Page 31 of Choosing You

Cutting off her words with a kiss, he decided they had to stop thinking about the past. They’d both made foolish mistakes, but they were here together now and that’s all that mattered.

So he kissed her and kept on kissing her before rolling her beneath him, where he showed her how much he wanted her.

And luckily, no one was thinking about anything but the here and now.

The next morning, he made pancakes for breakfast and served them to her in bed.

She thanked him in the sexiest of ways.

By the time lunch rolled around, they were thoroughly exhausted and agreed that they needed to shower and maybe get out of the house for a bit. Will still wasn’t ready to share her with anyone because tomorrow it was back to the real world. He had to go back to work, and she was heading back to Florida on Tuesday morning. They didn’t have a lot of time, and he was almost a little desperate to get as much time with her as he could.

He kept that to himself until they met up in the living room after taking separate showers—something he totally regretted.

“Hey, so…I hope this doesn’t come out sounding creepy or weird, but…,” he carefully began. “Would it be awful if we didn’t go anywhere today with people?”

Sloane’s eyes went a little wide. “Um…how is that even possible?”

“No, no, I mean, there would probably be people—like…the public—there, but not like…real people. Does that make sense?”

She shook her head. “Why can’t there be people there?”

Will explained his feelings and felt slightly self-conscious about them, but he didn’t want to be anything but genuine with her. “We really only have today. Tomorrow morning, I need to be at the shop by eight, so even if you stayed over tonight, I’d be out of here early. Then you’re leaving and going back to Florida, and we don’t know when we’ll see each other again, so…”

“Will, come on. What are the odds we’ll see anyone you know while we’re out?” she asked with amusement. “I go out all the time and never run into people I know.”

“That’s because you live in a major city. Small-town life is completely different. It’s rare to go out and not run into someone you know. Remember how we were talking outside of Books & Beans? We were practically in the middle of the street, and there was Cora.”

“Okay, but…that was one person. What’s the big deal?”

She didn’t get it, and he wasn’t sure how he could explain it any better.

“Sweetbriar Ridge is the epitome of small towns, Sloane. I grew up here. I know almost everyone. Even though there’s been a ton of expansion, we all just seem to get to know each other. We’re friendly to a fault.” He paused and tried to think of an example. “I work for the only mechanic in town so…basically, I meet a lot of people on a daily basis, and like…there’s like a six-degrees-of-separation thing that’s just…it’s wild!”

“Um…I guess?”

“Okay, check this out. You’re obviously familiar with Books & Beans, right?”

“She nodded.

“So, Jade Donovan—formerly Jade MacKenzie—is the owner. Cora is her mom.”

Another nod. “I know this.”

“Right. So when Jade opened the coffee shop, she had Billie Donovan working for her, doing all the baking.”

And yet another nod.

“Jade meets Billie’s brother and then they start dating and eventually get married.”

“Will, I’m not sure what this has to do with?—”

Holding up a hand to stop her, he explained. “I’m getting there. Just…hang on. So, Jade and Levi get together, and then Billie helps her sister Ashlynn open a hair salon just a few blocks away. The other Donovan sister is a kindergarten teacher, and she married another teacher. Ashlynn married a firefighter.”

“There are other families in this town, right?” she teased, but he wasn’t really listening. He was on a roll.

“ Levi—the one who’s married to Jade—has an advertising firm. Now, one of their cousins moved here, and she opened a yoga studio. Still with me?”

“I guess…?”

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