That part hadn’t been so bad. But as he’d stood there waving goodbye to them, he would always say, “Have a nice time, kids. Keep your clothes on.”

Out loud. In front of her date.

No doubt it had been a deliberate warning for her date to keep his hands to himself and a not-so-subtle reminder for Preslee to behave like a lady. And, as if that hadn’t been bad enough, her dad would wait for her to get home by standing guard at the front door and then flicker the porch light the moment her date tried to kiss her good night. How was a girl supposed to get any action like that?

Okay, so maybe that had been the point. But it hadn’t made it any less embarrassing.

Thankfully, his tactics hadn’t worked forever. Because eventually, she’d managed to lose her virginity, something she assumed her father had probably figured out by now. After all, she was twenty-eight. And over the past few years, she’d even been in a few relationships that had lasted a considerable amount of time.

But even then, her father had always steered her in the opposite direction of those boyfriends and suggested she find someone who was meant specifically for her. Someone who held the same interests. Someone who she could build a good life with. Someone who loved her as much as he did. Which was sweet and all.

But that only brought her back to her original question. Could that be why he’d hired Josh in the first place? For her? In hopes that they would hit it off and become a couple? Sure, her dad had needed to hire someone to fill the position, and Josh did know his stuff when it came to antiques. But her dad couldn’t have picked a more perfect guy for her if she’d chosen him herself.

On paper, Josh was exactly what she wanted. He was cute in that boy-next-door kind of way, but not so good-looking that he would be vain about it. He stood almost six inches taller than her and had a decent build on his medium frame. Then there was the fact that he’d been nothing but polite and respectful toward any females who had come into the shop, which led Preslee to believe that he would probably be the same way with any woman he dated. And the guy planned to, one day, go into the antique business himself.

See? Perfect.

Only Josh didn’t know Preslee had secretly dubbed him her future husband. Yet, more than once, she’d imagined them running the antique shop together as a married couple until the day came that they would retire from the business and pass it down to their own children.