All Chapters of You Taste Like Trouble To Me... : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

By the time that they reached town, Lotte was certain she was going to be sick. Every time that James so much as twitched, she jumped. He had tried to reach for some gum from the glove box, which he had made her accept despite a few weak ‘no’s, and Charlotte had almost peed herself… Then he had leaned in and accidentally brushed her knee. As the bed of his truck lacked much elbow room, the bigger man had managed to do this several times. Each occurrence practically gave Lotte’s rear some airtime. Of course, just another mile from town, the girl had a hunch he was doing it all now on purpose. James was watching her, ever so slightly, from the corner of his deep brown eyes. She caught him doing it and could practically feel the smirk from under his copper beard. That lick had shaken her whole morning and made Lotte an emotional mess. She wondered faintly if he had honestly meant for it have the effect that it did. First, Lila and Alana had left her without a ride, and now James was thr

By the time that Lotte was able to clear her head just enough to start baking - to push the intensity of this town from her mind - a three-man band of ladies in their best Sunday dresses had appeared on the other end of her counter. Barbara was babbling away to them about a potluck next weekend until she was red in the face with excitement. “Lotte,” the woman finally turned to her, “This is Teresa Sawe, Victoria Preacher, and Sara Dowly… They are on the town committee and manage most of the local activities…”Charlotte fixed a smile to her face and took in the women in front of her. They were elegant in a way that she hadn’t seen before, and smelled absolutely amazing. With very extravagant hats and equally extravagant jewelry, Lotte would have placed them in a 1800s church catalog and not ‘The Market’. As their bright eyes shone against the dimmed lights, they all shared an expression of amusement. “Hello Lotte,” Teresa Sawe greeted, the only blonde out of the three. “We ran into t

By the time that James was pulling back up to the cabin, Lotte wasn’t sure what state she would find her Aunt in. It was a relief when the sound of Romy’s laughter reached her ears, alerting the girl that her family member was still alive. Following James into the living room, her hazel gaze settled on the older woman, who had a drink in hand and Lila and Alana on either side of her. “Oh, there she is!” The older woman cooed, “Where the hell did you disappear to?” “Work,” Lotte answered back softly, kicking off her shoes by the door just as James was doing. She didn’t want to risk giving Lila another excuse to suck on her toes once more. Though after meeting the redhead’s gaze and the look on the other woman’s face, she wondered if that would ever be an issue again. Lila had an expression as if she were smelling something terrible. Embarrassed, Charlotte wondered if a day of work left her smelling. “James,” Alana called over the rim of her drink, “What happened to your hand?” The b

Lotte stopped in her tracks, and Brandon almost collided with her. Turning slowly to face him, she stared down at the 13-year-old, who had the most innocent expression on his face. “What did you mean by that?” She asked, trying to sound less bothered than she was. Brandon shrugged, his face remaining blank. “Girls like your aunt come to town from time to time… They never stay long.” The answer made sense; however, it still didn’t bode well for Lotte. “Well, let’s hope Romy doesn’t decide to take off too. She tends to drag me along for the ride, and I kind of like it here.” The hand that Brandon had in Lotte’s tightened, and his expression slid into a sour one. “She better not,” the boy muttered. Charlotte didn’t pull her hand away, even after pain started to set in. She wanted to clarify what it was that Romy ‘had better not’ do, but just then David came around from the other side of the cabin and her words caught in her throat. It had been almost an entire day since seeing David,

Tonight, Lotte helped James and Henry to clean up the table. They were getting everything washed and slipped into the dishwasher when James made a smart remark about how Matty had licked his plate clean, and it, therefore, didn't need to be sanitized any further. Henry reached for a dish rag and snapped it against the grown man's rump. “Stop acting like such a nasty brute in front of Lotte. We are trying to convince her that we aren't animals.” James’s gaze fixed downward at Lotte, who had just fit the last plate into the dishwasher. Next to each other, their sizes were night and day. When she realized that he was still staring at her, the girl side-eyed him and was met with a tongue rolling up the side of her face. “James!” Henry barked.The older man ran his injured hand over his copper mustache and straight through to his beard. “She bit me, so I licked her. We're even now.” Henry slapped a hand over the counter, “There is no universe within a million light-years where that wou