“You got here quick,” Lucia said after giving her a hug.
“Yeah, well, I was actually already on my way.”
Lucia raised her brows in question. “Really? Why? I thought Benjamin had arrived in Paris. Wasn’t that what you wanted?” Holly let out a sigh of annoyance at her own stupidity. “Yeah, well, I thought that’s what I wanted but…I was wrong.”
Lucia was smiling at her. “So what is it that you want? Or should I say who?”
Holly returned her grin and tried to ignore the nerves there wreaking havoc on her stomach. She wasn’t sure she was ready to spill her guts just yet. Not when there was every chance that Jack could still reject her. His words from the night before had been haunting her all day.
Maybe she would never make him see reason. Or maybe he didn’t love her. She swallowed down the doubts and insecurities as best she could. She would have her say and hope that she wasn’t totally off base about their connection. She didn’t think she could face the heartbreak if she was wrong.
But first thing’s first, she had to be there for her sister and then she would worry about how to convince Jack that he was in love with her.
“Are we going to the hospital?” she asked. “Are my parents on their way?”
Lucia’s smile was secretive. “Danny asked that you wait for him at the villa. I’ll take you to the hospital when they’re ready for visitors.”
Holly nodded and focused on the view outside the window. She drew in a deep steadying breath. They were going to the villa. Would Jack be there? If so, what would she say? She wasn’t ready. She wiped suddenly sweaty palms on her jeans and gnawed on her lower lip. She had to come up with a way to convince this man that she was worth taking a risk on. That he was capable of committing and that they were more than a casual fling.
Right. No pressure.
The house looked dark when they pulled up. “Where is everyone?” she asked.
Lucia shrugged and rushed ahead of her. “I’ll ask one of the boys to come grab your bags. Why don’t you go out on the veranda to wait, I’ll be right out with something to eat.”
Before she could protest or ask questions, Lucia had disappeared into the house and Holly followed the path on the side of the house that led to the veranda. The last time she’d been here was for Ivy’s wedding. The night she’d met Jack.
The night her world had turned upside down.
She turned the corner of the house and gasped at the sight before her. Blinking rapidly, for one brief moment she thought perhaps she’d fallen and hit her head. There was no way this was reality.
It was the same. It was exactly the same. From the twinkling lights strung overhead to the outdoor stage with a ten-piece band—the veranda looked like Ivy and Daniel’s wedding had just come to an end.
The music floated over to her softly and she looked around in wonder. A movement to her left caught her eye. He was silhouetted by the stage lights but she knew it was him.
“Jack,” she said, her breath catching in her throat. Her brain was struggling to make sense of what was going on but her heart had leapt far ahead of her mind. Her heart tightened and her breathing came in ragged gasps as tears started to trickle down her cheeks.
He had done this. For her. That was the only explanation.
He reached her side and she could see his expression. His normally floppy hair was slicked back off of his face as it had been that night. He was wearing a tuxedo and he looked oh-so-amazing. He looked like a movie star. Too good to be true.
The only thing different was the look in his eyes. At the wedding he had been lighthearted, charming, filled with laughter and teasing. But now, she could swear she saw…fear.
“What is this?” she whispered.
Instead of replying, he held out a hand. “May I have this dance?”
She stepped into his arms and let him lead her in a waltz around the empty dance floor.
“You look beautiful,” he said, his eyes melting her with their passion and their heat.
Blood rushed to her cheeks and she glanced down at her faded T-shirt and jeans with a laugh. “If I’d known this was a formal occasion…wait, Jack, where’s Ivy, is she…”
“I’d imagined she’s tucked into bed beside Daniel at the moment,” Jack said, that familiar mischievous twinkle returning to his eyes as he explained. “I needed to see you. We figured the baby’s arrival would get you here.”
Holly choked on laughter and tears. “You know, that wasn’t necessary. I was already on my way.”
Jack stopped dancing, his eyes wide with surprise. “You were? Why?”
Holly shook her head. She wasn’t ready to bare her soul yet, she had too many questions. “You first. Why go to all this trouble? What is this about?”
She thought she knew—she hoped she knew. But she needed to hear him say it.
“I wanted a do-over,” Jack said. She saw a hint of that familiar lopsided grin as he gave her a rueful look. “I’ve been such an idiot, Holly. I should have done it all differently, from the first moment I met you.”
The tears that had been threatening to fall trickled down her cheek. With the lights and the music…it was too much to take in. “What are you saying?” she asked.
He paused then and she saw fear war with conviction. “I love you,” he said, the words coming out on a rush of air. “I think I loved you the moment I set eyes on you and if I’m being honest I was already head over heels crazy in love by the time we finished our first dance.”
Holly’s voice came out wobbly and soft. “You were?”
He nodded and the love she saw in his eyes at that moment was so heady she thought she might faint. She gripped his hand tighter and clung to his shoulder. “Why didn’t you…do something or say something?”
He shook his head. “Because I didn’t think I deserved you. I didn’t think I had what it took to be the kind of man you needed.”
“But now?” she asked.
He pulled her tighter against him and she could feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest as his arms crushed her to him. “Now I know that I would do anything to become the man you deserve. You make me want to be that man.”
Holly beamed up at him, basking in the glow of his words and the feel of him beneath her arms. When he pulled away slightly, she clung to him even tighter. “What about you?” he asked. “I thought by now you and Benjamin would be—”
She cut him off with a quick shake of her head. “You were right,” she admitted. Then with a little laugh she said, “Everybody was right. He’s not the man for me. I guess I wanted….”
Jack nodded and to her amazement he understood. He got her in a way no one else could. She said the words anyway, more because she needed to say them more than he needed to hear them. “I thought I needed to be different in order to have the things that I want in life. Stability, family, commitment.” He nodded and ran a hand through her curls sending a shiver down her spine. “I guess I didn’t trust myself. Or trust that I could be enough just the way I am.”
“And now?” Jack asked.
Holly felt a smile of contentment spread across her face. “Now I know that I can have it all, on my terms, in my way.” She took a deep breath. “With you.”
She saw the nervous tension break as he slumped forward so his forehead rested against hers. “Thank God,” he whispered. “You have no idea how much I want to be that for you. I want it all with you.”
“What are you saying, Jack?”
He moved so quickly that he twirled her with a flourish before pulling her back into his arms. They were both laughing and grinning like fools when he answered. “I’m saying…Miss Holly Sinclair, will you be my girlfriend?”
Gravity seemed to take a holiday for one breathless moment and Holly was certain Jack’s arms were the only thing keeping her on the ground. “Yes,” she started, her voice coming out breathless with sheer joy. “I would love to be your—”
The rest of her sentence was cut short as Jack pulled her i
n for a kiss to seal the deal.
When at last they came up for air, Holly wrapped her arms around Jack’s neck and let her head drop against his shoulder.
“So what now?” His breath against her ear made her shiver.
Holly shrugged. “No idea.” Tilting her head back, she met his gaze and her stomach did a little backflip at the raw emotions she saw there—the tenderness and the desire…and the love.
Jack dropped a light kiss on her lips and began moving her in time with the music. “You’re an excellent dancer, did you know that?” He gave a wistful sigh. “I never should have let you go that night.”
Laughter bubbled up at his melodramatic tone. “I’m here now.”
Jack grinned and he dipped his head so his forehead rested lightly against her. “And I am never letting go.”
As they danced beneath the twinkling terrace lights to the same music they’d listened to on that wedding night that felt so long ago, Holly giggled.
“What’s so funny?” Jack asked, brushing a wayward curl out of her face.
“It’s just…” Holly started. “You have this way of making me feel like Cinderella.”
Jack lifted one brow. “Is that a bad thing?”
Holly laughed. “It’s a great thing. But it’s....”
“Not reality,” Jack finished. “It’s not a five-year goal or a life plan or any of those other boring things you seem so obsessed with lately.”
Holly clamped her lips shut to keep from laughing at his teasing tone. For someone who was so in love with adventure, she had gone a bit overboard with the whole “stability” plan. Pulling him in closer, she said, “Maybe we should ease into this whole responsibility thing.”
He flashed her that lopsided grin she could never resist. “I do have a plan, you know. It may not include white picket fences but I think it’s a good start.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Whatever we do next, let’s do it together.”
Holly’s heart leapt into overdrive as his lips claimed hers once again. She pulled back just long enough to say, “Deal.”
Epilogue
“We don’t have to do this, you know,” Holly said.
Jack glanced up from the papers he had been about to sign to see Holly nibbling at her lower lip. Her eyes were wide and filled with nervous excitement. He knew that look. It was the same expression she’d worn right before they’d gone bungee jumping in Brazil.
Jack leaned over to plant a kiss on her lips and hopefully ease some of her anxiety. “We’re doing this,” he said. “It’s about time you and I had a place of our own to call home.”
Ivy walked out onto Brunelli’s veranda holding her three-month-old little girl, followed closely by Daniel. These days it seemed Daniel was attached to his daughter by an invisible leash. Ivy took one look at the paper Jack was holding and let out an exasperated sigh.
“Don’t tell me you two are still debating signing that lease.”
“It’s a big decision,” Holly argued, reaching out to take her niece.
It had been a big decision. Not if they would rent a place together but where. There had been Oakdale, to be near Holly’s parents, Italy to be close to his business partner or New York City, which Daniel and Ivy would be calling home now that baby Anna had arrived. They ended up opting for Paris so Jack could work on repairing his relationship with his brother. He and his family had a lot of time to make up for.
“But you’re not even buying, you’re just renting,” Daniel said, sounding perplexed.
Jack caught Holly’s eye and they shared a grin. They couldn’t expect Daniel and Ivy to understand. He and Holly had been inseparable since the moment she agreed to be his girlfriend but now…now they would have a home together. It was a big step.
Holly gave him a wink and he reached out to take her free hand in his.
He turned back to sign the paper but was interrupted by Brunelli’s arrival. The older man looked worried as he sat beside them at the table and reached out for his chance to hold the ever-in-demand newborn.
“Brunelli, what’s wrong?” Holly asked.
“It’s Lucia. She ran away.”
Jack exchanged worried glances with Holly, Ivy, and Daniel. They’d all noticed that she hadn’t been herself lately.
“What do you mean, ‘ran away’?” he asked. “What about her fiancé? Did she and Marco elope?”
Brunelli tossed a note onto the table. “Read it for yourself. She says the wedding is off and she has gone to America.”
They sat in stunned silence for a moment, taking in the news.
“Poor Lucia,” Holly said.
Jack squeezed her hand.
Daniel reached out and picked up the note. “Gone to America,” he read out loud. He shared a look with Jack. It was awfully vague for such a large country.
“She could be anywhere,” Brunelli said. “She’s just like her mother—willful and headstrong.”
“Don’t worry, Jack and I will find her. We’ll make sure she’s all right,” Holly said.
Jack looked over at his girlfriend in surprise but when she turned to him with a questioning look, he nodded his agreement. Of course they would go after their friend.
Brunelli’s anxiety seemed to subside a bit. “I know she’s a grown woman and she can do what she likes but she’s still my granddaughter.”
Ivy patted his knee when he added, “Just like her mother,” under his breath.
Once the others returned back to the house to put Baby Anna down for a nap, Jack turned to Holly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Did you offer us up for the manhunt as a way to put off moving in with me?” he teased.
Holly’s jaw dropped in mock offense. “I would never! We’re obviously the most qualified couple for the job. I mean, do you really see Ivy and Daniel traipsing around the states looking for a runaway fashion designer? With a newborn in tow?”
Jack tapped his jaw and pretended to mull it over. “You have a point.”
Holly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “Maybe you’re the one with cold feet now that we’re settling down.”
Jack grinned and pulled her even closer. “I thought we agreed, no one here was ‘settling’. But we can have a home together…” he trailed off, opting to drop kisses along her neck. Words were just not cutting it.
“Mmm,” Holly sighed. Her head dropped back, giving him better access. “We don’t need to sign a lease for that. My home is right here.”
He pulled back just enough so he could look into her eyes. “That was very wise.”
“I thought so.” She flashed him an impish grin that made him laugh out loud.
He turned to the table and picked up the lease that had been lying there waiting for his signature. He waited to feel some sort of fight or flight instinct, some panicky remnant of a lifetime of commitment phobia. But all he felt was an undeniable excitement for the future. A future with this woman—his girlfriend, his future…his home.
Keep reading for sneak peek of book three of Maggie Dallen’s A Chance Romance series!
Accidental Elopement
Available November 2016.
Learn more about Maggie Dallen at http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/author.aspx/31712
Accidental Engagement is now available at www.kensingtonbooks.com
Chapter 1
Lucia had exactly nine dollars and thirty-six cents in her pocket as she fought her way onto the crowded F-train heading downtown. Enough to buy one more coffee and a bagel—a combo she’d come to adore during her six-week stint in New York—but not much else.
She reached through a thick crowd of people so she could hold onto the cold metal pole in the middle of the train to keep her balance. The subway. That was one thing she would not miss when she left. But even that bit of optimism was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Who was she kidding? She was going to miss everything about this city, even the crowded, smelly subway.
She had just enough left on her Metro
card for a train to the airport but her credit card had long since maxed out and she had no clue how she could pay for the airfare.
You could call Grandpa.
She shook her head in disgust. It was bad enough that she was going back to Italy with her tail between her legs, there was no way she would beg her grandfather for the airfare home. When her grandmother was alive, she used to describe him as overprotective. More like smothering. Of course he only had her best interests at heart—as did her ex-fiancé—but that didn’t mean they knew what was best. She would be the one to pave her future, even if it meant she failed.
Lucia watched as the subway door opened and closed before continuing on downtown. The next stop was SoHo. She knew where she had to go. If she was being honest with herself, she’d known where she was heading the moment she’d walked away from her disappointing meeting with her former boss—her last lifeline to the new life she’d been working for this past month.
Stifling a heavy sigh, she shifted to make room for another passenger who needed access to the pole. An older Hispanic man who was sitting on one of the orange plastic seats made a gesture, silently asking if she’d like his seat. She forced a smile and shook her head. “No thank you, I’m getting off at the next stop.”
Daniel’s hotel loomed taller than any other building in the trendy downtown neighborhood. It was the closest thing to a skyscraper amidst small boutiques and brownstones. She had the address that Jack and Holly had given her when they’d tracked her down that first week after she’d impulsively hopped on the plane to the States. Her friends had found her with alarming ease and had made her promise that she would go to Daniel if she needed any help.
Daniel was one of her grandfather’s business partners—but he was also a friend, she reminded herself. She was certain he knew she was in the city but he and his wife, Ivy, had given her the space she’d asked for. They’d given her room to create a new life, one that had nothing to do with her grandfather’s money or expectations.
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