Page 177 of Castleton Hearts Boxed Set

Chapter 15

The next day at work, it was like my brain was swimming through mud. I messed up emails, ordered the wrong supplies and had to fix it, sent calls to the wrong people. I was just off.

It didn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out where my mind was.

Natalie.

If I’d thought I had been thinking about her before last night, today was on a whole other level.

I couldn’t stop looking up whenever someone walked by to see if Natalie would come in with Preston today.

She didn’t, but I did hear from her in the form of text messages and pictures of her day with Preston.

“I love my job, I love my job,” I whispered to myself over and over as I counted down the minutes until I could clock out and lock the door.

As soon as I was free, I got in my car and sent a message to Natalie that I was on my way to pick her up. We’d agreed to do dinner tonight at my place. She was bringing leftover taco bake that her mom had made. Natalie’s mom was from the midwest, so she made a lot of casseroles and hot dishes and every single one of them was delicious.

My heart fluttered as I watched Natalie walk out of her house with a casserole dish and a smile just for me.

She handed me the dish and then put it on her lap after she got in.

“Hey,” she said, leaning over to give me a kiss. If her parents looked out the front windows of their house, they would see us, but I didn’t care. Let them see. Let everyone see.

“Hey,” I said, all warm and soft inside.

“Is it weird to say that I missed you today?” she said.

“No, because I was going to say the same thing,” I said.

“I just wish we could be in our own little bubble and only come out to get food,” she said. “I mean, I love my job, but I’d rather be with you.”

That made me feel good.

“Well, I don’t love my job and I’d also rather be with you,” I said.

* * *

“Are you hungry, or do you want to make out first?” Natalie asked when we walked into the cabin.

“My plan is make out, dinner, make out, movie, make out,” I said. “As long as that’s okay with you.”

She nodded and put the casserole dish on the counter.

“That sounds like a really good to-do list,” she said, putting her arms on my shoulders. I grabbed her waist and pulled her even closer.

“I can’t believe I had to go a whole workday without kissing you,” I said.

“I know, it was torture,” she said. “I would have come by the office, but Preston was having an issue today and I didn’t want to over-stimulate him.”

“I’m about to stimulate you,” I said, waggling my eyebrows.

“Oh my god, that was awful,” she said, laughing.

“I know, but you’re still going to kiss me anyway.”

“You’re right. I am.”

And she did.

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