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Ryan hugged his mother then kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, Mom.”
“Love you back, sweetheart.”
He moved to his father, and they exchanged a quick hug. Once we were in the truck, I studied Ryan. “Are you sure about this?”
He reached for my hand, lifted it to his mouth, and kissed my wrist. Goosebumps instantly swept over my body. “Stop worrying.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you into anything.”
Ryan looked at me with a stunned expression. “Morgan, have you forgotten the reason I’m staying with you? Some lunatic is stalking you. And I offered to stay. You’re not pressuring me into anything, okay?”
I sighed. “I had forgotten. At least for a little bit.”
He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad you were able to forget. How about I see if we can get reservations at Le Vacher for tonight?”
“Shut up! Are you serious?”
“Let me call Bradford,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “If he can get us in, I’ll owe him one.”
“That would be amazing. Do you think Georgiana and Blayze could join us since they’ll be in town for the interior design meeting?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I squealed and bounced in my seat while Ryan let out a laugh that was music to my ears.
Chapter Ten
RYAN
While Morgan and Georgiana had their meeting, I stepped outside to call Bradford. I knew I was going to be calling in a pretty big favor, but the way I saw it, he owed me for introducing him to Savannah Henderson, one of the local newscasters here in Hamilton. I’d gone to high school with her, and we worked out at the same gym. The moment Bradford first saw her, he’d been smitten. One introduction later and the two of them had been dating ever since.
“Make it quick, Marshall,” he said when he picked up. “I’ve got twenty-five quiches in the oven.”
I chuckled. “I don’t suppose you could arrange a table for four this evening, could you?”
“If I said no, Savannah would have my ass for it, so my only choice is to say yes. Give me the details.” I could hear him moving around the restaurant kitchen as he issued a command to someone.
“It’s a double date: Blayze and Georgiana, and me and Morgan.”
“Wait—Morgan? Not Blayze’s little sister Morgan?”
“The one and only.”
It suddenly got quiet, and I heard a door shut. “Dude!” he said. “Blayze is okay with that?”
I smiled. “Yeah, he is.”
“Wow! That’s great, Ryan. I’m happy for you. I know you’ve had feelings for her.”
“I’m never going to live down the night I got drunk and spilled my guts to you, am I?”
Bradford chuckled. “Let’s just say if I ever need to bribe you, I’ve got some good shit on your ass.”
I laughed. “Morgan’s had a rough day or two, and she mentioned she’s dying to try out Le Vacher. So this is me calling in a favor.”
“It’s not a problem at all. We always keep a couple of tables free every night for things like this that pop up. I’ll give your name to the hostess. If possible, can we make the reservation for a bit later? Like maybe eight?”
“Eight is great. I really appreciate you doing this, Bradford. It means a lot to me.”
“It’s not a big deal. So…are you guys official?”
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. “As of today, yes. Actually, I’m moving in with her temporarily, until we get some things worked out.”
“Holy shit! I haven’t even made that jump with Savannah yet. Although, I do spend more time at her place than my own. I should probably talk to her about it, but things are going so good with us, I don’t want to rock the boat.”
“Trust me, moving in with Morgan wouldn’t have been my first move in a new relationship. I’ll explain it all later. I don’t want your quiche to burn.”
“Fuck! The quiche! I gotta run. I’ll see the four of you tonight!”
“Thanks, Bradford. See ya later.”
He hung up without saying goodbye, but not before I heard him yelling, “The quiche!”
I chuckled and hit End.
When I stepped back inside the store, I saw Morgan and Georgiana walking around with the interior designer, Joyce.
“Perfect. Now that we have everything ready to go, I don’t see any problems on my end,” Joyce said. “It looks like the dressing rooms and your office still need to be painted, but everything else is pretty much finished, right?”
“They’re working on the punch list the rest of this week, but we can start moving in inventory. Will the benches we ordered for the dressing rooms be in on time?” Georgiana asked.
“Yes, I’ve double-checked, and they’ll be here. The only thing that might not arrive on time is the light fixture that’ll hang above the register.”
“That’s not a big deal,” Morgan said as she moved around the large, nearly empty space. “I love that we kept the original walls and ceilings. It’s one of the things I love about my apartment as well.”
