Page 148 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

“Sadie.”

My head snapped up as the beer I was pouring overflowed.

Olivia watched with amusement as I washed beer off my hands. “What are you daydreaming about?”

Holden. I was thinking about the mind-bending sex with Holden last night.

I had never felt like this with anyone. I never even realized it could be like this. It wasn’t just the sex. It was everything.

I belonged with Holden, and I belonged here in Queen’s Cove.

I thought about his pained expression as he came last night and a lick of heat hit me between the legs. My mouth curled into a smile.

“Sadie!”

“Yes?” My head snapped up again to see Olivia laughing at me while cutting lemons.

“Wow.”

“I’m sorry,” I told her. “What were you saying?”

“I was asking where you’re at with the inn. Are you almost done?”

Above her, multi-colored holiday lights hung over the bar, my single allotted decoration.

“We still need to put new cupboards into the kitchen and furnish the bedrooms.” My chest fizzed with pride and excitement. “And we’re waiting on a few finishing decor items to arrive and then we’re done.”

“What’s that look?” Olivia asked while she mixed a drink.

“I don’t want it to be over,” I admitted with an embarrassed laugh. “Holden would kill me if he heard me say that. He’s put so much work into the place and spent so much time there.” My brain flitted through memories with him in the inn, talking and laughing or bickering over wallpaper. Us picking out tiles in the hardware store. When I knocked a wall down and saw the look of pride on his face. Him in the secret library, watching the snow fall.

Katherine would have loved the way we were making her inn shine.

The inn was where I fell in love with Holden. My heart squeezed at the thought.

“I’ve enjoyed the process,” I told her. “It reminded me what I love about being a designer.”

Olivia’s tentative gaze rose to mine. “I’m happy you’re staying,” she added quietly before she wrapped me in a big hug.

“Aw.” I squeezed her back. “I love you, too. Does this mean I can add more decorations?”

“No. Hug’s over.”

She pulled away and hustled off while I laughed.

My mind wandered back to the inn, and then the job with Claire. A little voice in my head told me after everything I’d learned, I was stupid for choosing a man over a job, but I ignored it.

I wasn’t just choosing a man. I was choosing a town, a group of people, and I was choosing to be happy.

I’d figure the rest out.

I still wasn’t sure what to do about my crushing debt, or the fate of the inn. It felt weird asking Holden to buy me out after everything we’d been through. I was living in his home. We had tossed the wordyoursandforeveraround. I wasn’t sure how to navigate this part.

This was probably the time for me to find a higher paying designer job so I could tackle the debt. I’d keep my bar job on weekends.

We could make extra income off the inn. We could hire a staff. Katherine wouldn’t want it to sit empty. She’d want it to be loved. She’d want people to visit and see the beauty of Queen’s Cove.

I chewed my lip. I had a lot of decisions to make.

---