It was still his house, even though I was there just about every night. Every time Tucker tried to politely coerce me to move in, I told him that I needed just one meal with his parents where his mom could get through it without apologizing again for meeting me the way she had.
Once the ‘interrupting during truck sex trauma’ was behind us, and not the first thing she thought when she looked at me, I could cross the bridge of cohabitating with her son.
And even though I wasn’t living under the same roof as Tucker, my newest babies were. The book that he’d announced at the fair had, for lack of a better term, blown the hell up.
Everyone in town, it seemed, wanted one for their bookshelf, their coffee table, as a present for their friends or family. Once the fair wrapped up, I had so many preorders that it still made my head spin. And that was nothing on how many people asked me whether I was available for weddings and engagements and maternity shoots.
I hit the ground running, working for days upon days to perfect the shots that would go in my book. Work on the layout of the pages so they were exactly the way I envisioned. And Jennifer Winston, though she’d been smart not to hire me for my abysmal baking skills, had loved the idea of displaying my artwork along the walls of both Donner Bakery locations, each one labeled with a small price tag.
“Do you want me to count these?” he asked from the spare room. “You know they shorted your last order by three copies.”
“Yeah, go ahead. Check the spines too. I wasn’t happy with how they packaged them.”
I settled into the corner of the couch and dragged my computer onto my lap. Instead of working on my own project, tonight was work for a completely different client.
Tucker’s hands landed on my shoulders, and I looked up. He was peering at the computer screen as his thumbs started some delicious pressing along my spine.
“Oh yes,” I groaned. “Right there.”
He increased the pressure, hitting a spot that made my toes curl. Not like the typical ‘sex with my boyfriend was always earth-shattering’ toe curl, more along the lines of ‘I’d been hunched over my laptop for too long’ toe curl.
“Keep making those sounds, Angry Girl, and you won’t be getting much more work done,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss along the line of my neck. I arched so he could find my lips with his, which he did.
After a moment, sweet and slow and simmering with passion that I could hardly believe existed, I pulled away with a happy exhale. “I can’t afford to ignore this job, either. Such high-maintenance clients,” I teased.
He pinched my side, and I shrieked.
“I like how it’s coming along,” he said. “Did you show Grady?”
“A few of them.” My fingers tracked along the mouse pad as the screen scrolled down. We’d spent the afternoon hiking and fishing, but in a professional capacity.
Tucker was officially in league with my brother, though he was only helping in a part-time, as needed capacity at that point. But they still needed pictures for a website, and that’s where I was a very convenient helper.
“I like that one,” I said. Tucker was baiting a hook, Grady casting his line out onto a winding river that was catching the light perfectly. The trees behind them were red and orange and yellow, the kind of fire that I remembered discussing with Tucker, back when I had no idea what he could come to mean to me. “You should put it on your home page.”
“Home page,” he mused. “Seems like we’ve got a million miles to go before this turns into something real.”
“You guys are off to a great start. Didn’t Grady just find some office space?”
Tucker hummed. “It’s got great storage too, which he’ll need for all the gear. I told him he needs to find an office manager though. I love your brother, but he is not the most organized person I’ve ever met.”
I grinned. “That is unfortunately true.”
“I’m gonna go finish counting books,” he said. “Need anything while I’m up?”
My eyes widened innocently. “Yes.”
The innocence didn’t fool him. He grinned that sexy half-grin that I loved, and when I fisted my hand in his shirt to tug him down for another kiss, he growled against my lips.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” he said in between kisses.
“Gimme ten minutes,” I promised as I caught my breath.
He sucked at the skin on my neck. “You have eight, Angry Girl. Then I’m coming to get you.”
As he walked away, a spring in his step and a whistle coming from his lips, I smiled widely.
Life was funny, wasn’t it?
I’d turned Green Valley upside down, all right, just not in the way I’d anticipated, and found a path for myself, hidden among the winding roads and tall trees. The path that led me to Tucker, a career I’d only dreamed of, and this perfect little life.
I kinda loved this town.
* * *
Grady
“Where did you go, you little asshole? You were right here a second ago,” I murmured. The empty office space didn’t answer me. Neither did the pile of crumpled receipts as I rifled through them.
There was one large purchase order that up and walked away. It was the only explanation. And that was not acceptable, because if I was going to start this business, I was going to start on the right foot.
In theory, I was doing well.
The business loan was secured.
I had a partner in the form of Tucker Haywood, even if he wasn’t full-time, given that we had approximately zero customers yet.
But those would come, I had to believe. I just needed someone to do … everything else that I sucked at. The office space I’d rented was empty, other than the basic desk and cheap chair I’d picked up in Maryville so that I had somewhere to sit while
