Page 254 of Show Me

“The receptionist walked in.”

God, I missed this. Then something catches my eye on my computer. It’s a security camera feed. Of my backyard. The pig pen. The porch.

I arch my brows while giving Xavier a pointed look. “You’ve been checking my cameras?”

“Yeah.”

No excuse. No hesitation.

“Why?”

“To make sure you were okay.”

The simple honesty steals my breath.

Travis clears his throat. “I have somewhere else to be.”

The door snaps shut behind him.

I glance around the office. “You’ve been doing all this yourself?”

“Mostly. And badly.”

“That’s obvious.”

His sexy mouth twitches again, and my knees wobble. “Your notes were threatening me.”

“You earned every one of them.”

“Probably.”

I trail a finger over one.

DO NOT LET XAVIER TOUCH PAYROLL.

“I hear this one is the most accurate.”

“Lies.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “All lies.”

“Let’s hope they are. I don’t want a bunch of men crying to me about being shortchanged on their checks.”

His smile fades into something quieter. “The woman you saw come up to me at Callahan's…. I told her I was taken.”

The words settle low in my chest.

He steps a little closer. His eyes never leave mine. “I meant it.” Nothing about this leaves room to misunderstand him. “I’m not giving up on us, Ruby.”

I believe him, and I’m done pretending that I don’t want him to, so I lean against the edge of the desk and cross my arms. “You’re still terrible at ordering office supplies. We seem to be out of sticky notes.”

For one awful second, silence. Then he laughs. Low. Relieved. “Unbelievably bad.”

“You sent Lewis to the wrong address.”

“Allegedly.”

I meet his gaze. My heart kicks at his smirk. “That’s not an allegation.”

His grin widens, showing a hint of dimples. “I also accidentally ordered pig feed with the concrete.”