Page 100 of For the Promise

Jaxon palms my neck to draw me near. “You are beautiful, Petal. Have I not told you enough?”

“You can never tell a woman she’s beautiful too often.”

“Duly noted,” he whispers as his head descends toward mine.

“Honk! Honk!”

I startle and fall on my ass at Sammy’s honking. “The seal doesn’t approve of us making out in the middle of the road.”

Jaxon stands and offers me a hand. “He’s probably correct. We should move the car before there’s an accident.”

“Get off the road, Sammy.” Naturally, the seal doesn’t move. He’s stubborn. “Don’t make me call the dog catchers on you.” Threatening to call the dog catchers is the only surefire way to get the stubborn seal to move.

He growls before galumphing off. Once he’s off the road, we return to the car.

“Do you want me to wear a veil so I don’t distract your driving with my beauty?” I ask as Jaxon starts to drive.

“And you wonder why I call you a troublemaker.”

I giggle. He’s going to think I’m a huge troublemaker after tonight.

We arrive at the distillery and he parks. But when he goes to open his door, I stop him.

“I should probably tell you what we’re doing here.”

He pushes his glasses up his nose. “It would make things easier.”

“I have the best prank idea for you to win the prank war with your brothers.”

He raises a brow. “Tell me.”

I lift the large bag I prepared. “We’re going to shut down the distillery.”

“Shut down the distillery?”

“Yep. The Island Environmental Protection Authority is halting operations due to the distillery fatally disrupting a nesting site for the Spectacled Dune Crab.”

“There is no Island Environmental Protection Authority, and the Spectacled Dune Crab doesn’t exist.”

I pull a crab shell out of my bag. “There isn’t?”

He chuckles. “What’s the plan?”

“I have government seizure notices, yellow tape to bar entry to the building, and crab shells as evidence.”

“I’m finally going to win the prank war.”

“Wrong.We’regoing to win the prank war.”

He presses a quick kiss to my lips. “You’re perfect, Petal.”

My heart thuds in my chest. Does this man, who I’m falling for, seriously think I’m perfect? I bite my tongue before I can blurt out how much I love him.

I don’t love him. I’m falling for him. Two entirely different things.

Except when I gaze into his blue eyes, I realize I’m no longer falling. I’ve fallen. I love this man. This nerdy, whiskey obsessed, socially awkward man is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.

Jaxon brushes the hair from my forehead. “Is something wrong?”

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