Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
“With how much I like knowing you’ll still feel me while I’m gone, I might have to make that a tradition before I leave on any club runs.” He sat up, and I got a view of his stomach, my lipstick mark now smeared on his skin.
“You won’t get any complaints from me if you always want to say goodbye like that.” I ran my fingers over the sweat droplets on his abs. “But I might have to redo this.”
“Puttin’ your mark on me can be part of the tradition, too,” he offered with a smile. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I know,” I whispered, just wishing he didn’t have to leave, and we could stay on the bed together. Forever.
10
RHIANNON
Almost a week had passed since Dean left, and I was practically counting down the minutes until he returned. He was finally going to be on his way back to me soon, and I could hardly wait to see him again. Sleeping without him was so rough that I’d decided to stay over at my friend Shelly’s place for a few nights. That hadn’t helped much with getting more rest, but at least we’d had the chance to catch up with each other.
“Looks like my best customer wanted to make a big statement about how much he’s missing you while he’s out of town.”
I whirled around to see what Harvey was talking about and was surprised to find him holding a huge bouquet. “Whoa.”
“Big might’ve been an understatement.” He set the vase on the counter to my left, setting his hands on his hips as he stared down at it. “Although I have a bone to pick with the man the next time I see him.”
“How come?” I asked, unable to tear my gaze away from the flowers. In all of the deliveries I had done for Harvey, I had never seen an arrangement quite as big and extravagant.
“Because he didn’t order them from me,” he complained.
My eyes widened as I turned to gape at him. “What? That’s so weird. He gets all of his flowers from you.”
“Maybe he thought that wouldn’t be romantic enough since you work for me,” Harvey grumbled, glaring at the bouquet.
I pulled the small envelope from the stick that was holding it and traced my finger over my name. I knew he hadn’t written it himself, but that didn’t make it any less special.
My lips curved into a smile as I pulled out the card and read the message on it.
See you soon, beautiful.
Pressing the small piece of paper against my chest, I sighed.
“I gotta admit that I wasn’t too sure about you two as a couple when Viper first asked about you, but he’s got my stamp of approval so long as he continues to make you smile like that,” Harvey murmured.
“He really does make me happy,” I confessed, tucking the card into my back pocket. “Even while he’s out of town, he’s taken such good care of me.”
“He gets back tonight?” Harvey asked.
I nodded with a grin. “Yeah, super late, though. Hopefully, I’ll see him in the morning before work and then again when I drop his next order.”
“You should just take the day off. If you mope around here because you’re missing your man, it’ll be bad for business.”
I really wanted to take Harvey up on his offer, but it wouldn’t be fair to leave him short-staffed at the last minute just so I could cuddle in bed with Dean all day. No matter how much I missed him, it wouldn’t be right. Not when it was too late to find someone to cover for me. “Thanks so much, but I’ll be here. It won’t kill me to get a shift in before I make up for lost time with Dean.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.” He jerked his chin at the bouquet. “If you don’t come in, maybe I’ll make the delivery myself so I can give Viper a hard time about ordering those from someone else.”
I shook my head, laughing softly. “Then I definitely need to come in so you don’t alienate your best customer.”
“I shoulda known you’d want to protect your boyfriend instead of your poor, old boss,” he grumbled with an exaggerated pout.
I giggled as he wandered off, then got back to work. With my gaze darting toward my bouquet, I moved slower than usual. Once I got on the road to make my deliveries, I needed to make up time so I didn’t miss the two-hour window Harvey had said I’d be there when they placed their orders. So instead of calling Dean right away to thank him for the flowers, I focused on getting my job done.
It felt like I was on the road forever, but a couple of hours later, I was headed back to the garden center to drop off the delivery van, clock out, and pick up my car. Harvey was busy in his office with the door closed, so I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye before I grabbed my flowers and brought them outside to strap the vase into the passenger seat of my car.