Page 160 of Saved By My Buyers

I consider myself spoiled rotten today. “I bought them for Dahlia. She was saying that the apartment looked a little barren.”

“About that,” Jack says, “I think I have a lead on a property. Want to come see it with Dolly and I before your birthday celebration? It has lots of space while still being in Detroit.”

“Gated?” I tease him, knowing him well.

“You’ll be surprised to hear that it isn’t,” he says proudly. “It’s about twenty minutes from work for the three of us, on the water, and has a massive enclosed porch. The neighborhood hired its own security guards to take shifts to ensure the safety of its residents. I was told that doesn’t seem to hinder people from still fucking on their porches.”

“Oh my God!” I squeal, giggling as I pull slowly up to the nursery. Lionel is waiting, picking up the barriers they have to keep people from parking there. It appears it’s meant to be used for pickups.

Hitting the button to release my trunk door, I watch as Lionel picks up the container and brings it around.

“I’m going to put things around it in this corner, so it won’t tip over, Ma’am,” he says, moving things in my trunk to create a barrier once he puts it into the corner. “Be careful going around the corners, but you should be set.”

“Thank you, Lionel,” I say, turning to face him with a wide smile.

“No problem,” he says. “You have a good one.”

Lionel closes my door, and I relock the doors. “Okay, Jack. Now, I’m on my way home,” I tell him.

“Me too,” Jack says. “That was really nice of Lionel. I’ll need to check out that nursery when I need flowers or plants.”

“Sometimes I go in there just to walk around after a therapy appointment,” I confess, pulling back onto the road. “They do more plants than florist stuff, but I love to smell the flowers.”

“We’re going to need pretty flowers in front of our house, aren’t we?” Jack says, his voice wistful. The three of us are ready to live in a permanent home. It’ll be an adjustment to have to drive a little farther to work, but we’ll manage.

“Yes, please,” I murmur. “Five minutes out.”

“Pulling in, baby girl. Ready to be your manservant,” he says, chuckling.

“That’s exactly what I was hoping for,” I say with a laugh. We chat for a few minutes, and then I pull into the underground parking lot. “I’m here.”

I see Jack leaning against his car, waiting for me with a smile, and I park next to him. Jumping out after I turn off the car, I come around to give him a hug.

“Hi,” I greet him, tilting my head up, and then his mouth is claiming mine.

“Hey yourself,” he murmurs, straightening. “Let’s get your pretty flowers upstairs.”

Popping the trunk for him, I nod as he walks over to grab the container.

“He did a really good job of making sure they’d be safe,” Jack says. I notice that he’s moving things, making sure nothing is missing, and I smirk.

He’s checking to make sure there wasn’t a tracking device added to anything.

Turning on my Apple tag tracker on my phone, I watch as it searches, and shake my head when I see none are detected. He’s paranoid, but I know it’s because he worries and loves me.

Occupational hazard happens to the best of us.

“Any trackers?” I ask, giving him shit.

“No,” he says, chuckling. “Nothing untoward or unusual. Just a genuinely nice guy.”

Jack picks up the container, and I shut the trunk, following him as I lock the doors to the SUV.

“That’s the vibe I got,” I say. “So what is your plan for today?”

“I’m thinking of dinner out at one of your favorite restaurants, we’ll check out the house, and then go to your surprise,” he says. “I already have a reservation at Merriel’s steakhouse because you’ve been craving their Steak Diane, and the realtor is free to meet us.”

“If I haven’t said it today, you’re amazing,” I tell him as we ride up in the elevator.