Page 72 of Kiss Me Forever

We were getting used to this whole being together while working thing. We no longer had to even pretend to hide it considering the entire team knew we were together. As soon as we had shown up to the family picnic as a couple, there was no hiding. Neither one of us had truly thought too far into the future of what that meant. We’d accidentally fallen into this, and I wasn’t even sure when our relationship had begun. Because it was a relationship. He didn’t call me his girlfriend, he called me his. And that was all the label that I needed. We were exclusive, we put Bella first, and I had a feeling we were as serious as we could get. I didn’t need a ring, or future promises. I’d had that before and everything had failed. All I needed was a commitment, and fidelity. Both things that he was giving me. And I could return the favor.

Of course that meant I had to deal with the countless teasing from my siblings, cousins, and friends. Our friend groups were so connected and woven together, that there was no hiding from it. Everybody wanted to know details, and neither one of us were ready to give in.

The only people that mattered in this relationship were the three of us.

Bella and I were friends, and Reece and I were, well, we just were. I was so damn happy. Happy enough that I was a little worried because things seemed to be going well, and that’s when things in my life usually tended to explode. But I didn’t want to focus too hard on that.

“Hey there,” Aly said as she came forward, and I pushed thoughts of Reece and whatever our relationship was out of my mind.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were doing the delivery today.”

Aly pulled her hat off of her head, folded the brim, and shook out her long hair.

“It’s been a long day, and I was tired of looking at the books so I told my usual delivery driver that I would handle it. That means he’s in the green house, working on what he can, and I get to be out here in nature.” I looked at the older building that sat on a decent acreage, and then at the three other buildings we had been working on over the past year, and smiled.

“Suburbs is nature now?”

“We live in Denver, so yes. We’re right next to the city, right next to actual nature and full on national parks, but any form of plants that I can get at this point is my favorite thing.”

“That sounds like a plan. Which projects are you here for?” I pulled out my tablet, going through what I had.

“Project F? I don’t know how you label these, since we’re in nearly a cul-de-sac.”

“Okay, that’s right over there, two houses down. We had that huge fire that came through the brush area a couple of years ago, and we’re working to make everything come back again.”

Although we lived in a lush area, there were still fires that latched onto the dryness of some parts. As soon as fires broke over the tree line over the mountains, it was scary. I still remembered living near Colorado Springs with two of my cousins when the fire had nearly taken out the Air Force Academy. I was just glad that nobody had gotten seriously hurt, but there had still been countless properties damaged, and acreage that was just now starting to come back. One of my other cousins worked with an animal refuge that had done its best to keep as many unharmed and alive, and I had donated my time to help them.

We lived in a fragile ecosystem, and although my family did build on land, we did our best to use the land that had already been taken by humans, and give back to nature as much as possible. I used native plants whenever I could convince the clients, and also added as much as I could to help the erosion issues and any potential fires.

“I remember it out here,” Aly said, pulling me from my wayward thoughts.

“It was scary for sure, but we’re nearly done with a few of them. We still have two more buildings that Reece is working on. One he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to do any restoration on, and it kills me. It was one of the most beautiful structures in the area, but the fire just took the soul out of it.” I pointed to the project house on the opposite end of the street from us, and Aly sighed.

“I would say good bones, but even those look a little charred.”

“Reece is over there now, doing what he can. I just don’t know.”

“Well, speaking of Reece...”

“No you don’t. You already know as much as I do about that man.” I paused. “Okay, not that much. But there isn’t going to be any details now. Let’s work with your beautiful plants.”

“I’ve got it,” Dash said as he came up to Aly and bumped his hip against hers. She rolled her eyes and shoved him playfully.

“Hi Dash. Look at you, looking pristine where everybody else has been working.”

I looked at my cousin and grinned. “You do look kind of spiffy. Getting glam for someone special?”

“Oh, there’s no one special in Dash Montgomery’s life. From what I can tell he likes them all special.”

“I don’t know if I like the fact that you two are ganging up on me,” Dash said with mock severity. “I’ll have you know I was in a meeting, and then had to deal with that court thing.”

I nodded, having forgotten it was on the schedule.

“Everything okay?”

“Everything’s perfect. We are good to go. However, I hate these pants, so I’m going to get them all filthy so I can tell myself it’s okay to buy another pair.”

“You are as bad as I am when it comes to that,” I said with a laugh.