Unlikely You (Sapph in the City #5)

Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Honey

Bren’s bed was bigger than mine, but I still ended up plastered against her and woke up with her hair in my mouth in the morning and one of my legs slung across her belly.

She cursed as she shut off her alarm and then I heard a soft meow from the vicinity of my feet.

Arson had curled up at the end of the bed, but was up and stretching, walking across our limbs to come and poke at Bren.

“Good morning, little baby,” I said to Arson as she stared at me as if to ask “you’re still here?”

“I’m not that little. I’m taller than you,” Bren mumbled, turning to bury her face in my hair.

“I was talking to Arson.”

She laughed softly and then leaned back so she could look at me.

“Last night was incredible.”

“It was.” I pressed a soft kiss to her lips, keeping bad breath in mind.

“What is your family going to say about you staying over?”

I rolled my eyes. “They’re probably going to throw me a party. They’ve been encouraging me to go after you forever. They knew how much I liked you.”

She gasped. “Why Honey, are you saying you like me?”

I smacked a kiss on her forehead. “Yes, Bren. I like you. A lot .” My chest thundered with the realization that I was lying.

I didn’t like her a lot.

I loved her. I truly loved Bren Hendrix, and I had for a while.

Oh shit . Here I’d just barely convinced her to try a relationship with me and I’d had to go fall in love with her.

Ellie had been right, but she’d be insufferable if I told her.

“What is it?” Bren asked.

“Nothing. Just thinking about work.”

Bren nodded and kissed my cheek, licking it and making me giggle.

“Stop it!”

“You know, I’ve been wanting to taste your dimples since the first day I saw you.”

I made a face. “Why?”

Bren shrugged and I loved seeing her like this. So relaxed and warm and with her hair all over the place. Sure, sex was great, but this? Seeing her the way no one other than her cat did? This was priceless.

“I wonder what my family is doing for breakfast right now. I usually cook it. And if someone doesn’t gather the eggs, I’m going to be pissed,” I said, but Bren put her finger to my lips.

“Don’t worry about that right now. You have too much on your shoulders, Honey Bea.” I knew that, but hearing it from Bren made it more obvious somehow.

“I know I do. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done.”

Bren studied me for a moment and then sat up, dragging a hand through her hair.

“Maybe we can sit down and think of some ways that you could do less. Or I could yell at your family and stop relying on you so much. There are a range of options.”

I snorted, imagining Bren yelling at my siblings to do their chores. They might actually listen.

“I do have to handle the financial stuff, though. My parents really can’t handle that. Trust me, I let them do the taxes one year and it was a bad idea.”

Bren nodded and I could tell she was having a problem understanding why I was so adamant about helping my parents, given that they were both grown adults.

“I’ve been thinking about hiring an accountant, at least for the tax stuff.”

“That’s a great idea. And if you’re okay with it, I might be able to look through everything you have and see if there might be ways you could cut or streamline or outsource some things to free your time up,” she said.

She did have a degree and I’d learned everything on my own. I wasn’t opposed to using her expertise and her incredible brain to help my family.

“Okay. But let’s not talk about business right now. I’m hungry.”

Bren smiled and then her eyes went wide. “Oh god, I don’t think I have much food in the house at all. I was planning on making you breakfast.”

No one had made me breakfast in a long time. I always just went ahead and did it.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay, baby. Do you want to just order something?” I was going to have to stop at home and grab a few things before going to the marketplace. I’d never done a walk of shame before.

“Yeah, let’s order something and I’ll make you breakfast next time.”

I stood up and stretched my arms over my head, my shoulders popping. “So you’re saying that there will be a next time?”

Bren wrapped her arms around me and rested her chin on my shoulder, sighing happily.

“There will definitely be a next time, Honey. Now that I’ve got you, I’m not letting you go.”

Good. I didn’t want her to.

We ended up flirting and kissing and wasting so much time that I had to rush back to the farm and barely had enough time to throw on new clothes and run a brush through my hair before I had to hurl myself into my truck and drive to the marketplace. My family hadn’t even been there; they’d already left. That was good, but I was worried what I’d find when I got there. I’d wanted to drive in with Bren, but it hadn’t worked out, so I didn’t see her again until I walked in.

She had her table ready and a matcha sitting there waiting for me as she sipped her iced coffee.

“Hey, Honey Bea,” she said, coming over and kissing me right on the lips. Right there in the marketplace.

“I missed you,” she said as my eyes went wide.

“Bren. You just kissed me.”

She grinned. “Sure did. Couldn’t wait.”

Oh.

This was a new and terrifying Bren. Terrifying at how much I wanted her. How much I loved her.

Love, love, love . It thumped in my chest along with my heart. Or maybe it had taken over my heart by now. Had become a part of me.

It was true that I’d been in love before, but never, ever like this. There was only one Bren Hendrix and I was completely and totally head over ass in love with her.

I kissed her back. “I couldn’t wait either.”

“Hi, Bren.” Ellie’s voice penetrated the Bren haze in my mind.

Bren leaned back from me and glanced over at Ellie.

“Hello, Ellie. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Are you and Honey girlfriends now?” I let out a choking noise and struggled to breathe.

I was even more shocked when Bren flashed me a smile before looking back at Ellie.

“Yes, I am. I think. I am, right?”

This was quite the turn of events. One orgasm and Bren was ready to call me her girlfriend. I knew it had to be more than the orgasm, but it was still a lot when she’d been so reluctant.

“Hey, Ellie Belly, can you give Bren and I a second?”

“Sure!” she ran off to tell the news to the rest of my family and they huddled around her.

Pulling Bren to the back of her table so we could have a little privacy, I searched her face.

“Are you really okay with all this? It’s not just post-coital glow or something?”

Bren laughed. “No, it’s not. I think I kept telling myself that I couldn’t be in a relationship so much that I believed it. And no one has been worth trying with until you. God, I don’t want to mess this up, Honey. I know that I’m going to make mistakes, but I have to try. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t give this a chance.”

Her eyes were bright, and she was so earnest that it made my heart pound.

“I want to try with you too. I haven’t had the best record of relationships myself. We’ll just figure this out together, won’t we?”

She pulled me into her arms and inhaled as if she was smelling my hair. I did the same.

“I’m scared out of my mind, but I want this with you. I want you in my life, Honey Bea. Melliferal.”

That was all I wanted to hear.

I leaned back and smiled at her. “Same, babe.” An alarm went off on her phone, making us both jump.

“Oh, we’re opening. I completely lost track of time,” she said.

I had too. “I hope the table is set up right. I bet no one made the tea.” I looked over to find my family pretending that they hadn’t been watching the whole thing with me and Bren.

Ellie stood out front with a tray of cups of tea and a brilliant smile on her face.

“Everything looks fine to me,” Bren said.

“Huh. Look at that.”