And hopefully, many more to come.
Love,
Reese
I exhale slowly, dropping the note on the counter.
Jesus Christ.
This is… a lot. Or maybe it’s just a lot coming from the wrong man.
Maybe coffee—I refuse to call it a coffee date—needs to happen so I can set things straight. Tell him we’re better off asfriends before this gets more awkward. He’s my landlord, after all, and I just don’t see a future with him.
And yet, something about Reese always makes me hesitate about pushing him away too firmly. That glint in his eye. The way he subtly steers conversations where he wants them to go. Like he’s always one step ahead.
Behind me, a door creaks open, and Violet shuffles into the kitchen wearing Xavier’s shirt, hair a complete mess. “Morning,” she croaks, heading straight for the fridge.
“You and Xavier kept me awake half the night,” I mutter.
She smirks. “You’re welcome, did you use your toys listening?”
“Fuck off.” I snort.
Then she notices the flowers and her brows shoot up. “Holy shit. Who died?”
“Reese,” I sigh, handing her the note.
She reads it and grimaces. “Wow. That’s… intense.”
“Right?”
She leans against the counter. “I saw him last night, by the way. Right when I assumed you and cowboy were off somewhere having fun. Reese walked in, then turned straight back out again.”
I blink. “What?”
“Yeah,” she says, wiggling her brows. “Then he came back in with Hunter, that’s when I grabbed you, and we left.”
Heat creeps up my neck.
“Wait. Hunter and Reese are friends?”
She shrugs. “No idea. Hunter’s face looked thunderous, so hard to tell. They don’t exactly look like they’d hang out together.”
I drag a hand through my hair. Maybe they just know each other. Small-town thing. “You could’ve told me this on the drive home,” I hiss.
She laughs. “Xavier was just a hookup. Didn’t need him overhearing our business. He might know one of them. We don’t need rumors starting.”
I hesitate, then admit, “I fucked Hunter in the back of his truck.”
Her grin stretches wide. “I knew it.”
But then her expression shifts as she looks back at the roses. “But this? Reese sending flowers already? That’s a bit extreme. What if he saw you in Hunter’s truck?”
My stomach twists. God. I feel sick. “Way too much,” I groan. “And I’m meant to go for coffee with him today.”
“Then go,” Violet shrugs. “Tell him you just want to be friends. Easy. Complication solved, and then you can go back to railing your cowboy.”
I hesitate. Hunter’s voice drifts through my memory.