Love You More: A Small Town Single Dad Grumpy-Sunshine Romance (Buttercup Hill Book 1) by Stacy Travis

Author:Stacy Travis [Travis, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781956749113
Publisher: Fast Turtle Press
Published: 2023-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Jax

I wasn’t about to wake Ruby last night, not when I found her fast asleep on my couch after working late. Not wanting to disturb her or have her drive home that exhausted, I tucked a pillow beneath her head and put a blanket over her so she’d stay warm.

Now, I creep downstairs like I have cat paws for feet, half expecting to find an empty couch. I slept poorly, listening for signs that Ruby woke up on the couch and bolted out of my house in the middle of the night. Even though I didn’t hear the front door close, I still worried she’d found another way to slip away.

And since I was busy not sleeping well, I took time to continue raking myself over the coals for my behavior the last time she stayed for dinner. I can’t decide the reason I’m mad at myself—for putting us in a position where a kiss felt inevitable or for not kissing her when I had the chance.

When I hit the bottom step, the staircase creaks, groaning like it’s upset for being used at five in the morning. Well, too damn bad. I need to get to my office and see if the loan payment I stumbled on yesterday is really what I think it is—evidence that my father borrowed nearly a billion dollars to buy grapes we shouldn’t need because our production is efficient.

Unless it’s not efficient…but Archer would have said something about that.

If I’m right about what I think I saw, it means one of two things: at best, it’s a mistake, and the money may be sitting in an offshore account; at worst, it means my dad was borrowing money Buttercup can’t repay and buying grapes that will taint our legacy vintages if they’re used to make wine. With his mind slipping, it’s anyone’s guess what he was doing.

When I get to the living room, I see a cascade of copper hair splayed over the pillow on one end of the couch, bare feet propped on the sofa arm opposite. I feel like a voyeur as I creep closer and study her face, long lashes fanned out over the apples of her cheeks, lips a warm pink without a drop of lipstick. She looks peaceful in that way Fiona does when she’s in a deep sleep and oblivious to the vagaries of the waking world. Only in Fiona’s case, she’s mostly oblivious when she’s awake, too, and I hope she retains her youth for as long as possible.

Ruby hasn’t budged from how she was splayed out last night when I came back to the house with Fiona, who begged me to let Ruby “keep dreaming.” I covered her with a blanket, and she slept through our taco dinner. There was no way I was waking her and putting her on the road.

Now, I feel like an asshole for not realizing how damn tired she must be, despite her insistence that she’s built for working two jobs and commuting back and forth.

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