Page 43 of Knot in Bloom
“I designed their new facility last year. Small-town businesses stick together.” I step close enough that our arms brush when I point to details on the page, close enough to catch how her breathing stutters.
My phone buzzes. Riley, demanding the reports I’ve been postponing to stay in this town that somehow makes more sense than any boardroom I’ve sat in.
“Reid, I need those Gizdon findings today. The client?—”
“Reports are delayed.” I watch Sadie’s graceful hands arrange stems, and realize I’d rather solve her problems than close another corporate deal. “Project complications require extended on-site presence.”
“How extended?”
“Through next week. Possibly longer.”
I hang up without explanation.
“Work trouble?” Sadie asks, but there’s something hopeful in her tone. Like she wants me to choose her over everything else.
“Work can wait.” The truth surprises me. When did spreadsheets and profit margins start mattering less than one woman’s dreams in a town most people have never heard of? “What matters is making sure you get what you need.”
“You’d really delay your own projects for this?”
“I’d do more than that.” I move close enough that she has to look up to meet my eyes, close enough that my scent mingleswith hers and the lingering sandalwood. “What do you need from me?”
Her scent spikes with want, pupils dilating as she breathes me in. “What exactly are you offering?”
My voice drops to barely above a whisper. “Whatever it takes to make this perfect for you.”
“Reid.” My name sounds breathless when she says it, and I can smell how much my proximity affects her despite everything that happened last night.
“Say yes, Sadie.”
“Yes.” The word comes out like a sigh, and something warm settles in my chest.
“Good.” I reach for my keys, letting my fingers brush hers as I collect my phone. The brief contact makes her shiver. “Lunch first. From Pine Valley. I’ll bring back something good, you need to stay here in case customers come in or Caleb returns with those supplies.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“I want to take care of you.” The admission comes out more raw than intended, and I see how it affects her. How her scent sweetens with something deeper than gratitude. “Let me prove what I can give you.”
As I drive toward Pine Valley, my phone fills with ignored messages. All those fictional client meetings that got me here, those made-up project needs that were really just excuses to see her—and now she actually needs what I can offer.
The irony isn’t lost on me. I’ve been pretending to need flowers for non-existent business presentations, and it turns out what she really needs is business expertise.
I started with fake meetings because I couldn’t figure out how else to see her regularly. But driving through these mountains with her success mattering more than any real clientI’ve ever had, I know those weren’t lies—they were hopes. Hopes that someday I’d have real reasons to be essential to her life.
Tomorrow’s photo shoot will succeed because I won’t let the woman who made me invent imaginary flower needs fail when she has real ones.
And maybe, when this festival proves what we can accomplish together, I’ll finally tell her the truth about those Tuesday arrangements. That I never needed flowers for business meetings.
I just needed reasons to see her smile.
Chapter 13
Sadie
Dawn is breaking over the mountains when I finally admit defeat with the third centerpiece. I’ve been at this for two hours already, and nothing is working.
The magazine photographer arrives at nine. Four hours to create three centerpieces plus one signature installation, all perfect enough for national publication. Four hours to either establish my reputation or destroy it completely.
And I’m failing spectacularly.
