“She’s a client and Ryan’s sister.”

Shay glanced back over. “No old feelings coming back?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, then spun Shay and did a little dip. When she came back up, she took another peek over at Saryn and Luke.

“She’s a client. Is that all, Truitt?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

Shay left the subject alone, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t exactly sure what my feelings were toward Saryn. She’d ignited something inside of me years ago that never fully died out. Hell, every woman I ever tried to date I compared to her. I’d woken up with my cock in my hand more than once, with her as the star in my dreams.

I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I was exactly feeling for Saryn. Hence the reason I called Shay earlier tonight. It had been way too long since I’d hooked up, and I wasn’t in the mood for a one-night stand. I rarely did those any more, and honestly hadn’t really had that many. Shay was a safe place to go. Both of us had an understanding that if either of us ever found ourselves in a relationship, this thing we had together was over and we would both walk away friends. We’d stayed true to it. Shay had met someone last year, dated him for a while, and when it turned out he was cheating on her, she found herself at my house in the middle of the night. We didn’t have sex then, we simply talked. She was more than a fuck buddy, she was truly a friend.

After a few hours of dancing with Shay, talking to other friends, and trying not to pay attention to what Saryn was doing, I sat at a table and watched as Luke walked out of the dance hall, his hand on Saryn’s lower back. She had stopped, said something to her brother, then left. The fact that Ryan didn’t stop her from leaving with the guy pissed me off. I knew she wasn’t a little girl anymore, but was he really going to let his sister just leave with someone?

I finished off my beer, looked around for Shay and found her dancing with some city slicker who didn’t have the first clue on how to properly two-step. I rolled my eyes and decided it was time to cut in.

I made my way toward them and Shay caught my eyes. She almost looked relieved to see me coming their way.

“Darlin’, you about ready to head on out?”

The guy turned and faced me. “Are you together?” he asked, looking slightly defeated.

“No, he’s just going to take me home and give me a few orgasms, then we’ll call it a night.”

Now the poor bastard looked confused.

I tipped my hat and wrapped my arm around Shay’s waist and guided her off the dance floor. “Why do you do that?” I asked with a chuckle.

“I like to see the look of shock on their face,” Shay answered unapologetically.

“Some day a guy is going to catch your attention, Shay, and you’re going to be screwed.”

She tossed her head back and laughed. “And some day you’ll realize why no woman has ever caught your eye.”

I sat in my truck and ran my hand down my face. I’d had a long night with Shay and hadn’t gotten home until almost four in the morning. A few hours of sleep and I was practically begging the girl in the drive-through to hand me my coffee.

“One large black coffee and an orange scone.”

I took the coffee and the scone and gave her a polite smile. “Thank you.”

She grinned and then promptly began taking another order.

By the time I got to the shop, I felt like I could at least keep my eyes open without force.

When I walked in, Jack, my right-hand man, was waiting for me. We didn’t normally work on Sunday, but he had texted me with a problem. A major problem were the exact words he used.

“You better have a damn good reason to call me on a Sunday. It’s the only day I take off, dude.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “The playhouse for the Nights…” he started, then trailed off.

I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, “What about it?”

“There’s a tree that’s going to be a problem.”

“A tree?” I asked.

“Yes. A tree.”

The next thing I knew, Jack, Evie, Will, and I were staring at a large Spanish Oak tree on the Night’s property.

“What do you mean, they won’t let us cut it down?” I asked, staring at Evie.

“Well, last night I had a dinner party and I was walking some of the folks around back here. I explained to them that we were having a playhouse built for our granddaughter. Well, one of our dinner guests noticed this tree, then went on to say it was some sort of trail tree that the Native Americans used to mark things like rivers and creeks.”

Tags: Kelly Elliott Southern Bride Romance
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