Page 92 of Guarding My Love

Ahhhh. He hadn’t thought of that.

“No dig,” he said. “And I’m sorry you feel that way. You know Abby and Lily are a lot younger than West and Braylon. No one says a word about that.”

“No,” she said. “But I think it’s as you say. Abby and Lily don’t come off as some silly little twenty-somethings.”

“Neither do you,” he said. “Or did you years ago?”

“I don’t think I did, but the men I dated tried to portray me that way.”

Which made more sense when she said she never got to be herself.

“I think we have to come to an understanding here,” he said. “You’re not used to men like me and you are doubting things. I don’t like to be doubted.”

“I know,” she said. “And that is weighing on me too.”

“Go with your heart. With what you feel,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing.”

She reached her hand over that was on his thigh and threaded their fingers together.

He looked over and she was smiling, then nodded her head.

No one said another word for ten minutes and he settled into the drive home, content and comfortable with the silence.

When he looked over, her eyes were shut and he hoped she was feeling the same as him.

31

WILL GET TOO MESSY

No one told her flowers not only looked pretty but took a crap ton of work!

Three weeks later, Charlotte was out weeding the yard again. She should have thought of this when she bought the house.

At least she knew the difference between weeds and plants now. Or so she hoped.

Marco let out a bark and she turned to see him chasing a butterfly in the yard. He was tied up. She might consider a closed in fence at some point so he had more freedom.

She studied the big green leaves of what looked like a plant, but not something that matched anything else, then decided it needed to go, grabbed it with her gloved hand and yanked.

It slipped out of her hand and she fell backwards a few steps.

Hmm, maybe it belonged. Though she thought Foster had told her it was quickweed. Whatever it was, it didn’t want to come out!

She got on her knees and grabbed the little spade and dug around it as she’d seen Foster do and managed to wiggle it out and put it in the bag with the rest of the weeds.

Marco started to bark louder. “Leave the butterfly alone,” she said, laughing.

Her dog had grown into his legs and looked more like a mixed breed than ever before. At five months old he was almost forty pounds and not easy for her to carry around like he used to be. She hoped he didn’t grow much more.

When she heard a car door, she turned and saw the red Porsche in her driveway and let out a groan.

Was he ever going to get the hint and leave her alone?

She stood up and wiped the dirt from her knees and then started to laugh.

Maybe Landon would be appalled by the way she looked now. If he thought her daily work-from-home wear was bad, it was nothing to her gray yard shorts that had dark stains on them. She didn’t even know what the stains were and didn’t care at this point.

She wore a sleeveless tank top in blue. It was too hot to wear anything else. A pair of black Crocs on her feet and her hair was in a messy bun on her head.

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