The One and Only: A Single Mom Second Chance Romance (Heart of Hope)

by Ajme Williams

  Della blushed and looked…ashamed. “I don’t have a dress in mind, actually.”

  My jaw nearly dropped. I was hopelessly confused because she wasn’t acting like any bride I’d ever met before. What bride didn’t have her dress picked out at least three months before the wedding? Most women would have a dress in mind years before the wedding—daydreaming about it—but I understood that not every woman was obsessed with weddings as the media made us all seem to be. Della could be one of those women who hadn’t really thought about it until the time came—but surely, she would have done her research and would know how many months you needed to select and get your wedding dress fitted. This was…concerning.

  “What!?” Melinda James sounded as shocked as me. She also sounded horrified. At the end of the day, it wasn’t my wedding nor my wedding dress, and I had a bunch of other things to worry about. “We must go shopping immediately, Della, darling. How could you not have told me? This is shocking! Why—”

  She went on about how she had picked out her own wedding dress over a year in advance, and how the wedding dress was truly the center of the entire wedding—the pièce de résistance—and how the tux was really only to compliment the dress….

  Finally, Melinda turned to me. “We have to find her a dress, don’t we?”

  “Most of the shops require appointments, and they say that you have to order your dress more than just three months before the wedding,” I admitted. “I want to manage your expectations from the start. But I’m going to do the best I can.”

  I’d found it was better to manage client expectations from the beginning so there was less room for disappointment.

  “Price isn’t a concern,” Melinda said quickly. “I’m happy to foot the bill.”

  Shocked, but not truly surprised to hear that, I got an idea. I called the most exclusive, high-end bridal gown store in the city. “Hi, this is Laura Loomis. I’m with an event planning company….”

  I did my usual small talk, apologized for the late notice, and asked if they could possibly have anything available? “I hate to do this to you, but Melinda James is here only for the day and seeing as she’s the mother, it’s vital that she be there for the gown appointment. It’s such a bonding moment….”

  “Melinda James?” I could hear the receptionist’s voice go up several octaves.

  “Oh, my goodness! I shouldn’t have said! It’s all very hush-hush.” I winked at Melinda, who smiled broadly at me.

  “No, no, of course. We should have something. I can certainly squeeze her in!” the receptionist babbled, and I could hear the quick typing of a keyboard. “Not a problem at all, tell her to come right on over!”

  “Thank you so much, you guys are so kind, we really appreciate it! I’ll have my clients head right on over.”

  I hung up the phone and smiled at Melinda and Della. “They have something for you, right away.”

  Melinda threw herself at me, hugging me in thanks. I hugged her back instinctively, completely taken by surprise.

  She wouldn’t hug you if she knew about you and her son, the vicious part of my mind whispered.

  I swallowed my emotions and pulled away, smiling. “You should get going!”

  “Here you go.” Cade handed the keys over to Della.

  “You’re such a dear, I knew I made the right decision in booking you!” Melinda told me. “This is going to be delightful, you’re simply marvelous!”

  “Thank you,” I replied, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

  Della and Melinda took off, Melinda smiling and chattering away. Della seemed much more subdued, and I found myself wondering once more what was up with her and her odd attitude.

  Cade looked at me, his smile hesitant now that we were alone. “Shall we?”

  I was going to be alone with Cade again. I didn’t know if this elated me or terrified me. Either way, my heart was racing.

  “Yes,” I said, and I followed him into the shop.

  11

  Cade

  To say my spirits had deflated when I realized that my mother and Della planned to attend my fitting would be an understatement. I’d tried to think of excuses so that I could go alone, but nothing had come to mind. I was sure that Della would have let me go alone if I’d asked, but I couldn’t ask her without also asking Mom, and she would want to know why. Telling her I want to spend more time alone with our wedding planner was not going to fly with her.

  That was the thing. I really wanted to spend time alone with Laura, not have everyone else tagging along. Even though I couldn’t give in to my desire for her the way I had yesterday, I still wanted to spend some quality time with her. I didn’t want everyone else butting in.

  And holy shit, did she look amazing today. My jaw nearly dropped when I saw her and I’d tried to cover it with a smile, but my entire body heated up with a primal desire. It was a good thing that Mom and Della had left, because I didn’t want to have to worry about concealing my desire and arousal around them. I wanted Laura so badly that my teeth ached with clenching them so hard to stem my arousal.

  Thank God that Della hadn’t picked out a dress yet, which had confused Laura. Laura must have been wondering why Della hadn’t thought about a dress with only a few months left for the wedding. In her experience, most women would plan their wedding years before the event and had strong opinions, but I couldn’t blame Della.

  I would’ve been surprised too if I hadn’t spoken to Della last night. This was just as much like a weird dream to her as it was for me—until she had come to the lake house. Now, both of us were facing the fact that this wedding was real and were having to play catch up, as a result.

  And thank God, they were gone.

  “You just performed a minor miracle,” I told Laura, my mood having improved ten times now that Della and Mom were gone.

  Laura blushed. “It’s just that your mother is famous, I was able to name drop her to get the appointment. I’m sure that I could’ve gotten them in somewhere, but didn’t know that it would be the most exclusive atelier in the city.”

  “Trust me, my mom loves dropping her name, so you did the right thing. As long as it gets Della the dress she needs, who cares how you went about it? It’s not like you were lying. Melinda James really is going to the dress appointment. Those dressmakers are having the time of their lives right now being regaled with Mom’s stories from set.”

  I hoped that my bitterness didn’t show too much. Laura nodded thoughtfully, and then led me inside, the conversation apparently over.

  She spoke to the clerk and explained that we had an appointment but weren’t sure about the style I wanted and wanted to look around. The clerk eyed me like I had personally disappointed him for not having a style picked out, but then he led us to the back and allowed us to browse on our own.

  I was glad for that. I didn’t want to deal with anyone else when I was getting as much time with Laura as I could.

  “Do you have any idea what sort of styles Della likes and would possibly go with?” Laura asked. “Any idea of the style of dresses she normally wears?”

  “Not really, I don’t pay attention to that much.”

  Laura gave me an odd look. “Funny, you always paid plenty of attention to my outfits.”

  That’s because I was in love with you. I’m not in love with Della. “That’s because I needed to figure out how to get them off you,” I joked.

  Laura rolled her eyes, but I could see her trying to bite back a smile. “All right. Well, do you know what sorts of styles you like?”

  I looked around, then picked out a bright orange tux. I wasn’t sure why a bright orange suit even existed, but here we were. I held it up like I was completely serious.

  Laura looked like she wanted to stuff her hand into her mouth to keep herself from laughing. “You’re joking. Take this seriously.”

  “Oh, I’m taking it very seriously,” I replied, deadpan. “In fact, I think you’re the one who’d stand to take this all more seriously, Miss Loomis. Ar
e you mocking the tastes of your client?”

  Laura arched an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s your style then? Well, of course, Mr. Kirkpatrick….”

  She went through the racks and found a suit that looked like it had been stuck in the ‘70s, with the big ruffles down the front and everything. Laura held it out to me, a challenging look in her eyes, and I took the suit without a single chuckle. I was in this to win this now, damn it, and I loved seeing Laura get playful and into the spirit of a teasing game. I wanted her to keep doing that. I wanted to see more of her behaving this way—the Laura that I’d known was peeking out from underneath the professional, distant demeanor she’d adopted after meeting me now.

  We kept finding more ridiculous suits in crazy colors, piling them into my arms until I couldn’t carry anymore, and I gave up and was laughing under the weight of the clothes. “I can barely see over the top!”

  “I’ll guide you,” Laura laughed, taking my hand and leading me through the shop to the dressing rooms.

  Oh my God, she seriously wanted me to try these on? Well, no way in hell was I saying no. I wasn’t going to be the first person to back down in this game of chicken.

  I went into the dressing room and tried on the suit with the crazy ruffles first, bursting out of the dressing room doing the dance from Saturday Night Fever. Laura burst out laughing, hands covering her mouth as she tried to stay quiet.

  I winked at her and said, “So, that’s a yes to this suit, then?”

  “No, absolutely not.” Laura shook her head. “You’re trying on all of these, buster.”

  We went through several of them, and then I tried on the orange one. It actually was tailored rather well, but had an insanely loud color that made it unacceptable to wear in public. I walked out trying, and failing, to moonwalk, as Laura clutched at the wall to try and keep herself from falling over as she laughed.

  “Okay, one more,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye, and trying hard not to laugh. “We really do need to find you a suit.”

  I slipped back into the dressing room and grabbed one more suit—but it was absolutely ridiculous, full of unnecessary bells and whistles—or in this case buttons, and I couldn’t get the cummerbund to fasten.

  “Hey, could you help me with this?” I asked, opening the door and pointing at the cummerbund.

  I was so caught up in the heat of the moment, the joke of it all, that it didn’t occur to me that I wasn’t trying this suit on for real. I was just doing this for fun, so it didn’t matter if the cummerbund was fastened properly or not.

  Laura walked over and helped me adjust it and I could see myself in the mirror as she did it. Her arms were around my waist and I could practically inhale her, her smell strong and intoxicating. My mouth watered. I wanted her so badly….

  Our eyes met in the mirror. I could see her blushing.

  She started to pull away, but I turned around quickly, grabbing her by the waist. Laura stared up at me, her lips parted, her eyes dark. God, she was so fucking beautiful. So sexy and funny. I wanted her more than I wanted to take another breath. I’d wanted her for ten years.

  I pulled her towards me and kissed her, all common sense fleeing from my mind.

  Laura gasped in surprise against my lips, and then pushed into me, kissing me back. My heart soared with joy and fulfillment. I practically crushed her, tightly grabbing her body with both hands, all gentleness forgotten in the throes of my passion for her. Laura’s arms wound around my neck and she kissed me back feverishly, like she’d die if she had to stop.

  I knew the feeling. My cock throbbed at the feeling of her soft, generous body pressed against mine. I wanted to fuck her so badly that it felt like I was going to pass out. I was sure she could feel how hard I was, as I pulled her hips in against my groin.

  Laura gasped, arching backwards, and my tongue slid into her mouth. She gave a small, muffled moan and my body pulsed with a greed for her body. I pushed her against the fitting room wall and slid my hands all over her, squeezing her hips, her thighs, spreading her legs apart, so that she could definitely feel my hard cock against her pussy.

  I yanked my mouth away from hers and moved down to her beautiful neck, kissing passionately as I pushed that teasingly tight pencil skirt up her legs. I rubbed myself on her, feeling the fabric get wet—from her or me or both of us—ready to unzip my pants and fuck her right here, right now, against this wall…. She was going to feel so sweet—

  “C-Cade,” Laura gasped out. “I—I’m—oh….” She squirmed against me, her face betraying the pleasure coursing through her body, and I reached between her legs…

  Laura gasped, but this one sounded entirely different from the last one, and before I could touch her, she shoved my hand away. Then she put both hands on my chest and shoved me away further.

  Her face was bright red. “We can’t be doing this. Especially not in public!” She sounded completely mortified, and before I could say anything or stop her, she fled the dressing room.

  Seconds later I heard the little bell over the front door ring out. Fuck, did she leave the store?

  I hurried into my own clothes, wincing at the wet spot on the pants of the suit that I’d been wearing. I would just put it in the pile of suits and hope that it would dry out or become unnoticeable by the time the clerk got to it.

  Dead puppies, dead puppies, Mom naked, Grandma’s birthday…. I frantically thought of all things that would be a buzzkill for a boner to get my erection down, but it was still at half-mast by the time I got dressed. I couldn’t blame my cock. I’d literally been about to fuck her when Laura had interrupted me, so this sort of arousal didn’t go away instantly.

  I was just going to have to run out and hope that nobody would notice that I had a bump in my pants. I couldn’t let Laura run away and I didn’t want her thinking that I’d just leave her. She was worth chasing after.

  Fortunately, Laura hadn’t gone far. She was sitting in her car out front, her face bright red. She looked like she might even cry.

  Fuck.

  I knocked on the window of the passenger seat. Laura jolted, then looked up. “Can I come in?” I asked.

  She nodded, and I opened the door and got in, closing it after me so that we had some privacy. “I’m sor—”

  Laura held up a hand and I fell silent. She took a deep breath and turned to face me. “I think it’s clear that our chemistry is still there, but I refuse to be the other woman. Out of respect for myself and out of respect for your future wife.”

  This was clearly something that she’d been gearing up to say. I nodded in understanding. “I know it’s inappropriate. But you have to admit that there is something between us.”

  “I know.” Laura nodded. “Which is why, as much as I hate to lose this opportunity, I’m going to have to resign as your event planner. I’ll refer you to someone else.”

  “Please, no,” I blurted out before I could contain myself. The idea of not getting to see her at all felt like torture. “Laura, I understand that you’re upset, but don’t you feel that that’s overreacting? This is a big job for you.”

  “I know. But it’s the right thing to do.” Laura got that stubborn glint in her eye that meant that she wasn’t going to back down anytime soon.

  There was only one thing I could do: tell her the truth.

  12

  Laura

  Cade looked genuinely heartbroken when I said that I’d need to resign. It confused me. Why would he care? He could get a hot sidepiece anywhere he wanted, if he was determined to cheat on his gorgeous soon-to-be wife. But Cade looked unbearably upset. Despite my determination not to give into him, I felt my heart melting a little.

  The fact that I was still wildly aroused probably didn’t help. I had almost let him fuck me. The moment he’d kissed me, full of passion and command, I’d felt like a lamb being devoured by a wolf. He had been a wild animal, kissing me frantically, and then pinning me to the wall. I’d become wet in seconds, writhing against him helplessly.

>   Only when I’d felt him moving his hand between my legs to finger me, or maybe just to shove my panties aside before he slid his cock inside me, did I come to my senses. I’d bolted out of there before I’d do something stupid like let him cheat on his fiancée with me.

  How could I have let it get that far? My desire for Cade had overwhelmed my common sense, my morality, my dignity—everything. I was still such a fool for him. I felt ashamed.

  But now, Cade was staring at me, like maybe…but no, I couldn’t let myself think that his heart was involved in this, too. I’d made that mistake with him once before and look at where that had landed me. I’d been left in the dust, abandoned, in love with someone who only thought of me as a summer fling.

  “I need to be honest with you,” Cade said. “You deserve the truth.”

  The truth? About what? I was so confused that I didn’t know how to understand that statement.

  If I’d not been thrown off track, I might have objected and said that I didn’t need any explanation, I just needed us to go our separate ways and not see each other. But Cade took advantage of my silence to explain himself.

  “Della is just a friend of the family. I’m not in love with her.”

  My jaw dropped.

  Cade went on. “The only reason we’re getting married is because my parents and her father want this match. Everyone believes that it will strength my bid for Congress.”

  “You’re…running for office?” I had never, in all the time that I’d dated Cade, thought that he was interested in a life in government like his father.

  “My father wants me to. I’ve got to follow in his footsteps, maybe even go farther. I know Dad won’t stop until I’m sitting in the White House.” Cade gave a bitter smile. “You know how it is, fathers trying to do their lives over, better, through their sons.”