Seventeen Days (33 page)

The people are moving but we both stop and simply stare at each other. 

And I can finally breathe again after sixty-two hours and twenty-four minutes. She breaks first and takes the first step toward me, the grin on her face mischievous. Shaking my head, I all but run toward her. If she only knew how much I’ve missed her. 

We don’t say a word once we reach each other, only grasp each other tightly and kiss like we can’t function without the other. PDAs have never been my thing, but for Morgan, I’d do anything. I’ve missed her smell, her smile, her kiss.
Everything.
 

Yesterday, Steve brought in cinnamon rolls and the smell of them reminded me of her. She always smells of cinnamon. If I didn’t know what her body wash and shampoo smells like, I’d swear that she bathes in the stuff. 

“Don’t mind me, or the few hundred people around, either. We don’t mind. And sure, I’ll grab all the bags. Nice to see you too, Harrison. Why yes, New York was fun.” 

Is it any wonder where Morgan gets her sarcasm from? Savannah is full of it. Breaking our kiss, I turn and greet Savannah. 

“I’ll grab the bags; you ladies stay right here. We can catch up, over dinner. All of us. How does that sound, ladies?”

Morgan can stay the night with me afterward. We have so much to catch up on. A lot of has happened while she was away. Besides my firing every temp the agency has sent over, Thad is out sick. To say I’ve been busy as fuck is putting it mildly. I’ve barely had time to shower but I’ve missed her every single second. We’ve had to reschedule a couple of regular clients and send a party of three over to a competitor but we’ve managed. Hopefully I can hire on another new guy to help run tours while Thad is out. That, at least, will be a load off my shoulders.

“The turquoise one is yours correct, Savannah?” I ask as it goes by. I grabbed the designer one that went by already, knowing it was Red’s without her having to tell me. 

“Yes, it is. I can carry it to the truck, you don’t have to carry it for me. It’s much heavier now than it was when we left.” 

“Yeah, did I mention she almost killed me yesterday? Because she did. You should be thankful I’m still alive. My aunt can shop, Harrison.”  

Laughing, I grab Savannah’s bag when it passes by again. Holy shit, she wasn’t kidding. Did she buy designer bricks while in New York? 

“Yes, babe, you did. When you called me from nearly every single store. You left detailed voicemails. Not that I didn’t enjoy every one of them. I’m glad to see you survived. If you start resting up now hopefully you’ll be ready for your shopping day with her come December, in Paris.” 

“Oh, shit, I forgot about Paris. Save me, Harrison. You go with her. The clothes I may acquire aren’t worth it. All the coffee and baked goods in the world won’t be enough to make up for the blisters I’m sure to get in Paris.” 

By this time, Savannah has stopped walking and is shaking from her laughter. It seems she likes to torture her niece with her shopping habits. It isn’t long before Morgan joins her in laughter and soon, we’ve all stopped and are laughing like the loons we are. 

These ladies are in a much better mood than either of them left in. It appears New York was good for their relationship. Not as toxic as they both feared it would be. The somber mood has lifted. It’s been replaced by one of lightheartedness. 

“Follow me, ladies. We’ll stop for dinner on the way home. My treat.” 

If I can make it back to my truck hauling their suitcases. Holy shit, these weigh a ton. Good thing I’m used to lifting heavy things every day. Even so, I’ll probably find myself short of breath by the time I climb behind the wheel. Morgan wasn’t kidding, Savannah can shop. 

“That sounds great, Captain. I’m starving. But then again, I’m always hungry.” 

“If you two would like to be alone, you can drop me off first and I can put together a sandwich. It’s no problem at all.” 

Hell no. 

“Savannah, it’s not a problem. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want you there. You’re like family to me. I’d like to treat you to dinner.” She’s the only family I have left, besides my uncle who I rarely see. Aside from the rare holiday, my Uncle Garrett isn’t a part of my life. 

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something since Sienna was here. Is my uncle the Garret she used to date? She called me Garrett during our brief meeting so I’ve been wondering.” 

There’s no other explanation for why she’d call me Garrett. We do have the same build and the Montgomery gray eyes. My hair isn’t as dark as his is, though. Mine is a tad lighter due to all the time spent in the sun. 

“Oh! I thought I’d mentioned it when I was telling you both who Julian was. I’m sorry, kids. Yes. It is. She was dating Garrett at the time when she became pregnant with Morgan. She tried to pass her off as his at first, but Garrett always knew. Shortly after they broke things off, he married your aunt.” 

This situation keeps getting more and more fucked up as the days go by. Twisted doesn’t begin to cover it.

“No, ma’am. You didn’t mention it. You said the name Garrett but not that it was my uncle. Holy shit. No wonder she called me by his name.” 

Is it majorly screwed up my uncle and Sienna dated and now I’m in love with Morgan? 

Fate is weird as shit. 

“Do you think he loved her, if he married my aunt so quickly afterward?” 

“That’s a question better suited for him, don’t you think?” is her reply. Yes, I agree. 

Shaking my head, I unlock the truck, toss their luggage inside, hold open the door and help them both inside, dropping the subject for now. 

After dinner, I drop Savannah off and haul her luggage into the house for her. Earlier before picking them up, I dropped Mac off at the house so he’d be here once she returned home. 

“Thank you for dinner, Harrison. I’m sorry again for not mentioning that about your uncle. I honestly thought I had a couple of weeks ago.” 

“It’s okay, Savannah. Don’t worry about it. It was an honest mistake. Sleep well.” 

Placing a quick kiss on her cheek, I run back out to the truck. 

“Ready to go home, babe?” 

“More than ready. It’s late, and I plan on going into work in the morning, if my boss needs me, that is.” 

Wait, what? It’s probably a good thing I didn’t put the truck in drive yet. Her words have shocked me senseless. 

“You want to work tomorrow? I thought you were taking the next couple of weeks to prepare for classes?” Unless something major happened over the last few days and she’s yet to tell me. 

“Well, you see, I sort of still need a job. At least until after the new year.” She says this so quietly I’m almost positive she didn’t say what I think she said. 

“Could you repeat that? Louder this time?” 

Is she staying here and not going back to New York? Please tell me I heard her correctly. For all I know, I could be still dreaming and having a very detailed dream. That’s got to be it; I never woke up this morning. 

“I’m staying here in Alabama, Harrison. I’ve decided not to attend classes at Columbia after all. I gave up my apartment in New York and am going to stay with my aunt until I can start classes here. And then I’ll still live with her on the weekends or whenever I can make it home. My mind was pretty much made up the night before I left when you told me you were my safe harbor. That sealed it for me. You’re it for me. You’re my future. I don’t need to go away to find myself, when I’ve already found myself in you. School is still important to me so I’m going to go to a school here. I’m taking the semester off, and if you’ll still have me, I’d like to continue working for you.” 

I’m the luckiest bastard alive. This beautiful stubborn woman has chosen me. Me, a fishing cowboy. 

“Of course I want you. At work and in my life. I want you everywhere, in every possible way. You shouldn’t ever question that. I can’t promise you perfection because I’m far from it, but I can promise you I’ll never intentionally hurt you.” 

Pulling her over into my lap, I kiss her with all the love in my heart. I never knew love could be this all-consuming. To think today is only the nineteenth day since she came into my life. Imagine what the nine-hundredth day will be like. The nine-thousandth. 

Breaking the kiss, she climbs off my lap. “Take me home.” 

Home, I like the sound of it falling from her lips.

“Dog missed you. He didn’t have anyone to throw his ball in the morning. His owner has been too busy running around with his head cut off to play with him. He’ll probably beg for you to play before bed tonight. Don’t be too surprised if he does.” 

He moped around the house like I did, the times I was there. Mac looked at us both like we were insane. He was the only one in the house who didn’t act like he was in mourning. It made me jealous to see him. 

“Well, he’ll have to wait till the morning. Tonight I have other things in mind.
Someone
else in mind. Those things involve you, me, a shower, then a bed. Hopefully nothing else till the alarm goes off.” 

Have I mentioned she’s perfect?

Harrison’s alarm goes off way too early for my liking. If I didn’t know he had an early tour this morning, I’d hit snooze a couple of million times. Jet-lag is real, people, and I’m suffering from it. Combine it with still recovering from my aunt’s major shopping trip, and I’m exhausted. If I questioned her being related to Sienna before, I never will again. They both clearly love fashion. Not like I don’t, and I’ll never admit it to her, I secretly love her shopping addiction. 

“Hit it, you know you want to. I’ll stay and snuggle for at least one snooze cycle, babe,” Harrison whispers into my ear. Snuggle, yeah, right. More like he’ll wake me up by
waking
me up, if you get my drift. 

“If by snuggle you actually mean snuggle, then yes. If you mean,
snuggle
, then no. I’m too tired to go another round with you this morning. This girl needs her beauty sleep, you go shower, I’ll see you at the office later.” After I get a solid two more hours of sleep. Maybe a hot bath. And a whole pot of coffee.

“Hit the snooze button, babe.” Bossy, bossy.

Hitting the button, I burrow back down into the covers and Harrison’s waiting arms. Ahh, heaven. Pure heaven. I’m entirely too comfortable staying the night with him for my liking. Maybe tonight I should stay in my own bedroom at my aunt’s. It’s where I live, after all. It’s like we’re two magnets who can’t bear to be apart and always find our way back together. The nights away in New York were like our own personal version of hell. It was pure torture. Granted, I still called him and fell asleep to the sound of his voice each night I was away, but it wasn’t the same as his arms surrounding me. Nothing in the world can compare to the comfort I feel when he’s near me. 

I’m going to check into off-campus housing, if it’s allowed for freshman, and maybe he can come up on his days off. That would be good for us, since we seem to like spending the nights together. Before we were having sex, we liked sharing the same bed. Something about him draws me in. The alarm goes off again much too soon, and he’s out of bed turning it off before I can protest. Normally I’d join him in the shower but sleep is winning this morning.