But it was fine they were leaving. This was the amount of time she’d expected to spend with Mitch. Short and sweet. No big deal.

So why did it feel like so much had happened and that his visit had been a very big deal?

“Yeah, we need to get back,” he said, shooting a glance at Tori.

“I’m sorry,” Tori said. “It’s my fault.”

“It’s my fault,” Josh said. “I should have known taking her over to the Ryan farm was the wrong move.”

“But I wanted to meet everybody,” Tori said.

“Everybody being the alpaca—the one alpaca—that she was supposed to be taking back to Louisiana,” Mitch added.

“And now it’s four alpacas,” Paige said with a smile.

Tori nodded.

“And…” Mitch said.

Paige looked at her with wide eyes. “There’s more?”

“There was an donkey,” Tori said, lifting her shoulder.

“Who now belongs to us too,” Josh said.

Paige shook her head. “Wow.”

Tori said, lifting a shoulder. “Drew asked if I wanted him.”

Mitch laughed. “And Tori’s never met an animal she doesn’t want.”

“Anyway,” Josh said, “now that she’s met her new babies, she wants to get them home and settled.”

Paige wondered if Josh ever said no to Tori. But she couldn’t help smiling. Clearly they were both incredibly happy.

She looked up at Mitch. And now she was going to get rid of him sooner. Before she started liking him any more than she already did.

“I am sorry to be taking Mitch back to Louisiana so soon though,” Tori said, truly looking regretful. “But we do need his help with the trailers and driving that far straight through and everything.”

“It’s fine,” Paige assured her.

Mitch lifted a brow as if to ask it is, huh?

Well, it should be. He was just some guy she’d met and had some sexy fun with. Hell, he already knew more about her life than the last three guys she’d “dated”. It was time for him to go.

But she was going to miss him.

She wasn’t able to quite avoid that thought entirely.

“I need to grab my stuff from upstairs,” he said to her. “Come with me.”

There was not a question mark at the end of that sentence. Still, she nodded.

“I didn’t realize you’d left your stuff up there,” she said as she led him up the stairs.

“You thought I took it all to the bakery with me?” he asked.

“I didn’t know you went to the bakery.”

“Where did you think I went?”

“Louisiana.”

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

He grabbed her wrist and swung her around. He wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her in for a deep kiss.

Her hands slid into his hair, and she went up on tiptoe to get closer.

This is what I’m going to miss she told herself. All I’m going to miss.

You’re a freaking liar herself said right back.

When he let her go she was breathing hard.

“I’ve been dying to do that all morning,” he said.

She nodded. Hanging out at the bakery and watching him pretend to be with Tori—and being stupidly jealous of it—had been bad enough, but walking through the square and watching him hold Tori’s hand and feed her bites of cookie and brush glitter out of her hair had been irritating. Even though it was all fake. And she didn’t want any of that herself.

It was definitely good he was leaving.

He was cupping her cheek and watching her. “I’ll see you in thirty-eight days,” he said.

Her eyes widened. “Thirty-eight days? That’s not even two months.”

He grinned. “Exactly.”

“Are you coming back here for some reason?” Her heart thumped. She tried to tell herself it was because that idea made her nervous. But she was starting to think that she was not only a liar, but a pretty bad one.

“Do you want me to come back before then? I’ll be here. Just say the word,” he told her gruffly.

She wanted to say that word. Kind of. More than she did with anyone else anyway.

“Though you’ll have to somehow explain that to your mom.”

That would be interesting.

“I just… I mean…”

He finally chuckled. “Relax. I’m just giving you shit, you gorgeous commitment-phobe. The wedding is in thirty-eight days.”

She pulled back. “What? That means they’re getting married in February.”

She’d assumed the wedding would be in the spring. Or June. Like a normal wedding time. Several months in the future.

Why was nothing with this guy going according to plan?

“They’re getting married on Mardi Gras,” he said. “That’s when they met and when they got back together. So they almost have to.” He shrugged.

“Mardi Gras is in February?”

Why didn’t she know that? Why did Mardi Gras seem like a warm-weather event? Probably all the naked boobs associated with the holiday. Then again, it was a warm-weather event since it was mostly celebrated in the South. February in Louisiana was definitely warmer than February in Iowa.

Which was a major draw to this wedding for this Iowa girl.

As if the big guy who was dragging his hand down the side of her body and settling it on her hip wasn’t enough.

He is. He so is. And don’t even try to lie about it.

Yeah, yeah.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you soon, then,” she said.

He laughed and leaned in and kissed her before letting her go. “You need to work on acting enthusiastic about that before you get there, okay? My ego can only take so much.”

She grinned a genuine grin. “I’m not worried about your ego.”

It was probably a good thing he was sure of himself and cocky. He could handle her less-than-enthusiastic quirks about intimacy and commitment better than most men. The guys around here got their feelings hurt pretty easily. It was another reason she rarely said yes to dates with guys from Appleby. She mostly dated guys from other towns… the bigger and farther away, the better.

Mitch would be the farthest away of any guy she’d dated though—if that’s what they were going to call it—and that didn’t feel like a perk, exactly.

He pulled her in close again and put his mouth against her ear. “I can’t wait to see you and have you for six months straight.”

She felt tingles racing through her body and she had to focus on what he’d said. “You said six days last night,” she reminded him. And she hadn’t agreed to that. Yet.

“Okay, fine, we’ll compromise at six weeks.”

“I can’t.” Well, she shouldn’t. She could. Technically, she supposed.

He kissed her, then lifted his head. “We’ll see.”

“That should sound creepy. Like you’re going to lock me up or something.”

He didn’t grin. He cupped her face again. “Does it sound creepy?”

She wet her lips and then said honestly, “No.”

“We’ll take it… six days at a time,” he said.

She smiled. “You don’t take no for an answer very easily.”