“How about this?” I said as I stood on my tip toes, draping my arms around his neck, our lips still a breath away from touching. “I’m yours. As long as you’ll have me.”
He didn’t hesitate as his lips crashed down on mine in a punishing kiss and he pressed me back into the door of my car. He consumed me with an intensity that gave me more than butterflies. It set me ablaze.
Knowing things were about to get more intense, I pulled back from our kiss, only to lightly brush my lips against his one last time.
“My bed…or yours?” he asked with a wicked grin, and I slapped his chest playfully.
“You get the sleeping baby, Cowboy. I’ll prep a bath.” Sauntering towards the front door with an extra swing in myhips, I heard his exasperated groan as he popped open the rear door to grab Charlie, who was starting to wake up.
“Your momma is gonna be the death of me, little one,” he mumbled just loud enough that I heard.
I chuckled as I retreated into the house to start our new nightly routine. This felt good. I could get used to it.
TWENTY-THREE
stella
Maxand I being together felt easy. We meshed in a way that felt like we’d been friends for years and co-parenting for all of Charlie’s life. The ease of falling into a ‘family-like’ routine was unsettling but so welcome. For so long, I’d done everything myself, and it felt good to lean on someone else for a change.
Max took almost every morning shift, waking up before me and getting Charlie ready for the day. With my permission, he changed, dressed, and fed her before I got up. I often found them out collecting eggs from the chicken coop or visiting the horses in the barn.
Charlie was very quickly becoming a horse enthusiast, even at just one year old. She loved giving them treats, and no longer needed Max’s help when doing so. She confidently held her tiny hand out flat in offering, letting their whiskered lips nuzzle up the apple slices or carrots Max dutifully kept in his pockets. Seeing her joy in something so simple as feeding farm animals breathed new life into my heart. I felt at peace with my decision to make Firefly Cove our new home.
Max and I’s relationship had blossomed into something I was terrified to define. He had wormed his way into the facets of my heart, yet I still felt that niggling thread that everything was going to go to shit. I don’t know that I would survive if something happened to him. He had taken my broken pieces and fit them together again.
We were currently cuddled up on the living room sofa, recounting our day as we did each night. It was nice to have someone to decompress with. Max’s fingers traced idle circles on my knee as I filled him in on the comings and goings of the boutique business. I had asked Tracy, the owner of the shop, if I could help with more of the inner workings of the day-to-day operations. She had happily agreed.
I had blossomed into a little fashionista, often spending a portion of my paycheck on new outfits. It proved worth it to see Max’s eyes light with desire when I sported a new outfit for our now weekly date nights. Tracy had offered to let me take a stab at inventory and ordering for the upcoming fall collection. I was nervous, but excited, that I was going to be curating the entire store’s collection.
I pored over magazines and fashion blogs, checking for the latest trends. Since our clientele catered to the late twenties through the early thirties crowd, I wanted to find pieces that could transfer from office wear to nightlife. I’m sure Max was tired of listening to me prattle on and on about the latest fashion trends, what influencer was wearing what, or who was coming out with new lines.
Like the good partner he is, he took everything in stride. He nodded and remarked at the appropriate times, adding commentary when the situation called for input.
“I’m sorry, I’m probably boring you,” I sighed, putting my phone face down in my lap. I’d been showing him the latestrunway looks suitable for the shop’s clothing line when I realized I had talked for nearly a full hour.
“Trouble, you’re not boring me. I enjoy listening to you talk about the boutique. I can tell that you’re passionate about it and it’s nice to see you happy,” he said, taking my hand in his and rubbing his thumb across my knuckles.
“I know the last couple of weeks have been busy, but it’s all going to be worth it when we’re celebrating tomorrow,” he promised.
I’d been burning the candle at both ends for the last couple of weeks between taking on more responsibilities at work and planning Charlie’s and the twins’ birthday party with Ray. Honestly, the more stressful of the two was planning a one-year-old’s birthday party, knowing that she wouldn’t remember it.
Ray and I had spent hours nailing down the details, from whimsical forest decor for the backyard at the big house, to cake flavors and snacks. When Ray had shown me the plans she had started for Charlie, I jumped in to help anywhere I could.
It was proving to be a much bigger soiree than initially planned, and the guest list was damn near all of Firefly Cove. I guess that’s what happens when you wind up dating one of the town’s golden boys.
I hadn’t ever thrown a party of this scale, but Ray seemed in her element. She took everything in stride and I barely had to lift a finger in planning. I had made mention of the idea of spreading her design business into the party planning sector. Her eyes lit with a fire and a gleam only found in those with the entrepreneurial spirit. She began immediately jotting down notes on how to make it happen, thanking me profusely for the idea.
I still struggled daily with letting others help. Being that it was such an ingrained part of my psyche, I constantly questioned everyone’s motives or intentions.
I knew deep down that no one in the Daniels or Cortez families would do anything they didn’t want to, but I still felt like a tad bit of a burden. After all, I’d shown up in the town with a baby in tow, on the run from a drug-dealing murderer, and with nowhere to go. Nothing screams ‘burden’ like the damsel in distress.
My phone buzzed from my knee, and I turned it over to check the messages. Seeing the unknown number, I flipped the phone back over, concealing it from Max’s view. There was no reason to get him worked up over the one or two messages I had received over the last week. They had all been vague and cryptic, with no discernible information that led me to believe that Charlie and I were in any further danger. I reminded myself that tomorrow, I needed to mention the messages to Sheriff Cortez.
I knew that if I mentioned the messages to Max, he’d have the house locked down tighter than Fort Knox. He’d insist on following me to and from work each day, and he wouldn’t ever let Charlie out of his sight. I didn’t want to go from living a life of freedom to being stuck in a cage created from fear again. I wouldn’t let them win. Charlie and I were safe here in Firefly Cove.
They wouldn’t find us here.
Max had insisted on installing a camera doorbell at the big house after the first message had come through. He said it gave him a slight peace of mind, knowing that if Charlie and I were here by ourselves and he was out on the ranch, he could see everything from his phone. That man was so protective of us, it made me fall deeper for him each day.
