The tiny little seed of hope that wanted to believe that someone could love her.
Chapter 10
Here. Now.
Bliss smiled at the text message on her phone then asked Ginny, “Can we finish this later?”
Ginny opened another tub of ornaments they had carried down from Willa’s attic. Willa had come by and picked up several boxes of Christmas decorations earlier, telling them they were welcome to use the rest.
“Sure,” she said. “I need to get back to work anyway. We can decorate the tree tonight, if you’re not busy with Drake.”
“He’s having dinner with a friend of Cash’s tonight. The boys are going along, too. Drake wants them to know what they’re getting into before they sign on the dotted lines.” She had made the suggestion to Drake. Having listened to too many horror stories of the men in the club, she felt the boys needed to know how their lives would change. The boys who left Treepoint would not be the same two coming back.
It had shocked her when Drake had taken her advice and called Cash, asking him if he knew someone who would give the boys the real facts of joining the service. Cash had set the meeting up with a friend who was willing to drive in from Ohio, where he was on leave.
“Are they getting nervous?
“No, but Drake is. I think his supportive parenting view is slipping. I don’t blame him. I just wish they would at least do a semester of college before they decide.” She had grown attached to the two boys in the short time she and Drake had spent together.
During Thanksgiving, she had thought she would miss being with The Last Riders. She had, but it had been in a melancholy way, not the heartbreaking way she had been dealing with since she had left.
Bliss went to the closet, taking out her jacket.
“Take mine. That one isn’t warm enough.”
Bliss put hers back on the hanger, taking Ginny’s spare winter coat.
“Why don’t you buy yourself a thicker coat? That one’s too big for you.”
“Why should I spend the money when I can borrow yours?” Bliss quipped.
Ginny never complained about her making the spare coat her own since she had purchased a newer one for herself when she had gone shopping for Willa’s thank-you gift.
The awkwardness of the first few months they had lived together was gone. Since then, they talked more easily and had begun watching her favorite show, Vikings, together. Each of them picked their TV boyfriends. Surprisingly, it was Ginny who kept their conversations from reaching a personal level.
“That’s true. I can’t argue with common sense. See you later.”
“Bye.” Bliss rushed out, not wanting to keep Drake waiting. At least the roads were cleared. The city council’s penny-pinching hadn’t extended to snow removal yet.
Drake’s car was the only one outside his office building when she parked.
As she walked on the sidewalk toward his office, she noticed what Drake had been concerned about. The town was beginning to look neglected. The sheriff’s office and Lucky’s church were the only two buildings that had fronts appearing cleaned and cared for. Even the diner looked like it could use a fresh coat of paint.
Bliss didn’t knock before entering Drake’s office where she simply stood, trying to catch her breath. Whenever she looked at him, it made breathing difficult. She had always been drawn to strong men, and Drake’s size and confidence aroused her on an elemental level that grew each time she was with him.
“What took you so long?” Drake was sitting behind his desk, wearing a dark suit with a dark gray shirt.
Bliss frowned, glancing at the clock on his desk.
“I was joking.” The irritation on his face and in his voice disappeared. In its place was an expression that came damn close to the one her favorite TV boyfriend had perfected.
“Oh.”
“Come here.” Drake leaned back in his leather chair.
She unbuttoned the heavy coat as she walked around the corner of his desk. When she stepped within reach, he leaned forward, using the front sides of the coat to tug her down onto his lap.
“You have no sense of humor.”
“I didn’t think it was funny,” she told him, lowering her lashes so he couldn’t see the hurt in her eyes. She used to love to play the same game with Shade and had been thrilled when he would punish her for taking too long. Many times, she would be the instigator so she would get the attention she wanted from him. From Drake, though, she kept waiting for the train to hit. Some days, she swore she could almost hear it coming, as if fate was bearing down on her to pay her back for being such a bad person.
“Sweet Bliss, what am I going to do with you?”
“Do you need me to make some suggestions?” she teased, shrugging off her feelings as unimportant as her lips went to the corner of his mouth, her fingers playing with his belt buckle.