Page 27 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

SUCH A GOOD FATHER

H armony didn’t think she was so smart the next day when she was checking emails and saw the one from her secret admirer. The person he was actually turning into now.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Harmony. I was thinking of you and waiting to see what you posted. Always so sweet and honest. Can’t wait to see more of you to brighten my day.

Signed with the three emojis again.

The creepy factor just leveled up.

She wanted to believe she was overreacting, but this wasn’t just a comment buried in a social media thread, it was a direct email to her business. Whoever sent it wanted to be sure she saw it.

She was going to puke.

It was making her second guess what she posted to not get a reaction out of this person. She didn’t want to be handcuffed like this.

She took a few deep breaths and heard Micah moving around in her room next door.

They’d agreed to talk about things, but there was no way she could bring this up to him.

Not now.

It was only an email. She could still be reading more into it.

She knew she was.

But her gut was screaming: disturbing!

Harmony refused to let anything ruin her mood.

The man she loved was getting dressed and then she was going to shower and they’d have breakfast together before her family arrived to meet him.

She stood and stretched her fingers over her head, then bent down at the waist, dropping her head with her arms swinging while she tried to shake off the negative energy.

“What are you doing?”

She lifted her head and saw him standing in the doorway buttoning his jeans.

“Getting my blood flowing,” she said.

“I thought I did that an hour ago,” he said, walking in.

She lifted and stretched her arms over her head to land around his neck, then hopped up so that her legs were around his waist. “You did. I love waking up like that too. How about you?”

“Shit yeah,” he said, laying his lips on hers softly.

Tenderly.

Gently.

You’d never think Micah Barnes would have that in him if you crossed him on the street. Least of all in his uniform.

He did and she got to witness and experience it.

“I almost wish my family wasn’t visiting today,” she said playfully. “Then we could spend the time in bed.”

“Another time,” he said. “I know you want me to meet your siblings and your father is coming too, right?”

She was happy her father decided to come for the day. Of course that meant at some point she was going to have to tell her mother too.

Ugh, that could put her in a worse mood than thinking of who was sending her slimy messages!

“Yes. I want you to meet them,” she said. “Are your parents around? You never said. Only that Trinda’s were.”

“My parents moved to Arizona when they retired. They come back a few times a year for a month.”

“I bet they stay with you, don’t they?” she asked, then unhooked her legs from his waist.

“They do,” he said. “There hasn’t been a reason for them not to. I’m not around much and they come to see Scarlet.”

“Are you an only child?”

“I am,” he said. “My parents wish I would have had more kids.”

She cocked her head to the side. “I guess this might be premature, and they put us on the spot last night, but do you want more kids?”

Micah took a deep breath in and let it out, making her think that what he’d said last night wasn’t true.

“I always wanted more than one.” He was searching her eyes and she was waiting for him to say that he didn’t want one this late in life now.

It’d break her heart because they’d just said they loved each other, but maybe they didn’t see their futures aligning.

“I’d like another, but I don’t want to wait too long. ”

She nodded. That was the same as he’d said last night. “That’s a good answer,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if you truly meant it. I’d like a few kids and I always wanted them close together. I hate being the baby, but maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad if I were closer in age to Erica.”

“Scarlet hated being an only child for years.”

“She’ll still feel like one by the time you have another. She’ll be off to college.”

He snorted. “Yep,” he said. “Do you need to shower?”

Which meant he was done with this conversation and she knew she pushed it more than she should have anyway.

“I do,” she said.

“I’ll start breakfast.”

“That’d be great. I love that you don’t mind cooking.”

“If I didn’t do it, it didn’t get done.”

She wanted to ask if it was like that even when he was married, but it didn’t matter.

She got some clothes out of her room, then jumped in the shower and was down in the kitchen ten minutes later.

“Pancakes,” she said. “You’re the best.”

“I didn’t know what you wanted and saw the box,” he said. “Hope it was okay to use it.”

“It’s there for anyone to use,” she said. “I had a craving for chocolate chip ones a few months ago and Erica and I had them for dinner.”

“Breakfast for dinner is always a go-to in our house,” he said. “Did you want chocolate chips in them?”

“Aren’t you the sweetest thing possible,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re shredding my masculinity on me,” he said drily.

“It’s not possible,” she said, finding the bag of chocolate chips. “Erica texted me when I was upstairs. She’s coming over early, if that is okay. I didn’t reply yet.”

“You don’t need to ask me,” he said. “This is your house.”

“I know. But Tucker has some things to do for work and so does Erica. She said she’d be in her office.” She picked up her phone to reply. “I told her you were making breakfast.”

“She probably wants to meet me before everyone else,” he said, closing one eye at her.

Harmony laughed when her phone went off. She wouldn’t share that Erica wasn’t coming if there was bacon being served. Her sister said she’d wait until that part was done.

She typed back fast. “She’s on her way,” she said and put her phone away.

“What made you laugh?”

“Inside joke,” she said. “Well, you do know about it. Let’s say it had something to do with bacon.”

She saw his face flush. “Yeah, I don’t want to know.”

Micah returned to making breakfast, and before he was done, Erica was coming in through the garage.

“Hey, big sis. This is my boyfriend, Micah Barnes.”

She was laughing as she said it. It felt odd to say boyfriend when he was that age, but partner didn’t feel right to her either.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Erica said, moving forward to shake his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“The same,” he said. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“I’ll be right out,” her sister said. “I’m going to bring my bag to my room.”

“I’m going with you,” she said, following her sister. “Well? Isn’t he so cute?”

Erica rolled her eyes. “He’s very cute.”

“I know,” she said. “Not your type. Tucker is your type. More business minded.”

Erica grinned. “That makes both me and Tucker sound boring.”

“Well, if the Oxford shoe fits,” she said, giggling.

“You’re a piece of work. Harmony, he’s not your usual type, mainly because of his age and ruggedness, but I can see how happy you are. Looks mean nothing.”

“I know,” she said, flopping on the bed. “There is so much to him. He’s really complex. I never thought I’d find that attractive. We said we loved each other last night.”

“Aw,” Erica said, moving over to hug her. “I’m so happy for you. I really am.”

“Right before you texted, we were talking about babies.”

“What!?”

“Relax,” she whispered. “I only wanted to know more about his family and if they lived around here. I didn’t know if his parents were around and he’s meeting Dad today.”

“Are they?” Erica asked.

She filled her sister in on that conversation, along with how the talk of future kids came about. “I didn’t plan it, but if he said he wanted no more children, I’m not sure what I would do. He’s such a good father.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Erica said.

“Says the woman who plans out every part of her life,” she said. “I think that was an important piece of information for me to know before we went any further.”

“It is,” Erica said. “And now you know, so you don’t have to focus on it either.”

“I’m not,” she said.

Erica put her clothes in the hamper from her bag and the two of them walked back to the kitchen. Breakfast was on the table and Micah was pulling plates down for them too.

“You’re spoiling me,” she said, moving over and putting her arms around his waist. “I’ve never had this before.”

“You get it with me,” Erica said. “But I guess it’s not the same thing.”

“You can’t give me bacon,” she said.

Micah turned and squinted one eye at her, his face flushing.

Erica’s face was doing the same thing, but at least her sister was giggling.

Yep, she loved getting the last word in!