Page 70 of Major Love

Flowers.

He bought a freaking bouquet of flowers.

“Jason,” I laugh, “tell me that those aren’t for me.”

He glances down at me with sparkling eyes as he cuts the stems and sets them in the water.

“Sweetheart, you know I can’t lie to save my life,” he rumbles, making my heart do a little somersault – partially because of the nickname, and partially because that’s one of the things that I love about him.

That he’s so honourable, and open and honest and true.

I shake my head in awe and my little ponytail swishes gently behind me.

“Jason,” I say, unable to stop myself from beaming up at him, “I’m staying inyourhouse – you’re doingmethe favour.” I press my palm against my forehead and laugh, “Why on earth would you buy me flowers?”

He picks up the vase from the counter and then holds it down for me, helping me cradle it so that I can inspect the blooms.

“You staying at my place means that you’re giving me something beautiful to look at when I get home,” he replies. He shrugs and smiles. “I thought I’d return the favour.”

His kind words go straight to my heart, making it pound wildly as I fight back a smile.

“You’re too sweet,” I tell him, cuddling my pretty flowers, and he gives me a little squeeze at the nape of my neck as he drops Casey’s truck keys on the counter.

Jason went to pick up Casey’s car so that I’ll have a vehicle to use if I want to head out, and then one of his buddies is going tostop by and drive Jason back to town, seeing as he left his own truck by the cabin.

I told him that it was unnecessary because I don’t want to be behind the wheel of a car anytime soon but he said he’d grab it just in case, because that’s just the kind of man that he is.

“You sleep okay last night?” he asks as I place the vase beside the car keys, pulling off my sweater because I’m suddenly getting warm.

Maybe it’s the cabin’s log-panel insulation, or maybe it’s the way that Jason glances down at my thighs, but either way I’m feeling flushed and I can’t get out of my top fast enough.

Underneath the sweater I’m wearing my baby blue long-sleeve thermal, and Jason eyes it for a beat before cracking his knuckles and averting his gaze.

“I think it was the best sleep of my life,” I reply honestly, which draws a quiet chuckle from his throat, the sound deep and gravelly.

We didn’t see each other this morning because Jason gets up earlier than a Texan ranch-hand, and I let myself snuggle up in his guest room with the stunning snow-topped landscape for my morning company.

“Yeah, being up the mountains can do that to you,” he rumbles.

And so can being one room away from the strongest man that I’ve ever known.

“You found the internet connection okay up here?” he asks, his eyes flicking momentarily to my laptop on his couch.

I can tell that he’s dying for me to talk to him about Nashville but I don’t feel like I’m ready yet, especially seeing as I don’t know if I’m moving back or not.

But that’s probably exactly what he wants to know – if I’m going back to Nashville or if I’m staying in Phoenix Falls.

“Everything was perfect – I called my mom for a bit, and I got a lot of work stuff done,” I admit, including a little bit of damage control regarding the ridiculous articlesstillcirculating about Riley and me.

I thought that I was taking the high road by graciously not responding to the stupid relationship claims but apparently my absence has been taken as acceptance.

And as a result of that? Let’s just say, it’s gotten way too out of control.

When I saw a headline saying that I was ‘out in hiding, in order to protect my secret baby’ I finally snapped and got in touch with Riley’s manager.

I was freaking livid for meandmy secret baby – and I don’t even have one!

I’d expected the time difference between Phoenix Falls and Nashville to have saved me any actual back-and-forth correspondence, but it turns out that his manager is on her shit twenty-four-seven. We had a surprisingly good talk about the media nonsense, so hopefully she’ll help me get it swept under the rug as soon as possible.

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