Her heartbeat stampeded through her whole body, and she swallowed, not quite sure where to put her hands or what to say.
In the next moment, a beep unlike she’d ever heard before filled the house, and then the electronic voice of Bobbie Jo said, “I got it. Tuck—it’s working. They should be able to hear us.”
“Tarr!” Tuck practically yelled, and Briar’s eyes shot to the intercom system on the other side of the kitchen. The security voice talked through that when doors or windows were opened.
Tarr swore under his breath as he twisted toward the security system panel too.
“Hey, brother,” Tuck said. “Uh, hey, we’re just letting you know that we’ve got cameras in the house, and we can see and hear everything you and Briar are doing.”
“Well, turn it off,” Tarr said.
Pure humiliation ran through Briar, and her eyes immediately swept the corners of the room and along the ceiling where cameras might be hidden. She didn’t see them at all—the mark of what a lot of money could buy.
“I don’t know how to turn it off,” Bobbie Jo said.
“You don’t have to watch,” Tarr called.
“We get a notification every time there’s movement,” Tuck said. “And we’re not sure how to turn that off either.”
Tarr swore again, and with everything shattered between them, Briar managed to slip off his lap, serve herself a piece of cake, and return to her seat.
“Sorry, Tarr,” he said.
“And Briar,” Bobbie Jo called. The irritating beep filled the house again, lasting for a good three or four seconds and reminding Briar of the way her dryer alarm went off when the cycle had finished. She ducked her head, glad she’d removed her ponytail after feeding the goats that morning. Surely she was thecolor of a bright red boiled lobster, and she put a bite of cake in her mouth without even tasting it.
Across from her, Tarr’s thumbs flew across his phone screen, and after a minute or two, he threw it down in disgust.
“Cameras on the front porch,” he said. “All over the main living areas and in the backyard.”
Briar looked up. “I feel like I have to text you so I can talk to you now.”
“Yeah, it feels stupid, doesn’t it?” He wore a dark look of disgust, and Briar really missed the way his hands had felt on her waist and her back, and the soft warmth and urgency in his touch against her neck and cheek.
“What about the basement?” she asked.
“Tuck said he wasn’t sure, because they never go down there,” he said. “When we go down for our movie afternoon, he’ll let me know.”
Briar swallowed and left the rest of the cake on her plate in favor of the poutine. She knew her house didn’t have any cameras, but she didn’t know how to invite him back there for his birthday dinner. Would that be too forward? And would he make assumptions about how far he could go? Not only that, she wasn’t even sure she was ready to kiss him yet, which made no sense, as he’d definitely just kissed her a couple dozen times. No, not on the lips, but in intimate places nonetheless.
She dove into her phone too, looking for the movies Tarr had mentioned, so she’d have something to distract herself with.
As Tarr served himself another piece of birthday cake, Briar snuck a look at him. No matter what, she was definitely falling for a cowboy, something she’d vowed she’d never do again.
But things change, don’t they?she asked herself, immediately agreeing with the sentiment, because if there was anything Briar had learned about living life, it was that itchanged constantly, and she needed to adapt with it, or she’d always be broken.
Tarr healed so many cracked and bleeding things inside her, and she decided right then and there that falling in love with him wouldn’t be so bad after all.
sixteen
Tarr jogged down the stairs, a newfound giddiness prancing through him. “I’ve got great news, sweetheart,” he called as his foot reached the bottom step.
Tucker had a huge, 70-inch TV in the main living area in the basement, but he also had a theater room down the hall in the corner, and it actually sank lower into the ground, with eight more steps down to the screen there.
Briar had taken his caramel-cheese popcorn in there, and he’d also found a cooler with his beloved Diet Dr. Pepper and root beer, iced and ready to go.
The stuff that she knew about him wasn’t lost on Tarr, and he could admit that he loved being taken care of by her. No, doted on. Briar had beendotingon him all day, and it felt very adoring. No one, besides random strangers, had treated Tarr like that for a long time.
Briar emerged from the theater room as he started down the hall. “Good news?”
