Ryan's Love - C.A. Harms Page 0,4

I love her dearly, and I have always been able to count on her.

“I’m moving in. Where the hell are you?” I asked, smiling as I remembered our conversation only a week ago.

Bailey had just lost her job in the accounting branch of some department store. She hated it with a passion and bitched daily about her boss and what she would refer to as the woman’s “minions.” Bailey seemed to be the only one who would stand up for herself while the others bowed down to that nasty woman. Because of that, her boss made Bailey a target and piled on the reasons to let her go—which only helped me convince my very prissy and delicate friend to move to Livingston and work at the bakery with me. I laughed at the thought of her living in this small town. She would be lost without her shopping centers and top-notch salons, but I would deal with that when she got here.

“That’s why I’m calling,” she said. “Apparently my flight has been delayed, and now I won’t arrive until around four p.m.”

We’d already packed up most of Bailey’s things and tossed them into the U-Haul with my stuff. She had to stay behind to clean up her apartment and take care of her banking before flying out.

“Okay, I’ll be there waiting for you at the airport,” I assured her. The delay also gave me a little while longer to clean up. Maybe within that time I could also find someone to help me move in our bedroom sets, being that they were the only true items of furniture we brought. We’d either sold or donated everything else.

We hung up, and I decided to go clean myself up a bit before taking a little walk in hopes of finding a willing guy or two to volunteer their muscles.

Walking past all the little shops that surrounded the bakery, I got a strong sense of security. It was a gorgeous area with some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen—open land as far as the eye could see, colorful flowers, and ash trees highlighted the spans of grass. The locals were so welcoming and friendly, smiling and offering polite nods as I passed.

I was too busy looking off in the distance to pay attention to what was in front of me. My foot caught a high spot on the sidewalk, and I stumbled a few steps before I bumped into someone. I immediately held my hands out before me, and a set of strong hands gripped my shoulders to steady me.

“Whoa, darlin’,” a deep voice said, followed by a chuckle. “You okay?”

I looked up into a set of big green eyes and smiled in return. “Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Not a problem.” He smiled, and the cutest dimple indented his left cheek. “You’re new in town?”

I nodded. “Sure am.” I held my hand out, and he circled it with his big bear claw. “My name is Amber. I’m actually Helen’s granddaughter. I bought the bakery and plan on reopening it soon.”

“No kidding! Helen was an amazing woman. Can you bake as well as she could?” he asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I guess you’ll have to let me know once I get it opened for business,” I fired back.

“Well, Amber, my name is Jackson, and I’ll be sure to stop by. Once you get everything up and running again, I’ll be your first customer.” He was obviously flirting as he continued to flash that cute dimple and his handsome grin.

“Hey, Jackson, who do we have here?” a tall, dark-haired guy asked as he stepped up to Jackson’s side, his gaze raking over me from head to toe. A confident smile covered his lips, and a somewhat seductive gleam filled his eyes.

“Booker, this is Amber. Amber, meet my overly flirtatious friend, Booker Lauss,” Jackson said with a roll of his eyes. “She’s reopening Helen’s Bakery. Helen was her grandmother.”

“Love a woman who can cook,” Booker said with a wink.

My cheeks began to heat. What the hell was it with cowboys? They had me fumbling over my words, unsure of how to respond. I had been flirted with more times than I could count, but there was just something about men in a cowboy hat and boots. Maybe it was the tight jeans hugging their muscular thighs or the snug shirts highlighting their thick arms and broad chests.

There I stood in the middle of the sidewalk, my mouth