Page 85 of Sundown Somewhere

“Get up to no good?”

The tiny waggle of her eyebrows, paired with the lilt in her voice, fills me with hope. If that’s the question she’s asking, then maybe not all is lost.

Tightening my hold on her, I press a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling her sweet scent. It fills my nostrils, with hints of food from the diner sneaking in, and I can’t help but feel alive, my heart racing from nothing more than holding her. Something that even after all these years and the shift between us over the last few weeks, I’m still convinced I could do for the rest of time.

Fuck me, I don’t know what I did to be lucky enough to be the one that Dolly McLain chose.

“Always, Doll. Always.”

“Then let’s ruin a dress. Let’s get wild and dirty and do all the things that would have made Jeff furious.”

She pulls away, a sly smile tugging at her pretty pink lips, her blue eyes sparkling with the same wild glint from when we were kids. My dick twitches at the fearlessness inside her shining through, making me want to show her just how dirty we can get. But my heart wants to make sure of something first.

I grab her hand, stopping her before she can get all the way away. “You sure? Because if you’re not…”

“I’m sure, Hux.” She nods, her eyes meeting mine, giving me that assurance I need. “And if at any point that changes, you can take the dress off me.”

Gladly…

“I took if off you once; I’ll happily do it again.” I wink.

She starts to say something, but stops herself, snapping her mouth shut. Pink flushes her cheeks, and she looks away, letting go of my hand quickly. I desperately want to ask her what she was about to say, where she was about to take this. To know what on earth could make her blush like that.

But I get cut off.

The sound of my phone slices through the air, catching me off guard. Shit, why the hell is the ringer even on? I scramble, digging into my pocket for it, answering without looking.

“Hello?”

“Huxley, it’s Rick Babcock, Hickory Hills Town Treasurer.”

Yes, Rick, I know who you are. I distinctly remember kicking the shit out of your kid in the fourth grade for picking on Alice, and threatening to do it again in high school when he tried to spread rumors about Emily. I also remember you covering for him all the times he shoplifted from Wright’s. This is a small town after all.

“Hi Rick. What’s up?”

“Just callin’ to let you know that your proposal and plans have been approved. Should you like, we can announce it right after the parade next weekend.”

My…my proposal? Wait…that doesn’t make sense. They vetoed it.

“Project: Second Star?” I ask, my brain still trying to catch up. “I thought the town council voted against it.”

“It was voted on again this morning and passed.”

I stop in my tracks, my head spinning from the news. It’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Yet still doesn’t make sense. How? What made them reconsider? Or what made Seth Jennings reconsider?

Maybe I shouldn’t question it. Just be thankful that the universe is working on my favor and that I’m going to be able to build this playground. That I’m going to be able to give Dolly something that will show her what she means to me. What she means to this town.

Dolly.

Those cinnamon rolls might just become unavailable…

I shake my head, realization slamming into me like bumper cars. I can’t believe she did it. She actually did it.

Looking back toward her Jeep, I try to catch her, but she’s nowhere to be found. I wonder if she knows that she was able to pull this off. That she’s the one who is responsible for getting this pushed through. Knowing her, she’ll shrug it off, tell me it was nothing and that she was happy to do it. Because she has no idea how powerful she is.

“So, can we expect an announcement at the parade?” Rick asks, cutting through my thoughts.

“Errr, yeah. If you get the approval sent over to Hayes, I’ll get it all worked out with the parade committee this week.”