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This intense eye contact was going to be the death of me.
"I stand by my word, now and in the future. That doesn't change the fact that they will be talking about us."
"I can handle it," I assured him, shrugging my shoulders slightly.
"I've noticed." There was clearly more he wanted to say, but he held back and, instead, started to move again.
"Sergeant Williams thought she needed to protect me as if I wasn't here by my own choice. If you allow me…" I stopped myself, tilted my head, and cursed silently. Since when did I ask for permission when it came to verbally defending myself?
"If I allow you what, Amelia?"
"If it's okay with you that I keep her in check when she says things like that to me. I can handle her, no problem. You just need to…"
"Pretend like I'm playing my part?"
I decided to ignore that. "So,Wildwood Hideaway. You didn't tell me you owned land and basically kept the tourism in this town alive by yourself."
"Because it wasn't relevant information last night. This is my thing, and there's nothing more to say about it."
Oh, I was sure there was a lot more to say about theWildwood Hideaway. About how he came up with the idea to start this B and B. How he built it. Whether it represented his lifelong dream… or if it was a project he had started with his ex-wife.
I pushed that thought aside when we reached a small hill offering a perfect view of several little houses interconnected by natural stone pathways. To the right and left of the paths were flower beds bursting with life. Orange, yellow, purple, white—flowers of every color blanketed the ground.
The houses themselves were incredible. The ground floor consisted of large wooden windows, which were barely interrupted by the walls. The roofs featured several dormer windows and additional windows. On the terraces, one could enjoy the idyllic setting. Around the clearing, the trees towered high into the sky, allowing the sun to occasionally pierce through the treetops. It felt like I was dreaming.
"Gray, this is…" I was at a loss for words to properly describe what I was seeing.
He pointed to a small house a little off to the side. "You're moving in over there. It's empty for renovation anyway, and right next to it is the garden. You can help me with the work. Over there…"
I continued to listen to him, but the excitement in my chest was just overwhelming. I would have loved to throw my arms around this man and kiss him simply because he existed and had opened up this place to me.
"Did you understand what I said?"
"Mhm."
Gray raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you looking at me like that?"
Becausethis is making me very happy… “Because the rest of the view can't compete with you."
His facial expression changed, becoming more intense as he clenched his jaw and moistened his lips. However, what came out of his mouth next was not what I expected.
"Let's bring over the rest of your things."
4
GRAY
With the last shred of my sanity, I put Amelia in the half-finished cabin rather than offering her a room in my house. I had wanted her to settle down and process what had happened the previous day—not make her a constant temptation under my roof, clouding my judgment.
Because that was exactly the effect she had on me, as Wilder had bluntly pointed out the previous night after we arrived in Wolf Creek. Usually, I valued his straightforwardness, but in Amelia's case, I simply refused to see reason.
The cabin was the compromise. For now. Because if she continued to test me, even that last shred of my sanity would disappear.
My original plan had been to give her a few quiet weeks. I hadn't anticipated making her the town's main attraction. However, she had managed to achieve that fairly quickly with her little performance in the parking lot and with her words.
By tomorrow, she would be the talk of the town. And so would I. The damn grown man who couldn't keep his hands off a woman probably half his age.
Though I usually saw the good in every situation, this one was a challenge. I was happy to have her close by, and she didn’t seem to have a problem standing up for herself or caring what others thought about her being here.
