Page 47 of Major Love

“Can’t wait,” Knox deadpans, shaking out his palms because he still hasn’t recovered from lifting table number two. Then he tips his chin at me and asks, “You coming to the diner this Friday?”

I swipe a hand back through my hair and reminisce over what I was doing Friday past, where I didn’t make the usual crew hangout because I was busy working on wooing Sunday.

It was without a doubt the best weekend I’ve had in years. Picking Sunday up in my truck, taking her over to Hardy’s ranch, and then leaving her at Casey’s place with the promise that this is going to turn into something more.

Even if she just wants a friendship, at least I’ll be able to have her in my life again, because after half a lifetime of living without her, I know exactly what I’d rather pick.

When it comes to Sunday, I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give me.

And it wasn’t just riding at End of the Road Ranch that made the weekend so good. It was what spending quality time with Sunday led to for the rest of the weekend.

Her texting me on Saturday morning, telling me which trail she was hitting up with Haven, and then following it up with a couple of photos that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from.

And as we continued texting each other when the intermittent cell service allowed, I’ll admit that I was tempted to ratchet things up a notch.

By the time that I was taking a shower after a full day of working on the annex with Madden, I was more than half-tempted to send Sunday a couple photos of my own. And that’s saying something seeing as my camera roll is all work-related.

I’d slung my towel over my shoulder and stared at my reflection in the steamed mirror, thinking,will Sunday be as into receiving a photo of my weekend as I’m into receiving them of hers?

Even this morning I managed to get a couple of texts sent her way, although from the fact that only half of them got delivered I can tell that she must be away from the centre of town again.

I swipe my hand through my hair, not loving the idea of Sunday driving up the mountain roads now that it’s finally snowing, but seeing as she messaged me on Saturday when she was back at Casey’s place I’m putting my trust in the knowledge that she’ll keep me in the loop of what she’s up to.

And if that’s all that she wants from me, I’m okay with that. Being the guy that she keeps in touch with just so that there’s someone in this small town who knows her plans, because it’s undeniably dangerous as hell to travel into the mountains without someone knowing about it.

I breathe in a deep inhale, my chest swelling as I wonder if that’s what this is – Sunday having me on hand because I work search-and-rescue.

But honestly, I find that hard to believe.

If anything, she sounded pissed that I was involved with SAR.

And she definitely didn’t like the idea of any other women wearing my hat.

I swipe my hand down my jaw, trying to fight back my satisfied smirk.

It’s been a while since I was last involved with a woman, but that sure as shit doesn’t mean that I can’t still read the signs. And the signs that Sunday was sending me?

Yeah, she likes me.

I rub my palm across my stubble and bring myself back to the present.

“I’ll be coming to the diner,” I rumble. “Just had something important to do last Friday.”

Knox smirks. “Hot date?”

I smirk back at him. “Something like that.”

Madden’s silver eyes are burning into the side of my face and I know that it’s because he knows exactly what I was doing on Friday.

He’s been officially dating Hardy’s daughter Kitty since around July last summer, and as Sunday and I were pulling out of the ranch, Madden was just pulling in. Smirking at me from his Wrangler as I gave him the finger.

There’s not a chance in hell that I’m about to get into the finer details about my relationship with Sunday, and it’s not just because she’s fucking gorgeous and I want to keep her all for myself.

She’s beautiful, so she’s going to get attention wherever she goes. That’s something that I came to terms with way back when we were in high school.

It’s because I’ve been protective of her since we were fifteen years old, and those feelings didn’t just disappear when I enlisted in the Army.

Fuck, if anything, my emotions only grew stronger. And if those letters that Sunday sent me during my first year of deployment are anything to go by? I know it in my gut that her attachment grew stronger, too.

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