Page 66 of Undeniable You

“That’s fine with me. As long as it’s fine with you that I take you out on a date on Saturday night. Sophie has already agreed to come and stay with Juniper.” I had wanted to confirm with Sophie before I told Larison about it. She’d also suggested a few ideas for dates, which was so sweet, but I wanted to do something on my own for Larison.

Something fun and unexpected.

“Really? Wow, okay,” Larison said, a smirk on her face. She came over and put her arms around me. My hands took hold of her waist, where they’d gotten very comfortable over this past week. Sometimes I just needed to hold onto her. To ground myself. To calm down and know that things were good.

Our ideas about not acting like a couple during work hours had been kind of foolish since they didn’t work out that much in practice. Having hours where I couldn’t kiss her? Yeah, I was not doing that, and she wasn’t either.

The rules basically got tossed out the window, but we decided that fooling around during my work hours was definitely a bad idea, so that was a rule we stuck to.

It was difficult, trying to keep up with my two online classes, taking care of Juniper, and having enough time with Larison, but I’d never been happier.

Every single minute with her and with Juniper was better than the last. Even when Juniper didn’t want to go to bed. Even when she woke us up so early.

This was my life now and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Reid wasn’t surprised at all when I told her what had gone down. I wanted to see her, but I was so busy with everything else. This was what happened when you got into a relationship and I hadn’t wanted to be that kind of friend, but Reid said she understood, since everything was fresh and new with Larison.

Let me know when you come up for air. I’ll be here. We’ll go hiking and you can tell me all about her.

I had listened to her gushing about Sophie plenty of times, so it was only fair.

“And where are we going on our date?” she asked. Juniper was already in bed, so we were enjoying our quiet time together on the couch. I couldn’t wait to get her naked in bed, but I needed to decompress from the hours I’d just spent getting my coursework done. I’d have to catch up this weekend. I couldn’t let myself get behind. School still had to be one of my top priorities. I’d just added other priorities too. Things were going to be hard, but I just had to hang on for a little while longer. Once Juniper was in school, things would be so much easier. Who knew that I’d be eager for the academic year to start.

“That is for me to know and you to wonder about. I said I’d plan this one, remember?”

She narrowed her eyes and glared at me.

“Fine. I guess. But don’t make it anything expensive or dangerous. I’m not jumping out of a plane.”

I sat up and looked at her. “Do you think I’d put either of us at risk by doing something as foolish as jumping out of a plane?” Absolutely not. “It’s going to be fun. And not dangerous.” It was going to be extremely not dangerous.

Larison sighed. “I’m trusting you, Josephine.”

I grinned. “I know. I won’t let you down.”

“It’s seriously amazing,”I said when I brought Juniper to the bookshop on Friday to see the completed murals. They were fantastical and looked very much like vintage romance covers with all different styles of couples and romantic themes. There was a horse and hearts and it was bold and dramatic, but not too much somehow. Once she had the shelves full and the rest of the furniture, the place was going to be quite something. The chandelier above the checkout counter illuminated the swirling words BETWEEN THE SHEETS in a similar font to the sign out front. She’d also ordered some merch and I’d already put in my order for a tote bag with the store logo on it.

“Thanks. I was afraid it would be a lot, but I think it all works together.”

“Does the horse have a name?” I asked.

“We should name him, shouldn’t we? Maybe Juni will help.”

I snorted. “She’ll want to name him after cheese.”

Larison burst out laughing. “Of course she will. Maybe I’ll let her.”

Juniper had been in the bathroom when we’d been having that conversation and she bounded out, making her presence known. That kid had never entered a room without pizzazz.

“Maybe I’ll let the customers vote. It would be fun,” Larison said.

“It’s coming soon. Are you ready?” I asked her.

She grinned. “Absolutely not. But it’s happening if I’m ready or not.” She gazed out the front window.

“What are you going to do for your displays?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ve looked online for inspiration, but I don’t feel like I’m creative enough. Probably should have figuredthat out before I decided to open a bookshop, but there were so many things I didn’t know until I was in the middle of this.”

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