Claiming Holly (Holiday Cove 1)

I shut the front door, locked it, and smiled to myself, thankful that I’d gotten over that patch of awkwardness. I headed back into the dining room and was halfway through unpacking one of the shopping bags of groceries when I realized that Hunter hadn’t come up to greet me at the door. I dropped the bag onto the counter, shut the fridge door, and started down the hallway. “Huntey?”

The silence got my heart racing and my steps quickened as I made my way down the hall toward my bedroom. Either he was in trouble…or he was about to be…

As soon as I entered my bedroom, a low whine and a scratching sound from the bathroom caught my attention. I groaned and flung the door open. “Hunter!”

There was no telling how long he’d been trapped in the bathroom, but the overwhelming odor that assaulted my nose let me know it had been far too long. He jumped all over me, and I dropped my hands from holding my nose to reach down and pet him. His big blue eyes were wide and frantic and I could tell he was spooked.

“Oh, Huntey.”

I looked past him as my hand absently rubbed his head to see the extent of the damage. The bath mat was shredded into a million white cotton threads, the rack of spare toilet paper rolls had been knocked over and decimated, and there was an alarming amount of water splashed all over the floor, coming from the toilet, as though he’d drank from it, shook his head, and flung the toilet water over every inch of the space. Lastly, my eyes spotted the source of the smell, right on my pink bathrobe that had been tugged from the hook behind the door.

I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed slowly. “What am I gonna do with you?”

He licked my cheek and I smiled. The worst part about puppy love was that I couldn’t stay mad at him for too long.

Later that night, after getting Hunter’s mess cleaned up, and making myself a salad for dinner, I was flipping through channels on TV mindlessly when a call came in on the Face App. I nearly dumped my plate from my lap as I lunged to answer the call from Jack, pausing only for a moment to make sure there were no traces of spinach stuck in my teeth.

“Hi!” I answered, my heart surging high in my chest as a broad smile broke out across my face as his video stream became clear. It didn’t seem to matter how many times I saw Jack—or how much I saw of him—he blew me away every time. His chiseled features, dark eyes, and easy smile were enough to undo me before he even said a word.

“Hey, baby,” he replied, his own grin matching mine.

I smiled at the comfortable nickname and quickly tried to recall if he’d called me that before. “Whatcha up to?”

He shrugged, his easy smile remaining in place. “Not much. We’re still traveling right now and spending more time talking about what we’re gonna do rather than actually doing anything. But, hey, that’s the way these things go.”

Secretly, I was glad he was still traveling. It meant he was out of harm’s way, and although I hated the distance between us, at least I wasn’t worried about his safety. At least, not yet. “I wasn’t expecting you to call. It’s pretty late there, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but my shipmate is off playing poker with some of the other guys tonight, and I have the room to myself. Couldn’t pass up a chance to talk to my favorite girl.”

“Favorite girl, huh? What’ll Princess say?” I teased, loving the way he made me smile. “Speaking of Princess, I need to borrow her for a while. Hunter is back to his old self, and after the number he did on the master bath today, it’s either gonna be doggy boarding school, or more lessons on how to be a well behaved doggy from Miss Princess.”

Jack laughed and the sound relaxed away the last of my anxiety from the unpleasant surprise that afternoon. “That bad huh?”

“Let’s just say, Bed Bath & Beyond is going to get a significant amount of my paycheck this weekend.”

“I’m sorry.” He laughed again. “So, what are you two doing now?”

“I’m finishing dinner and channel surfing. Hunter’s passed out on the couch, apparently destroying the bathroom really took it out of him.” I rolled my eyes at his sleeping form beside me on the couch.

“Man, I wish I was there.” The longing in his voice stirred something inside me, tightening a knot somewhere deep down.

“Me too,” I replied, my voice barely above a whisper into the phone.

“Soon, honey. Soon.”

I nodded but could no longer find my voice. I didn’t want to throw doubts around and speak my fears and anxieties to life. A part of me knew that Jack wouldn’t blame me for my feelings, but I knew that he had enough on his plate and didn’t need me to add to his list of worries. It was better, if at least for the time being, everything we talked about was easy and pleasant. There would be time when he got home to tackle the more serious issues of life.