Page 82 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

I beamed out the window beside my bed. We’d been wanting to live together for years but like the job with Claire, the timing never worked out.

When I got engaged to Grant, the possibility of living with her again evaporated. But now? Everything was falling into place.

Images of Holden smiling at me last night as he kissed me goodbye appeared in my mind and warmth tugged under my ribcage.

“It’s like fate,” Willa continued.

I thought about Holden again and something sweet and cloying curled in my chest. Landing in Queen’s Cove for six months was what I needed to shake my life up and get me on the right course. Like a reset, but for my whole existence. Back in Toronto, I’d been stuck in a loop, choosing the wrong guys.

Like I told Willa, renovating the inn with Holden felt like my purpose, and walking in the forest with him, talking about art and life and admiring all the trees, breathing in that clean air, it was good for my soul.

And the stuff Holden and I did last night? Well, that was me enjoying what Queen’s Cove had to offer. A grin pulled at my mouth. God, he was good at that tongue thing.

I listened while Willa filled me in on everything else happening in Toronto, nostalgia peaking in my chest as she talked. I missed my life there, and now with my dream job and dream apartment lined up when I returned, I was finally on the right track.

31

Sadie

“You’re Miss Cheerful today.”Olivia shot me a side-long look at the bar that night.

My face heated but I shrugged. “What are you talking about?”

She raised her eyebrows. “You know what I’m talking about.” She leaned in with an intense stare before glancing at the painting I had done of Holden crying in this bar, hanging on display on the wall for everyone to admire.

Shit. She knew.

I kept my gaze on her. It felt like I was back in the interrogation rooms with the detectives, when they wanted to ensure I didn’t know Grant’s whereabouts.

“I don’t know anything,” I whispered, eyes wide. My pulse skittered and stumbled.

She narrowed her eyes at me before she shrugged. “Okay.”

I breathed out a slow breath.

All day, I’d been replaying Holden’s quiet, strained groan as he came last night. I closed my eyes and leaned on the bar.

My underwear was wet again. I pressed my mouth together.

Stop thinking about it.

“Hey,” Olivia called and I turned to see Holden slipping into his usual seat, eyes on me.

My ladyparts fluttered with arousal as my gaze traced the lines of his arms. He had such nice arms.

“Hi.” I smiled at him.

“How was your day?” he asked, giving me the same affectionate but heated look he gave me last night as he kissed his way down my body.

“Good. I donated the rest of Katherine’s stuff and then did some more painting.”

During my spare time, I’d been sorting through Katherine’s things, including her clothes and some of the furniture I didn’t think we would find a place for in the revised design.

“I can bring it to the thrift store in my truck.”

I shook my head, still smiling. “They picked it up today. How was your day?”

“Better now.”

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