Page 21 of Kiss Me Forever

“Time to go to work.”

I checked on my sourdough one more time, grateful that my stretching and folding was done. I would deal with it when I came back. As my house was decently cool, it would take a long time to ferment.

My phone buzzed as I got in the car, and I looked down at the screen.

Dash

I will meet you at The Plant Nook.

I scowled and called him rather than text since I needed to drive.

“Hey there, Brooklyn.”

“Dash. Why are you going to The Plant Nook? I can handle an introduction to a new nursery on my own.”

“I’m sure you can. But Jake said the owner was hot, and well, I can’t just leave you alone with a hot woman.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

“Of course I am,” Dash said with a laugh. “I have no idea if she’s hot or not. I don’t even know her name. But I want to check out the new nursery before we head to the project site. You’ll do all the talking, I’ll just be there. I promise, I won’t step on your toes. But the place looks nice. And frankly, I don’t want you to go to a new place alone.”

I sighed, wondering how my dumbass cousin could be so sweet and so stupid at the same time. “I’m going to be fine. We’re not going to Landry’s Nursery again.”

“Because the new owner touched you,” Dash growled.

“The new owner tried to kiss me, and he put his hand on my side. He also got a knee to the balls. I handled it on my own.”

“You shouldn’t have had to.”

“And there’s my overprotective cousin. You do realize that I have two older brothers, right? The twins are just as pushy as you are. I don’t need any more older brothers.”

“Technically, you’re older than me.”

“Therefore I don’t need a pushy younger brother.”

“I’m going, and you can’t stop me.”

I sighed, knowing it was true. And I hated the little part of me that was glad he was going to be there. I could take care of myself and I did so often. But the weirdness of what had happened at Landry’s Nursery had been a shock to all of us. I hadn’t pressed charges, because there really wasn’t anything to do about that, but we had closed all of our contracts with them. I just had to hope that The Plant Nook had what we needed.

I pulled into the nursery, which seemed to be hopping even though it’d only been open for twenty minutes. A smile played on my face as I looked at all the plants behind the gated area and through the glass of the green houses.

“Beautiful,” I whispered. I loved plants. I loved trees and flowers and everything about growing something new. I wasn’t fully into Cottagecore, but between sourdough, the numerous amounts of plants and landscaping I had, and learning how to knit, I was leaning into it just a little bit. I got out of my truck and walked towards the office. I wanted to meet with the owner and give her my card before I took a look around. If I liked what I saw, maybe we could talk about a contract. Or at least a connection.

“Brooklyn, wait up.”

I rolled my eyes but waited for Dash as he came towards me. He had pushed his dark hair out of his face, and his beard was getting a little long.

I smiled up at him, and hip checked him. “Intruder.”

“What? You’re stuck with me. Lex would be here too, but he was waylaid by Mercy.” He raised a brow, and I snickered.

“Those two tend to be waylaid in the mornings daily.”

“I don’t want to think about it,” Dash said tightly.

Lexington and Mercy were still new in their relationship but had known each other since they were kids. And the number of times I had walked in on them around the office, his house, and even my house once, with their hands all over each other, was a little ridiculous.

We made our way into the office, and Dash went off to the side to check out plants or something, and I went to speak with the woman in an apron. She had light eyes and beautiful red hair that she piled on the top of her head. A redhead with an affinity for plants would probably bring out all my cousin’s desire to discuss Poison Ivy and the Batman universe, but for now, I couldn’t help but wipe the sweat off my palms and introduce myself. I was always nervous when it came to things like this. Especially with family around. They might not be judging me, but I wanted to prove that I could do this on my own.