Page 30 of Vaughn

"I will, but it might be a while before I can. You'll get used to it though. It's the life of a lineman's girlfriend or wife." I say those words without realizing what they mean.

She freezes, and I'm worried. Maybe that's not what she wants. "Do you mean that?"

"Girlfriend? Yeah. If you want to be mine, I'd love to call you that. I'd love for me to call you, yours. I don't know the future, so I'm not sure I'll be calling you wife in a few years, but I know my future is with you right now."

Her eyes are full of tears, and I'm feeling pretty emotional myself.

"Shit Vaughn, when I met you everybody talked about how you weren't one to settle down."

I laugh at the curse that came out of her mouth. "Listen at you, learning those four-letter words huh?"

"I guess so, when you surprise me like this."

"I surprised myself, but it's what I'm feeling, and hopefully you agree."

She reaches over, cupping my chin in her palm. "I do. Thank you for being my safe space, Vaughn Collins."

"Always Valentina Brewster, always."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Val

"Looks like it's going to come a flood out there." Gabby says, as she watches the clouds moving in. "Must be why we've been so slow today."

Typically it would be loud and full of people in here. It has been since we had a couple of people on social media go viral talking about Get Baked. It's exploded so much that we've had to hire interns, and Gabby is discussing hiring one of them full-time when they graduate.

It's slightly unnerving - the quiet - when we've been used to the flurry of activity that tends to overtake this space for the entire time we're open. It's as if everyone can feel the weather coming in. I've not paid much attention to it, but I remember Vaughn saying something about possibly having to work extra tonight if the weather they were expecting came to fruition.

"Probably, but I can't say I wasn't happy about it. I had a late night last night." My cheeks heat as I think back to Vaughn and I doing all the things we did in my bed. There's only one more thing for me to do before I can say Vaughn has had me in every single way no one else has. We came close, but I'm glad he put a stop to it.

"How are things going with the broody lineman?" She grins. "He was running late this morning."

"We both were." I shrug, not meeting her eyes.

"Look." Gabby starts. "You're an adult, but I want to make sure you're okay. You've never had a serious relationship..."

"I've never had any relationship." I laugh.

She tilts her head to the side. "Vaughn isn't pressuring you to do anything you don't want to do is he? Y'all moved in super quick, or he seems to at least be staying with you. There's no family around to take care of you, so I feel as if it's my place to ask. If I'm overstepping you can tell me to fuck off, but I had to say my piece."

Tears pop in my eyes and I do something completely uncharacteristic. I throw my arms around her, hugging her tightly. "No one has ever cared enough to check on me other than you and Vaughn. If I would've had an older sister like you, so much of this would've been different."

"I'm sorry they didn't." She rubs my back. "You deserved so much better than what you got."

I don't disagree with her, I'm beginning to learn my worth. "I did, and I'm starting to get that with Vaughn, and you, honestly. I'm incredibly lucky to have this group of friends to call my family."

She sighs. "Don't make me cry. We have a delivery we need to make. You wanna drive?"

"Do you mind?" I've been practicing on it as often as I can, but I still have a lot to learn. "I'm sick of walking to the grocery store, and would love to be able to drive at least there as soon as possible. It's going to be cold soon."

"I know. We'll get you there. C'mon, let's go make this delivery, and do closing. Maybe we can leave a little early."

I watch as she lets our interns know we'll be leaving and tosses me her keys. "You ready?"

As I'll ever be. I help her grab the boxes of goodies we're taking to our delivery, and then load them in. I slide into the driver's seat and adjust it, along with all of my mirrors like Vaughn showed me. I press the button to start, and then check my blind spots before backing out of the parking lot.

"Good job, Val. You're learning quick."

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