Page 16 of Romeo

Me: What are you doing?

Ma Belle: Hiding in the Creamery storage room

A picture of her sitting in the storage room at Sugar’s Creamery flashed in my mind. Perched on a stack of boxes, biting her lower lip while she tried not to smile at whatever bullshit I sent next.

Christ, I wanted to see her.

Not through a picture. Not inside my head.

Her.

I shifted on the couch and adjusted myself before one of the brothers noticed exactly where my thoughts had gone. This was the problem with Fiona—one minute she was hiding in a back room, and the next I was thinking about things I had no business thinking about while she was at work.

Me: Hiding from what?

Ma Belle: A birthday party with twelve screaming children

Me: Need rescuing?

Ma Belle: From Nebraska?

Me: Send the address.

Ma Belle: You already know where I work.

Me: True.

The three dots appeared.

Disappeared.

Appeared again.

Ma Belle: You’re not actually coming, are you?

My grin slipped.

Because I could.

I could grab my shit, get on my bike, and ride until Nebraska disappeared behind me. Twenty-something hours between here and Rosewood wasn’t impossible.

It was just a really bad fucking idea.

Me: Not today.

Ma Belle: Why does that answer make me nervous?

Me: Because you’re smart as hell.

I set my phone on my thigh and scrubbed a hand over my face.

I didn’t reach for my keys. Didn’t check the weather between Nebraska and Virginia. Or run the directions through my head, counting how many fuel stops I’d need.

That had to count as restraint.

Three months ago, I wouldn’t have recognized the bastard I’d become. I’d never sat around waiting for a woman to text me back. If I wanted someone, I made it clear. If she wanted me too, we fucked.

Simple.