Page 93 of A Montana Secret Admirer
And consequently, she was the one person who had told him he wasn’t who she wanted to see.
Reese closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and raised his fist.
Before he could make contact, the door swung open, and a gasp ricocheted into the cold air. “Reese? What are you doing here?”
“Reese?” A boy’s voice came from behind, laced with excitement. Then Tegan’s head popped into view from behind his mother. He grinned. “I knew you’d come back.”
Laughter exploded from Reese’s chest. “Of course I came back.” His eyes lifted to Serenity. “Don’t get mad at your sister. She didn’t tell me you were here.”
She blinked, and he got the feeling that she hadn’t remembered that she’d told her sister not to reveal her secret.
“It was Noah,” he explained.
Still, she didn’t move. And that was when his nerves got the better of him. He shoved the flowers at her. What he was about to do, he didn’t have any experience in. He’d always been willing to let her take the lead.
Now?
He was taking what he wanted.
Serenity accepted the flowers, that deer in the headlights look still plastered on her face.
“I had to see you,” he whispered. “Can I come in?”
Before she had a chance to turn him down, Tegan grabbed his hand and dragged him forward. Serenity jumped out of the way, her eyes now locked on the flowers in her hand.
“We missed you,” Tegan insisted, pulling him toward the couch. “A lot.”
Jessi materialized next, hustling toward them and ultimately flinging himself into Reese’s arms. That drew another laugh from Reese’s throat.
“If I had known I was this missed, I would have come home sooner.”
The room felt like it had grown even quieter. There was a stillness that he wasn’t prepared for. Reese’s eyes found Serenity’s where she still stood by the now closed door.
“I hope it’s okay I came.”
“She missed you, too,” Tegan murmured. “She’s just surprised.”
“I can tell,” Reese murmured, carefully extricating himself from Jessi and placing him on the couch at his side. Then he got to his feet. “I don’t have to stay if you don’t want me to. Say the word, and I’ll go out that door. But that would be a shame because I have something I need to say.”
He moved across the floor slowly, as if treating her like a skittish foal. Thankfully, Serenity didn’t retreat. Her eyes shone with emotion, and if he wasn’t mistaken, her lips twitched into a nervous smile.
“Actually, we were planning on going to Sagebrush. We thought…”
When she didn’t complete her statement, Tegan filled in the blanks. “We wanted to see you. Mom promised.”
Reese chuckled but kept his eyes on the beauty before him. “Great minds think alike.” He stopped in front of her. It had been four months since he’d seen her in person, if not a little more. He itched to pull her into his arms.
And that was why he was here, wasn’t it?
So he did just that as soon as he removed the flowers from her hands and placed them on a nearby table.
Reese slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her close. She gasped again, her focus solely on him and his name on her lips. “Why didn’t you want me to see you?”
“It… I thought… it would be too hard,” she whispered.
“Why?”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “I think I might be too attached to you.”
