Page 130 of Major Love

Forget about that guy from earlier.

It’s her and me, just the two of us.

When I’m only a foot away from her I hesitate and then stop, wanting nothing more than to wrap my arms around her but knowing that we need to talk about this morning.

I grip one palm around the back of my neck, exhaling at the tightness in my shoulders, and I roll them back a couple times as I plant my boots in front of her.

And I glance at the tall outdoor heater that Sunday has turned on, the warmth combined with the hot-tub steam making me want to rip off my uniform and submerge in the water.

I drop my eyes back to Sunday’s, towering over her as she peeks up at me.

“Hey,” I rumble, my voice hoarse as I look down at her.

“Hey,” she whispers back, stepping up to me with a little smile.

She touches her palm against my cheek and I exhale roughly, closing my eyes.

“Jason,” she whispers quietly, the softness in her voice making my eyes open.

I clear my throat and gently nod, unable to even blink as she holds my gaze.

“Yeah,” I murmur back to her. “It’s okay, just tell me. Is he…” I glance toward the glass doors behind her, checking again to see if the guy is still here. “Did he go?” I ask quietly. “Is he staying in the area?”

Sunday’s fingertips slide down the neck of my shirt and my eyes drop to hers, meeting her gaze.

“The reason why I came back to Phoenix Falls?” she says. “The reason why I fled Nashville was because of that guy.”

My shoulders tighten, eyes narrowing as I try to make sense of that, but Sunday immediately shakes her head, reading my expression.

“No, no – let me rephrase. Do you remember when I told you that someone leaked a story to theObserverabout me? Linking me to this huge country and western singer? Well…” She shrugs gently. “Riley is that singer.”

I stare down at her for a long moment, trying to understand exactly what she’s telling me and, seeing my struggle, Sunday squeezes my nape and clarifies.

“I’d just sold the bar for millions of dollars, and it’s rare for bars to swap hands so it was already going to be big news. But then someone sold photos of us hanging out as friends to the press, and then they made this giant headline about us having a sordid affair. It was obviously nonsense and honestly it would have been kind of funny for us, but then the paparazzi were everywhere, the fans were everywhere… and I couldn’t stay inthat environment so I decided that I should lay low for a while. And then I came here,” she finishes, pushing herself against me with a mischievous smile. “The end.”

My eyes drop to her beautiful mouth, overcome with all of the information that she’s just given me. She had already told me about the press story before but it seems worse now that I have all of the details.

It makes it more real.

And more fucking dangerous.

“Sunday,” I murmur, exhaling as I stroke my fists around her wrists.

“It’s okay now, I promise. The story’s totally died down. I talked to Riley’s manager and she was amazing at helping me divert the attention. I mean, Riley’s new album has just come out so I guess that it was easy enough…”

I shake my head. “You could sue those bastards for doing that to you.”

“It’s not worth it to me,” she says gently.

“And who the hell leaked the photos, anyway?”

“Genuinely? It could have been anyone. Like, anyone could have hacked his team’s cell. But Riley was on it right away, and bought us new phones so that we’d be protected.”

She sees the doubt in my expression and laughs gently, tugging me closer.

Yeah, this country music guy may be as innocent as Sunday in this situation, but I won’t be dishing him a medal of valour anytime soon.

“And in case I wasn’t clear,” she teases, smiling as she tugs me toward her, and my hands instantly envelop her hips as we walk under the porch roof, into the warmth. She brushes her lips against mine and whispers, “Riley Dutton was never my boyfriend.”

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