Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Easy-peasy.
I nearly fell to the floor when I spun around and saw Declan smelling a Gerbera daisy.
Why in the hell is that so hot?
Throwing up a silent prayer, I started toward the counter. “Declan, you really don’t have to help me out.”
“I know I don’t. I want to.”
Sighing, I nodded. “Okay, well then, see that bucket of daisies? Grab it and bring it on back.”
He winked and picked up the bucket. “Right behind you.”
I wasn’t even going to let my mind go down that road.
Once we were in the back, Declan let out a whistle. “Wow. This is cool, Harper.”
“You think so?” I asked as I glanced around my work-slash-storage area. In the back left was a giant walk-in cooler where I had flowers. A large table sat toward the front of the room, filled with vases and flowers for this weekend’s event. I needed to get them into the cooler.
“Should we finish these and then work on Mom’s?” Declan asked.
“I wish you knew how to make bouquets,” I said with a laugh. “You could do your mother’s, and I could work on these.”
Declan stared at the flowers. “Will you make up one first? Let me see what you do, and I’ll give it a shot.”
“Wait, seriously?” I asked, stunned he would even suggest it. Here was an ex-Marine, now a cop, who wanted to make floral bouquets simply to help me out. I’d swoon if I didn’t think it would make me look insane.
“Of course. I’m not afraid to try something new.”
“But…flowers?”
“What’s wrong with flowers? Just because it isn’t considered manly in some people’s eyes, I figure it could be a good creative outlet.”
I blinked at him a few times. “Oh my God, are you…?” When I reached over and pinched him, he jumped.
“Ouch! What the hell, Harper?”
“Sorry, but I needed to make sure you were real. I’ve never met a guy who wanted to play with flowers.”
He grinned as he watched me assemble a small bouquet of daisies. “Play with flowers?”
A breath of laughter slipped free. “That’s what my mom calls it. Has ever since I was a little girl.” I slipped a few pieces of baby’s breath into the arrangement and stood back. “Simple as that.”
“What’s this called?” he asked, pointing to the tiny flowers.
“Baby’s breath.”
He nodded, reached for a vase, and went to work creating his own bouquet. I watched him for a moment before continuing the ones for the Memorial Day BBQ.
“You’re a natural at this,” I said, nodding my head toward the bouquet Declan was working on.
With a soft chuckle, he replied, “It’s relaxing.”
“You should try planting them. It’s even more fun to play in the dirt.”
Declan looked up at me and winked. “Like to get dirty, huh?”
And given the way my mind instantly went into the gutter, my mother would be ashamed. I quickly focused on the flowers in my hand.
“Do you have a garden where you live?”
I grinned. “I live on top of my shop, but yes, I do. My father helped me make some planters for the rooftop terrace, so I have a small vegetable garden up there and more flowers than I care to admit.”
“You live upstairs?” he asked, surprise in his voice.
“I do. I’d love to live outside of town with some land, but all my money goes into the shop, so it only made sense to live in the apartment upstairs for now. But at least it’s cute, and it’s all mine.”
“That’s all that matters.”
“What about you?” I asked, as I grabbed more red, white, and blue carnations and got to work on the next arrangement. “How long are you going to live over the toy shop?”
He let out a low whistle. “That, I’m not sure. With my previous career in the Marines, I was hardly stateside and shared a three-bedroom apartment with a few friends. We were all on the same team, so we were gone at the same time and home at the same time. Which wasn’t often.”
“It makes sense you’d have an apartment.”
“Yeah. And that allowed me to put money away. Hoping I’ll buy a house someday.”
I pushed a blue carnation into a vase and looked over at him. “Why not now?”
He shrugged and kept his focus on his flower arrangement. “I don’t know. I guess I just figured I’d buy a house when I got married, or was seriously dating someone I saw a future with. What if I buy a house now, and the woman I end up with doesn’t like it?”
“That is seriously the sweetest thing. Who are you, Declan Gallagher? What happened to the jock from high school who only cared about football and the Marines?”
He laughed. “He grew up fast.”
“I bet,” I said, pausing what I was doing to look at him once more. “From what Sean has said, you loved being a Marine. Why’d you get out?”