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“Good night Hannah. Sweet dreams.”
Chapter Eleven
Hannah
The clock flashed at me. Mocking my existence. It was three in the morning, and I had been staring at the ceiling for the last almost… five, yes five hours. My mind couldn’t turn off.
That kiss. God, that kiss.
I had never felt something so intense before in my life. Why he did it, I don’t know. He was talking with everyone except me all night. He also had a lot of alcohol. That’s what it must have been. He knew me; I was a safe choice. He could get a fix of physical contact after his break up and knew I wouldn’t be trying to get anything more from him.
Rolling over, I pulled out my phone. Nicole had snapped a few photos of everyone and posted them on social media. Scrolling through for the hundredth time I stopped on one in particular. Bryce had just made a comment about how to win over Claire if I truly wanted the job. His smile was wide and welcoming as he looked over at me. I looked horrible of course.
Scrolling through I noticed few people had commented or liked the photos yet. It made sense everyone else was sleeping, so they didn’t look like hell tomorrow. When suddenly an alert popped up.
New friend request.
Assuming it was one of the bridesmaids, I thought little of it as I clicked to open the request.
Staring back at me from my screen was his photo. From his private account that I had seen comment and liked photos from but only held a small handful of public photos. Clicking the accept button I held my breath. He said he always went to sleep early yet it was three in the morning and he was sending me requests.
Bryce: what are you doing up?
Hannah: thought cowboys were early to bed early to rise
Bryce: we are until you come home drunk and your brothers decide a game of whiskey truth is a good idea
Hannah: never heard of it
Bryce: I’ll explain it tomorrow. You need your sleep darlin
Hannah: so do you. Get off social media. Don’t you know you can’t believe everything you see on there?
He never responded after that. I hoped he had gone to sleep, but I wasn’t sure. Rolling to my side, sleep finally came over me.
Waking up in the morning I had stupidly scheduled to meet with Claire before the wedding preparations would begin. I had only slept three hours. How I expected to function today I did not know.
Claire was waiting outside the horse barn when I pulled up. Two cups of coffee in hand. At least she was prepared for me to be a complete mess. Gathering my papers, I had spent the last two weeks looking up things and figuring out some ways I could impress her. If I came prepared with what I thought could help the farm reach the next level or even just improve the way they did things now, I might just have a shot.
“Good morning sunshine.”Evan walked out of the store as I made my way on shaky legs toward Claire. He had never called me anything but Hannah before but I had learned country boys had a thing for terms of endearment. I wasn’t used to it yet. I much preferred sunshine over ma’am so I took it as a win.
“Good morning Evan. You joining the meeting? I thought it was just Claire.”
Evan was just as easy to be around as Claire. They both had the same energy. They loved the farm more than anything and only wanted to see the best outcomes for it.
“Sure am. Everyone is. It’ll be quick honestly.”He looked down at my arm full of folders.“Maybe not. You came over prepared. Devin is going to appreciate that.”
Everyone? As in all the Gregory children? My stomach dropped further down. I wasn’t prepared to see Bryce again. Not yet. Not after whatever the hell that kiss was. It was gentle but demanding at the same time. Made my head spin but kept me grounded. A full on contradiction of everything I thought I knew and felt.
A few sips into my coffee Devin, Hunter, and Luke showed up at the barn. All of them smirking to one another as they looked down at my papers. There was a mix of appreciation that I was prepared, and comments about how this was nothing formal. Just a small chat to make sure everyone was on board. It didn’t get past me they each called me sunshine. My new name apparently.
“Okay enough of you four. So Hannah, we can all obviously see you're smart enough for this job. This,” Looking down at the folders she now held, Claire smiled.“Proves that more than you know. I’m pretty sure we’re all on the same page that we could use some help and you seem like the perfect person to do it.”
Everyone nodded. Claire looked back at her brothers. Her hand gravitated to her hip. “Where the hell is Bryce? He threw a friggen fit last night about not being included.”
The men all laughed, each holding the same devious smirk as they shook their heads. Luke looked around before becoming the spokesperson for the group.
“He uh, won’t be functioning anytime soon. Don’t worry we’ll make sure he gets to the wedding on time. Left him around two thirty this morning. That kid still can’t keep up with us. I can say though, he will be fine with whatever we pick Claire don’t worry.”
