Page 30 of Gabriel & Skye

Beau shakes his head a little sadly. “She has a boyfriend.”

“Hey, isn’t she a photographer?” Callan quizzes.

Beau and Autumn have been friends for years. She’s a few years older than he is and comes from quite an affluent family down in Memphis. They hit it off at a work venue years ago and have been friends ever since. I never really thought it was possible for men and women to be friends, but maybe I’m just getting old.

“Yeah, she is,” Beau confirms. “Why’s that? Wedding pics?”

Callan chuckles. “Maybe, though we’ve not made any plans yet.”

“Georgia was talking about getting some professional photos done for the barn when it’s ready,” I say. “Maybe we could get Autumn in?”

“Autumn will be your girl,” Beau says. “She’s quite brilliant at what she does.”

“I’ll let Georgia know.”

He looks back at Callan. “So you’re really gonna do this after a few months together, Cal?”

Callan laughs, running a hand across his face. “Cousins, listen. If I didn’t make this girl officially mine with a ring, I was gonna combust. I let her go last time. It’s not gonna happen again.”

I glance over my shoulder as I watch Trinity. “I like your spirit.” She’s patting Sunny gently, just like I taught her. She keeps giggling because Sunny’s trying to lick her on the nose. “Though, I think Gray and Hart are going to be next.”

“You’re all dropping like flies!” Beau grins widely.

He hasn’t had a steady girlfriend since God knows when. At least it gets Mom off all our backs. Now she can focus on Grayson and Hartley being all loved up. It takes the pressure off somewhat. It’s not like I didn’t want my happy ending. I wanted it so badly, it just didn’t work out for me. It tells me even more how ready I am to find someone.

I want my happily ever after; I just don’t know how to go about it. I don’t even know if that exists for me now. What would it even take for me to be able to trust a woman again? I mean, I’m over Tiffany well and truly, but what she did still haunts me.

It scares me to ever give my heart to anyone again.

I don’t know what that would do to me if I were betrayed like that again.

My fears have kept me single for a long time. Too long, some would say.

“Your time will come,” I tell Beau. “Mark my words.”

“What about you?” he throws back at me. “A CEO has to have some downtime.”

I chuckle. “Touché. I just haven’t had the time, though. I’m thinking of getting back on the dating scene. Apparently, it’s all done online now.” The idea makes me want to vomit. I’m not big on social media, not like Georgia and Beau, who live on their damn cell phones.

“Not a bad idea.” Callan folds his arms over his chest. “Sometimes it comes in the most unlikely places. Look at me and Celeste.”

“Well, you two were always meant to be.” I’m just stating the truth.

When I hear heavy footsteps coming up the hall, I internally roll my eyes. So much for getting emails done. I haven’t even touched one yet.

“Who was meant to be?” another voice appears in the doorway.

Grayson.

“Just talking about Callan’s love life,” Beau informs him as he walks in. “Since neither me nor Gabe have one of our own.”

“I keep telling you both that love can appear in the most unlikely of places,” Gray says.

I run a hand across my face. “Not you too.”

“All loved up and nowhere to go,” Beau laughs, giving Gray a shove.

“Trust me, I’ve plenty of places to go,” Gray jokes, shoving him back.

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