It wasn’t all their fault. Being so close to the Canadian border made it a good place to hide out for criminals looking to make an escape, but the townspeople did not help their situation.
“Ridge is there now, and he’s been doing a lot to fix the crime problem,” Loretta said, but I noticed she didn’t put up an argument to move back.
I huffed. “Ridge is a good guy, but all he’s done so far is flush out the criminals.” You had to ask yourself which was worse. Crime happening underneath your nose that you didn’t know about while living in relative peace or being in the middle of the East Coast version of the Wild West.
Honestly, for myself, I considered it a tossup.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said continuing. “We are never going back. You can buy new clothes here or I’ll hire someone to pack up your house and move you in.”
I wasn’t completely stupid. Loretta’s family lived in Pelican Bay as well as mine. We would have to make one or maybe two trips a year to see them. Under no conditions were Katy or any of the ladies in the bakery allowed to know we were in town. The other times our families could visit us in the city. I had enough spare rooms in the penthouse.
No way was I letting her back in the state of Maine to pack up her possessions. If she really wanted them, I’d hire a crew. Otherwise, I found it perfectly fine to let her go on a shopping spree and buy new things.
Her fingers tightened against mine. “I just want to make sure you’re positive because we’ve only known each other two weeks. It’s super early.”
“Do you not want to move in with me?” I asked, making a stop in the middle of the walkway.
Loretta looked up at me with one of my favorite smiles. “It’s not that, just…”
She wasn’t big on emotional displays, but I’d learned something about the feisty woman in the two weeks we’d been together. If she liked you, then she fought with you. If she didn’t like you, Loretta wouldn’t give you the time of day. Considering we argued often, yet somehow always ended up in bed together, I had a feeling I was pretty damn high on her scale.
“Loretta James, I have never been surer of anything in my entire life. Yes, we haven’t known each other long, but my soul knows yours.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “You’re so mushy.”
I had to be romantic for the both of us. “Don’t deny it now. You said so yourself,” I continued. “I’ve experienced a lot of life. I know exactly what I’m looking for, and it’s you.”
Truth seeped from every single word. I thought I understood what I wanted before, but then Loretta fell into my arms and I realized I’d been wrong. And I was rarely wrong.
The reason I hadn’t found anyone earlier was because I hadn’t met her. Loretta lit my heart and soul. Just being around her made me feel as if everything was perfect. And always would be.
“I hate to admit this,” she said raising her eyes as if she was embarrassed. “But I feel the same way. It’s like we’ve known each other forever.”
“Because in a way we have. Right here,” I said placing my hand on her chest right where her heart was.
“Ugh, you’re so romantic. I don’t know how to handle it,” she said, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
“You’ll come to accept my compliments. We’ve learned so much about each other, and I know we have more, but there’s one thing you definitely don’t know.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” she asked, still staring deeply into my gaze.
I grabbed her other hand and held them both between us. “When I see something good, I take it. And you, Loretta, are my something good.”
I might not deserve her, but I’d spend the rest of my life making sure she knew how much I loved her. She stuck her delectable hip out, which gave me the signal we’d moved past the romantic phase of my speech and onto the argumentative one. I considered it her way of agreeing to everything I said.
“So what’s that mean? I’m supposed to just give up Pelican Bay for you?”
We both knew she didn’t want to go back either. Not once in the week I practically held her hostage in my high-rise did she ask to return.
I tugged her over to the side and we took a spot on the grass to look out at the park. “Yes,” I said matter-of-factly. “But in return you’re getting me and a multi-million-dollar view of Central Park. That and anything else you wish for will be yours.”
Loretta laughed and rolled over, tackling me so we were both lying. She had one arm wrapped around me and laid her head on my shoulder. “Getting to keep you is enough.”
Epilogue
Loretta slid into the church pew beside me and rested her head on my shoulder. “This is nice, but not nearly as sweet as ours,” she said.
“Blue,” I said even though she’d dyed her hair a light shade of purple, which she called lavender. “We married in Las Vegas after one of your brother’s concerts.”
