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When the customer walked away, I peeked over at where Trevan was hanging a new painting that had arrived. It was by the same artist who’d gifted the rendition of me.

This one was the vague suggestion of the forest with the river running through.

Gorgeous and striking.

Not close to as striking as the man who was hanging it, but still.

Satisfaction hummed through me like a song.

“That’s quite the painting.”

The voice to my side jarred me out of the stupor, and I jerked to find Penny gazing at the artwork.

“She’s so talented. I feel lucky to get to display her work here in the store. Almost as lucky as I am to have you.”

I knocked her in the hip.

Shyness pulled through her features. “You stop it. I have little to contribute.”

I reached out and squeezed her hand. “You have so much to contribute.”

Uncertainty furled her brow, but she was slowly warming.

Becoming more comfortable with us. I hoped soon she’d become a true part of our family.

“I appreciate that,” she whispered, then she cleared her throat and took a step back. “I’m finished with my break. It hasn’t been super busy, so if you want to take a longer lunch, I should be fine.”

I started to argue, only Trevan was speaking as he hopped down from the step ladder and crossed in our direction. “That actually sounds like a good plan. I’m starving. Wouldn’t mind going next door to get a bite to eat.”

I was hungry.

We’d skipped breakfast this morning in favor of sex in the shower, not that you’d find me complaining.

I looked at Penny. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

She waved me off. “That’s what I’m here for.”

I shifted my attention back to Trevan. My belly flipped with the softness that he watched me with.

More blatant every day.

“Then it’s a date,” he rumbled, issuing words right out in the open that he probably shouldn’t.

It was something that needed to be fixed. This sneaking around because I refused to remain a secret.

I got it, though. The sticky situation we were in, and I knew Trevan was itching to get it resolved, too.

But I felt his fear in doing it. The terror that he was going to somehow lose me.

I would never allow it. I would fight for him the same way as he had always fought for me.

“Okay, then.”

I ran to the back and grabbed my bag, then rushed to where Trevan waited for me in the middle of the store.

His gaze raked over me like it’d pained him to be away from me for that single minute.

I glanced over at Penny who was peeking at us out of the corner of her eye, pretending not to pay attention to what was clearly transpiring between us.