by C. M. Boers
“It looks like there’s a hole behind it.” Jeremy squatted down, squinting against the glare of sunlight cast off the water.
“Is there?” I leaned down behind him, trying to see. “Reach in, see how big.”
“No! You don’t know what’s in there.”
“Come on. Don’t be a sissy. You know you want to know what’s back there just as bad as I do.”
He glared at me before he knelt and looked at the waterfall again. His hand disappeared inside, the water cascading around his wrist. I held my breath.
“Oh my gosh. What do you feel?”
He made a face and pulled his hand out. “Slimy stone.”
“Anything back there?”
He shook his head and wiped his hand on his shorts. “Nope, but it’d be a good hiding place. It’s a little bit bigger than my hand.”
“How cool. I might have to come back and hide something in there.”
“Ha! I’d love to see you stick your hand in there!”
My hands went to my hips. “Rude!”
We made the trek back a few hours later, after exploring the area more than I’d been adventurous enough to do.
“I could really go for a big pepperoni pizza right now. I’m starving.”
“Mmm,” he groaned, “you’re making my stomach grumble. Those sandwiches we packed didn’t stay with me for very long.”
Jeremy pushed the door closed behind him as I pulled out all the menus.
“Mind if I take a quick shower?” he asked.
“Go ahead. I’m going to take one too, but I’ll order the pizza first. Want anything else?”
“Nope, just pizza.”
Thirty minutes later, I was toweling off my hair when the doorbell rang. “That’s probably the pizza, will you grab it? I’ll be right down!” I yelled.
“Okay,” Jeremy called up the stairs.
Seconds later, loud voices penetrated my quiet house.
“What are you doing here?” someone shouted.
“Melanie?” Jeremy’s worried voice drifted up to me.
In seconds, I was at the foot of the stairs. Jeremy had backed away from the door, and Jack stood just inside the door, bright red in the face. He was fuming.
“Jack.”
“What the hell is this, Melanie?” he demanded. “It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already moved on? I should have known.”
“Jeremy came to make sure I was okay.”
“I can’t believe I came here, thinking I’d been a jerk, ready to apologize for ending things the way I did. And you are here . . . with him.”
“This isn’t what you think.”
“Really? Because it looks like you’re with your ex-boyfriend, the same one you went on a date with while we were still together, on the very weekend we were supposed to go away together.”
“We’re just friends.”
“Right. Friends who look like they’ve both just showered. Perfect.”
“Separately. We just got back from a hike.”
He put up his hand to stop me. “Save it.”
“Jack.”
He turned and marched down the steps.
I spun to face Jeremy.
He mouthed, “Go.”
It was all I needed, and I took off running. This was it. My last chance to go after him like I hadn’t before. After this moment, there was no going back. I’d never be able to work for him again after this, if I couldn’t get him to change his mind.
“Jack,” I shouted. “Wait.”
He froze with his back to me.
“I love you. Please. Can we talk?”
“What is there to talk about? It looks to me like you’ve already moved on.”
“I haven’t. I’ve spent the last few days in bed, ignoring everyone. I’ve been so . . . heartbroken. Jeremy was worried, so he flew out here to check on me. He got me out of bed, but as a friend. There’s nothing between us anymore, he knows that. And if you’d ask him, he would tell you.”
He whirled around to face me. “How am I supposed to believe you? You’ve been lying to me for months.”
“I haven’t. I told you something bad happened, and I didn’t want to talk about it. But I should have. I should have told you everything right from the start. I know that. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. No more secrets, I swear. From now on, nothing but honesty.” I reached for his arm.
His eyes closed, but he didn’t shake it off, so I stepped closer.
“Melanie,” Jeremy said from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. His bags were already at his feet. “I should go.”
“Yes, you really should.” Jack ground his teeth together.
“Jack.” I placed my hand on his arm. He threw it up, knocking my hand off. I sighed and looked over at Jeremy. “I thought you weren’t leaving until tomorrow.”
“It’s time.” Jeremy eyed Jack.
I nodded, knowing what he meant. He was stepping out of the situation to let us figure things out. “Thanks for coming. I owe you.”
“It’s what we do for friends. Take care of yourself. Okay?” He loaded his bags into the trunk of his rental car but stopped and looked at Jack. “She’s pretty special, not someone who betrays on purpose. Take care of her, okay? Better than I did.” He nodded to Jack and got in the car.
The last part of his statement hit me right in the gut. The guilt he still felt over the accident, which ultimately had pulled me away from him.
It appeared as though Jeremy’s words were what gave Jack the last nudge he needed. His eyes were on me when my attention flickered back to him, intense and searching.
“There’s really nothing between the two of you?”
I shook my head. “I swear.”
The next second, he kissed me. I gripped onto him, and I never wanted to let go. I’d been craving his touch all week, ever since I’d walked out of his office, crushed. And now I had it, and it was better than it ever had been before.
“Ahem, I have a pizza delivery,” a timid voice said from behind Jack.
I laughed against Jack’s lips. “You hungry?”
“Always.”
I took the pizza, letting the guy get back to work. Jack turned to walk inside when a thought struck me.
“Ah, one more thing . . . you know, with the ‘no secrets’ thing . . .”
He turned slowly, his face serious.
“I never told you, but I feel like I should.” I pressed my finger to my lip. “I have a trust.”
Relief flooded his features. He pulled me into his arms, tossing the pizza box onto the hood of his car. “You didn’t want to tell me you had money?”
“I guess we both didn’t want anyone to distinguish us because of it.”
He laughed. “Now I know we’re perfect for each other.”
***
Three weeks later . . .
“Are you ready yet?” Jack called up the stairs.
I pushed my suitcase to the edge of the stairs. “Yes.”
“Finally!” Then he looked at the size of my bag. “Really?”
“What?”
“You could fit inside of that bag.”
“So?”
“It’s only going to be a couple days.” He came up the stairs to retrieve it.
“But it’s Christmas.”
He grinned down at me. “It’s going to be the best Christmas.” He kissed my forehead. “Even if I break my back carrying this bag around.”
“Ha. Ha.” I made a face at him.
An hour later, Jack pulled the car into a drive, which I could tell hadn’t been driven on since it snowed last. Not a single tire tracked through its whiteness. The trees, however, were heaping with snow, allowing a thin powder to fall between their branches. We curved around through the large pines before a huge cabin appeared before us. The enormity of it was startling.
“How many bedrooms does this place have?”
Jack chuckled. “Six.”
Nothing like the average persona he tried t
o keep up back home.
He opened the door, and the cold air whipped me in the face. “Brrr.” I shivered.
“Well, I’d be willing to bet Rose has a fire going inside.”
I clutched my purse to my chest, absorbing the last of its warmth, as he got my bag out of the back. I bounced up and down, trying to keep my legs warm. “I hope so. It’s sooo cold!”
“Come on.”
The moment we stepped through the double front doors, the cold was long forgotten as the warmth from inside welcomed and the beauty from within captivated me.
“Pretty amazing, right?”
“Yes.” I spun around, looking at the entryway from all angles.
“My mom spent a fortune trying to get it just right.”
“I bet.”
He led me upstairs and showed me to a room to the right. “This will be your room. Unless . . .” He paused and stepped from the room to the room across the hall, which was quite a bit larger. A fire was already warming the room. “You’d like to stay in the same room. I’m fine either way, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous.”
He acted like he was going to wait for my answer, then quickly turned around. “I’m going to find Rose and let you make that decision.”
I muffled my giggles behind my hand. I’d never seen him nervous before. What he didn’t realize was, I never pictured us staying in separate rooms.
I heaved my bag onto its wheels and rolled it into our room. Our room. I liked the sound of that.
I found Jack, after at least ten minutes of searching, in the kitchen with an older woman. She had graying short hair and was plump around the middle. They were hunched over the stove, talking in hushed tones, while she stirred something in a pot.
“Mmmm, what’s that I smell? I can almost taste it.”
Both Jack and the woman jumped at the sound of my voice.
“Fresh apple cider. Would you care for some?” the woman asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Rose, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Melanie.”
“It’s good to meet you.” She held out a steaming mug.
“You too. Thank you.”
She smiled at the two of us like a grandmother would, with love and fondness.
“Come on,” he said.
He led me out of the kitchen. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw him turn back to her and wink.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Snowmobiling.”
“What? It’s freezing out there!”
“Trust me, you’re going to love it!”
I stopped just short of the door leading to the garage, breathing in the warm spice from my mug, and took one last gulp, allowing it to glide down and warm me from the inside before I stepped out into the garage. I braced for the cold. It didn’t come.
“It’s warm in here.”
“The garage is heated.”
“What? That’s crazy.”
“Not after you’ve been in the cold for an hour and need the warmth.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s still crazy. You just go in the house.”
He chuckled. “Here.”
He handed me a pair of snow coveralls with full arms and full legs. I stepped into it, and he stepped into a pair that was similar.
“Whose are these?” I asked.
“My mom’s.”
Phew. I was glad they weren’t Bianca’s. Somehow, I didn’t feel comfortable wearing anything of hers. I wasn’t sure how much she actually approved of me, even though she’d been perfectly nice ever since the barbecue.
He climbed onto the seat of one of the three snowmobiles and patted behind him for me to get on. “Unless you’d prefer to drive yourself?”
“Oh no, I think my hands would be frozen.” I hurried and climbed on the back of his.
He took me all over the woods without any particular goal in mind. I could tell this was where he felt the most at home, the woods. And he was right, I was having a lot of fun. Who’d have thought?
He sped up as he approached a small mound of snow, launching us into the air just a little. I squealed, reaching around his waist, giving him a squeeze. He slammed on the brakes and turned around.
Before I knew what he was doing, his mouth was on mine. The warmth of his tongue sent sensations through my lips I’d never experienced. They tingled like your whole body would when immersed in a hot tub after being in the cold, and it was heavenly. He pulled away too quickly, and I tugged him back. His mouth lifted at the corners against mine. When I pulled back, I rested my forehead on his.
I sighed, content.
“Had to make sure your nose was staying warm,” he said.
“Oh, yeah?”
“What did you find?”
“I think it’s in need of a little warming up.”
“I concur. What do you suggest?”
He pressed his nose against mine and rubbed back and forth. “Eskimo kisses.”
I giggled. He planted another kiss at the tip of my nose, spun around, and took off again, zipping over another mound.
It wasn’t until the sun dipped out of view that the cold really set in and the coveralls stopped doing their job. I shivered as he hurried to get us back to the house.
He pulled straight into the garage and shut the door. It was then I realized how right he was. A heated garage was amazing after coming in from snowmobiling.
Jack immediately started stripping out of the coveralls. “The faster you get out of them, the faster you’ll warm up. It’s a fact.”
I grinned at him. “Sure it is.”
He waited at the door and held it open for me to go in before him. The lights had been dimmed in the entire house. Red and white rose petals littered the floor.
Jack slipped his hand into mine. I looked up into his green eyes.
“Go on.” He gestured for me to follow the path the roses created.
White candles were lit on every table, in all different shapes and sizes.
“What is all this?” I smiled back at Jack.
We turned the last corner towards the dining room, where the table was set for two. Silver cloches covered two plates, and two tall candles rose up in the center.
Jack came up beside me and lifted the cover on the closest plate, and my mouth fell open. I’d never before gawked at a plate with such scrutiny. My mouth fell open.
Scrolled in chocolate were the words, “Will you marry me?”
Jack dropped to his knee and flipped open a tiny box. “I know it hasn’t been very long, and things got a little rocky, but I’ve never felt the way I feel when I’m with you, ever. I know, deep within my heart, this is my destiny. Our destiny. I hope with every part of me you’ll say yes and make me the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Marry me.”
I bit my lip as the corners of my mouth lifted. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
I nodded, laughing. “Yes.”
He slipped the ring on my finger and pressed his lips to mine with a hunger he often had. That hunger pulled me in and swooped me off my feet, making me feel like I was floating. And now I’d feel that way for the rest of my life.
“I love you,” he whispered into my hair.
“I love you too.”
“She said yes!” Jack yelled, turning away from me.
I scrunched my face, squeezing him around the neck. “Nobody can hear you, crazy. We’re alone, remember?” I giggled.
Footsteps and loud whoops came flooding into the room. I pulled away just as Jack’s family came bursting in, full of excitement. Much to my surprise, my mom and dad rounded the corner behind them.
“Mom? Dad?” Tears stung in my eyes.
My worlds were finally colliding in a way I never dreamed they could. My home had nothing to do with geography and everything to do with the people I called family, and ones who soon would be.
Sometimes things happen, unexpected and out of the blue. Things you never thought could, or would, happen. Things you would neve
r want to prevent. The ones you dream of, hope for, sure they’ll never come true.
Sometimes those things are put in your lap and all you have to do is take them. Those are the moments that every wager up until that point has been leading up to. Every choice.
This was that moment. The point in my life I knew, no matter how much I’d struggled with every choice I’d made, I knew they were all the exact right ones because they’d led me to a happiness I could never have dreamed possible.
As our families descended upon us, hugging and grabbing my hand to steal their first looks at the ring, I looked up at Jack, smiling, with his eyes alight. This man would be mine forever, and nothing excited me more.
Thank you for checking out Wagering Home. I truly hope you enjoyed it.
I’d love to hear what you thought, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or the retailer of your choice to help other readers find this book.
More from C. M. Boers:
Obscured
Divulge
Derailed
Retreat
Like to stay in touch with me? Find out about upcoming releases, giveaways, and events at www.cmboers.com.
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Table of Contents
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
MORE
Obscured
Divulge
Derailed
Retreat
