by Jenna Harte
“How was your first day back?” She pulled the car out of the space and headed to his home.
“It was good.” The only problem with going back to work was that on medical leave, he had a reason to keep Sydney at his house. Now that he was recovered, he worried she’d get it into her head he didn’t need her and move back to her place. Of course, he had a solution to that. “We caught the guy who stole Mrs. Ragland’s old Cutlass.”
“You caught a car thief today?”
“It wasn’t that hard. It was her daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend.”
Sydney laughed. As corny as it was, Mitch thought it must be what the sun sounded like when it laughed.
“How about a picnic?”
“Tonight?” She glanced at him for a moment.
“Yes.” He took her hand, unable to go more than a minute without touching her.
“Sure.”
“I’ll pack the food. You grab a blanket. I’ve got a thick army one in the hall closet. It’s warm but ideal to keep bugs and dirt away on a picnic.”
“Okay.” She pulled into his driveway.
Mitch pulled his truck into the lot at Dogwood Park. He glanced at Sydney and smiled as happiness and nerves washed over him. “Ready?”
She smiled back, the smile that lit her face and shone with love. To think he’d nearly ruined any chance to see her look at him that way again. He shook his head of the thought. It was a waste of time to ruminate about near mistakes.
He grabbed the basket from the back of the truck and took her hand as he led her toward the star grove. He drew her to the middle of the circle, giving her a quick kiss to reassure her, since the last time they’d been there he’d been a mean SOB. She unfurled the blanket and he sat, pulling her down with him.
“I’ve got all your favorites.” He opened the lid and pulled out a box of unicorn cookies and a mason jar with clear liquid.
“Is that what I think it is?” She held the jar and studied it as if moonshine had special properties.
“It is. The real stuff too. Created under the moon in some Appalachian hollow.”
She laughed. “As a law enforcement professional, aren’t you worried about having this?”
He shook his head. “Nah. It was a gift.”
One beautiful brow rose. “Isn’t that illegal too?”
“Not a bribe. A gift.” Of course, it was still illegal. In Virginia it was okay to make beer and wine at home for personal consumption, but not moonshine. But Mitch figured risking a class 6 felony was worth it this one time. If caught, hopefully he’d only get a year in the pokey. Of course, he’d lose his job, but, in this moment, he was ready to risk everything for the woman sitting beside him.
“I told you the story about the star grove, right?”
“About how Jasper Cahill built it for his true love Lucy Mae, who then betrayed him and ran off with Sam someone?” Sydney opened the box of cookies, plucking a few and popping them in her mouth.
“Shifflet.”
“Right.” Her eyes narrowed, wary yet curious.
“Well, I didn’t finish the story.”
“There’s more?”
Mitch pulled her to him, maneuvering her to sit between his legs, leaning back against him. “One night, a night sort of like this one, old Jasper is here in the grove, feeling pretty down about losing Lucy, when all of a sudden, a vision in white appears. Right over there.” Mitch pointed toward a gap in the trees backed by the river. “As she drew near, he saw it was Lucy in her nightdress.”
“She decided to betray Sam too?” Sydney’s tone suggested she didn’t like where the story was going.
“I’m telling a story here. In the south, you don’t interrupt a good story.”
She tilted her head to look at him and pressed her lips together.
“That’s more like it. Now where was I? Oh, right. Turns out Lucy Mae left Jasper because Sam, the coldhearted banker, was going to take Jasper’s farm unless he could have Lucy. But deep down she loved Jasper and didn’t want him to lose his farm. Old Jasper said he’d give up everything he had to Sam just to have Lucy Mae as his wife.”
“That’s romantic. Did Sam take the farm?”
“Well, he tried. But coldhearted bankers are also susceptible to dying, especially when they take a woman that doesn’t love them. The official cause was a heart attack, but some believe Lucy Mae used her knowledge of plants and herbs to poison him.”
“So love won in the end.”
Mitch took her hand, looked in her eyes, and hoped beyond hope she was ready for a happy ending. “Was there any doubt?”
“You kissed me here during the fair. Does that mean our love will last?”
“Yes.”
Her lips parted in an O, as if she hadn’t expected him to agree so readily.
“In fact…” He slid his finger down her neck and hooked it around the chain where she wore the engagement ring he’d given her ten years earlier. “I was thinking it was time you wore this in another way.”
Her eyes widened.
“But then I thought, this ring is the past. It represents the love we had before, but it’s different now.”
To make sure she wouldn’t misunderstand, he pulled the platinum and diamond ring from his pocket. “This ring, on the other hand, represents the commitment I want to make to you now and forever.” He took a deep breath. “Sydney? Will you marry me?”
Sydney didn’t need moonshine to feel giddy and dizzy. She stared at Mitch, not quite believing what he was saying. How long had she hoped this moment would come? And now that it was here, she was speechless.
The hopefulness in his eyes dulled. “I know I haven’t always been good to you. And I have a reputation that suggests I can’t be faithful, but I can, Syd—”
She stopped his speech with a finger over his lips. Her mind ran through all sorts of things to say — that she believed in him and his love, that she knew he could be faithful. But ultimately, she decided there was only one thing to say. Only one thing he needed to hear.
She turned around and cradled his face in her palms. “Yes.” Once the word was out, the giddiness burst out too. “Oh, yes, Mitch.” She threw her arms around him, knocking him back on the blanket.
His arms wrapped around her, and he rolled until she was under him, feeling the warmth and strength of him. His lips met hers with such tenderness, tears formed in her eyes.
“I was worried there for a minute.” He cascaded kisses on her cheek and along her jaw.
“I’m sorry. I was stunned as sometimes happens when dreams come true.”
He grinned. “Dreams, huh?”
“It’s always been you, Mitch.”
He inhaled and closed his eyes, as if letting her words wrap around him. When he opened his eyes, he stared at her, silly with love. “Remember when we met?”
“At the party in college?”
He rubbed her back. “I looked across the room and you were sitting all prim and proper.”
She laughed.
“You looked up and caught me staring at you, and my heart stopped.”
His words made her breath hitch.
“My destiny was set right then. You and I were meant to be. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn after—”
She stopped his words with a quick kiss. “Don’t go there. In some ways, I think we needed the time apart.”
The frown suggested he didn’t like what she was saying.
“We’re stronger now. We know more now. We’re going to be even better now.”
He let out a breath. “I suppose you’re right.”
“All that matters is now anyway.”
“I hurt you.”
She studied him. “I hurt you too.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Mitch.” She considered telling him she forgave him and asking for his forgiveness. To explain how dwelling on the past only kept them from enjoying the moment. Instead, she said, “I love you.”
“I love you, Sydney. S
o goddamn much.”
“Well then, kiss me.”
He did. This time, the kiss started out tenderly but quickly heated. “What would you say if we packed up and went home?”
“Already?” She wriggled under him, needing more contact.
“I’m willing to go to jail for moonshine, but what I want… need to do now, with you, to you, well that could land us in jail for life.”
“Well then. Let’s go home.”
Acknowledgments
First, I want to give a big shout out to Jane Austen, whose book Persuasion is the ultimate second chance at love story, and the inspiration for Meant to Be. I want to thank my agent, Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency for her support and feedback on this story. To my editor, Carolyn Schweitzer, thank you for highlighting areas I could make the writing stronger, while also letting me have my way sometimes. Thank you to Penner Publishing and Jessica Gadsden for sharing the Southern Heat series with the world.
A big thank you to my sister, Rachel Young, who answered my questions about hunting and venison, and is always encouraging me. To all the SweetHartes who support me; you gals (and guys) rock! I want to share a special thank you to Doris Phillips. Your support and feedback were invaluable in my dream to become a fiction writer. I miss you.
Finally, thank you to my husband, Jay, who has always been supportive of my writing, even when it didn’t seem like it would pay off.
About the Author
Jenna Harte is a die-hard romantic writing about characters who are passionate about and committed to each other, and frequently getting into trouble. She is the author of the Valentine Mysteries, the first of which, “Deadly Valentine,” reached the quarter-finals in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award in 2013. She has a bundle of stories filled with romance, mystery and even time travel rattling around in her head and is eager for the day when a device is invented allowing her to download what’s in her brain onto her computer. When she’s not telling stories, she works by day as a freelance writer, author, blogger and online entrepreneur. She lives in central Virginia with her husband, two college-bound children and a fat cat.
Connect with Jenna
@jenna_harte
JennaHarteAuthor
jennaharte.com
More Southern Heat from Jenna Harte
Available from Penner Publishing
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Drake Carmichael doesn’t trust the nurse who’s taking care of his grandfather—despite how adorable and compassionate she seems. He refuses to let her get her grips into their hard-earned money. But as the two square off and begin to battle about what is best for the dying man, Lexie and Drake realize they know very little about each other and that first impressions are deceiving. Once they finally give into their desires, the battle has only just begun.
With a fight between family and fortune, love and lust, will either one be able to find the southern comfort they both truly crave?
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Wed to You
Irresistible playboy, Jagger Talbot left his flashy life in New York to properly take care of Kaden, a little boy he vowed to raise, gaining custody when the Kaden’s father died and his mother ran off with another man. Starting over in Virginia seemed like the perfect beginning. But when the boy’s mother comes back, clean and sober, fighting for custody, Jagger knows he needs a miracle to prove he’s what the child needs.
That miracle is Chelsea Beemer, sweet, perky kindergarten teacher. Down and out, and no stranger to strategy, Chelsea is on the verge of losing her family home. She’d do anything to save the house—and herself—even marry the sexy playboy. Now it’s up to them to “play house” and convince everyone that they have perfect little family. But are any of them really pretending?
Smart Women’s Fiction
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