Page 50 of Accidentally in Bloom

“You love this, don't you?” Rose’s head cocked to one side.

He sent her a shy smile. “Of course I do; I’m making something from nothing.”

That phrase rang in her ears.

“I like to think about how my products will be used. How they’ll be sold, how they’ll be part of the best parts of people’s lives. Maybe if they’re lucky, they might see a wedding or a baby shower, or be with a proposal, or just show somebody they’re important.”

Rose started coughing to cover the sudden wave of emotion that hit as he spoke. Did she fall into some parallel universe upside-down time loop as she crossed onto his driveway? She cleared her throat. “That sounds magical.”

“Let’s get you some iced tea.” He opened the greenhouse door. “We can go up to the house.”

“That’s not necessary,” Rose waved her hand. “I should go anyway.”

Duke bounded toward them.

“You don’t want to feed Duke some treats?” Gray asked. “He’ll be disappointed.”

Damn him. Feeding Duke treats sounded fucking amazing. She gazed into soulful hound dog eyes that blinked up at her. “Are you using your dog to keep me here?”

Duke ran beside her as they walked to the house. She tugged the ball out from his mouth and threw it. He let out a yip and excitedly chased it up the hill toward the house.

“I would never stoop so low as to use my best friend to keep a woman here.”

“Keep your business partner here,” Rose corrected, shoving his arm.

“I believe you’re both.” His eyes landed on every curve of her body before meeting hers.

She sucked in her cheeks and bit them to keep an idiotic giggle from spilling out.

They walked into the house, and Rose took in the gleaming kitchen countertops on top of expensive cabinets. The copper accents sparkled in the minimally decorated yet modern kitchen. “Your kitchen is beautiful. Who was your designer?”

“I guess I was. I’m still working through the rest of the house. This used to be my grandparents’ cattle barn. I’ve converted it over the past five years.”

Duke gobbled up treats from Rose’s hand, and she sipped the iced tea Gray had poured for her and peered up at the exposed ceiling beams. “So those are real?”

“Yep. Real, load-bearing, old ass beams.”

The early evening sun glinted off the windows and reflected in, bathing the kitchen in orange light.

Who was this guy? She’d worked alongside him for weeks, but apparently, she barely knew him. “Have you been a farmer since school?”

Gray smiled. “Not exactly. Follow me.” He led Rose into the living room, and she glanced around the open space. The walls were snowy white but gave way to a dark wood ceiling. A stone chimney ran the length of the two-story wall, with a fireplace big enough to stand in. The floors were a warm, beautiful old wood. Brass fixtures complemented the warm, earthy furniture.

The large photo above the mantle caught her attention. A portrait of a young zebra gazed directly into the camera with a near-human expression of longing. Family surrounded it but chose to look directly into the photographer’s lens.

“This is exquisite. Where did you get it?”

“I shot it while on assignment.”

Rose turned around and considered him, confused. “You shot...you’re a photographer?”

“Was. Some freelance magazine assignments here and there, like that one,” he said, gesturing to the print.

Rose turned back around to the picture and gaped. Turned back to him, started to speak, then turned back to the photo.

She was definitely in an upside-down time loop.

“How do you go from National Geographic quality photos to being a flower farmer in Fairwick Falls, Pennsylvania?”

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