by Hope Ramsay
“I liked it better the first way.” He’d been waiting to talk to her all day. The hospital hadn’t seemed like the right place, but now he couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled into his driveway, parked his car, and then looked across the seat at her.
Her contented, dreamy look was gone, replaced by a look of confusion. It was just last night that they’d kissed in this very car, but it felt like a lifetime ago.
“I like you, Claire Donovan. I liked you last spring, but I was a coward. I’ll admit that.”
“Sounds about right,” she agreed.
“I’d just watched my best friend marry the woman I thought I wanted. But I was wrong. I was so wrong. You’re the woman I want, Claire. And I want you like I’ve never wanted anything in my entire life.” His heart was thundering in his ears as he made his confession.
Her eyes became shiny for the hundredth time that night.
“The last few days have breathed new life inside me. I don’t want to think about waking up tomorrow and not knowing if I’ll see you.” He ran a hand through his hair to keep from reaching out and touching her. “Claire, I want another chance with you. If you say yes, I promise I won’t mess things up this time.”
She was so still that he wondered if she was okay.
“Say something,” he finally said.
“I’m hungry.” After a long moment, her lips curved ever so slightly.
He cleared his throat and turned to look out at his yard. “Well, there’s probably still some food left over from the reception. The guests each took some, but it’d be a shame for the rest to go to waste. I even think I saw Janice Murphy spike the punch on her way out,” he said.
Claire gave a small laugh and nodded when he looked at her. “There’s also a place to dance under the stars.”
“The evening is set for romance,” he agreed.
“So let’s enjoy it and see where the night takes us. On one condition.” Her expression contorted to something stern with just a touch of playfulness lighting up her eyes. “If it ends up leading somewhere nice, you have to promise you’ll call me tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “I promise that it will lead somewhere nice, and when it does, you might never get rid of me.”
She looked up into his eyes and smiled. “I might never want to.”
Epilogue
In the blink of an eye, everything could change. Or in Claire’s case, one month’s time. That was how long it’d been since she’d planned Rebecca and Pearson’s wedding. It had all happened so fast, but everything had fallen into place perfectly.
Claire stepped out of the dressing room at Sophie’s Boutique and did a twirl in front of the body-length mirror. The cotton dress was a deep rose color with tiny blue pin dots in the fabric. The hem brushed along her knees as she shifted in front of the mirror.
“That’s the one,” the shop owner said, stepping up beside her.
“I feel a little foolish. It’s just our one-month anniversary, but Bo told me to wear something nice.”
“One month together is definitely worth celebrating. Where is he taking you?” Sophie asked. “Any idea?”
Claire shook her head. “No.” It didn’t really matter though. It was the gesture that melted her heart like a marshmallow against an open flame. He was always doing little things for her to show her how much he cared. “Okay,” she said, looking down. “This is the one. I’ll take it off and let you ring it up for me.”
“Do you have the right shoes?”
Claire laughed. She loved to shop as much as the next person, but she couldn’t wait to get home and ready for whatever Bo had planned for them. “I do. But thanks.”
An hour and a half later, Bo picked her up at her place and started driving.
“You’re still not going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked.
He was dressed in nice jeans with a polo top and a sport coat. She was almost disappointed to have to go out tonight because she would have rather been alone with him. They’d spent a lot of alone time together over the last month, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever get enough.
“That would ruin the surprise.”
She huffed playfully. “Fine. How’s baby Noah?” she asked. He’d told her he was stopping by the hospital this afternoon. It had been all she could do not to invite herself along, but visitors were limited to family right now. She was just the girlfriend.
“A genius,” Bo answered. “He takes after me.”
This made Claire laugh out loud.
“And he’ll be leaving the NICU tomorrow. The doctor says he’s ready.”
“That’s wonderful news. I’m sure Pearson and Rebecca are so happy.”
He nodded. “They are.”
Claire blinked as she looked out the window, recognizing the route. Surely she hadn’t gotten all dressed up just to go back to his place.
He turned the car onto Lavender Road and drove all the way to the end. After pulling into his driveway and parking, he turned to her. She blinked and kept her gaze forward. The fairy lights were turned on—they’d never taken them down—and a table was set up at the peak of the hill behind his house.
Bo stepped out of the car and walked around to open her door for her. Then they approached what he’d put together. There was a small vase of fresh flowers at the table’s center, sandwiched between two candles, not yet lit. Another table was set up to the right with what appeared to be catered food from Taste of Heaven.
“A candlelit dinner under the stars.” She turned and stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and staring into his eyes. “All this just to celebrate one month of being together?”
He leaned in and kissed her lips, soft and slow. Nothing in her life had ever felt so right as being with him.
“No. All this is to tell you that I love you, Claire Donovan. I love you so much.”
She blinked him into focus. A man had never uttered those words to her before, but they were music to her ears. She wanted to hear them again and again. “I love you too, Bo Matthews.”
She laughed as he pulled her in for another kiss under the starry night sky. Then they had dinner and shared a dance before retreating to his room, where he repeated those three little words again and again.
About the Author
Annie Rains is a USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author who writes small-town love stories set in fictional places in her home state of North Carolina. When Annie isn’t writing, she’s living out her own happily ever after with her husband and three children.
Visit her online at:
http://www.annierains.com/
@AnnieRains_
http://facebook.com/annierainsbooks
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/annie-rains
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