Page 40 of Begin Again

She laughed. “Well played, Christian.”

He wiped his hand across his brow. “Thank God. I was worried there was no right answer for that statement.”

“Let me see you. It’s your turn to do a little spin.”

He snorted. “Not likely.”

“It’s only fair,” she argued. She was laughing at him and he found he couldn’t tell her no.

To mirror her, he put his hands out to his sides and did a turn.

“There,” he said. “I felt your eyes on my ass.”

“Of course they were there,” she said. “Not that I can see much with your jacket covering you, but I know what it looks like. It’s no different than your eyes on my breasts right now.”

He lifted them up to her face and felt the heat creep up his neck. “Sorry. They are just so...there.”

“They are,” she said. “Not even strapped down like I normally do. My sports bra wouldn’t look all that nice peeking out the V of the neckline.”

“No,” he said. She was bare of jewelry. Just some hoops in her ears, but he only noticed them when she spun and her hair moved out of the way.

He wished he had something to give her to put on. Then he wondered where that thought came from because he never cared one way or another about that sort of thing.

This was her, only spiced up. Yeah, that was how he was looking at it.

Liz was a simple girl and the one that was stealing his heart more than he’d ever thought possible.

“Are we ready to go?” she asked. “I’m trying not to be nervous. My father said he knows Cash but not his future wife.”

“Cash Fielding,” he said. “Fielding Landscaping does all the work with our new builds. I did work with Cash and his father, Roc, as a kid.”

“Did they worry you’d take their business?” she asked, laughing and grabbing her purse off the bench by the door. Just a small one that was different from what she normally carried.

“No,” he said. “Everyone knew it was my hobby, but I wanted to learn. Cash’s father died when Cash was eighteen. He’s been running the business. I was in college at that point going for engineering. Cash and my cousin Ryan are best friends.”

“That explains why my father knows of Cash. For as big as the Capital Region is, it’s still a small community network in the construction field.”

“True,” he said. “Hannah is a hairdresser. Cash and Hannah live in Paradise Place. Hannah’s sister and her husband do too.”

“Cozy,” she said.

“You’ll meet them at the Paradise Place picnic if you go this summer. You should.”

“Only if you go with me,” she said.

“I have to be there and I’d love to have you by my side.”

“Oh,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. He loved this playful side of her. “You don’t live here. How come you get to go? I thought you’d be my guest.”

He yanked her close to his body and kissed her. “There is no way the work is being left to my grandparents and parents and aunt and uncle. All of us kids do a ton of work whether we live here or not.”

“You’re a good son,” she said, patting his cheek.

“Let’s go see the rest of the family,” he said. “Are you nervous?”

“A little,” she said as she locked the door to her house.

“No reason to be,” he said. “You’ve met everyone before.”

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