“Yes. That’s what you want, right? If you don’t, say something now, honeybunch.”
“Of course I do. Can we finally get a dog?”
Megan exchanged a long look with Lucas. They’d discussed logistics on the drive to the campus. “Well, the thing is that we’re going to live with Fidget.”
“Live with Fidget? In his dog house?”
“No no. With Fidget and Lucas. We’re going to look for a new house where we can all live.”
Ruby’s puzzled gaze swung over to Lucas. He winked at her and she finally put it together. “You’re getting married?”
“Not yet. This is a big change for us so we’re going to ease into it. We don’t have to get married right away.”
“But we are engaged to be married.” Lucas felt he had to clarify that.
Megan squinted up at him. “I’d see it more as we’ve agreed to approach the idea of marriage when everyone’s ready. Including Ruby.”
If she wanted an argument, she wasn’t going to get it from him. He was just happy they’d gotten this far. “How do you feel about expanding your family a little bit, Ruby?” he asked her.
“That’s not a little bit.” She flashed the fingers on her right hand. “Adding a man and a dog, that means our family will be twice as big.”
“And the math whiz speaks,” he teased. “What do you think about me and Fidget hopping onboard the Megan and Ruby train?”
“Well, I like Fidget.” He felt his eyebrows lift. Didn’t he and Ruby have a good relationship? Was there something he’d missed?
Then Ruby broke into a mischievous grin. “I like you too. But you have to stop killing so many fish.”
“Done.”
The promptness of his response brought both Megan and Ruby’s heads swinging around. “Excuse me?” said Megan. “Are you going to start throwing them back?”
“No, I’m done with Jack Hammer Charters. It was never what I wanted anyway. I’m putting the Jack Hammer on the market and I’m moving on. I’m closing my office in Colorado and making it official. The Holt empire will be headquartered in Lost Harbor from now on.”
“You have an empire?” Ruby asked in awe.
“It’s a figure of speech,” he told her. “With a touch of sarcasm.”
“Is that why you’re selling the Jack Hammer? So you can focus on your business?”
“I’ll mostly be focusing on my campaign.”
They both stared at him. “Are you running for president?” Ruby’s eyes widened.
He laughed. “Close. I’m running for head of the Harbor Commission. And I’m hoping I can count on the support of the Forget Me Not crew.”
And just like that, he stumbled across the one thing still bothering Megan.
“There is no Forget Me Not crew anymore. There’s probably no Forget Me Not anymore either. I just hope it’s part of a great movie, but we probably won’t get that lucky.” He started to answer, but she cut him off. “But you have our support no matter what. Although I was playing with the idea of running myself.”
Ha! So Maya Badger had guessed right. No wonder she was such a good detective.
“Bring it on.” Lucas grinned and spread his arms wide. “I welcome the competition. May the best candidate win.”
“I admit, it’s tempting. I’d love to see you up on a debate stage. At least then I’d get a chance to bring up my issues.”
“If you want to run, seriously, I’ll step aside. Competing was fun, but now I think I’d like to try being on the same side.”
She snuggled her face against his arm. “Me too. We can save the competing for—” She broke off, turning a little pink as she remembered they were with Ruby.
“Anyway, don’t you want to hear my platform?”
“I’m not sure, do I? Repairing oil tankers, getting rid of the waste bins, am I close?”
“I’ll be running on a comprehensive plan to make the harbor carbon neutral by the next decade, with a focus on sustainable fishing practices and protecting our local wildlife. Happy now?”
She stared at him with wonder in her blue-gray eyes. “Are you just teasing me now?”
“Nope. You won me over.”
“I won?”
“I’d say we both won.” He tugged her close and dropped a kiss on the side of her forehead. “Right now, I definitely feel like I won.”
“Okay, but I won a little bit more,” she murmured even as she melted against him.
“Mom, look!” A grasshopper had landed on Ruby’s thumb. Entranced, she stared at its fragile wings. “I have a new friend!” She climbed off her chair and wandered to the nearest tree. The grasshopper clung to her hand as she walked.
“Welp, we lost Ruby,” said Megan. “She’ll be chatting up that grasshopper for the next hour or so.”
“She does have a way with wild things.”
“But on the bright side, we have a chance to do this.” With a light touch, Megan pulled his head down so his mouth hovered over hers. She pressed her lips against his, sending a rush of hot joy through him. This kiss felt different—honest, complete. As if there were no shadows between them anymore. Nothing but full hearts and sparkling horizons.
Over Megan’s shoulder, he caught sight of Ruby. The sunlight glowed around her dark head as she murmured to the tiny creature on her hand.
And he knew that Megan was wrong. He’d won the most. He’d won the two of them, and nothing could beat that.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Surprise.” Lucas took his hands away from Megan’s eyes. She blinked at the familiar bright blue trim of the Forget Me Not. Her boat. In one piece.
“It didn’t get blown up yet. What happened?”
“It’s not ever going to get blown up. Unless you want to blow it up yourself because it keeps springing leaks.”
She spun around and noted his smug expression, as if he knew a secret she didn’t. “Why didn’t it get blown up? Did you stop the sale for some reason? I need that money! Wait, I have that money already. They paid me so they could blow up the Forget Me Not…did you pay them more so they wouldn’t blow up my boat?”
He tilted his head back in laughter. The movement of his Adam’s apple under his tanned skin of his neck made her mouth water. “Close. I bought the boat from the studio about an hour after you sold it to them. I found them a better boat to blow up. I’d show it to you but it’s…well, you’ll have to watch the movie.”
She drew in an awed breath. “You saved the Forget Me Not? Why? You always looked down on my old tub.”
“It has historical value.” He winked at her to take the sting from his words. “I know how much you love your boat. The Forget Me Not belongs here, just like you. Besides, we’re going to need a boat once I sell the Jack Hammer. Can’t go birding without one.”
“So—” She still couldn’t believe it was true. Her beloved boat still floated peacefully in its usual slip in Lost Harbor. It was like a miracle. “That must have cost you a lot of money.”
“It did. Luckily, the Jack Hammer’s worth about twice as much so I’m not worried about it.”
She turned to gaze upon the miraculous sight again. Tears sprang to her eyes as she realized how wonderful it was to see her boat again. She’d steeled herself to the sad fact of its demolition, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t have hurt. “You did this for me.”
“Yes. And for Ruby. And for all you nature-lovers.” His voice took on that teasing tone that she loved. “Without your bird boat, how else would the rest of us make fun of you?”
“You don’t fool me with your fake mockery, Mr. Future Harbor Commissioner and Caspian Tern Photographer.”
“I guess you’re onto me.”
She wanted to be on top of him. Or him on top of her. Or any way it worked out, as long as they were alone together. But that would have to wait since a small crowd of harbor rats was hurrying down the ramp toward them.
“Megan!” Zoe arrived first, flinging her arms open. “You’re back! We were hopi
ng you’d see the light.”
“I showed her the light,” Lucas said. “Don’t I get a little credit here?”
“Sure, sure.” She waved him off. “Whatever it took. It’s great to have you back, Megan.”
“I’m really happy to be back. And my boat didn’t get blown up.”
“Of course it didn’t. Do you think anyone here would blow up your boat?” Zoe directed a glare at the others. Boris, Yanni, Hunter and his mother, Trixie from the ice cream shop. “I’m sorry, but when it comes to harbor feuds we should draw the line at explosives.”
“No no, it was a movie studio, they wanted to buy…” Megan trailed off when she noticed that Zoe’s attention had swung away from her. Her friend was staring at a small boat gliding into the harbor. A tidy white cruiser with a staysail at the stern. A tall man stood at the helm, handling it with piratical ease. He wore a navy wool watch cap and work pants, much like other fishermen—but this particular man wore them especially well.
“What the…” Zoe whispered.
“Who is that?”
Zoe didn’t seem to hear. She pulled away and stood at the edge of the float, shading her eyes against the sun.
Lucas put his arm around Megan’s shoulder and drew her close to his side. “We should probably go now.”
“What do you mean? Why?”
Lucas called to the rest of the crowd. “Let’s give Zoe a little space here, yeah?” He shepherded them down the float. “Happy hour at Captain Crabbie’s, let’s go folks.”
As everyone trooped away, Megan took one more look back at Zoe. The breeze made her flour-sack apron cling to her curves and blew her black curls around her head. She made a romantic picture, alone there on the dock.
“What’s going on?” She turned on Lucas as soon as they were safely out of earshot. “Is Zoe okay?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t really been the same since he left. And now he’s back. So I don’t know how she is right now.”
“Who is that man?”
“I guess you’d say he’s the one who got away. That’s Padric Jeffers.”
It took her a moment for the name to sink in. “Padric Jeffers the singer?”
“He sells out stadiums in about two minutes, but sure. Padric Jeffers the singer.”
She’d been only dimly aware of the music scene over the past eight years since Ruby was born. But she had heard of him, so he must be extra famous.
“If he’s such a huge mega-star, what’s he doing here?”
“Fun fact. He was born here. Grew up here until he was fifteen or so. He and Zoe were best friends. Childhood sweethearts, I guess you’d say.”
“She’s never even mentioned his name in the entire time I’ve known her.”
“Nope. Sore topic. Recommend you avoid it.”
“The hell with that. I want to know everything. I’ve never seen Zoe act like this.”
He tugged her against him. She’d never get enough of the way his strong body felt against hers. “How about we go pick up Ruby and Fidget and take them to the beach? Old Fidget put on about five pounds while I was gone.”
“Will you tell me the whole story on the way?”
“The whole story? It would take a while, and it’s not mine to tell.”
She shifted restlessly against his side, her curiosity still going wild.
“But there’s another story I can tell. It starts at a Harbor Commission meeting. A very boring meeting, except there’s a woman in the audience. A beautiful, idealistic woman who accosts me after the meeting’s over.”
“How rude of her.”
“Oh no. Best thing that ever happened to me. Something changed when she looked at me with those indignant blue eyes of hers. I was never the same after that. Should have thrown in the towel right then and there.”
They reached the top of the ramp and looked out over the harbor. Low clouds swollen with rain tumbled over each other as if racing to see who would arrive first.
“Storm coming,” he said softly. “Guess we’ll have to skip the beach walk.”
“Maybe we can do it tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or the one after that, because oh my God, I live here—with you!” Sometimes she still had trouble believing that anything could be so perfect.
“It’ll sink in one of these days,” he teased her. “Marrying your nemesis, who would believe it?” He interlaced his fingers with hers and swung their clasped hands between them.
“Well, you know what they say. Strange things happen near Lost Souls.”
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Strange…and wonderful.”
For once, she had to agree with him.
* * *
Thank you so much for reading! YOURS SINCE YESTERDAY, the next Lost Harbor, Alaska novel, will be coming November 2019. Want to be the first to hear about new books, sales, and exclusive giveaways? Join Jennifer’s mailing list and receive a free story as a welcome gift.
About the Author
Jennifer Bernard is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. Her books have been called “an irresistible reading experience” full of “quick wit and sizzling love scenes.” A graduate of Harvard and former news promo producer, she left big city life in Los Angeles for true love in Alaska, where she now lives with her husband and stepdaughters. She still hasn’t adjusted to the cold, so most often she can be found cuddling with her laptop and a cup of tea. No stranger to book success, she also writes erotic novellas under a naughty secret name that she’s happy to share with the curious. You can learn more about Jennifer and her books at JenniferBernard.net. Make sure to sign up for her newsletter for new releases, fresh exclusive content, sales alerts and giveaways.
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Also by Jennifer Bernard
Lost Harbor, Alaska
Yours Since Yesterday ~ Book 2
* * *
The Rockwell Legacy
The Rebel ~ Book 1
The Rogue ~ Book 2
The Renegade ~ Book 3
The Runaway ~ Book 4
The Rock ~ Book 5
* * *
Jupiter Point ~ The Hotshots
Set the Night on Fire ~ Book 1
Burn So Bright ~ Book 2
Into the Flames ~ Book 3
Setting Off Sparks ~ Book 4
* * *
Jupiter Point ~ The Knight Brothers
Hot Pursuit ~ Book 5
Coming In Hot ~ Book 6
Hot and Bothered ~ Book 7
Too Hot to Handle ~ Book 8
One Hot Night ~ Book 9
* * *
Seeing Stars ~ Series Prequel
The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel Series
Love Between the Bases Series
Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Bernard
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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