Page 38 of A Montana Secret Admirer
“Hey.”Reese’s hot, sultry breath lifted the hairs on the back of her neck.
Serenity jumped. She stood watching her boys climb all over the playground equipment in the backyard of the main house.
Jane had gone into work later than planned after they’d gone over all the options for them to catch whoever it was leaving the letters. The first and most obvious choice was a camera. Serenity didn’t like that idea for the specific reason that if they used it, then chances were high she’d stop receiving the letters, and they’d never find out.
Second option was a stake out.
Guilt swept through her body. She shouldn’t be thinking about this person. She shouldn’t be considering who he might be when there was someone completely available to win her heart, and he was standing right behind her.
His fingertips traced down her spine, and chills made her shudder at his touch.
She did her best to settle her racing heart before she glanced up at him. “Hi,” she murmured. He was sweet, attractive, good with her sons, and yet she couldn’t stop thinking about the man behind the flowers who seemed to see her better than anyone ever had.
Yep. She had officially become the villain.
“So, about this weekend.”
“This weekend?” she squeaked.
He nodded, his eyes locked on the children climbing the playset. He dropped his hand and took a decided step away from her.
Serenity shifted her focus there once more, finding Tegan giving her a strange look. There was a slight downward tilt to his lips as he watched her standing beside Reese. But when he met her stare, he resumed playing with the other children.
“Yes, this weekend,” Reese murmured. “I want to take you dancing.”
Her breath hitched. That would require a lot of eye contact—and other contact as well. Fingers tingling, Serenity shot a look at him out of the corner of her eye. “Actually, I think I’m going to have to take a raincheck. Do you think we could plan something for next weekend instead?” That would give her a week to figure some things out, first. She really needed to know for her own sanity who was leaving her flowers.
She wasn’t entirely certain it wasn’t Reese. If it was? Already she could sense the joy that concept would bring.
But what if it wasn’t? What would she do with that knowledge? For all she knew, he could be someone who didn’t deserve her time.
Serenity shut her eyes briefly as she felt Reese’s stare turn toward her. He was frowning now. Shoot! She was messing everything up. Jane had hinted at the fact that she shouldn’t be chasing down a ghost. They’d even discussed the idea of writing a note for the mysterious flower leaver and see if he wrote back.
The problem with that was whether or not a flower would be delivered on the night they left the note. He didn’t bring them on the same day or at the same time.
“Serenity?”
She startled and stared at him. “What?” He’d been talking. Well, that was just great. This admirer was getting into her head. She needed to get her head on straight. “Sorry, I was distracted.”
“Is it something I’ve done?” Reese asked quietly.
She flinched. “No, of course not.”
“Okay,” he drawled. “Because we were discussing our plans yesterday, and I thought that you were… on board.”
Shutting her eyes tight did nothing to prevent the blush that threatened to overtake her. “I know. I swear, it has nothing to do with you.”
And everything to do with the fact that she couldn’t let this mystery go.
“I’ll make it up to you, okay? Our raincheck? I can plan the date or?—”
“I already said I want to take you dancing.” He smiled at her, and all at once, her insides melted into a pool of jelly. Those eyes. That grin. He had this knack for putting her at ease when she knew she didn’t deserve it.
She nodded. “Okay. Next weekend. Dancing. Wherever you want.” Saying her promise with conviction seemed to be all he needed for reassurance. Now, if she could only figure out who was leaving her those letters and those flowers.
Jane had promised to call up the floral shops in the surrounding towns to see if the guy was just trying to cover his tracks when it came to keeping his secret. She’d said she’d give a full report after dinner. But based on the fact that Jane was due to arrive home in the next fifteen minutes, and she hadn’t sent Serenity any text messages warning her that she was the genius of the family, Serenity didn’t have much hope in that option panning out.
She tossed Reese an apologetic look. “I better get the boys all cleaned up for supper. I don’t like to be late when Tana has been so gracious to host us this summer.”
