5.

R OSIE

"Yes, Mom, I'm eating at least twice a day with snacks in between."

"You shouldn't lie to your mother. You'll grow a wart on your nose."

"Just because you and your besties refer to yourself as witches does not give you the ability to hex me."

"The comparison isn't because we're witches, it's because of our hair color."

"Witches of Eastwick. Best movie ever. Blah blah blah."

"I will smack you through the phone," Mom threatened.

"And yet you insist you're not a witch. Hmmm."

"Are you going to let me tell you the reason I called?"

"To check up on me even though I'm well into my thirties . . ." I held my phone away from my ear to protect my eardrum from the screech I knew was coming, and I was right. The best way to get my mom all worked up was to remind her that I was closer to middle age than not, which meant that she had already passed it.

"Chandler! Your daughter is an insufferable little twit!" my mom said angrily.

"Steph. Honey. She says shit like that just to get you riled up, and you know it."

"Whatever. You know what, Rosie? You're lucky you inherited my coloring and genetics and should only hope that you rock your fifties half as well as I do."

"She's got a point, Rosie-girl. Your mom is hot as hell, and I make sure to tell her that every time we . . ."

"No no no no! You will not put that image in my head!" I screeched.

"Thanks, Chan," Mom said cheerfully. "You should know he's always got my back, Rosie."

"Yes, he does."

"Now, back to the reason I called. In a few days . . ."

The knock on the door startled me so badly that when I jumped, I fumbled the phone, and Mom was waiting on my response by the time I got it back to my ear.

"Hey, Mom, my food's here," I said as I walked across the living room to answer the door. "I'm going to let you go so I can chat with Dianna, okay?"

"Of course, sweetheart. Love you bunches."

"Love you more. Kiss Dad for me."

"Always. You know how much we enjoy . . ."

"No!"

Mom's laughter was still going strong when I disconnected the call. I shuddered as I pulled the door open and then gasped in shock at the sight in front of me.

"Curious?"

"Strange?"

"Holy shit. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here.

"No. I live here."

" In my cabin. "

I stood there stunned for a few long seconds as I put it together. The hot guy from the wedding was named Rooster . . . Dianna's business partner and Mad's older brother was called Roo.

"Holy shit."

"Do you need me to let Dianna know that you'll be leaving tonight?" Rooster asked.

"Why would you do that? Are you kicking me out?"

"Well, I fully intend on spending the night with you, and the last time I had you in my bed, you disappeared."

"What?"

"You heard me."

I narrowed my eyes, the initial shock of seeing him again replaced by anger. "Are you saying that if I want to stay, I have to sleep with you?"

"Not at all. I'm saying that I'm going to come into your cabin and get to know you like I wanted to do that night and the next morning. Then, if you're lucky, I might let you have your way with me."

"You might? If I'm lucky? "

"Depends on how you word your apology for leaving me in a hotel room like a used condom, of which there were four, just in case you've forgotten."

My anger, as usual, made my mouth run away with itself, and I said, "Yeah, there were four. I guess the fact that you can count makes up for the fact that you can't last."

"That I can't . . . Are you saying that . . . Don't try to tell me . . ." Rooster sputtered in outrage.

While he was stunned, I reached out and yanked the bag from his hand and then stepped back to slam the door in his face. I heard him roar in outrage just before he banged his fist on the door.

I burst out laughing and yelled, "Not so quick that time, were you?"

Just to be an ass, I flipped the switch to turn off the porch light and then walked over to the window to find him standing there with a look of shocked outrage on his face. I set the to-go containers on the shelf next to the potted plant I'd brought with me and opened the bag.

My mouth watered the second the delicious aroma hit my nose. I flipped the top container open and found the burger I'd ordered from Dianna. I lifted it up, took a huge bite, and then savored it as I stared into Rooster's narrowed eyes.

"Damn, this is good," I said loud enough to hear me through the window. "My compliments to the chef. I'll have to make sure I tip him and the delivery boy well."

"Delivery boy?"

"Yep. I'll tip you even though there's something about you that makes me want to scream."

"Oh, you were screaming alright."

I rolled my eyes and said, "You need to learn how to tell when a woman is faking it, big guy."

"You were not faking it." I shrugged and he asked, "What the hell, Curious?"

"I'm not sure what it is about you that makes me want to irritate you so badly, but whatever it is gives me great joy."

"You little shit. When I get my hands on you . . ."

"Not happening again.One night.Remember?"

I had no idea what sort of crazy had taken over my brain. Maybe it was hunger. Possibly low blood sugar. Could it be temporary psychosis?

Or maybe it was the fact that I couldn't get that night off my mind and had dreamed about the man in front of me since the morning I left him - only because I knew that there couldn't be a future between us.

Both of us went into it knowing that it was one night, but as I laid there in bed laughing and talking with him between episodes of mind-altering, absolutely fantastic sex, I yearned for more. My own thoughts terrified me - and as I watched him drift off to sleep, I wondered what it would be like to wake up beside him every morning.

That's why I left before dawn.

Because I was a coward who didn't want to have to say goodbye just like I didn't want to say it when I left here in a month or three. And if I could keep him at a distance, I wouldn't have to.

Without another word, I picked up my food and turned around. When I got to the top of the landing that led into my bedroom, I looked down at the window and saw that he was gone.

The rain that I had been enjoying all evening now seemed dreary and the burger in my hand had lost its appeal. If knowing that he was gone after that brief interaction made me feel that way, I couldn't imagine how it would affect me after I spent time alone with him again.

I wasn't cut out for one-night stands - that's exactly what my night with Rooster had taught me. And if I couldn't handle one night, I definitely couldn't handle weeks of the magic that surrounded him and then walk away with my heart intact.

It just wasn't meant to be.

◆◆◆

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I grumbled as I jogged down the porch steps and across the grass to get to my own cabin. Since I was already soaked to the skin, I decided to walk the fenceline to the barn and check on the animals. Since they had access into their individual pens from outside, they might need clean straw inside the barn.

And it would give me something to do other than stomp back over to that cabin and use my master key to get inside so I could give that woman a piece of my mind - not that she'd listen since she apparently considered me a piece of meat.

Talk about the tables turning. Karma had popped up and bit me right in the ass. I had the sudden urge to call all the random women I'd probably left feeling the same way and apologize for my atrocious behavior.

Luckily, resisting that urge was even easier than the one about using my key since it would lead to a lot of uncomfortable conversations and even more frustration since I couldn't really remember all the names or even faces of the women I'd . . . ahem . . . spent time with over the years.

I stopped just inside the door and opened the canister where I kept the treats for the larger animals and grabbed a baggie full of mealworms for the birds and then walked down the main aisle of the barn. Apparently, all of them were just about as happy to see me as Curious had been. Some of them even wore the same expression, letting me know they did not appreciate me waking them up with my heavy footsteps and angry muttering.

Once I added fresh hay to the stalls, I left the animals to sleep and walked back out into the rain. Instead of the light rain that had been coming down when I walked from the other cabin to the barn, it was now coming down in sheets, complete with lightning in the distance and loud claps of thunder.