by Natalie Ann
“I think you know.” He walked a few steps closer to her, his brown eyes piercing through hers, and then hesitated when he was well within her personal space. She thought maybe he was going to kiss her. She wanted him to, but knew he wouldn’t be that bold. Instead he reached out and hugged her. “I would find you again now that I know you can be found.”
He held her tight when he whispered those words to her. Then slowly she wrapped her own arms around him and returned the hug. His breath was warm on her neck, her pulse was racing, and she didn’t want him to let go of her. She didn’t want him to leave her. And she knew deep down she’d never be free of him ever again.
They could have stood there in that embrace for a full minute for all she knew. But he finally let go and stood back, then trailed his fingertips down the side of her cheek, titled his head and said, “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Do you want a ride home?” she asked, for lack of something else to say.
“No. I’ve got some things to think about. I can do that on my walk.”
She didn’t ask what those things were, instead just watched him walk off her deck and disappear around the front of her house. She wasn’t sure how long she’d even stood there staring, but she became aware her phone was ringing and went to get it out of her purse.
When she noticed it was her agent calling, she answered right away. “Hi, Denise.”
“Mallory, did I catch you at a bad time? It took you long enough to answer.”
Yes, it was a bad time, but she didn’t say. “No. My phone was in the house, and I was on the deck.”
“Okay. I won’t keep you. I just wanted to let you know I worked out a two-book deal on your new series.”
“Really?” Mallory said, excited. She’d been writing junior detective novels for years, but she wanted to venture into an adult target audience. “They liked my idea?”
“They did. As you know, the market is saturated, but they liked the idea of your series, or multiple volumes more than a series. Books that could be read out of order, but somehow they are all tied together. Then again, you’ve made a name for yourself already, so they knew what they were getting into. They’ve got high hopes for this. We need to kill them with the first two books.”
“I will. No worries there. I’ve had this idea in my head for years. What’s my timeline?”
“They want the rough manuscript on the first book in three months.”
That was doable. “I’ll be done next week with the one I’m working on and get that sent to you to move on to the editors. Then I’ll get to work on the new series.”
“You’ll have to decide your pen name by then, too. I’m assuming you aren’t going to use your current one, or are you?”
“I don’t know yet. I think it will work in my favor if I do. We’ll just have to brand this differently—the covers, that is. Make sure they don’t resemble anything like the other series.”
“Leave that to me. You do the writing, I’ll do the rest.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Mallory hung up the phone, motivated and giddy, and couldn’t wait to get to work. But first she needed to finish the current book she was on. She was almost done, and it wouldn’t take long, so she grabbed her laptop and got to work.
She’d never expected to finish her book in one sitting when she sat down, but once she started writing, she couldn’t stop, and next thing she knew it was past midnight. Rather than get ready for bed, she went to her kayak to clear her head and stretch her muscles. When the weather permitted she did it all the time. It helped relax her. And after the day she’d had with Nick, then the news from her agent, she needed all the help she could to relax.
Only relaxation was the last thing on her mind last night. Not when she paddled by Trixie’s house and saw the movement on Trixie’s back deck.
She would recognize Nick’s figure anywhere. There he was standing on the deck, looking out over the water. She wondered if he couldn’t sleep either, if he was as churned up as she was over the time they’d spent together that day.
She was positive he didn’t know it was her in the kayak. How could he? She was too far out and it was dark, just the moonlight on the water.
She’d never broken stride, she never acknowledged him there and just paddled straight by at a fast clip, like she always did.
On her way back, though, thirty minutes later, she’d slowed down before she reached Trixie’s house, then stopped and gazed through the trees, hidden from sight. At first she hadn’t seen him and was going to move forward, then suddenly he sat up from the chair he was in and looked around. After a minute, he walked into the house and she proceeded home herself.
But rather than go to bed like she thought she would, she grabbed her laptop and got to work.
Only it wasn’t on the new series she’d talked to her agent about; it was something else. It was a story she’d always had in her head, one she always thought would come true. A happy ending like Nick asked her about. A second chance at love.
She’d keep this story a secret for now. If it turned out good, she’d figure out what to do with it.
Until then, she stretched one more time, walked to her room, and undressed. She’d sleep now, and she’d dream.
This time, her dreams would be happy ones, not nightmares. Not reminders of what she ran away from, not the scared girl that didn’t know what to do and where to turn.
No, this time she’d dream about the woman she was, and the man she’d found again. Or rather, the man who found her.
The man who said he’d find her again if she ran. Except this time, she wasn’t going to run. At least not from him.
Challenge
Knock, knock, knock. Mallory sat straight up in bed and looked around the room, then squinted at the clock and noticed it was almost two in the afternoon.
She wanted to roll over and ignore it, but when the banging sounded even louder, she threw the covers back and pulled on a pair of shorts to go with the ratty T-shirt she’d been sleeping in.
She couldn’t imagine who it would be. No one ever came knocking on her door in the middle of the day like this.
Pushing her hair out of her eyes with the palm of her hand, she walked down the stairs to the front door and looked through the peephole. “What the heck?” All she saw were flowers. Lots of them, in a wide range of colors and sizes.
She opened the door and there stood Nick, clutching a pile of stems with both of his hands like a huge prize at the carnival. Not a bouquet of beautifully arranged flowers, but a haphazard bundle overfilling his arms and poking out in all directions.
“Did you steal those?” she asked, recognizing some of Trixie’s flowers.
“Steal is kind of a harsh word,” he said sheepishly.
“What word would you use then?” she asked, leaning her hip against the open door.
“Borrowed?”
“Really? Borrowed implies you’re going to return them. So what? You bring flowers to show me, then want me to go back and plant them again?” she asked, her lips twitching.
He cocked his head. “Okay, borrowed isn’t a good word either, but steal is kind of strong. How about I was being thoughtful. I noticed you had a lot of flowers in your yard and figured you enjoyed them.”
“So you wanted to bring me more to plant?” she asked, looking at the dirt and roots that were hanging off the bottom of several stems. This whole situation was almost too comical for her to comprehend and she wondered if maybe she was still dreaming.
He looked down at the bottom of the bundle in his arms, saw the mess he had in his hands, and laughed. “I admit that I didn’t think this through as much as I should have. Can I come in?”
She hesitated. She wanted to say no. She could only imagine what she looked like now having just rolled out of bed. Not to mention she hadn’t showered in over twenty-four hours and her hair was a knotted mess.
But there he was, looking at her sweetly, carrying flowers he’d obviously pilfered from someone’s yard
, since not all of them were growing at Trixie’s.
“I guess I should let you in to hide the evidence in case someone wants to hunt down the flower thief in the area.”
She stepped back when he marched in right past her, stopped a few feet in her foyer and started to look around. “Which way?” he asked.
Damn it all. He got in her front door and she hadn’t gone through her house as thoroughly as she wanted to hide things.
***
Nick wanted to congratulate himself for his spontaneity. After he’d hung up with his father, he’d gotten up and showered, then went down to get some breakfast, only to find his grandmother sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea.
“You slept late this morning.”
“I did,” he said and walked over to fill the coffee pot up.
“All rested now that you were up late last night?”
He turned and rested his hip on the counter. “Excuse me?”
She smirked at him, then dipped her head and took a sip of her tea. “I heard you in the kitchen last night, then the back door opened. I thought maybe you were getting some fresh air.”
“Sorry if I woke you.”
He’d have to remember that he wasn’t alone in the house and to not make as much noise. Having never really lived with anyone before, he wasn’t that conscious of other people around him at night. Even Kendra hadn’t spent the night often.
And that thought only caused him to frown, wondering why it never occurred to him before. Why she never pushed to move in before the wedding.
“You didn’t really. I’m just used to knowing the noises of the house. Anyway, all rested now? You had a long day yesterday, too.”
She was smirking at him again and he didn’t appreciate it. She knew him well, so there was no use trying to hide anything. The minute he returned from Mallory’s house yesterday afternoon, his grandmother started asking what was going on. He’d kept it simple, but she saw right through him.
“Rested enough. I’m glad Dad called when he did. Like you said, I don’t normally sleep this late, but I guess I needed it.”
“How are things with your father?”
“Good. Everything is good.”
“He was just checking up on you?” she asked.
“That was the impression I got. Nothing major going on at work.” He paused and debated telling his grandmother about Kendra. About what he said to his father and how Kendra never really reacted to the wedding being called off. “Do you have some time to talk?”
“Always for you. What’s on your mind?”
“Kendra.”
“Ah, ready to talk about what happened?”
“Not like you might think. I mean not in detail. I guess I just want another perspective on things. I told Dad this morning that Kendra never really reacted to me canceling the wedding the way I thought she would.”
“And how’s that?”
“I expected her to have some reaction. Tears maybe, a little bit of anger…something.”
“She didn’t cry or get mad at you?” his grandmother asked, showing surprise and making Nick feel better about not being the only one to think it was odd.
“No. Not really. She seemed shocked at first, but then just started saying I was getting cold feet and explaining that it was natural to feel that way.”
“Her reaction wasn’t natural.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“You haven’t talked to anyone else about this?” she asked, showing some concern now, and he wasn’t sure why.
“No. I haven’t talked about my situation much as a whole. I think the only reason I’m bringing it up now is because Dad did. He said she’s still working there, and acting like nothing has happened. She went to Paris—the honeymoon trip—then came home and went right back to work.”
“She always was a cold one, Nick.”
He sighed. “I know. I always knew that. I think part of me liked the lack of drama. Now I’m starting to think it wasn’t a good thing.”
“No one likes drama, but there is a fine line between drama and just possessing human emotion. I’m not sure she did.”
“You didn’t like her, did you?”
He didn’t know why he never noticed it before. He’d been seeing Kendra for two years and his grandmother had met her a handful of times.
“Now that it’s over with, I can be honest with you. No, I didn’t. She might be a perfectly nice person, but she wasn’t the person for you.”
“How do you know?”
He didn’t even know who the right person for him was, so how could his grandmother?
“She didn’t challenge you. She didn’t push you. She organized your life nice and simple and did everything you asked of her, but she never gave you a reason to fight for more. Nick, you’ve always tackled things head-on. If you butted up against something, you pushed back until you were satisfied. There was nothing there to push. There was no challenge with her.”
“Are you saying I was bored with her?”
He didn’t want to admit that, but maybe it was true, though it made him seem like an ass.
“No. I don’t know, maybe you were, but that isn’t what I was suggesting. What I’m saying is there was nothing there for you to strive for. She gave it all to you. Sometimes we need to work for something. To plan and to scheme a little. To have a goal and an objective. Kendra made it too easy for you. You didn’t have to work for anything. Never were the aggressor, were you?”
His grandmother had a point. He wasn’t interested in Kendra, other than what she did for him as an employee, at first. She did pursue him, and he’d been too busy for a social life, too busy for a relationship, and it all just fell into his lap nice and easy.
But the more his grandmother talked, the more he realized that Kendra wasn’t right for him. She didn’t challenge him; she made his life too easy.
There was never a thrill of the hunt for him. He always enjoyed that in the past. Trying to win a woman over. Showing some romance and wearing her down. Now he was thinking he took it all for granted that Kendra just handed it to him.
Either way, he knew it wasn’t right and was glad he came to that conclusion before the actual wedding. “I never thought of it that way.”
“And now that you are, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I need a new challenge.”
Mallory laughed at him just now, then crossed her arms in front of her chest, wiping out his grandmother’s conversation from earlier.
Now he wanted to push. Now he was ready to push. To wear her down and enjoy the hunt and the game. To have some fun.
So here he was, standing in her house with flowers in his hand that he picked out of his grandmother’s garden and then added to on his walk to her house. Stealing ones he liked along the way, not that he’d admit that to her.
He’d decided on his walk that he was going to find out what he could about her. If she wouldn’t tell him, then he’d figure it out on his own.
In order to do that, he had to stay close to her. He knew deep down that wasn’t the reason he was doing this though. Yes, he wanted to know what happened twelve years ago and what she’d been doing since, what made her flee her home.
But more than anything, he wanted her. Plain and simple. And he was going to do whatever it took to have her. To not lose what he stupidly gave up so many years ago.
He thrust the flowers at her and held them there until she uncrossed her arms and took them.
“I’ve got a proposition for you.” She looked leery, but he pushed on. His grandmother was right, and he had a goal now. To win Mallory over. “How about a date tonight?”
“A date?”
“Yes. You know, that thing two people do when they like each other. Dinner and a movie,” he threw out there before she could interrupt. “I saw the old movie theater is still on Main Street.”
“It is.” She shook her head. “Wait, back up. You said something about what two people do when they like each o
ther. What makes you think I like you?”
“You came to me and asked for a friendship,” he pointed out.
“A friendship is different than dating.”
“Is it really? Can’t one lead into the other?”
He’d always thought that was what the two of them had before, so why not try it again?
She didn’t answer him and he was holding his breath. He wasn’t going to back down. If she said no, he’d have to figure out another way around this situation.
Finally, she said, “Do you think this is a good idea?”
“Probably not,” he answered her honestly.
“Then why ask?”
“Because I’m sick of doing things that are smart, or the good ideas, or even the right ones. I want to take a risk. I want to have fun. I want to do something that makes me happy.”
He was shocked those words tumbled out of his mouth, but he meant them one hundred percent.
“And you think I make you happy?”
She was looking unsure of herself, he could see it. As much as she was questioning him and his motives, he also saw deep down there was hope in her eyes, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
“Once I got over the shock of everything—of finding you—I’d come to realize the last few days I’ve been happier than I’ve been in longer than I care to admit. I’d like to think some of that has to do with finding you. Spending time with you, even. I’d like to do more of it. What do you say? Take a chance with me?”
“I guess I’ve got nothing to lose, right?”
“That’s the spirit. Now why don’t you go up and shower or something.” He caught the narrowing of her eyes but ignored it. He was too elated right now to worry about insulting her. “I know you just got out of bed.”
“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out.”
“You’re looking a little rough right now. Long night?” he added and heard her growl at him. Never before would he have said those things to a woman and was stunned he was doing it now.
