Page 30 of A Forbidden Spring
Wren hadn’t gotten any more messages from Holly, but that didn’t stop us from looking over our shoulders either, especially when she disappeared after being suspended.
She hadn’t come back, and she ignored all communication including the certified letter I’d sent officially terminating her employment.
“I’m hoping to keep it to only a week,” I tell her, watching as she picks at the imaginary fuzz on the quilt. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she says brightly, and I scowl, dropping a few pairs of socks into my suitcase before tipping her chin up to look at me.
“Tell me.”
“I just have feelings about you leaving and it’s pissing me off,” she huffs, but I can see the vulnerability in her eyes, and more than that, it’s the same way I’ve been feeling.
“I know.”
“Do you? Because I’m exhausted, Merrick. The only one I can talk to about us is Beau, and we don’t really have thelet’s talk about how many orgasms my sister is havingkind of relationship.”
“I think I should be thankful for that, actually,” I muse, trying to lighten the mood, but her frown only deepens.
“I don’t want to be this girl. I’m here all the time, but I don’t know what we’re doing. Is it a fling? Is it something else? Because I shouldn’t have feelings about you going to New York if it’s just a fling.”
“I always enjoy when a woman is annoyed; it means she likes me.” Wren yelps as I scoop her into my arms and sit with her on the bed.
“Happens a lot then?”
“Just you.”
“Doubt it.”
“Wren, look at me.” It’s awkward, but she maneuvers enough to lean back and look at me. Her expression is petulant, and I try like hell not to smile. “I’m dating you,” I tell her as I brush a stray lock of hair back from her face. “And when I’m back from New York, we can talk about it. I just need you to trust me, okay?”
“I don’t love it,” she admits, and this time I let my lips twitch up into a grin.
“And I appreciate that even though you don’t love it, you’re giving me a chance.”
“It’s because you look really good in a suit.”
“And out of one too, right?” I tease, rolling us so I’m braced on my forearms over her.
“It’s definitely a bonus.”
“I’m going to miss you too.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to, Hellcat. I heard you loud and clear.”
Instead of waiting for her retort, I press my lips to hers.
I kiss her until she melts into me.
I kiss her until I start believing this will all work out.
* * *
I pressmy phone to my ear the second I step through the automatic doors of the airport and onto the streets of New York, the driver having put my bags in the trunk without a word like we’ve done this a thousand times.
Because we have.
This was my life before I went to Montana.
