Page 71 of Heart Set on You

I look him in the eye and nod. Cole is cool and calm and seems like a genuinely good guy. I can see why Rylee is so close to him. I’m glad she has him looking out for her.

He stands then, and I do too, both having said what we needed to say.

“When you’re around next time, you should stop by my shop for a beer. Or if you like fishing there are some great rivers around here I could show you.”

I smile. “Yeah, I’d like that. Let’s do it,” I say, and I mean it.

Back in the house, I offer to help Rylee’s Gran with dinner. She hands me an apron and a masher and directs me to the pot of steaming potatoes. I don’t exactly know my way around a kitchen, but I’m hoping even I can’t screw up mashing potatoes too badly.

I’m midway through mashing when Rylee walks in with her camera. She grins like she’s caught me with my hand in the cookie jar.

“That apron looks good on you,” she says, with one eyebrow raised. And fuck, if it doesn’t come out as sexy. Why does everything she say sound so fucking sexy to me? She snaps a photo, smiling.

Gran comes over to inspect my work, peeking into the bowl of potatoes. She makes a face. “You can do better than that,” she says. “Look at all those lumps.”

I hear Rylee snicker from somewhere behind me. “I’ll leave you to it,” she says, abandoning me.

“You know, my granddaughter is an awfully good cook. She used to spend hours with me in this kitchen when she was a kid.”

“I’ve been the lucky recipient of her cooking and her baking,” I reply. “Everything she makes is incredible. She must have learned from the best.”

Gran chuckles. “Her secret is that big ole’ heart in her chest. She does everything with love. You can’t go wrong when you’re cooking with love.”

Gran is right. Rylee wears her heart on her sleeve. She puts others’ happiness before her own and goes out of her way to make people feel special. I’ve never met anyone like her. And now she has my damn heart in the palm of her hand.

“And she’s prettier than a peach,” Gran adds with a wink.

“Never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”

I’m in love with your granddaughter.

She’s become my whole world.

“You two are cute as pie. I’m rooting for you.” She gives my wrist an affectionate squeeze. “Now, you give those potatoes a little extra love and then help me take this all to the table.”

Eventually we all take our seats around the dining room table. The house smells delicious thanks to the feast of buttermilk biscuits and gravy, garlicky skillet greens, mashed potatoes and fried chicken. I take heaping servings of everything, savoring every delicious bite. For dessert there is an apple pecan pie that Rylee baked this afternoon with her grandma.

“I can’t believe you made this,” I say before taking my last bite, holding back a moan. “Are the apples from the farm?”

“Hand-picked by me,” Gran says.

The evening flies by and soon Cole and Cara and the kids say their goodbyes. Rylee and I help Gran with the clean-up and then head upstairs to bed, both exhausted from the busy day.

We slip into her small bed, me in my boxers and Rylee in a thin tank top and shorts. I lean back against the pillow, one arm around Rylee, her head on my chest.

“I had a great time tonight. Thank you for allowing me to join you.”

“You did?” she asks, looking up at me.

“I absolutely did. But I ate too much. Your Gran is some cook.”

“She likes you.”

“I’m not surprised. I’m hard to resist.”

“Stop flirting with me when we’re talking about my grandma,” Rylee teases, resting her cheek back against my chest.

“She’s barely five feet tall, but she’s a force to be reckoned with. I would be lost without her,” she says with a small sigh. “I don’t think anyone expects their children to go before them.”

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