the way to the tiny one-room cabin he kept in the woods north of town. I’d helped him buy it and the postage stamp of land surrounding it. I couldn’t keep my brother from drinking, but I felt better knowing he’d always have a roof over his head. Mom and Dad had washed their hands of him when they caught him stealing their hard-earned retirement money. While I wished they’d stayed in town, I understood they needed a fresh start in Florida. Mom’s joints felt better in the heat and Dad couldn’t stop going off about the lack of taxes. Part of me wondered if they’d left mostly just to get away from the disappointment of Dom. And if that was the case, why couldn’t they have stayed for me?
By the time I got Dom in his house and made it back home, the storm was in full swing, rain pelting my face as I raced into the house. I shook off the drops and made myself a quick protein shake before heading to bed. I was done with today.
As I lay in bed trying to get to sleep while a storm did its best to rip the trees out of the ground, I wondered if maybe Chief was right. Maybe I wasn’t good enough for Amelia and she knew it deep down too, which was why she never saw me as dating potential. The thought was disturbing and so were the dreams that came after. The ones where Amelia was walking down the aisle with Daire and all I could do was scream silently. Never heard, never seen, as I watched the love of my life give her life to someone else.
“Titus,” Chief’s gruff voice had the hairs on the back of my neck rising. Had he heard about my brother last night?
“Hey, Chief Waldo, how are you today?” I pasted on a smile and held the door for the man as he exited Coffee with a steamy cup and a bag of something that smelled delicious. His uniform didn’t have a stain yet, so I could assume his work day was just getting started. The morning had dawned bright, the storm moving on as quickly as it had come.
“Doin’ fine. Just came from the hotel. Had a tree situation there last night.”
My smile froze. Tree situations were never good. Especially right after an intense storm. “Is Amelia all right?”
“She’s fine. All the excitement has put her in fine form this morning. You have been warned.” He lifted a bushy eyebrow and walked to his cruiser parked at the curb.
My stomach lurched as I got in line. I knew Chief said Amelia was fine, but I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. The tall pine trees around here made Auburn Hill beautiful, but they became hazards when big storms ripped through and downed a tree near a structure. We’d had a few run-ins with houses being completely demolished in a storm in my lifetime.
“Hey, Lukas. Can I have a black coffee, a mocha with extra whip, and a dozen assorted donuts?” The kid behind the counter, Lenora’s brother, rang me up quickly.
“Got a job this morning?” he asked as I handed him a twenty.
I quirked a smile despite the anxiousness churning in my gut. “Nah, these are just for sharing. Although I could eat the whole dozen without blinking an eye.”
Lukas smirked and shook his head. “You should hit up Charlie for some green juice every now and then just to balance things out.”
I grimaced. “Yeah, no, thanks. Tried his shit once and lost my taste buds for a whole week.”
Lukas’s laughter followed me as I moved down the line. When my order was up, I grabbed it and nearly ran out the door to my truck. If Amelia was in trouble, I wanted to be there to help. Why hadn’t she called me? I got to the hotel and parked, instantly seeing the tree that tilted over the far-left side of the hotel. The roots were exposed on one side, and though it leaned mightily, it hadn’t fallen over completely. She’d have to get a crew in here to cut the tree down as soon as possible. Some of the taller branches had damaged the far corner of the hotel.
I took the donuts and coffee inside the lobby, watching a couple check out, their drawn faces showing a long night of little sleep. Amelia stood behind the counter, watching them go with a frown on her face. Her hair was down and loose, her face makeup-free. A black silk robe covered her body, but had me wondering what she had on underneath. Jesus, she was beautiful.
Ambling over and placing the box and coffee on the counter, I drank in her face, seeing with my own eyes she wasn’t injured in any way.
“Rough night?” I asked lightly.
Amelia took a deep breath and then blew it out, the frown line between her eyebrows finally leaving. “You could say that. Had hysterical guests in the halls when the tree fell. Just comped the couple in that room their whole stay to appease them. Now I gotta call Wayne and see if I can get him to get the damage fixed ASAP. He’s not exactly known for being on it, so we’ll see.”
She grabbed the coffee from my hand and took a huge sip. “Thank you. I’m going to need the caffeine and sugar.”
An idea hit me. A way to help her out. “Why don’t you show me the damaged room?”
She nodded and spun, heading to the stairs in flip-flops. I scrubbed a hand over my eyes and tried to focus on what I was here for and not on the bounce of her ass beneath that silk. Big Foot, the official mascot of Hell Hotel, darted down the hall next to me, his crazy eyes looking more crazed than usual. Poor feline had probably been half scared to death when the tree fell.
We made it to the room in the back on the second floor. I could see why that couple had been freaked out. A branch had come right through the wall. Structurally, there wasn’t a lot of damage inside, but I’d have to check out the roof to know the extent of it. If a crew came in and got that tree out of here before it fell further, this wouldn’t be a huge job.
“Why don’t you work on getting Wayne to hire a crew to cut down that tree. That’s the most pressing issue at the moment. I’ll send him a low-ball proposal for the repair work. An offer he won’t be able to refuse if he knows what’s good for his bottom line.”
Amelia’s eyes went soft. “You’d do that?”
I nodded and got out my phone to put together a bid. If I looked at her any longer, I might do something I’d regret later.
The wind shifted and suddenly Amelia was wrapped around me, her arms squeezing my neck. My phone dropped to the rug on impact, leaving my hands free to land on her back and then move quickly to her hips.
Fuck.
She wasn’t wearing a bra and those breasts were pressed against my chest as she lifted on her tiptoes to reach me. She smelled good too. Like shampoo and a hint of perfume from the day before.