Page 52 of Surprised By Love

He heads into the back room and a couple of minutes later; he comes out with a beautiful bouquet. “What do ya think?”

“Wow, that’s pretty. I think she’ll love it. What’s in it?”

“We have some red roses, white hydrangea, red gerberas and some green hypericum,” he says, pointing out all the flowers as he names them.

I nod, as if I understood any of what he said. “Sounds good.”

Brandon laughs. “You wouldn’t be able to repeat any of that, would ya?”

“Not true. I see red roses.”

We laugh and I pass him a fifty. “Does that cover it?”

“To see you come in here and ask for flowers for a woman, I would have given them to you for free, but yeah, that’s good. I’ll give you the friends and family discount.” He grins.

He passes me the bouquet. “We need to get together for a drink soon. Maybe shoot some pool?”

“Sounds good. I’ll call ya. Thanks again, man.” I pat him on the shoulder and head out.

Chapter Twenty

Josh

Ipulluptothe Miller house and take a deep breath. My heart is about to jump out of my chest. There is a tightness in my gut and my hands are sweating. What the hell? I’m never nervous when I take a woman on a date. I need to get my shit together.

I take a deep breath, grab the bouquet from the passenger seat, and make my way to the front door.

Before I have time to knock, Becca opens the door, immediately looking at the flowers. “You’re going all out. They’re beautiful. She’s going to love them. Come on in.”

I bang the snow off my boots before entering the house. Becca shuts the door once I enter, and I feel like I’m about to be grilled. She purses her lips and looks me over. “You look good.” She laughs. “You even shaved. I’m impressed.”

I run my hand through my hair, taking another deep breath. I feel like I’m in high school, about to take a girl on a date for the first time. She’s making me sweat. I swallow hard, not sure exactly what to say to that.

“I’m sure you’ve heard, but she is in a vulnerable spot right now. I don’t want her to get hurt.” Before I could tell her I won’t, she held her hand up. “I know you’ll say you won’t, but that’s the problem. Nobody ever plans on hurting anyone, but somehow they always do.”

I shake my head, gripping the flowers tighter. “I can promise you I’ll do my best not to hurt her. She’s an amazing woman and has had some bad luck. I want to get to know her and see where it goes.”

Becca crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. “So that’s your intentions with our baby sis. To get to know her?”

“I… um. I—”

“Hi, Josh.” Amelia comes running towards us. Saving me from having to think of something to say. Becca has never intimidated me. In fact, few women have, but the way she’s looking at me, I want to know if she wants a job at the station. A look like that could take any man down.

“Hi, Amelia. Don’t you look pretty?” I say to Amelia as she twirls around.

“It’s one of my favourite dresses,” she says. The dress is a light blue colour with ruffles and sparkles. Something Emily would love.

“Well, it looks beautiful on you.”

“Thank you, but you should see my momma… She’s beautiful. She’s a smoke show, ya know,” she says it with such a straight face I can’t help but laugh. Becca joins me and I look at her.

“She heard us talking about it earlier,” Becca laughs.

Now I can’t wait to see Sam. I thought she was beautiful before, but the way Becca’s eyes are lit up, I have a feeling I’m going to be blown away.

No sooner do I think that when I hear footsteps on the floor above us. I look up the stairs, watching Sam head down. My mouth drops and I grip the flowers that almost fall out of my hands onto the floor.

Sam hits the bottom step and walks towards me, smiling.

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