Page 58 of Follow My Heart

And you seem to enjoy flowers.

I love them, and I never think to buy them for myself.

Good to know.

Would Ryder make it a habit to buy me flowers? No man had ever sent me flowers before. I wanted him to know how much I appreciated the thought. Ryder paid attention to me.

I munched on the chips when an image came through of Ryder on an inner tube with Faith in front of him.

How fun!

This hill is pure ice. I think my life flashed before my eyes.

A big bad FBI agent afraid of a little ice and a bunny hill?

I enjoyed teasing him. I felt lighter than I had in a long time.

I’m a supervisor now. Not in the field as much.

Did you lose your badassery-ness?

I haven’t. And I’m going to prove it.

I’m looking forward to that.

The texts stopped, and I assumed he was too busy snow tubing with his daughter. I had to trust that this thing with Ryder was real. That he wasn’t going to turn the tables on me, telling me I saw something that wasn’t there.

He knew my history, and he wouldn’t lead me on if he didn’t feel the same way.

A few hours later, when Ryder texted to say they were close to home and needed to pick something up to eat, I called him.

I assumed I was on speaker phone in his truck. “Want me to pick up pizza or something quick?”

“How do you feel about sushi?” Ryder asked, and I shivered from the tingle his voice gave me.

“Love it.”

“Do you know a good place?”

“I do actually.” There were several, but only one was my go-to.

“If you could pick it up, then I’ll have time to shower when we get home?”

“No problem.” I’d gone out of my way to take care of my boyfriends in the past, but this wasn’t like that. I was helping him. It was a give-and-take. He’d ordered me lunch, and I was picking up dinner for us. This wasn’t a one-sided relationship.

I placed an order on my phone, before saying goodbye to Julia who’d replaced Morgan at the counter. Then I headed toward the restaurant. Inside, I was surprised to see Beau, my most recent ex, waiting for take-out. I took a deep breath. “Beau, how are you doing?”

He grunted an answer, giving me a disgusted look, probably because he thought I was still hung up on him. “What are you doing here?”

Instead of reminding him this was my favorite sushi restaurant because he didn’t pay attention enough to know that, I said, “I’m picking up dinner.”

“What’s your order number?”the hostess asked me, and when I told her, she handed me several large bags.

“That’s a lot of food for one person.” Beau’s voice was curious.

“It’s actually for three. Have a good night. It was great to see you.” And even better to show myself that I wasn’t hung up on old boyfriends. I’d moved on. I was in a healthy relationship, and I was confident in a way I wasn’t before.

I hoped it wasn’t my imagination that he watched my ass on the way out. I’d worn a flowery yellow dress with leggings and boots.

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