Page 75 of Mine To Keep (Southern Wedding)

It takes me forty-five minutes to dry my hair and put my makeup on. I’m grabbing my clothes when Meadow comes upstairs. “Gracie,” she says, “will you do my hair?”

“You bet.” I walk with her to her bathroom. For the past week, I’ve been doing her hair every morning since we got back together. It’s our little time when she says what she wants to do with her day. The past couple of days it’s been all about her horse.

“Grandpa Billy said I’m the best rider in the whole world.” She holds out her hands to the sides. “Ever.”

I smile at her. “Well, if he said it, it’s true.” She nods her head as I finish the braid. “Now get dressed.” I kiss the top of her head as she jumps off the stool and goes to her bedroom.

I walk back into the room seeing Caine come out of the closet, buttoning his dress shirt, and I can’t help but smile at him. He’s the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on. “Everything good?” he asks as he tucks his shirt in like we’ve been doing this forever. Like it’s not just been a couple of days but instead years. I just nod at him, walking back into the closet and grabbing the white pair of pants I hung up last night before he dragged me to bed. I slide on my lace panties and matching bra before stepping into the pants. I grab the green silk blouse that is a light green with white flowers on it, buttoning the three buttons before tying the sash around my waist. I have enough time to grab my shoes and put them on before we are driving to work together. Something I think he planned since my car is at my parents’ house.

We drop off Meadow and park the car in his spot. My hands shake as I get out of the car, and we walk toward the elevator, his hand slipping into mine. He presses the button with his free hand before bending down to kiss me. “You ready?” he asks, and I shake my head at the same time my stomach sinks. The ping of the elevator sounds, and we walk in, his hand slipping out of mine. “We will just ease into it,” he says, and I hate we didn’t have a better plan than just easing into it. In fact, it’s the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard of in my life.

The doors open on the floor, and he puts his hand on my lower back as I step out. “Good morning,” the receptionist says. “Welcome back.”

“Thank you,” I say softly, avoiding her eyes, somewhat embarrassed about storming out and then quitting and now unquitting.

We walk together down the hallway. Kayla smiles when she sees me. “You’re back,” she says to me as Caine just nods at her and continues walking toward his office.

“I’m back,” I confirm. “This time perhaps for good,” I joke with her before walking toward my desk. Kevin is coming out of the kitchen and spots me, his eyes going big when he sees me.

He makes his way toward me, the both of us getting to my desk at the same time. “Hey,” he greets softly. “I didn’t think we would see you again,” he admits, and my heart hammers in my chest.

“I might have overreacted.” I laugh nervously. “A touch.”

“Well, I tried to call you, but I think your phone was off,” he says. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” I assure him, and I’m about to say something else when we both look over to see Caine walking out of his office.

“I’m off to the meeting,” he informs me, and I nod at him, but he steps forward and in front of everyone bends his head to kiss me on the lips. He smirks at me after he kisses me when he turns to Kevin. “Hey, Kevin, how was your weekend?”

“Um,” Kevin says, “it was good. I’ll catch up with you later.” He takes one more look at me, then walks away.

“You had to do it, didn’t you?” I look up at him, and all he does is smile at me.

“It was that or throat punch him,” he declares, laughing out loud, making all eyes turn to us. “So, I went with the one that wouldn’t get me arrested and then sued.” He puts his hand around my waist. “You’re welcome.” He bends and kisses me again, but this time all eyes are on us.

“Well, we didn’t see that coming at all,” Vinny says from behind me. “I owe Jaret a thousand dollars now.”

“I’ll pay it for you,” Caine offers, his hand dropping from my waist. “See you later.” He walks away from me toward the conference room, eyes still on him, and a couple of mouths are hanging open. “Oh, Grace and I are dating,” he announces to everyone, winking at me before leaving me with everyone staring at me.

I put my hands on my hips, ready to throttle him, shaking my head in his direction. “Well, this is—” I start laughing. “Yeah,” I say, walking to my desk, looking up and seeing people still in shock, “we’re dating.”

THE END.