Chapter 14 - Connor #2
Scarlett swallows roughly, resting her hand on my thigh as she leans closer towards me. I breathe in her scent, reveling in the heat of her palm seeping through my jeans.
“I’m not yours, Connor,” she whispers.
“Not yet, baby girl.”
I’m more certain than ever that before she leaves, she will be mine. I don’t know what the future will look like, whether we’ll both be in Silverpine or in New York. I do know that it doesn’t matter where we are. We will be together. We can figure out the rest later.
She hums thoughtfully. “In other news, I went by Butter & Bloom on my way here and got my deposit back.”
Suddenly, it makes sense why she’s wearing my hat, and it makes me laugh. She’s a menace, knowing exactly what it would mean if she wore my hat.
“Did you wear my hat on purpose, hellion?”
“How quickly I go from baby girl to hellion.” Scarlett pouts.
“If you act like a hellion, you’ll get called one.”
Looking at me through the corner of her eyes, she says, “Are you upset?”
Reaching under, I grab the legs of her stool and pull her chair forward. Scarlett gasps, her hand tightening on my thigh and the other coming to rest on my chest. Scarlett tilts her head back to look at me, mouth parted in surprise.
“I can never be upset with you, Scarlett.” I hold her gaze, letting her see the truth in my eyes. Slowly, I lean in and suck on her bottom lip. She moans softly, her hand fisting in my shirt and pulling me closer.
As angry as she still is with me, I’m also certain that she still wants me. I pull away from her, not wanting to push her too far.
“What’s this?” I ask, nodding at the binder.
Scarlett’s lashes flutter as she blinks rapidly and shakes her head lightly, as if trying to clear the brain fog.
“This is the wedding book.” She opens it and reveals the contents.
“It’s got everything. From potential venues, to flowers, to cakes, centerpieces, decor ideas, whether you want a big wedding or a small wedding, a built in guest list for the Monroe family. ”
I’m fascinated by the thoroughness and the multiple tabs. I’m even more fascinated by the fact that it’s divided into three sections, one for each sister. Scarlett has a tab.
“This is your wedding book,” I say.
Scarlett runs a finger along the edge of the tab which has her name on it. “It’s not mine, specifically. It’s for all three of us and mom built it around our personalities.”
I reach for the book, lifting the page before her tab and Scarlett smacks my hand lightly.
“You can’t see that,” she admonishes.
“Why not? Considering I’ll be the groom, I have every right to know what my wedding will look like.”
Scarlett’s jaw drops open in shock. Fuck, how I love teasing her.
“You’re not going to be my groom, Connor,” she says.
“Give me one good reason why not,” I reply.
Scarlett releases a deep breath. “Because this isn’t a movie and I’m not going to leave everything to move to a small town because you have a very niche business that can’t be done anywhere else.”
“Technically, I can’t move the ranch to New York. We can buy a ranch in New York and leave Oliver to run things here. I’ll have to come back a few times a year to make sure everything is running fine but other than that, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them.
Not because I don’t mean them because I mean every word.
I know I left her to come here, but the past year and a half has made me realize I will leave Silverpine for Scarlett.
Choosing her might make me selfish but I can’t live without her.
Maybe, just maybe, she can’t live without me either.
“You left me to come back and now you’re going to leave for me?” Scarlett questions. She doesn’t look upset, which is saying a lot.
“Leaving here to be with you will be the easiest decision I’ll ever make,” I say with all sincerity. “Leaving you was the hardest decision and one I had no choice but to make.”
Scarlett looks down at the wedding book, fingering the edge of the binder. This isn’t a conversation I want to have here, where anyone can walk in. I feel Jared’s gaze burning into my back.
“Cam is going to make your sister’s cake,” I say. Changing the topic is the best option.
“I haven’t agreed, yet,” Cam says from the other end of the bar.
Scarlet leans forward to look at him. “What can we do to convince you? I’ll pay you the same rate that I was going to pay Jane.”
“I’m not exactly worried about the money. Connor will pay me whatever I ask,” Cam says, running a hand over his beard. “I’m not a baker anymore. I run a bar. I don’t think I’m qualified for the job.”
“As long as the cake is edible, we won’t complain,” Scarlett says. “But if you feel like it’s too much, we won’t pressure you.”
Cam looks thoughtful, his grey eyes locked on Scarlett. He’s my friend and I know he wouldn’t try anything with Scarlett, but a part of me still wants to shield her.
“Come back here tonight and I’ll prepare something for you,” he finally says.
I straighten in my chair immediately. “Why tonight?”
The place is going to be loud and crowded, exactly the kind of place Scarlett hates. Exactly the kind of place I hate and don’t want to be in. But if she’s here then I’ll have to be here because there’s no way I’m going to leave her in a bar surrounded by drunk men hitting on her.
“Because I need time to bake something for her to try,” Cam says, reasonably.
“Tonight is perfect. All the cousins are coming into town this afternoon and we need a place to celebrate the bride,” Scarlett says excitedly.
I glare at Cam, and he winks at me. The asshole knows exactly what he’s doing. Scarlett opens the wedding book again, drawing my attention to her.
“Next on the list is a place to have the rehearsal dinner,” she says. “I don’t know what the booking situation is like, but I was hoping we could do it at the lodge.” She looks at me in question.
“It’s yours, you don’t even need to ask.”
I’ll tell Harvey to move around reservations as needed. Scarlett is a priority and her reservation comes first.
Since Cam has reluctantly agreed to make the cake, I tell Scarlett about the florist in Calgary. “We’ll have to drive down there to meet with them. We can go tomorrow, if that works for you.”
She chews on her bottom lip. “Are you sure they’ll be available? The wedding is next week.”
“Don’t worry about it. I promised that I’m going to make sure your sister’s wedding happens without a hitch and I intend on keeping that promise. Whatever you want is yours.”
A blush blooms across her cheeks and Scarlett looks down, hiding it from me. She gets off her stool and picks up the wedding binder again.
“Well, since that’s settled, I should get back to my family.”
Walking to the end of the bar, she leans across the counter towards Cam. “Thank you so much for helping us. I can’t wait to try what you come up with tonight. Can I give you my number, in case anything comes up you can give me a call?”
“For sure,” Cam says, passing her a napkin to write her number on. Scarlett quickly scribbles her phone number and passes it back to him.
I watch the whole exchange, seething with jealousy.
I’m the one who brought her here, so I have no one to blame other than myself.
The way I see it, this is a win some lose some situation.
If Jane hadn’t canceled Scarlett’s order, then Scarlett would never have come to me, and I never would have come to Cam.
I have no choice other than to accept the situation.
Scarlett turns to walk away, and stops, turning to face me. “Did you want the hat back?”
I’m acutely aware of Cam and Jared listening to this conversation. But I don’t care because they might as well know, and they can tell the whole town as well.
“Nah, baby girl. The hat is yours now.” I don’t want there to be any questions about who she belongs to. I’m going to possess Scarlett, body, mind and soul.