“Leave her alone.”
“Aren’t you here to get a library card for Bellamy?” Cash herds us closer to the counter. “Focus on your task at hand, brother. Don’t worry about me. Haven and I are just friends.” He lifts his voice. “Isn’t that right, Haven?”
She blushes.
Jesus Fucking Christ. I give her a tight smile. “How are you?”
“Great, Zane. Nice to see you again. And who isthis?” She leans over, seeming unaware that Cash is eyeing up the top of her cleavage.
“I’m Bellamy.”
“And this is Hope,” I say.My…Just mine, but that doesn’t work great for introductions.
But after the drama that went down on the ranch, with first responders crawling all over the scene, zero explanations are needed.
Haven’s eyes go wide. “Hope,” she breathes. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a bit about you, just a tiny bit, not a lot, I swear. But you know how small towns are. It’s, um, nice to meet you.” And then she lets out a flustered laugh. “I said that twice, so please just believe me when I say I mean it twice.”
Hope’s mouth falls open, then snaps shut, and nods.
Before she can reply, the front door of the library swings open, and Jessika Foote walks in, a book in hand.
She takes one look at Hope, then slides her gaze to Cash, and finally to me.
“Can I help you?” Haven asks.
And we all notice the tone shift. Cooler, more professional.
Hope smiles.
I step closer and pull her in against me, my hand wrapping possessively around Hope’s far hip.
Jessika’s eyebrow shoots up.
Yes, mine.
Cash suddenly gets very interested in a display of animal books, drawing Bellamy in that direction.
“This book was damaged when I took it out,” Jessika says, thrusting it across the counter before she flounces out.
Haven stares after her.
As soon as the door shuts behind her back,Hope—my shy, sweet, surprising girl—reaches for the book and picks it up. “It looks like it fell in a bathtub,” she says as she lifts it to her nose. “Smells like it, too.”
Haven sighs. “It’s not worth being the centre of a town meeting debate to charge her for it, but the lying is obnoxious.”
“I’ve only met her twice, and both times she struck me as obnoxious,” Hope confirms. “But it’s important to pick your battles. Hey…do you have any books about midwifery?”
Surprising on many levels.
“Yeah?” I ask as Haven types something into her computer.
“Just researching my options,” Hope murmurs.
“Good for you.”
I think about that for the rest of the afternoon. I think about how I didn’t know how to introduce her to Jessika. Girlfriend sounded insufficient. We aren’t officially engaged yet.My womanfeels right but in a private way.Mateeven more so.
I want to be able to shout from the rooftops that she’s my wife.
