Page 75 of The Promise Of You

C

Seriously, Corine? Your place or mine? God, I’m pretty sure that’s the title of one the romances they were talking about at Easy Monday the other day.

Justin

I’ll be at the cottage tomorrow morning. Nine okay?

Chloe

Perfect!

C

And the happy emoji? I don’t know if I’m more embarrassed by the content of the messages or by the fact that “I” have so easily accepted to meet with Justin.

You know what? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that my heartbeat picks up when I look at the flowers he sent. It doesn’t matter that my palms are sweaty when I think about him coming to my place tomorrow. It doesn’t matter that I’m already thinking about what I should be wearing for our meeting.

I doesn’t matter because that’s not what he’s after.

And so I can just relax and focus on work.

We’re just two business owners doing the right thing for our small town.

I should focus on the dishes I want to propose. I should start a shopping list and actually go shopping so I can show him that I can hold my ground when it comes to food. Even though I’m a numbers person, I know a thing or two about food and I intend to show him.

I’m so wound up by the end of the day, I definitely stop by 420 for gummies, or else I won’t sleep. And this girl needs her beauty sleep.

twenty-four

Justin

Iknow she’s an early riser, and she slipped away from me once before, so I’m not making the same mistake twice.

I show up at the cottage at eight. Moose scratches the door while I knock. After a couple of minutes, the door opens, and I almost drop her Road to Heaven, my double espresso, and the bag of croissants I brought.

She’s mussed up from her night, dark hair a sexy mess, blue eyes puffy from sleep, pink lips a little swollen. She’s wearing… holy shit she’s wearing that little nothing I saw at Cassandra’s shop, and I was right. That thing looks like it was made for her. Shoulders bare except for two thin straps, legs naked up to where it’s indecent, the red thing clinging to her tanned skin, taunting me.

She looks at me with a gasp, and I don’t know if it’s me or the cool morning air, but her nipples pebble.

I shoot my gaze right back up. “Morning!” I smile, trying to sound casual.

She blinks and frowns, and her mouth does those little waking up sounds. Sounds she never got to give me in Boston. Sounds I always thought as a little gross coming from others. Don’t ask me, but coming from her, those sounds shoot straight to my dick.

Her gaze drops to Moose. “What are you doing here?” Awww, man. That just-awake, raspy voice.

“Coffee!” is all I can say.

“What time is it?” She blinks at the bright sky behind me. Then, narrowing down on the cups asks, “Is that a Road to Heaven?”

She moves from the door to let me and my dog inside and snaps her mug from the tray. Moose goes straight to the oversize bowl of water on the floor next to the refrigerator. “I see you have a regular visitor.”

She gives Moose a scratch between the ears.

Damn it’s hard to keep my eyes on her face and not let them drift to the rest of her, so I just turn away from her to look around her place. She’s slowly making it into a home, and I see a side of her I didn’t know.

Of course I didn’t.

The cottage is still a little bare, there isn’t any of the shit that people accumulate over time, but it’s comfortable and welcoming. She has a little dining set, some decoration stuff. A thick area rug with some unusual motif. Nothing pretentious. I would have taken her for a more sophisticated type. I like this side of her.

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