All The Befores by Samantha Chase

Author:Samantha Chase
Language: eng
Format: epub

7

“Dinner was delicious as usual, Susannah. Thank you.”

She smiled at him as she stood to begin clearing the dishes. Colton joined her, carrying his own plate to the sink. “You know you don’t have to do that,” she said softly.

With a shrug, he said, “And you know I don’t mind helping.”

It had been four days since the soft opening of the inn and while he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, he could tell that something was on her mind. This was the first time he’d been over since that night – not that he was purposely avoiding her, but he really needed the time to himself to figure out how he truly felt about moving forward without getting married. Plus, now that the inn was finished, his focus was on other Coleman jobs and by the time he was done for the day, he was tired and dirty and it was easier to just go home to his place.

“You’re awful quiet tonight,” she said after a minute. “Everything all right?”

Here was the perfect intro for him to talk about his feelings.

“Yeah,” he said instead. “Everything’s fine. Just a little tired. This job over at the yacht club should have been a no-brainer, but we’ve had inventory issues and I had two guys out sick today and there’s rain in the forecast and that’s going to set us back on top of the holidays, so…”

She walked over and gently guided him back to his chair and then stood behind him, massaging his shoulders. “I’m sorry. And it’s been so cold out too. I hate thinking of you working outside like that.”

Her hands felt so good that Colton instantly began to relax. “I’m used to it. I’ve been doing this for over twenty-years so I barely notice the weather anymore.”

“Still,” she said, her hands kneading deeper, “I wish you didn’t have to work so hard.”

It was something she started saying after they began work on the house. Colton had a crew full of guys who were younger than him and as foreman, he probably could get by with delegating what needed to be done. That wasn’t the way he worked, though. He was a hands-on guy and that meant if his guys were swinging a hammer, so was he.

Her hand hit a particularly sore muscle and he hissed.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Nothing to be sorry for. It feels good.”

“That wasn’t a sound of something feeling good,” she teased.

“Trust me.” His head leaned back and rested against her which caused him to hum with approval. “How about you, Suz? How was your day?”

“Still going over the comment cards everyone filled out this weekend and trying to make adjustments for the grand opening.”

“What does that mean? Did people complain?”

“No. Not really,” she said, moving her hands so they were both working his right shoulder. “More like suggestions.”

“Such as?”

“There were a few suggestions about the selection of toiletries we offered – some of the scents were not a hit.”

“Okay, that’s not huge.”

“One complaint about the pillow selection…”

He glanced over his shoulder.

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