Page 29 of Surprised By Love

“Let me help you get these inside.” His mouth is so close to my ear I can feel his hot breath.

I let out a breath. “It’s okay, we got it.”

“Nonsense, I’m here. Let me help. Besides, it looks like your helper’s preoccupied,” he says, tilting his head behind us.

I look and see Amelia sitting in the snow playing with a black labrador retriever.

“His name is Max, and he’s friendly.”

“Max, you’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Amelia rubs the top of Max’s head. Max responds by licking her face and she bursts out laughing.

I always wanted to get Amelia a pet, but Derek didn’t want pet hair in the house. I knew Derek was picky with certain things before we got married, but it seemed to get worse as the years went on. The more time we’re here, the more I decide this is the right choice. This is where I want to raise Amelia.

I lead Josh towards the house and I look back at him. “She’s okay there with Max.” He says. “He’s not only my pet, he’s police trained. She’s safe with him.”

I nod. “Amelia, stay right there with Max. We will be right back.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Amelia says, as Max rolls onto his back so Amelia can rub his belly.

“He’s great with kids,” Josh says as we enter the house.

“I can see that and I think he made a new best friend in Amelia.” I place the bags on the kitchen Island. “You can place those here as well.” I point to the island counter. Josh places the four bags he grabbed from the trunk down and faces me.

“Are you sure it’s okay if we join you tonight? I don’t want to intrude on family time.”

“No, it’s fine. We would love the company and I know my sisters adore you and Amelia is so excited to have a best friend already. She would be heartbroken if… Emily didn’t come.” I caught myself just in time, almost saying his name. Why am I so anxious around him?

“Well, we can’t have that. And, my daughter is very fond of her. Amelia is all she talks about.” He laughs. “Is there anything I can bring?”

I lean my hip against the island and smile. “No, I think we have it covered.” He’s looking at me with this weird expression I can’t make out.

His eyes glance down at my lips. Does he want to kiss me? That’s the second time I’ve seen him look at my lips. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to kiss him. But, I’m not a one night type of person. In fact, I’ve never had a one-night stand. I’ve only been with one guy and I don’t know if I could do a one-time thing.

The silence is deafening, and I need to get back outside to Amelia. “Thank you for the help. I appreciate it.” I brush past him and go for the door, but my hand brushes his and damn if electricity doesn’t shoot through my body. This feeling is so foreign, I’ve never reacted to a man this way.

I need to get myself under control before I do something like kiss the Sergeant. I don’t need to be the center of town gossip when I’ve only been back a week.

As I pull another batch of chocolate crinkle cookies out of the oven, the phone rings. I place the cookie sheet down on the island and reach for my phone, smiling when I see my friend Amber’s face on the screen waiting for a video chat. “Hey, girl. How’s married life?”

Amber beams. “It’s the best thing ever! The Inn is doing extremely well, and it’s getting better with the weather getting colder.”

“Yeah, I bet,” I say as I remove the cookies from the tray and place them on a cooling rack.

Amber is a big time thriller author and when she inherited an Inn from her grandma, she returned to find her grandma had also given Amber’s highschool boyfriend Dylan part of the Inn. Turns out he had been working for her grandma for the past ten years and never told Amber about it. Well, they worked things out and have been married for five months now. Amelia and I were part of the wedding party. I smile as I remember how magical the ceremony was.

“So, did you guys get all the paperwork settled with the ski lodge for the lift tickets?”

“We sure did, and guess what?”

I shake my head at her excitement. I’m so happy for my childhood friend. “No idea.”

“The Inn’s booked solid until March!”

“Wow. I’m so happy for you guys. Tell Dylan I said congrats.”

“I will. So… tell me what’s going on there? Any juicy gossip? Any hot guys vying for your attention?”

I let out a guffaw. “Ha. No, and I’m not looking for a man right now. I want to concentrate on Amelia and get myself back into small town life.” I grab a spoon and stir the next batch of cookie dough.

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