Page 37 of Forever my Love

“He normally doesn’t sleep on the bed,” he assured her as he tried to get the dog to move.

“It’s okay. Lucy sometimes sleeps in bed with me.” She crawled under the covers and pulled Ali close to her. “Where are you going to sleep?” she joked.

Reece climbed in behind her and pulled the pair of them tight against his chest. “There, this is where you both belong.”

She wanted to agree with him, but there was an odd lump in her throat. She remained quiet and replayed the wonderful night she’d just had over in her mind until she fell to sleep.

The next morning, Reece had to take a phone call and headed downstairs to let Ali out while she showered and dressed for work.

When she went downstairs, he had a bagel with pecan cream cheese and a mug of coffee ready for her.

“I know you’re heading in early for inventory this morning,” he said after he kissed her. “So I made you a quick breakfast and coffee to go.”

“Thank you.” She took a sip of the coffee and held in a groan.

“I’ll see you in a couple hours. I have a few things to catch up on here first.” He answered another call.

Once every month, she helped Carter out with inventory. When he’d found out she was interested in how Baked ran, he’d started letting her help with some of the business tasks.

She loved inventory. Loved bookkeeping.

Carter joked that she had a twisted mind like he did because they both were thrilled when inventory time came around.

Just before lunch, Reece showed up and they ordered a few pizzas and headed to Nick’s place.

Her sister looked tired but happy, and Hailey sat watching her while she ate.

“Fred went to the Edgeview hospital last night after attacking me. He got thirteen stitches on his arms and had a broken finger. But they released him before the APB went out,” she told them.

“So we know for sure it was that son of a bitch?” Reece said, glancing at her.

Harper’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“I told him everything,” Hailey said, touching her sister’s arm.

Harper nodded. “Nick knows everything as well. I think Tom does too, but…” She shrugged.

“What happens now?” Hailey asked them both.

Harper sighed. “Now we wait until he makes another stupid move. I think he knows we’re not staying at the cabin any longer.”

“Right.” Hailey nodded. “Does that mean he’s going to leave the cabin alone?”

“Tom and Nick are stopping by twice a day to check up on it. To make sure he’s not destroyed anything else.” Harper leaned back, looking even more tired than before.

Just then, Nick returned from picking up Blue from the vet. The dog had saved her sister and lost part of his ear in the process. He’d also lost his manhood, as the vet had neutered him while he was there. The poor dog had a cone around his head. When he saw Harper, however, he perked up and sat by her sister’s side until they left.

Returning to work, Hailey felt suddenly drained.

There was no guarantee that Fred wouldn’t go after Harper again. No way to stop him from coming after her.

Both Carter and Corey knew that she was scared of a stalker. Nick had talked to them, and they’d agreed to keep an eye out for the man and protect her. She was never alone in the restaurant anyway. She’d locked up a few nights, but Carter or Corey was always there.

Since her shift had started early, she left just before the dinner rush. Reece had stuck around after lunch, working in the back booth on his laptop for a while before heading home.

Parking next to him in his driveway, she wondered how long it would take for Fred to leave them alone.

Reece was there to open her truck door and help her get out.

“I was thinking,” he said, pulling her into a hug, “it’s about time I introduced you to my world.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Your world?” she asked, but his chuckling stopped her, and she understood he was talking about his father’s business. Video games.

They’d had a few discussions about the game Modark, since her sister had asked what he did for a living. She was curious about it and nodded.

“We’ll make sandwiches and head downstairs, I have the game set up on the big screen down there.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“What are you going to do when I kick your butt?” she joked.

He laughed. “Honey, I’ve been playing Modark since I was two. There is no way you’re going to kick my butt.” He stopped just outside the door and smirked at her. “Unless you cheat.”