Page 51 of Wanted By You

The double doors to the facility open and two men step out, patiently waiting as well. They knew we’d be coming, and I made the baseline payment to reserve his spot over the phone earlier. This place isn’t free. Or cheap.

Garrett takes a deep breath. “I’ll be all right,” he says, and I’m not sure if he’s saying that for my benefit or his own.

Wordlessly, he gets out, grabbing his backpack and guitar case from the backseat. When he closes the door and starts to walk off, I roll the window down. “If you need anything, you call me.”

He stops, turning to the side and slinging one strap of his bag over his shoulder. “Yeah, I will.”

I’m not great with goodbyes to begin with, and this situation is already tense, so I give him a nod and shift the truck into drive.

“Hey,” he shouts before I take my foot off the brake. “You take care of her for me. I’d hate to have to kick your ass after this.”

I crack a lopsided grin. “I’d like to see you try.”

He grins back, the first real bit of emotion I’ve seen from him all morning.

“Take care of yourself, brother,” I say, finally driving away and spending the entire ride home thinking about my girl and how badly I want to see her.

I step out of my truck, making sure to bring the assorted bouquet of flowers with me that I stopped for on the way home. I don’t linger long, striding past Cassidy’s Jeep parked beside me as I head up to the house.

I’m late.

We’ll still make our dinner reservation on time if we leave soon, but I’m going to have to move my ass if I want to get a quick shower in beforehand. After dropping Garrett off this morning, I drove back to town and headed up to the logging site to do some basic maintenance on a few pieces of equipment, which ended up taking longer than anticipated. On my way home, I passed a truck full of flowers for sale and knew I had to stop. If these flowers cost me smelling like oil and sweat for our date tonight, then so be it.

If they make her smile, it’ll be worth it.

Pushing in the front door, I’m met with…silence. I kick off my boots and set the flowers on the island. “Anybody home?” I call out.

“We’re up here,” her sweet, sweet voice calls back to me and those damn butterflies flop in my gut yet again. Something about her being here, waiting for me when I get home—no matter thetime or circumstance—just hits a part of me deep down that I didn’t know needed to be filled.

I take the stairs two at a time, stopping at the guest room door, expecting to see her—but she’s not there. My brow furrows when I hear a yip from Frankie coming from my room. I walk further down the hall and step inside, the door wide open.

“Hey, you’re home.” Cassidy smiles at me from her spot perched on my bed. Her smooth, tan legs crossed beneath her with that drawing tablet in her lap. She’s clearly ready to go as soon as I am, absolutely stunning in a navy-blue, floral sundress I’m hoping is as short as it looks from here. Her hair is down, cascading in long waves. Everything about her is stunning. She’s damn near glowing. “How was your day?”

Frankie wiggles out from beside her, coming to the edge of the bed with a happy tail in greeting as I approach. I give him a rub on the head, right between his ears.

“Good,” I say, leaning down to kiss her. She smiles, obliging me with a peck on the lips like she did this morning at the coffee shop. I nearly sigh at the brush of her full lips against mine. I can’t help it. This woman brings out the sucker in me. “How was yours?”

“Amazing,” she beams. “Peggy asked me to be her partner for Cup O’ Joe. We’re opening a second location inside Winton’s Resort.”

Her giddiness has my face splitting in two. “That’s awesome, babe. Congratulations.”

“I know,” she squeals, setting her tablet to the side and climbing up on her knees. “And that’s not even the best thing that’s happened today.”

“Oh, yeah?” My heart thumps in my chest, like the sucker I am. Seeing her happy like this is better than any damn drug out there.

“Hallmarkbought another one of my cards.” She bounces into my arms in her excitement. I scoop her up and hold her tight to my chest as she laughs. Slowly, I slide her down my body, leaning down to hold her as her giggles turn to quiet hiccups.

I lean away slightly, still keeping her close. “Hey now, don’t do that,” I say, wiping her cheek free of the few tears trailing from her eyes. “What’s wrong, Sunshine?”

She shakes her head, clinging to me as she hides her face against my chest. “I’m sorry, it’s…nothing.”

I turn us until I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, tugging her closer until she’s standing between my spread knees. “It’s not nothing,” I say, smoothing my hands down her arms until I’m gripping her hips to keep her in place. “Talk to me.”

She sniffles, dabbing her eyes. “I don’t want to make us late and miss our reservation.”

“Then we’ll go somewhere else,” I grunt. “Tell me why you’re upset, sweetheart.”

On a sigh, she says, “I don’t know…it’s just…a lot.”

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