Her arms tightened around him until they ached from the effort. “I’m not some weak, fragile little girl, like you seem to think. I’m the type of person who would put herself in danger for someone she cares about—”
He stiffened beneath her, his spine straightening to the point where it grew difficult to stay on his back. “And I know you hate that. I’m sure it made you angry that I got involved in the Anthony mess today, but guess what—I don’t care. If you’re in danger than so am I. It’s that simple. You know why?”
She was practically yelling now and a distant part of her rational brain wondered if Kate could hear them from her apartment. If she was watching through her peephole she was getting quite a show.
He hadn’t answered her rhetorical question so she answered it herself. “Because I love you, you idiot. I love you, which means that you’re a part of me, whether you like it or not. If you’re hurt, I’m hurt.”
Between the shouting, the emotions, and the exertion of staying on his back, she was practically panting for air.
“Andie,” he growled again. This time she didn’t have the effort to cut him off so he was finally able to finish his sentence. “Andie, I was just going to grab my overnight bag.”
Her arms loosened their grip as the words sank in. “Oh.”
She slid down from his back as he added, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh,” she said again as he turned around to face her, a hint of a smile warming that hardened face of his.
He reached for her hands and tugged her until she was pressed up against him and he was leaning over her. His arms wrapped around her, his face hovering over hers, she was surrounded by him and she’d never felt safer or more content.
“I’m not going anywhere, because I can’t,” he said. “You stole my heart.” He shook his head. “I have no idea how you did it, or how it happened so quickly. But I’m yours.”
Her heart sped up and all of her muscles turned to putty at his words. “Say it,” she whispered.
“I love you.” His low voice washed over her and the last of the puzzle pieces clicked into place. For the first time in her life she felt a wholeness. A completeness. An absolute certainty about where she was, who she was with, and where she belonged in life.
She belonged with this man at her side.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
He reached behind him to shut the front door before picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, making her laugh and gasp at the same time.
“You are my very reason for living,” he said as he led the way toward her bedroom. “But don’t think the conversation is over about you putting yourself in danger for me. We are not done talking about that.”
“You can talk,” she said, laughter filling her voice as joy swept through her. “I can’t promise to listen.”
His growl warmed her heart. She’d never get tired of that sound.
Epilogue
Two weeks after the big showdown, as Mackenzie liked to call it, Andie’s life was finally starting to settle down. She’d answered countless questions at the police station, with Cole at her side, and Mackenzie had run the story of the year with her expose on the Gallagher family and their criminal connections.
Mack had been so impressed with Andie’s pictures that she convinced her to turn photography into a career. It was part-time at the moment but with Mackenzie’s help she was making contacts and growing her freelance career doing something she loved.
“I sold another photo,” she told Cole as she walked into her apartment, which wouldn’t be her apartment much longer since her mother was returning from her vacation. While Andie enjoyed getting to know Margaret by living together, something told her her mother wouldn’t be wild about the idea of living with Cole as well and she and Cole had agreed that whatever came next for them, they’d do it together.
“I’m not surprised,” Cole said. He was cooking dinner for her when she came in and told him the news. “Your photos are beautiful.” He leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Just like you.”
She rolled her eyes at the cheesy statement but she couldn’t deny the giddy warmth at the words.
“I’m serious,” he said, pulling her close to his side as stirred the sauce on the stove. “You have an incredible gift for seeing the beauty in everyday life. You find the good in people who probably don’t deserve it, and you see the hidden beauty in scenes that most people would find grim or harsh.” He kissed her again, this time claiming her lips for a long, lingering kiss. “I’m glad you’ve found a career that makes the most of that gift.”
She grinned up at him. The more she got to know him, the more of a talker he turned out to be. Which was just fine by her because he had a knack for saying things that made her glow and in a voice that left her perpetually turned on.
“What about you?” she said. “Any thoughts on what you want to focus on next?”
After multiple talks about Cole’s career, he’d decided it was time for a change. Time to come out and live in the light for a while. But what that meant was still a mystery.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “But I’m not worried. I’ve got you and together we’ll figure it out.” He grinned down at her. “In the meantime, I am a pretty talented tattoo artist.”
“Yeah, you are.” She looked over her shoulder at the still-healing artwork he’d done for her. “I love my rose and the dagger.”
A knock interrupted them and judging by its faintness, Cole said, “That’s got to be Kate. Did Spencer say if he’d join us for dinner too?”
Andie made a face as she headed toward the door. “No. He made some stupid excuse about needing to wash his hair.”
She heard Cole sigh behind her as she reached the door. Cole had surprised them all by turning out to be quite the romantic. Now he helped Andie drive Spencer nuts by aiding and abetting her matchmaking attempts.
Kate hesitated in the doorway even as Andie ushered her in. “Am I too early?”
“Nope, right on time.”
“Oh good.” She handed over the bottle of champagne she brought.
Andie raised a questioning brow. “Are we celebrating something?”
Kate nodded, her small smile filled with triumph. “I took your advice and talked to my parents. They agreed that I should get out in the world and travel more.”
“Kate, that’s fantastic.” Andie grinned at her friend. “Where will you go first?”
Some of Kate’s excitement faded. “Well, it’s not all that exciting….”
Cole joined them in the dining room and gave Kate a hug that temporarily dwarfed their petite friend. “What did I miss? Where are you headed?”
Kate pulled out a ticket and held it up with a wry smile. “My parents bought me a ticket for a cruise.” With a shrug, she added, “It’s not exactly the wild adventure I’d been dreaming about but I’ll be going on my own so it’s a step in the right direction, right?”
“It definitely is!” Andie hugged her friend. “This is one small step for Katie-kind and one giant leap toward adventure.”
Kate laughed. “What about you two? Have you figured out where you’ll move once your mom returns?”
Andie looked over at Cole who was watching her with a warmth that made her heat up from the inside out. “We’re not sure yet,” she started.
Cole moved to her side and slipped a hand through hers. “It doesn’t matter where we go, just as long as we’re together.”
They both ignored Kate’s mocking groan of disgust as Cole leaned over for a long, lingering kiss.
Thank you for reading Saving Rose Red! If you enjoyed it, reviews are greatly appreciated.
Missed Mackenzie or Jenna’s story? You can find them here:
Dating Prince Charming
Winning Snow White
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For more sweet romance, check out Maggie Dallen’s other works:
Sweet Contemporary Romance:
Homecoming Promise
Promise to Return
Promise Me Forever (Releasing Summer 2019)
Sweet Young Adult Romance:
Geeks Gone Wild
Love at First Fight
My Virtual Prince Charming
Once Upon a Comic-Con
Kissing the Enemy
The Perfect Catch
The Perfect Match
The Perfect Score
Briarwood High
Out of His League
A Whole New League
The Perfect League
The Holiday Kiss
The Prom Kiss
The Candy Cane Kiss
Summer of Love
Senior Week Fling
Senior Week Crush
Senior Week Kiss
Enchanting the Beast
Coward. The plate full of cookies in Holly’s hands taunted her as she hovered in front of her new neighbor’s door.
Liar. She frowned down at the cookies.
Cheater.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the cookies talking. Her conscience was the far more likely candidate. But since she’d solemnly vowed to silence her obnoxious goody-two-shoes conscience until this job was over, she blamed her hesitation on the deceptive and sugary confections in her hands.
Cookies weren’t typically deceptive—unlike muffins, they didn’t try to hide their unhealthiness behind words like bran. Still, these cookies were her way of weaseling in to some poor schmuck’s life, and for what?
She had no idea.
But whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. No one paid a woman to befriend a stranger for altruistic reasons. Something told her she wasn’t here to surprise him with a winning lottery ticket. Whatever Charlie and his friends wanted from this guy, it would lead to trouble.
It had sounded harmless enough when her sister’s boyfriend had come to her with the idea. Eve was the one who typically did this kind of work. In fact, she was supposed to be the one standing here in the hallway, waiting to meet the mark. But when she’d had her accident, all her plans were put on hold, including her latest con.
Maybe “con” was too harsh a word for it. Her sister had always hated that term. Eve always insisted she was an actress. But actress or con artist, it didn’t change the fact that Eve was lying in a hospital bed in a medically-induced coma. She’d live, thank goodness, but she’d survive just to drown in debt for the rest of her life. After singlehandedly supporting Holly and their youngest sister, Lexy, she’d wake up from her coma to find that they were broke. Again. Back to the desperate situation they’d found themselves in after their parents had died leaving them with nothing. Eve, the eldest of the three, had been nineteen, old enough to be their legal guardian but without the experience or education to get a good job. They’d accumulated a mountain of debt those first few years on their own. Eve had pulled them out of that situation but she knew her sister lived in fear that they would be poor again.
But they wouldn’t. Not if Holly could help it.
Money, that’s what this assignment was about. The thought of that money helped her overcome her cowardice. A quarter of a million would be enough to pay their rent, Lexy’s tuition this semester, and some of the larger hospital bills. And all she had to do was be friendly. She could do that in her sleep.
But there was friendly and then there was friendly. Just how far was she willing to go to save her family from being broke again?
Her new boss had been miserly with the details. He’d told her to call him Uncle Jack, conveniently leaving out his last name as he sat across from her and Charlie at Charlie’s nightclub in Williamsburg. She refused to think of her new employer as “uncle” anything. She had enough creeps in her own extended family, thank you very much. The man wasn’t her uncle—she wasn’t even convinced his name was Jack—but his offer had been too good to pass up.
Too good to be true, more like.
Shut it, cookies.
This guy was lonely, Jack had said. He kept to himself. She’d be doing him a favor by showing him some neighborly kindness. She’d point blank asked just how friendly Jack expected her to get with the hermit and her new boss had shrugged as if it were a moot point.
She might be desperate enough to take one of her sister’s “acting jobs” but she wasn’t going to stoop to being a paid escort for this Spencer guy.
Spencer was the mark. There was no other way to think of him. She might be able to convince herself that this was an acting gig, but there was no way around the fact that Spencer was not in on the act.
All Jack had told her about him was that he was a recluse. The poor dupe rarely left his apartment. Her new boss tried to convince her that her intervention in his life would be a blessing. He’d managed to make it sound like he was sending her in to befriend him as some sort of charity case. Jack had said he just wanted to make sure an old friend was doing all right.
She hadn’t bought it. When she’d asked what he wanted with him, Jack had shrugged. “It’s just business.” According to Jack, he and Spencer used to do business together but had a falling out. Her job was to butter him up. Earn his trust and then lead him to her boss and help get him to come back to the fold, whatever that meant. It was a uniquely vague expression but one she didn’t ask him to explain. She had a feeling he would just shrug again and tell her it was just business.
The question then was, what kind of business? She hadn’t asked. She hadn’t wanted to hear the answer.
Coward.
She was definitely a coward, but she also had a healthy fear of guilt by association. The less she knew, the better. Nothing about this Jack guy seemed legit. She would play the part of the friendly, persuasive neighbor and get him to agree to a meeting with Jack. That was it. After that, it was none of her business. She’d get paid, and then go home to take a long hot shower to wash away any remaining feelings of ick over her role in conning this poor schmuck.
She took a deep breath and knocked before she found a reason to chicken out. It was now or never.
As soon as her hand connected with the door, she wished she could take back that knock.
He wasn’t alone.
There were voices. Two of them. Male and female. Jack had told her Spencer lived alone. That he was always alone. A lone wolf, those were his exact words.
She heard the voices heading toward the door and panic had her frozen in place, undecided over whether she should run or stay. Instead she found herself standing in his doorway like a deer in headlights as he threw open the door.
Shock had her smile freezing in place as her gaze dropped down. The man who answered the door was in a wheelchair.
Good old Uncle Jack had sent her to con a crippled man.
She was a horrible person. She didn’t need the cookies to tell her that.
Once she got over the wheelchair shocker—thanks for the heads up, Jack—she took in the man before her, who was staring back with an unreadable expression.
He looked smart. That was a weird thing to think, and maybe she was just a sucker for stereotypes, but he had the whole wire-rimmed glasses and buttoned-down dress shirt thing going on. His tousled short brown hair gave him the air of an absentminded professor.
But his appearance wasn’t the only thing that spoke of high intelligence. It was the unnerving way he studied her. Though she’d worn a wrap dress that accentuated her curves, she didn’t get the feeling that his head-to-toe assessment was of the lecherous kind. If anything, it seemed clinical. Like he was taking stock of her parts for future reference. When his gaze returned to her face, she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She hadn’t blushed since high school. But then again, she also hadn’t tried her hand at acting since her failed turn as Frenchy in her high school’s production of Grease.
She was officially
regressing.
His appraisal made her mentally rehearsed greeting stick in her throat. For one paranoid moment she was sure he knew exactly why she was here and who had sent her. The cookies begged her to run away. It wasn’t too late. She could still back out.
But then the silence between them was broken. Not by her, Spencer, or her cookies.
“Are you seriously not going to answer my question?” a female voice demanded from Spencer’s lap. “Spence, stop ignoring me.”
Holly’s gaze moved to see where the voice was coming from and she found herself staring at his crotch.
Wonderful. That wasn’t pervy at all.
Spencer picked up the tablet that was resting on his lap and held up the screen so she was face to face—sort of—with a pink-haired woman who he’d obviously been skyping with.
“I wasn’t ignoring you,” Spencer said. “I was answering the door for this lovely young woman.”
Holly cursed herself for blushing again at the “lovely” part. Seriously, how old was she?
“You have a friend over?” The shock in his friend’s voice was telling. Clearly this guy didn’t have a lot of company.
One corner of his mouth tilted up in a lopsided smile that made her heart do a weird flip-flop. “I wouldn’t say ‘friend;’ I’ve never met her before in my life.” His gaze never wavered from hers despite the fact that he had yet to speak to her or her to him. They both seemed content to let the woman on the screen lead the conversation.
“Oh.” The woman on the screen sounded disappointed. “Then what’s she doing there?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his tone filled with amusement. “Let’s find out.” He gave her a questioning look as he held the screen up higher so his friend could see her as well. “What are you doing here?” His voice had lost its friendly tone now that he was talking to her. Not only was it not friendly, it was borderline accusatory, which threw her for a loop.
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