Page 97 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

“Excellent,” Simon says as he looks down at his notes. I take a glance over to Stella, who apparently had the same idea. When our eyes meet, a rush of warmth shoots through me.

I remember when Stella told me about the honeymoon stage when we were in Florida. I had an idea of what she meant, but had never experienced it.

This. This is it. The feeling that I want to be around her all the time. Knowing that I haven’t kissed her in three hours and that’s two hours and fifty-nine minutes too long. I want to know what she wants for lunch so I can go get it for her. I’m counting down the hours until we’re out of here so I can bring her back to my place and cuddle with her on my couch with my dog as we eat ice cream.

“Stella,” Simon says. At least this time I didn’t zone out completely on what he has to say. “What do you have for us?”

I look over to her, this time at least in context of work, as she opens her notebook. I don’t know why I love that she uses a notebook and not an iPad or her laptop, but I do. “We went over the permits for next week, so I can cross that off. Emmett, all the rent checks have been processed for the month, so that’s taken care of. I started on the social media accounts for Magnolia Properties because it’s 2024 and you need one. Oh, and Simon, the showing you had for this afternoon? The realtor called as we were walking into this meeting and asked if you could move it up. I told her I’d get back to her.”

I look on in admiration as Stella goes on with her updates. She’s in her element. We give her a task and she gets it done, none too big or small. Most of the time she’s tackling multiple things for us at once, and she never seems to get overwhelmed.And starting the social media? That’s genius that Simon or I would’ve never thought of. In just a short time, she’s already making this office hers. Simon might own it, and I might be his right hand, but it’s quickly becoming apparent that Stella is running this show.

“Love it,” Simon says. “Whatever you need for the social media, just do it. Whatever you need to buy, just use the card. This is your project, and I completely trust you. As for the showing, can you call her and let her know that I’ll come out in an hour? I have a few other errands to run, so I’ll just do that and then go relieve Mom since she’s watching Lainey for us today.”

“No problem,” Stella says as she picks up her phone, assumably to relay the message. “Also make sure you take her a slice of pie from the diner.”

“Why would I do that?” Simon asks.

“Because you need this realtor to come down seven thousand dollars, so you need to soften her up. Pie has a way of helping that.”

“Good call,” Simon says. “Okay, other than the pie, is there any new business we didn’t discuss?”

Stella and I slyly look at each other, making sure that we’re on the same page to tell Simon what we need to. This was the plan. We knew he’d ask this question today, and we thought it was the perfect time to gently tell him.

“Actually yeah,” I begin. “There’s something I want to talk about with you. Actually, that Stella and I both want to talk to you about…”

Simon starts to respond when his cell phone alerts him to a text. “Oh. Shit.”

“Everything okay?” Stella asks.

“I think so. It’s Mom. She needs me to pick up Lainey right now. Apparently Ainsley got a flat tire. Dad is golfing so Mom needs to go pick her up.”

“You can tell Mom I’ll come get her?” Stella offers.

“Then you’d have to drive back up to Nashville,” Simonsays. “It’s fine. I’ll just get Lainey a little earlier than planned. I can take her to the showing. Oh! Maybe that’ll help negotiations. How can you resist a man holding a baby who also brought you pie? Oh! Maybe I can get Lainey to say her first word, and it be the realtor’s name…”

“She’s four months old, Simon,” I remind him. “Just get her to not puke.”

“Good call,” he says. “Oh wait. You had something to tell me?”

I look over to Stella, who’s discreetly shaking her head. “No biggie. We can talk later.”

“Sounds good.” Simon says as he leaves the conference room. “See everyone tomorrow.”

Neither of us move as Simon hurries into his office to grab his keys. We stay seated until he’s out the back door.

“Tomorrow,” I say.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” she agrees. “What’s one more day?”

An awkward pause occurs between us as Stella stands to exit the conference room. I follow her lead, knowing that as much as I want to sneak her into a hidden corner of the office away from the glass windows so I can kiss the hell out of her, we should probably go back to work.

I don’t mean to, and I don’t think she does either, but we both walk in front of the door at the same time. “After you,” I say as I open the door.

“Well, thank you.” Her smile is too much for me to resist. As she starts walking I step behind her, wrap my hand around her waist and pull her back to me. She lets out a small shriek as I pin her against the glass wall and kiss her.

And not just kiss her. Kiss the hell out of her. And just like that, the whole “go back to work” notion flies out the window.

“Cap,” Stella whispers, her hands pulling at the waist of my jeans.

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