by Cat Johnson
I nodded, letting myself breathe for the first time in minutes.
He cupped my checks with his palm, leaned his forehead against mine and said, “The governor hired my company to work on his campaign.”
I leaned back to stare at him. “Oh my God. That’s amazing.”
He nodded. “It is. But it’s more than that. It also means I’ll be spending some time in Albany, which is a lot closer to Mudville than Manhattan.”
That news sent a thrill through me. “Yeah. It is.”
“So, see? We can make it work. If you want to.”
I swallowed. “I do want to. Do you?”
“Yes. Because it seems I’ve fallen in love . . .”
My heart stopped beating.
Then he continued, “With Mudville.”
I felt the frown on my forehead. I tried to reverse the expression. For the record, it’s a heck of a lot harder to un-frown than it is to frown. His lips twitched as he watched my expression morph.
“So you see, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me being around as much as I can, whether you like it or not.” Brandon leaned closer. “Because I’ve fallen in love with more than just the town.”
There was no more air in the room. There was definitely not enough air in my lungs.
“Yeah?” I managed to wheeze out.
“Yeah.” He nodded, waiting.
I drew in a breath even though it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. “I think I might love the idea of you being around more. A lot more.”
Baby steps. For a commitment-phobe—as Harper had called me—it was the best I could do at the moment. Luckily it seemed to be enough for Brandon.
He smiled. “Good.”
Brandon leaned in and cradled my face between his palms.
The kiss he pressed to my lips was firm and full of promise. And of things to come . . . once we were alone.
He leaned back. “Please tell me you’ve had too much to drink so I have an excuse to get us a room and have my way with you.”
I lifted a brow. “You paying? Some diner stole all my business today.”
He nodded, getting serious even though I’d been joking.
“I heard. Russ called and told me they had a line outside and an hour wait for tables.” Brandon shook his head. “Bethany—”
“It’s okay,” I interrupted. “Russ tripled the bakery order for tomorrow.”
“Will that help?” he asked, looking concerned.
“Yeah. That definitely helps. But that also means I have some baking to do.”
He frowned and leaned back. “Well, now, wait a minute. I don’t know how I feel about this plan to give you our baked goods order now.”
Arms looped around his neck, I tugged him closer. “How about this. You can have your way with me tonight as long as you have me back at the bakery by five tomorrow morning.”
“It’s a deal.” He smiled. “See. Look at us. Making it work.”
“Yeah. Look at us.”
Us. I liked the sound of that word.
As his lips closed over mine again, the thought of being part of an us didn’t scare me anymore.
I didn’t worry about the future and predict all the bad things that might happen.
In fact, for once, I was kind of looking forward to finding out what the future held for me. For us.
EPILOGUE
Brandon
“Why am I blindfolded? Are you sure this isn’t some sort of kinky sex thing?” Bethany asked.
“No, but that’s an idea. Let me work on that.”
I steered the Land Rover slowly into the driveway, not wanting to give her any hints about where we might be.
Cutting the engine I looked at the house I’d secretly closed on yesterday.
Dee had earned her attorney fee with this one. She’d kept my purchase of the Van de Berg house a secret from Bethany and everyone else in town.
That in itself was a miracle. I was finding it was incredibly hard to keep anything quiet in a small town.
I wasn’t sure if that was true of all small towns or if Mudville had more than its share of nosy neighbors. Maybe a little of both.
“Well?” Bethany folded her arms, still blind and, apparently, now annoyed.
“Sorry.” I cringed.
I’d been so wrapped up in my new acquisition, I’d forgotten I had my girlfriend blindfolded like a hostage in the passenger seat.
I ran around to her side and opened the door. Taking her hands I said, “Step down.”
“When I break an ankle, I’m going to tell everyone it was because of you.”
I laughed. “In this town? They’d already know.”
“Well, that’s true.” A small smile quirked up the corner of her lips.
“We’re almost there, then you can look.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
I led her around the hood and stopped.
No use delaying any longer. I tugged on the knot of the blindfold, which was actually just one of my neckties because I had nothing else handy. Not because I had any Fifty Shades fantasy like Bethany assumed.
Though that might be something to think about. Later.
Now, as the blindfold fell away, Bethany was frowning at me. “Okay. It’s Rose’s house.”
“No. Well, yes. But it’s also my house.”
Her eyes widened. “You—”
“Bought it,” I finished her sentence.
It wasn’t lost on me that I was rapidly becoming a Mudville land baron, just as Josh had said. Or perhaps just a property hoarder.
It also wasn’t lost on me that my job—the thing paying for all this Mudville real estate—was also the one thing keeping me apart from the woman I loved. But I had a solution for that.
“So what does this mean? You’ll sleep here on weekends instead of at my place?” She looked a little hurt by that.
I pulled her closer. “First of all, I don’t know what I’m doing with it. I might rent it out, either by the year or as an Airbnb. I’m not sure yet. I just wanted to own it so I can make sure nothing happens to it. Second, and more importantly, wherever I sleep, you’ll be there with me, whether that is here or at Mudville House, or your place. Let’s just get that part straight right now.”
When she pressed her lips together but finally nodded, I decided to let her in on the rest.
“But I might be here for more than just weekends from now on.”
Her eyes widened. “How?”
“Now that our D.C. client dropped out of the race, Josh and I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to expand our business to the capital region. I’ve set up an office in Mudville House. That will serve as our headquarters upstate. So I’ll be spending a lot more time around here. Possibly, if I can swing it, full time with just a few trips a month down to the city for meetings. How’s that sound?”
She slapped me in the arm. “You know how that sounds. That would be amazing.”
I laughed while rubbing my arm. “Good. I’m glad you’re happy.” I would have hated to see what she would have done to me if she’d been unhappy.
“Of course, I’m happy.” She threw her arms around my neck and I couldn’t resist kissing her.
In fact, I couldn’t resist her. All of her. I pulled back. “Want to go inside and christen my new purchase?” I pulled the key out of my pocket.
She looked tempted until she glanced at her cell phone. “Actually, I think that will have to wait.”
“What’s up?” I asked, curious to know what was more important than sex with me, in her mind.
“You’ll see,” she said.
I frowned. “Not even a hint?”
“No. You surprised me so it’s only fair I get to surprise you.”
I guessed she was right. That didn’t mean I liked it.
“What are you up to, girl?” I narrowed my eyes at her.
“I told you. You’ll see. And besides, even if I didn’t have a surprise for you. Today is Flag Day.”
“Yes, I know. It
’s pretty impossible to be in this town and not know it’s Flag Day.”
Of all the random holidays that had come and gone in my life, I can’t say I’d ever paid much attention to Flag Day. But not anymore. Apparently, in Mudville, it was a huge deal.
“Do you remember from Rose’s letters that—”
“Flag Day is Rose’s birthday.” I remembered the minute she’d mentioned the letters.
“Yup.” Bethany nodded.
“So, what’s that mean? Are we having a birthday party for her or something?”
I could probably throw a quick celebration together at the hotel’s bar. The bar and a few of the guest rooms were opening to the public this week, while the rest of the building was still a work in progress, but it could work for an impromptu party. Or even better, I could bring food from the diner over to the house and have a party on the lawn by the river.
“Or something.” Bethany smiled, not really answering my question at all as she tugged me back toward my car.
“Where are we going?” I laughed.
“The diner.”
“All righty.” Resigned that she was in the driver’s seat, even though I was actually the one driving, I made my way back the short distance to Main Street and pulled along the curb of the diner. Cutting the engine, I turned to her. “Now will you tell me what you’re up to?”
She glanced out the side window and then turned back smiling. “Yup. Come on. There’s a couple of people you need to meet.”
Bethany was out of the vehicle before I had a chance to walk around to her side, then she was trotting toward a man and a woman.
When I caught up with her, she turned to me. “Brandon Webster, meet your cousins, Amanda and Christopher Van de Berg.”
My mouth dropped open and a shocked laugh came out. I glanced at her. “How?”
“Bethany connected with us on Facebook. We’ve been chatting for a couple of weeks now. She told us all about the letters and you and what you’re doing in town.” Amanda lifted one shoulder. “With the opening of the hotel this weekend, and with it also being Rose’s birthday, it felt like about time we visited.”
Bethany laughed. “Rose has a way of bringing people together.”
It was all mind boggling. “Wow. I can’t believe it.” I pulled Amanda into a hug, then extended my hand to her brother. “It’s really nice to meet you both.”
“You too, man,” Christopher said. “And about time.”
“I agree.” I glanced at Bethany. “You little devil. You kept this secret all this time?”
“You just bought a house without my knowing, so . . .” She cocked up a brow.
“Agreed. Fair is fair.” I turned toward my new cousins. “How would you two like a tour of the Van den Berg house? It’s just a block over. We can walk. You can see a bit of the town.”
“I’d love that.” Amanda smiled.
Bethany cringed. “Actually, there are a few more surprises. Then we can definitely go over to the house.”
I pinned her with my stare. “What else did you do?”
“You’ll see.” She sent Amanda a grin then pulled me toward the sidewalk.
“Excuse me. I’ll be right back,” I called over my shoulder as Bethany pulled me toward the diner.
“Go. We’ll be right behind you,” Amanda called back.
“Now what?” I asked Bethany as she led me toward Mudville House.
She swung the door to the bar open and looked back. “This.”
Inside was like a jigsaw puzzle of my life with all the pieces mixed together.
I saw Mina laughing at the bar with Boone Morgan, Carter the bartender from the Muddy River Inn and Carson the deputy. I was about to go knock down any ideas those three boys had about my assistant when a hand on my shoulder had me turning to see Patrick and Josh.
“Holy shit.” I laughed and hugged both of them. “You’re here.”
“Yup. Finally.” Patrick laughed.
“Want a drink?” Josh asked with a glass already in his hand.
Patrick slapped me on the back. “I’ve looked at the rest of the building that still needs to be renovated and trust me, you’re gonna need a drink.”
I laughed as Josh eyed Patrick’s and his own empty glasses. “Actually we could both use another one. Bethany?”
“White wine, please. Thank you.”
“You got it.” Josh nodded as it became obvious my girlfriend had been secretly coordinating with my buddies too.
“I’ll come with you to help carry,” Patrick said.
When they were gone, I looked down at Bethany. “You did all this?”
She nodded. “Yup. Actually, it was pretty easy. I just called your office number. Mina and Josh contacted Patrick in Philadelphia. They could all make it this weekend for the opening of the bar so it worked out.”
"I love you," I said, though the words didn’t seem like enough to describe the feelings I had for her.
A smile lit her features. "I love you too."
My heart clenched as tightly as my hand around hers.
I realized it was all perfect. My life. Her. Us. This place. Everything.
All because of one little DNA test. Well that, and because Josh took had held my server access hostage.
Who the hell could have guessed how things would turn out? Certainly not me.
I looked down at Bethany. She was smiling as my two newfound cousins came through the door carrying Muddy.
“This cat keeps trying to come inside. What should we do?” Amanda asked.
Bethany laughed and looked more beautiful than ever. “He can come in. It’s fine.”
She glanced up in time to catch my stare. She squeezed my hand and my heart clenched with the power of love I hadn’t believed existed until fate arranged the convoluted sequence of events that had brought us together.
“Hey, Brandon!”
I turned at the sound of Patrick’s voice. He stood by the bar, looking in my direction. “Hmm?”
“Which seat did Teddy seat in? Do you know?” he asked.
I laughed and shook my head.
Yup. Just perfect.
Dear Reader,
I hope you loved Bethany and Brandon’s story.
For more Mudville hijinks and for Boone’s story, look for ZERO F**KS. More on that at catjohnson.net.
If you missed Stone and Harper’s story, you can get KISSING BOOKS now in eBook, print, and audio.
Find Red and Cash’s story in RED HOT, available now in eBook and print.
And if you’re all caught up with the Mudville novels and enjoyed this story, I think you’ll love my SEALs in Paradise collection of standalone romantic comedies. You can get HOT SEAL, DIRTY MARTINI and HOT SEAL, TIJUANA NIGHTS now in eBook, paperback and audio.
XOXO
Cat
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Cat Johnson is a top 10 New York Times bestseller and a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance that features hot alpha heroes (who often wear combat or cowboy boots) and the sassy heroines brave enough to love them. Known for her unique marketing she has sponsored pro bull riders, owns a collection of camouflage and western wear for book signings, and has used bologna to promote romance novels.
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