Page 20 of Two Risks I'd Never Take Again

“No, but I liked that better than Cornelius.” Seven years seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Anyway, Eli said you haven’t dated since that jerk cheated on you and called off the wedding. And for the record, Eli called him Mosquito Boy.”

“Yeah. Eli wasn’t a fan. And he was right. And, just so you know, Eli offered to set me up with Garrett if I changed my mind about dating.” I covered a yawn. “I should go. Garrett’s waiting on me.”

Eli just hadn’t used Garrett’s name. He offered to set me up with the guy from the doughnut shop, and the fact that I instantly knew who he’d meant only fueled Eli’s matchmaking attempt.

“I know you’re keeping secrets.” Delaney’s words sliced through my thoughts.

I chewed my lip, trying to figure out how to respond. “Please don’t ask me any questions. I’m okay, and I’ll be home in a week.”

Delaney stared at the screen, then after a couple of heartbeats, she nodded. “Keep in touch, please. And I’m so glad you finally took a vacation. You work too much.”

“All right. Bye.” I ended the call before she changed her mind about grilling me.

Why did she have to bring up Skeeter? Now I’d be comparing Garrett to the toad all week, and I knew how that scorecard would look. Even all beat up, Garrett was better looking. But I’d also be remembering what Skeeter said. Maybe remembering wasn’t such a bad thing.

I trudged back inside. “Want to tour the rest of the house?”

“Yeah. At least this floor.” He glanced at the stairs. “I might save the stairs for tomorrow.”

We walked into the master bedroom, the room with doors that opened to the patio and hot tub. I’d never seen a bed as large as the one dominating this room. “What kind of bed is that? It’s huge.”

“The write-up mentioned that one master had an Alaskan King, and the other master on this floor had a Texas King. I guess those are bigger than regular king-sized beds.” He walked into the bathroom. “It has a walk-in shower. That’s good.”

“The other master must be over here across the hall.” I stepped into the other room, which was equally as large and had a balcony on the side of the house. I sat on the bed, bouncing a little. This place was nicer than any place I’d ever stayed.

Garrett poked his head into the room. “Someone knocked. They’ll need to see your ID because I ordered wine.”

I hurried to the door, digging my ID out of my bag. “Hi.”

The delivery guy held up an armload of bags. “Should I put these on the counter?”

“Please.” I moved out of the way as he carried in the haul.

After putting the bags down, he checked my ID. “Thank you, Miss Best. I hope you and your boyfriend have a nice night.”

I whipped around to see Garrett leaning against the far wall in the living room. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“If you say so.” The delivery guy looked from me to Garrett, then shrugged before slipping out the door.

It closed with a bang.

“What did you order? And there is no way I’m letting you have wine. It doesn’t mix well with pain meds.” I unloaded the bags and breathed in deep when I felt Garrett walk up behind me.

“The wine was for you. I hope you like what I bought. And I’m sorry, Tessa. You’ll probably never see him again. It doesn’t matter what he thinks.” Garrett leaned around to look me in the face. “I know we aren’t dating, and you know we aren’t dating. That’s all that matters.”

“Right.” I went back to unloading. “I’ll get dinner started. Then we can figure out something to do.”

“We could make use of that huge television in the master bedroom and watch a movie.”

“Sounds good.”

Birds chirped,and I kept my eyes closed, content with my dream. Snuggled against a faceless person, I relaxed as his heart repeated a ker-thump. The warmth felt so real that I almost kicked off my blanket.

I needed to wake up. Garrett would need breakfast and more pain meds.

Before giving up my dream, I sighed, and my dream man responded by hugging me closer.

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