Chapter 7
“Ms. Souza?”
Hoping she wasn’t sweating given thoughts of the man she’d shared a room with for the past two days while they waited for the weather to clear.
“Mrs. Hagermann.”
She met the woman there and held out her hand.
“I’m so glad you were safe during that storm.” She shook her hand in her older, gnarled one as she clutched the top of her sweater together. “I know they’re still cleaning up but at least you can get from the hotel to here. You didn’t have any trouble finding it did you?”
Vivyan shook her head. “No ma’am. You provided me with excellent directions.”
“Wonderful. Thank you again, for coming here to get us more updated with our technology. I know we’ve been missing some incredible programs.” A shy grin.
“I’ve not needed modern tech for most things so I’ve been avoiding these upgrades.
But you met my granddaughter, Lucy, she was very clear that it was the way to go and you were the one to help. ”
“Lucy is a force to be reckoned with.” She smiled at the thought of her friend.
Lucy Hagermann had been one of the four other women she’d roomed with in college. Not generally a woman she would have interacted with but as roommates, they had gotten close. All five of them were still in touch, but none of them had the same major. Devora, Billie, and Yun rounded up their crew.
“We have a room for you set up in the back and if you need anything, I’m at the front desk.”
“Can’t wait to get started. It shouldn’t take me more than a few days, to get it all uploaded, switch your files to it and give you a rundown on how to use all the software in the most efficient way.”
“I admire your confidence in being able to teach me, but I fear it may be harder than that to teach me.”
She smiled. “I’m good at it and this isn’t that difficult of a process. I’ll do the hard part. When I’m done, you’ll not understand why you waited so long to let this happen. I have to get a few more things from my vehicle, and I’ll be right in.”
“I’ll meet you at the front desk.”
She turned on her boot heels and went back out the door. Her SUV sat in the parking lot, which was mostly devoid of other vehicles. But not people.
Her heart thundered in her chest as she found a tall, bearded man striding across the snow-covered lot. No, not correct, it wasn’t a man, it was Ronan Milo.
Broad shoulders covered by a jacket he’d not had when they were together.
Dark brown leather, the collar covered in a fleece.
Thick legs were wrapped with stonewashed denim that had seen better days but were obviously well worn and a favorite pair.
Black boots carried him safely over the snowy ground.
Even though his ballcap was tugged low, she felt his gaze on her and froze at the top of the library steps.
He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and lengthened his stride.
Her insides flipped and flopped as he made it easily up to her side, surrounding her with the familiar warmth and masculine scent she had come to associate with Ronan.
“Hello, angel.”
She nearly melted. There was no freezing biting wind, no snow, no chill. All she experienced was heat. From him.
When they’d parted ways, she held no assumptions on anything. For her it had been an incredible experience and time with a man who had shown her what it was like to be loved. Yes, loved. Had she fallen for him?
Absolutely.
Would she try to keep him when he had a new job coming up and she didn’t even know where that was?
Not a chance. She wanted him to find that happiness which would erase some of the pain and shadows in his gaze.
More than that, she longed to be that person for him.
Before she met this man, her belief in love at first sight was only in the books she loved to read.
Everlasting love was what she saw with her parents, her father not having moved on from losing her mother. She wanted that. Desperately.
But her relationships in the past had left her with, a frosted heart on the notion of love. But along came Ronan Milo and he melted it from the beginning. His soul full of life and fire breathed it into hers.
It hadn’t even been two full days since she’d seen him.
Damn it!
She’d missed him like hell.
Vivyan opened her mouth to say something. Anything.
“Ronan Milo!”
A man stomped up the steps and nearly shoved her aside. Ronan shifted faster than she had ever seen him move and put her behind him.
“Watch it, Jorgansen,” he snarled. Facing her, his expression softened. “You okay, angel?” He stroked his knuckles down her cheek.
She nodded, settling her hand upon his chest, and not even questioning the feeling of security that pulsed through her.
“You shouldn’t have come back to town and there’s no reason for you to be in front of the library. Still trying to con women to head in the stacks with you?”
Ronan had pivoted back to the man speaking, still keeping his body between hers and him. She would have had to have been blind not to see the tensing her man did as he remained in front of her, like he would protect her from anything.
Her man?
My man?
This was what happened when she spent two nights of bliss with a man who knew how to work her body like nobody’s business. Her mind, her book loving, romance adoring, happily ever after craving mind and heart had focused on him like they needed one another to breathe.
“Still living at home, expecting your parents to support your habits, Jorgansen?”
Okay, there was definitely something between them. And it wasn’t nice. She flashed to his admission of how his youth had been growing up here and she frowned, protective instincts flaring.
“Still sleeping in that clapboard house your mother had as a whore house?”
“Excuse me?” Indignation rolled off her and she shoved in front of Ronan. “You don’t talk to him that way.”
Jorgansen, whoever he was, took two steps back from the ferocity in her tone. Long brown hair hung limply from beneath the edge of his ballcap. Also dirty and greasy. Thin pale face with a look of superiority that she instantly wanted to smack away.
“Let the men talk, little lady.” A sneer. “Then again, you’re not that little are you? You seem to be new in this town so let me help you out, you want to get somewhere in this town and you come to me, you want to slum it? You’re in the right place.”
The man behind her growled and moved. She didn’t turn back to Ronan, merely reached back to him and placed her hand on his chest.
“I don’t know who you think you are but you should be ashamed of yourself for talking about this man in such a manner.”
“He’s nothing but a boy who barely made it through class and didn’t have any friends.” He lifted his pockmarked chin. “My parents pretty much own this town.”
People, who had been absent due to the weather, had somehow gotten up their nerves to venture out and had begun gathering around.
“Angel,” he rumbled in her ear.
“Shush.” She pushed on his chest, never taking her eyes off the man she wanted to smack more than anything. “This man is a war hero and you, from the looks of things, haven’t done anything worthwhile. You’re not fit to shine his shoes and either you walk on Jorgansen, or you’ll answer to me.”
“I’m not a man to threaten, lady.”
She realized right then, the only reason Ronan’d stayed back was because he was willing to, not because she had the ability to keep him behind her. Ronan moved her aside like she weighed no more than a feather.
“Keep on in that manner, Jorgansen and I’ll do worse to you than I did in middle school.”
Anger all over his expression, Jorgansen turned his fury from her to the man who’d manhandled her back from the line of fire.
“You can’t just go beating on people because you think you can.”
The growl rumbled up from his chest and she felt it all the way to her core. “When you’re threatening my woman, I’ll do whatever necessary to keep her safe. Trust me when I say I learned a lot of ways to do that in the military.” He stepped closer and reached out to grab him.
Vivyan snagged the back of his dark brown leather jacket, trying to hold him back.
“Ronan.”
He angled so he could look at her but not fully turn his back on what he’d perceived to be a threat. To her.
Damn him for making her weak-kneed again.
One eyebrow rose.
“He’s not worth it.”
“You are.”
If she’d not been in love with him before, those two words cemented it home.
She didn’t beg him not to, merely held his gaze and poured every ounce of her feeling into that look she could. After about five seconds, he huffed and rubbed his knuckles down the side of her face.
“You win, angel. But don’t think this is going to be common. I protect what’s mine.” He put them nose to nose. “And that’s you.”
She couldn’t even attempt to hide the blossoming smile turning up her lips. “And I protect what’s mine, Ronan Milo. And that’s you.” She blinked. “I’ve never claimed a person before I kinda like it.”
“It’s a one time deal, angel. You don’t get to claim anyone else.” A light brush of his lips. “You’re mine and I’m yours. Period.”
“I love you, too, Ronan.”
She settled her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him. She wasn’t going to hide her love for this man, especially not in front of people who should be thanking him for his service versus trying to make him feel bad about his youth.
He wrapped his arms around her and yanked her flush against him. That was about the time, she lost track of everything else.
It didn’t matter. She had more than she ever dreamed she would.