to keep seeing her. I want to wake up every day and kiss her good morning, hold her in my arms and see her smile.” I laughed and shook my head. “Hell, I guess it is pretty serious.”
“Oh. My. Goodness. You’re in love. You’ve fallen in love with her, haven’t you?”
I searched the dance floor until I found Greer. “I think I have, little sis. I think I have.”
The rest of the evening felt like a blur. We danced, laughed, listened to stories my folks told about me and Everly, and had our fill of drinks. Bishop Harris showed up at one point, and I quickly saw a small competition form between Kyle and Bishop for my sister’s attention. Kyle didn’t have a thing to worry about since it seemed that Everly only had eyes for him and hardly even noticed poor Bishop. I didn’t feel too sorry for him, though; he had a stream of women trying to get his attention all night.
Greer and I danced to the band’s cover of a Garth Brooks’ song, and I spun her around in circles. I loved the way she laughed and looked at me with nothing but happiness in her eyes. The way her gaze made me feel was new for me. Knowing I was the one who made her light up made me want to do it every day for as long as I could. I even tried a bit of two-stepping with her. Kyle, of course, had to cut in and show me how it was done.
Now Greer leaned closer to me and said, “Kyle and Everly seem to have hit it off pretty well. Your dad was being sneaky by asking Kyle to come along.”
I laughed. “He was. I’m glad Kyle was at the house when we stopped by. Speaking of which, what’s going on with your building?”
Greer let out a long sigh and then looked up at me. “Kyle stopped by to tell me that someone contacted Aiden about doing work on a building on Main Street. The address he gave Aiden was for Turning Pages. I told Kyle that I think it’s all a misunderstanding and that there’s nothing to worry about.”
I nearly froze as I thought about the guy taking pictures outside of Greer’s bookstore. “I don’t think it’s a mistake, Greer. Remember the guy I told you about, the one taking pictures?”
I glanced back over at our table and motioned for us to go and sit down.
“Do you think they’re interested in purchasing my building?” Greer asked, worry filling her words.
I nodded slowly. “I do, Greer. I didn’t want to think that was the case, but now it seems like a real possibility.”
She let out a disbelieving laugh. “Well, it will never happen because Tom has agreed to sell me the building. It’s been our plan since before I even went to college.”
Taking her hand in mine, I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “If you have an agreement with him in writing, you have nothing to worry about.”
Greer looked away, chewing nervously on her lower lip.
A feeling of dread crept over me, and I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and force her to look at me. Instead, I placed my finger beneath her chin and gently brought her gaze back to mine. “You do have it in writing, right?”
She sheepishly looked down at her hands and then back up to me. “No, not exactly. It’s all been verbal.”
I thought my mouth might hit the floor. “Verbal? It’s only verbal? The agreed-on buying price? The lease to own? You’ve got nothing in writing?”
Tears pooled in her eyes as reality started to settle in. “He wouldn’t do that to me, Hudson. He wouldn’t.”
Greer had clearly never seen what the power of money could do to a person. I had seen it firsthand, more than once. This wonderful, beautiful, trusting woman had never been taken advantage of—and she’d left her future in the hands of a man who could change his mind at any moment.
I laced her fingers with mine and smiled. “Don’t worry. It’ll all be okay.”
She forced a smile. “That’s what I told Kyle.”
“If you want, I can go with you to talk to Mr. Brooks.”
“That would be nice, thank you.” She exhaled slowly. “Now, enough of this. I want to enjoy myself. Let’s go dance again.”
Standing, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. “Your wish is my command.”
Greer
There was a knock on my office door, and I glanced