Only One (Ward Sisters Book 2)

by Lucy Gage

  “Because you hate that crap. Your mother, my mother, Anja, Mary Cate, Amy, Kelly and Christopher made the arrangements. All you have to do is show up.”

  “But what about a dress? I haven’t even thought about that.”

  “Christopher took care of it when he fitted you for the dress you wore to Harvey’s party.”

  “That jerk. I knew his odd behavior was suspect.”

  “Aren’t you glad you were surprised?”

  She smiled. “Yes. We’re really getting married next weekend? You’re not teasing me?”

  He let his hand creep upward. “If I wanted to tease you, I’d do this,” he said as he grazed her. “I wouldn’t bother make up some story about a wedding that wasn’t going to happen. You’re going to become my wife next weekend. I’m in charge, remember?” His fingers tortured her, so close but so far. He pulled his hand away.

  “You’re mean,” she said with a pout.

  Liam chuckled. “Sometimes. You can handle it.”

  Jenna smiled at her quip on his lips. “Next weekend?”

  He nodded and said, “For now, we’ll go back to our place.”

  “Our place?”

  “The apartment.”

  “It’s ours now?”

  “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours. And you’re all mine. Always.” He kissed her – slow, gentle, sensual, loving. She let her forehead fall against his chest as he held her close.

  “I love you, Liam. I can’t wait to be your wife. Next weekend can’t happen fast enough.”

  “Good. I love you, too. We’ve waited long enough. Let’s go to L.A. and pretend I wasn’t stupid for the last four years.”

  She looked down at her ring, the center diamond and flanking blue-green tourmaline on either side, the one she’d missed having on her finger since the day they’d taken it off when the babies had unexpectedly arrived. The smile was automatic.

  “I don’t know, if the last four years hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have Cam and Ellie. I think the end result was worth the journey.”

  He hugged her. “You got that right. I was thinking more like we could pretend making love all night was the beginning instead of goodbye.”

  “It was always the beginning. It just took us a long time to get here is all.”

  “You always have all the answers,” he said with a laugh.

  “I know. You love that about me.”

  “I do. I really do.”

  Dear Reader,

  In Back to December and briefly here in Only One, we met Emily Ward Deacon’s best friend, Meg. You might recall when Meg met Rob at Charlie’s wedding and teased her. Well, when Rob and Emily left to reconcile in private, what happened to Meg? We just learned what Nina had been doing then. And in Ward Sisters Series Book 3, Right Here Waiting, we’ll learn all about Meghan Miles and how Charlie’s wedding changed her life.

  Here’s an excerpt from Right Here Waiting. This story follows Meg as she meets and falls in love with Charlie’s husband, Dan’s best friend. I hope you fall for Captain Neil Murphy as easily as I did when I wrote him. Enjoy!

  All my best,

  Lucy Gage

  Right Here Waiting

  Ward Sisters Series Book 3

  Second Edition

  Lucy Gage

  ©2014 by Lucy Gage

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Prologue

  Morning of Charlie and Dan’s wedding…

  Neil stretched his long legs. When his feet hit the foot board of his twin bed, he appreciated both his sunrise waking habit and his military training. The ability to function on less sleep meant his jet lag wouldn’t put a damper on Danny Williams’ wedding.

  He’d been looking forward to this wedding for a long time. For one thing, his best friend had loved Charlie Ward forever and making it legal completed their decade-old relationship. For another, Charlie’s friend Meghan was a bridesmaid. Though it had been several years since their paths had crossed, Neil could hardly wait to get a glimpse of the gorgeous woman who had been the subject of more fantasies than he could count for thirteen years.

  He ran on the trails behind his parents’ house, along the route he’d taken since the age of twelve. The trees had grown in the nine years he’d been away, the path no longer daily trampled, but his father had maintained the trail. Light filtered through summer leaves of maples, oaks, ash and beech, a stark contrast to the more desert-like landscape that surrounded his current post, Ft. Irwin. He welcomed the shade and the cooler, damp, early-morning air, fragrant with the earthy scents of the Maine woods. Too bad his leave only lasted a week.

  Slowing as he approached the house, Neil inhaled the aromas of his favorite breakfast: pancakes, bacon, eggs and coffee. He rarely had breakfast waiting after a run, since he always ran with his roommate, Owen.

  For a little while, he’d had Beth, but her idea of breakfast didn’t match his and she hated to cook. Neil had probably cooked more for her than she had for him. He’d caught Beth sleeping with one of the soldiers from her unit six months ago, and promptly dumped her. Probably best that Beth was stupid enough to cheat before ye got attached, his mother soothed in her Irish accent. No point in marryin’ a girl who won’t cook.

  Nearly every night since he’d ditched Beth, Neil had dreamed of seeing Meghan on this day. He thought about it on the plane trip from California last night, as he drifted off to sleep, on his run, and in the shower while he jerked off this morning. Chances were good that all he’d ever do was think about her, because no other woman had intimidated the adult Neil Murphy the way she always had.

  The last time he’d seen Meghan Miles was at Danny’s college graduation party. In high school, Meghan and her best friend, Emily – Charlie’s oldest sister – were three years ahead of Neil. At the time of Danny’s party, Meghan was starting her PhD program in psychology, which Neil found fascinating. He and Owen believed that combat was ninety percent psychological, nine percent physical training, and one percent shit luck. The philosophy made them good at their jobs, because they knew that winning any kind of battle started in your head.

  As soon as Neil understood that concept, dating became easy. Once he got over himself, girls didn’t scare him.

  Except Meghan.

  For some reason, no matter how confident he became, or how many girls he’d dated or slept with, he couldn’t find the nerve to talk to Meghan again.

  Today might be his last shot, because in two weeks, his unit deployed to Afghanistan for nine months. Even when you led an elite team of soldiers with an M4, you received no guarantees from the Army that you’d come home still breathing.

  **********

  At the sound of the alarm, Meg groaned. Why did the Wicked Witch insist we all have breakfast so damn early?

  She rolled toward the alarm clock at the side of her hotel bed and let her eyes adjust to the light while she listened to Pink’s Raise Your Glass. By the time the song had finished, her head bobbed to the beat.

  This would be a day for change. She’d greet the day in the right frame of mind and it would make a difference. Didn’t she give this advice to her clients all the time?

  She needed to listen to herself.

  Meg flicked off the alarm, jumped out of bed and bounced to the shower, the song still in her mind as she stepped into the steamy spray. Charlie’s wedding could be the perfect place to meet a nice rebound guy, someone to clear stupid Justin from her head.

  Guys loved that stuff, right? No strings hookups at weddings? Wasn’t that the whole point of Wedding Crashers?

  Then again, Vince Vaughn fell for one of his hookups, so maybe she needed to think about this more carefully.

  No. Live for today. That had been a goal of her Thai retreat nine m
onths ago, learning to appreciate the moment and accept what it could bring.

  Don’t worry about the past or the future, reside in the now.

  Given her past, and the fact that Bucksport High alumni would be attending, living in the now could make or break her enjoyment of this wedding. The alternative would be to get good and drunk.

  Stick with living in the moment, she thought. Safer that way.

  With her new-found attitude in mind, she embraced the day.

  Later that morning, as she walked down the hall from her room on the way to the Bridal suite, she almost fell over. A few doors away, a muscular guy stood, struggling with his room key, a garment bag aloft and a duffel on his shoulder. His silhouette made her breath catch.

  No, she thought. Shaved head, big muscles. Military. Too much like Toby. But then, as she stepped closer, she caught a glimpse of his backside and a grin spread across her face.

  Look at that ass. It can’t possibly be the guy from LAX? That would be fate.

  Grabbing the garment bag to help him, her fingers brushed his and he turned to look at her. Green eyes, freckles and the same shock of recognition.

  Thank you, fate. This wedding might be great after all.

  Live for the moment, indeed.

  Author Bio

  Lucy Gage started her writing career under another name, but the same vivid imagination and love of books still fuels her daily life. When she’s not writing, you can find her spending time with her family in her home state of Maine, experiencing a life that helps shape her writing.

  She loves to hear from fans, and you can find Lucy at:

  Facebook: Author Lucy Gage

  Twitter:@LucyGageAuthor

  Or send an email: lucygageauthor@gmail.com

  Look for her website in 2016. A boxed set of the first four Ward Sisters books is currently available. Her fifth book, Time to Begin, is available now, both for individual sale and as part of the Affairs of the Heart boxed set. Book six in the Ward Sisters Series, Just Realized, will arrive in December 2015, and book 1 in the Vega Brothers Series – a Ward Sisters spinoff – launches in 2016.