Page 44 of Simply Yours

“A few times.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you pulling my leg?”

He grinned, slow and teasing, the corners of his lips twitching in amusement. “Are you putting that honeysuckle back again?”

Caitlin blinked, suddenly aware that she had, in fact, picked up the same honeysuckle pot for the third time and was in the middle of putting it back. Again.

Flustered, she dropped her hand as if burned.

“I’m on a budget.”

“Me too,” she shot back, arms crossing over her chest as she glanced at the plants already in her basket.

Jason tilted his head, considering her for a moment before nodding toward his cart. “Maybe we should pool our resources and tackle things.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

Without answering, he reached for another honeysuckle pot, tapping the rim. “Look at this one—there’s two in the pot. One for you, one for me.”

“Ooooh.” Her lips parted in realization before her entire body froze.

Because Jason didn’t stop at just one.

Her eyes widened as he casually plucked up two more, slipping them into his cart like he was solving the world’s simplest problem.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, stepping forward as if she could stop the chaos from unfolding.

“Changing the budget,” he said with a grin, effortlessly transferring her carefully selected plants from her basket to his.

“Wait a second,” she stammered, reaching out to snatch them back, but Jason was faster, his hands deftly moving through the plants like he had all the time in the world. “Stop, Jason. Hang on… those are my plants, and?—”

“Do you want help putting them in the ground?” he interrupted smoothly, his tone completely unfazed.

Caitlin’s mouth opened, then closed. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. “I can do it.”

“I know you can,” he said, his voice warm with something that almost sounded like admiration. “But I was offering.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You were offering?”

“I thought maybe we could talk and work together on the garden—” He glanced up, meeting her gaze, his expression unreadable. “And then you could come over to my place for dinner and help me with my own garden.”

Her breath hitched. “Wait…what?”

Jason leaned against his cart, completely at ease, like he wasn’t flipping her entire world upside down with every word that left his mouth.

“We could tackle both gardens—and have dinner together.”

“But it’s not Friday,” she blurted, as if that was the most pressing concern in the entire universe.

Jason’s lips twitched in amusement. “So I’m changing the schedule because you have to work, remember?”

Caitlin stared at him, words failing her. “I was on your schedule?” she whispered, more to herself than to him, as his expression softened at her words – before she had something click in her head, looking around wildly.

“Is someone putting you up to this?” she asked suddenly, suspicion creeping in. “Where’s Matthew? Is this some sick joke…?”

His amusement faded, and without hesitation, he leaned forward, brushing the softest kiss against her cheek, the touch lingering just long enough to send a shiver down her spine.

His breath was warm against her skin as he whispered, “You always ask me that, and it’s never a joke. Spend the day with me, and let’s talk.”

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