Chapter 51

Garrett had come up with an impressive number of orgasms he’d intended to give her.

And then he’d fully delivered on his promise. Plus one extra—for good measure.

Meredith had called him an overachiever. While enjoying every single sizzling climax.

Now, the following morning, she was doing her damnedest to pay attention at the meeting of committee members for the street festival, which was mere weeks away.

Her concentration was shot to shit, though. She really couldn’t think of anything other than her date with Garrett last night—at The Prime Cut as well as at Tristan’s bar. And yes, those public outings were, indeed, burning the Wildfire rumor mill to the ground at this very second.

Particularly because Garrett and Meredith had reportedly been lost in each other’s eyes at the restaurant and had then been super-snuggled up on the dance floor. The grapevine’s breaking news also confirmed they’d left Tristan’s together—and quite early in the evening, by the way. Like…way early. They’d been cozy with each other as they’d walked out the door, word on the street had it.

Genevieve had been chomping at the bit for all the juicy details when Meredith was packing up her iPad to head to the diner for the meeting. She’d had to very firmly remind her friend and employee that it was Genevieve’s responsibility to hold down the fort (aka the beauty boutique) while Meredith was tending to festival business.

It was also within Genevieve’s purview from now until the time of the inaugural event to check the weather reports hourly and consult the local meteorologist regularly, in order to stay on top of any drastic changes in the weather pattern that might be coming their way.

Although Lacey had wisely strategized a contingency plan for inclement weather, the concept of the street festival had evolved so significantly and vastly over the past several months that it would be a shame to have the entire event covered up with tents.

Worse would be having to move the whole outdoor affair into the school gymnasium if powerful winds came whipping through the town.

Not unheard of this time of year. Unfortunately.

Aside from that fear, things were progressing nicely, much to everyone’s relief. Meredith just needed to keep all her marketing and PR ducks in a row and continue hitting up social media outlets with all the updates and the cool info graphics she’d designed—and to which she’d assigned numerous hashtags.

While Lacey ran through the agenda items for the morning, Meredith played a little catchup on Twitter and Insta, posting some photos she’d recently taken of vendors’ wares in various prep stages for the event, as well as tweeting new teasers she’d crafted.

Fairly mindless tasks—and thank God for it. She was having difficulty focusing on anything other than those three little words Garrett had said last night.

Repeatedly.

Good Lord, she was still one-thousand percent shocked to the core he’d confessed his feelings for her. That he’d done it before she’d unexpectedly and accidentally blurted it herself. Likely at an inopportune time, knowing her.

But…Garrett had gone and taken all that pressure off of her, hadn’t he?

Exhilaration shimmied down Meredith’s spin as his sexy voice popped into her head, so easily conjured while she was thinking of him—and everything he’d told her. She squirmed a bit in her seat as the fiery sensations flitted through her at the thought of him. Also…she was ridiculously antsy at present, because in all honesty, it was damn-near impossible to believe a man like him was in love with a gal like her.

But he was.

And Meredith was more than head over heels, herself.

Somehow, she’d very smoothly conveyed that to him—without tripping over her own two feet.

Surprise, surprise!

“Meredith?”

She heard another voice. This one not inside her head. This one not the deep, rich and intimate timbre of one Garrett Slater.

She tore her eyes from her cell phone and her gaze flashed to Lacey.

Who smirked teasingly at her. “I’ve been asking you a question for nearly two minutes now.”

Holding up her cell, Meredith outright lied to her friend, stating, “I was fully engrossed in our networking opportunities with the other communities that are participating in our street festival.”

“Uh-huh. Sure it’s not your handsome new boyfriend who’s blowing up your phone?”

“Lacey!” Heat exploded on Meredith’s cheeks.

Everyone around the table laughed—save for Chase and Tristan. Who exchanged a look between the two of them.

Okay, so perhaps they weren’t totally on board with her budding romance.

Really, it’d been a stretch to expect them to do a one-eighty and suddenly, wholeheartedly embrace Meredith’s new relationship. With an older man, no less. With an older, wiser and more worldly man, no less.

But she did happily note that neither Chase nor Tristan scowled—that was a start. And a nice change of pace. They just sort of silently seemed to say to each other it is what it is…

And that was that.

Meredith could live with the lukewarm reception on their parts. Especially since Lacey and Genevieve were so damn enthused for Meredith, she could barely keep those two under control.

She told Lacey, “My private life is not up for discussion at this morning’s meeting.”

She then pointedly made eye contact with the entire group.

Too bad for Meredith, she couldn’t contain her own smile, instantly plastered on her face at the mere mention of Garrett.

Her boyfriend.

Holy hotness.

How in the world had she gotten so damn lucky?

Talk about hitting the jackpot!

But…

She mentally shook her head. She was getting derailed from important business with her runaway thoughts.

She forced herself to pay attention. To be a more active participant, not dwell inside her head, reliving all of last night’s precious moments over and over again.

She more calmly asked Lacey, “You had an inquiry of me?”

“Yes,” Lacey said, “Do you have the photo shoot scheduled for the final groups that were selected to compete in the Battle of the Bands?”

Meredith opened her Calendar app, searched for the topic on-deck and then informed everyone, “We’re booked for this Wednesday. I will personally be covering the shoot as our press representative, collecting my own candid photos to be used as social media teasers. I will also post all the official pictures, once they’re available to us. Furthermore,” she said in as professional a tone as she could muster while the heat still tinged her cheeks and the elation still ribboned through her, “I am putting together all the promo tweets for the bands to shout-out to their fans and families, with designated pics. They’ve all agreed to heavily promote the competition, as well as the festival.”

“Excellent!” Lacey jotted down a few comments in her planner and then moved onto the next item on her list.

Meredith went back to plugging the event on the Facebook page she’d created, as well as the boutique’s page that she managed.

After the meeting adjourned, she and Lacey headed to the shop, which was bustling with activity, so they didn’t really have much of a chance to talk about Garrett—and that suited Meredith fine. She wasn’t quite ready for a full kiss-and-tell of epic magnitudes, which she knew Lacey would require.

Hell, Meredith was still reeling over her extreme good fortune of late. And that included the way Garrett had made love to her last night.

If Lacey would have had the chance to quiz her on that, Meredith just might die from sheer embarrassment.

Or…she just might liquefy from her volcanic reaction to everything Garrett had done to her last night.

Thank God she had an excuse to avoid both Lacey’s and Genevieve’s inquisitions, because Meredith was committed to producing more of her Wildflower Passion products today, since the shelves were currently empty and there were backorders from the website that needed to be filled.

She went straight to work at her chemist’s station in the back, where it was quiet and private. And also a safely contained environment. Not that she was intending for any ingredients to erupt. She just felt more comfortable knowing she was in her own secluded area where no one could get hurt in the event she inadvertently mixed incorrect, active ingredients.

Clearly, it was a paranoia left over from her college disaster.

But she pushed that pesky recollection aside and dove in. While also mentally toying with some of the other flower combinations she’d tried…and some additions she’d pinpointed from the latest bouquet Garrett had picked for her.

The rainclouds had passed and the ridge should dry up quickly enough, so she could get up there again. The weather had been unseasonably warm and that had prematurely sprouted buds. Fine by Meredith. She was in need of them.

It did suddenly occur to her, however, that future late-winter/early spring months might not be quite so balmy and that meant her selection could potentially dwindle. She’d definitely need to generate plenty of inventory while the ridge—and Chase’s property—was overrun with blooms.

Particularly if this contest she was entered in sparked greater interest in her line.

Hmm. She had a lot of planning to do.

So Meredith did her absolute best to switch-off sweet and sexy thoughts of Garrett and focused, instead, on her business.

No easy feat, mind you.

Especially when she knew she had another date tonight with Garrett.