Page 61 of Temporarily in Love

He kissed my shoulder. “You’re working so hard. Tell me what you need.”

I pulled his arms around my waist and leaned back against him. “This is perfect, thanks.”

He leaned back against the headboard of his bed, and we settled into each other. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

I nodded. “I think so. I roped all of Brian’s brothers into helping us. I’m pretty pissed Killian called out today, so he better show up.”

He kissed the side of my neck. “You better crack the whip.”

I laughed. “Brian keeps calling me the boss, but I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

I sighed and moved away from him, sitting next to him with my back against the headboard. “I want to buy the bar.”

“Okay,” he said without a hint of emotion. Like he already knew.

“I want it to stay in the family, but tonight my dad said something about wanting to retire. I feel like that’s a sign I should do it.”

“What would that mean?”

I shrugged.

I wanted to save the bar. That was why I had been here for the past several weeks getting the website redesigned, the logo redone, and hiring a marketing person to help me figure out social media. When I first came back to Drakesville, I thought I wanted to buy the bar and be the silent partner. That I’d make sure our finances were in good shape, and then I’d go home, but now I wasn’t so sure. Part of the reason was sitting beside me.

“If you bought the bar, would you stay?” he asked.

I wanted so badly for him to beg me to stay. To tell me to change my whole career path and stay with him forever. But he wasn’t doing that. If I stayed, I wasn’t sure where that left us. I heard some whispers about Declan lately. Maybe he just wanted a temporary fling. If I moved back and he didn’t want a relationship, that would have been embarrassing.

“I’m not sure, but I have to ask my dad if he’ll let me first.”

“Okay, let’s not make any big decisions tonight. You have a long day tomorrow, so let’s get some sleep.”

I got out of bed and slipped on one of his t-shirts. I was tall, but Declan was taller and lankier. His shirts slid down my body like a dress. He got up and put on a clean pair of boxers and then glared at me when my clothes were still left on the floor. He could be so anal about things needing to be tidy.

“It wouldn’t kill you to have my jeans on the floor!” I said with a laugh.

He passive-aggressively threw my dirty clothes in his hamper. I was still laughing when I slipped down under the comforter.

He turned off the lights and slid in behind me. “You’re doing amazing with the bar. Tomorrow’s gonna be great.”

I hadn’t told him how nervous I was about tomorrow. I wanted everything to succeed. “You’re coming, right?”

He cupped my face. “Love, I told you I would. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And then after that’s done, the following weekend, we have the Halloween party, so you can relax.”

“Oh, I need to get a costume.”

He grinned. “Something really sexy.”

I laughed. “Of course! You better wear one too. You can’t be boring!”

He silenced me with a goodnight kiss. “We’ll figure it out.”

I noticed he didn’t ask me again when I was leaving. I hadn’t booked a return flight home yet, but ‘After Halloween’ wasn’t a real timeframe. We had been avoiding talking about it because that meant our time was running out. I didn’t want to think about a life where I wasn’t sleeping beside the man I loved.

That’s how I knew I was in trouble with Declan MacGregor. He was the only man I had ever loved, and I was contemplating moving back to Drakesville. But that was completely ridiculous. Wasn’t it?

Chapter Eighteen