Fixer-Upper (Spinning Hills Romance 3)
Page 27
“Listen! I’ve done nothing wrong this time. And I’ll be happy to explain as much as I can without betraying Marissa’s privacy, but not if you all keep acting like it’s okay to barge in here and disrespect me in my own home.” Johnny’s angry voice sliced through the air. Nobody had ever seen or heard Johnny so livid before.
The villagers were finally stunned into silence, Johnny thought.
He gave them a look before beginning his explanation. “Marissa broke up with Brian and told him to cancel the party. He ignored her and went through with it anyway. If you want to know why she broke up with him, though, you’ll have to ask her.”
Everyone started talking again and, to his surprise, Roberto Medina was the one to tell everyone, “Shut up. Please.” He stepped forward and looked Johnny in the eye. “I hope you know I admire you in many ways, Johnny, and I didn’t come here to disrespect you. But Marissa’s my daughter. And it’s been brought to our attention tonight that Marissa was the woman you fell for a year ago. I can’t leave without telling you that no matter why she broke up with Brian, she needs time to recover. She shouldn’t rush into a new relationship.”
“I know. I love Marissa, Mr. Medina. I’d marry her right here and right now if I could, but—”
He was interrupted by an ecstatic Ruby clapping her hands together and shouting, “Oh! Did you hear that, everyone?” But Michelle and Roberto didn’t look as pleased.
“Bro,” Dan said, looking over at him, an exasperated look on his face. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Johnny shot Ruby a look. “Let me finish. It’s because I love her and want to spend my life with her that I agree, and it’s because I’m trying to change that I’m laying out my feelings like this now. Trust me, I don’t want her to rush into anything, either. If anything happens between us, I want her to be as sure as I am. We both deserve that. She’s leaving in a few days for Ecuador, she has a lot going on, and I intend to stay away from her for now. But you should talk to her and find out from her what happened.” He looked at the crowd. “Not all of you, though. Please. Most of you should go home.”
“I’m an ordained minister. If you two do get married, I can marry you right here. It would be the perfect ending to you and your brothers’ story.” Ruby looked around.
Johnny laughed despite himself. “It would be perfect,” he said, smiling down at her.
“She is having a Catholic wedding in a church, she is not getting married by you, no matter who she marries. What kind of start would that be?” Rosa asked, outraged at Ruby’s suggestion.
Marty stared at the two women. He then looked at Johnny, shrugged, and said, “You’re my best friend, dude, and Marissa will always be my little sister . . . So if it all works out, I think I should be the best man. Dan and Sam can be groomsmen.”
“Oh! And I’ll be the maid of honor!” Melinda clapped her hands like a giddy schoolgirl.
“And Cassie and I can be bridesmaids!” Holly exclaimed.
Johnny opened the door, and they all began filing out, planning his wedding where minutes before, half of them had looked ready to murder him.
“We will not be delegated to mere groomsmen.” Dan shot Marty a serious look.
“How could we get the dogs to participate?” Sherry was asking.
Only Roberto and Michelle still looked miserable and anxious. He didn’t blame them. They’d need some time to heal from the mess, too. Johnny shut the door behind them all, leaned back against it, and stared at the mosaic countertop Marissa had made him for him. Everyone who’d just left, plus most of his first students, had contributed a piece. No matter what happened, he’d always have that gift from her.
Chapter 21
A month later
Johnny was on the roof, repositioning a downspout under the rain, when he saw a taxicab pull up. His heart thundered in his chest when he watched a glowing, more tan, and more golden-haired Marissa step out into the rain, as well. She took a few suitcases out of the trunk. Johnny began climbing down, feeling anxious with pent-up worry, hope, and anticipation.
By the time he was on the ground, Marissa was standing on the porch, and the taxicab had pulled away.
“Hi,” she said, looking shyly up at his dripping wet, shirtless form.
“Hi.” He laughed. So much to say. Such a simple greeting.
She pulled out some folded pieces of paper from her purse and cleared her throat. Johnny watched her, nervously wondering what came next. “I love you, Johnny,” she began, and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest. “I messed up the first time I told you, not because I was confused about how I felt, but because I couldn’t find the right words. But I’ve had a month to think . . . and I thought about you a lot. I could imagine you there with me, learning Spanish with the kids and their parents in your goofy way, and helping out with so many things. And I wrote down some bullet points to address everything I want to tell you.” She unfolded the pages and he noticed her hands were shaky. “Can I read them to you?”
Bullet points. Two pages of them. Johnny shook his head, not knowing if he should laugh, listen, or kiss her. Deciding on all three, he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before squeezing her hand in encouragement. If she needed to talk, he’d listen, even though he was dying to hold her.
She cleared her throat. “Number one: You thought I was telling you I loved you to get back at Brian, but that’s not me. I’ve felt everything I’m feeling now for a while now, but I couldn’t allow myself to acknowledge it for what it was. I kept giving it different names, and it wasn’t hard because you were so many things to me. You were my brother’s pesky best friend, you were my friend, and you were my wonderful colleague. Number two: I had been so sure about what I needed for so long, I couldn’t let go of it. And other people’s feelings were at stake, too. Thinking about it felt messy, and messy signaled wrong. Number three: Being with Brian felt ordered and balanced and I’d decided long ago that was easier and hurt less. It felt like a logical choice, but you were right. It wasn’t a case of opposites balancing each other. Our lives were at odds. Number four: I do love you, Johnny. I fell in love with you when I was sixteen, as much as a sixteen-year-old could. I loved you so deeply, for everything you were doing, and then, when everything with Ana Maria happened, I pulled away from that kind of . . . bottomless love, thinking that it could only lead to, well, bottomless pain.”
“You loved me?”
Marissa looked up and nodded. “What happened with Ana Maria shaped both of us, in many ways, I think. And we’re both honoring her, I know. But I’m not scared of how we encourage each other to give ourselves fully anymore. We’ve both grown up so much.”
She reached out to squeeze his arm then, but when she felt his bicep, she looked up, blushing prettily. “I’ve actually been thinking a lot about all the ways in which we’ve grown.” It was the first time she’d ever flirted with him and Johnny drew her into his arms. She smelled of sunshine and the future. He pulled back long enough to open the door and tug her inside.
The moment Johnny shut the door. Marissa wrapped her arms around him, not wanting to be away from his warmth another second. He buried his hands in her hair and began nipping at her neck and ear, leaving her breathless. “I’ve been dreaming about this all month long. My little cement room in Ecuador grew really hot.” He laughed and lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around him.
“And I’ve been dreaming of mermaid curves and a pair of long, tanned legs wrapped around me for the longest time,” he said in a husky whisper when she hoisted herself up to get closer to him. His breath brushed her ear, their mouths fused, and their bodies became desperate. They made it as far as the dining room table, where over a year of pent-up passion took over their thoughts and actions.
When they were done, they leaned on each other, both breathing hard and gasping for air. They looked into each other’s eyes, and started kissing again. Johnny carried her, whispering about how they’d take it slow, but they only made it to the
bedroom door.
Marissa had never felt anything like it, as if she couldn’t get enough of him, as if she’d crumble into pieces if his body left hers. It was the way he looked into her eyes, as if he’d never get enough of her, either. She knew it would always be like that between them. There was love and passion for so much inside both of them.
Hours later, she lay in his arms and looked around Johnny’s room, while listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the metal roof, the beat of Johnny’s heart, and his slow, steady breaths. Framed pictures of his family and friends were artfully displayed on the wall in front of the bed. Her favorite pictures were one of Dan, Holly, and Ella standing in front of their Craftsman, and one of Sam, Cassie, and Jake standing in front of Cassie’s grandmother’s old house.
But then a picture on Johnny’s bedside table caught her attention, and it instantly became her favorite photograph ever. It was of her, Johnny, the puppies, and the kids, all standing in front of the house the day la brigada loca had come to help.
“Three brothers, three women, and three restored, forever houses . . . you know what Ruby would say, right?”
“What?” Johnny smiled sleepily down at her.
“The curse has been broken!”
Johnny laughed, then pulled her on top of him to kiss her again and again.
Love the Spinning Hills romances?
Be sure you read
The first two books
In the series
Flipped!
and
Needs a Little TLC
Available now from Lyrical Shine
Flipped!
Filled with storybook architecture and rich with history, the town
of Spinning Hills, Ohio, has seen better days. Now the Amador
brothers are determined to restore the neglected community to
its former glory. But it takes more than a hammer and nails to
make a house a home . . .
Perfumer Holly Bell has a nose for scents and a head for dreams. A
former military brat who longs to put down roots in Spinning Hills,
she’s been saving for years to buy a certain ramshackle Craftsman
for herself and her young daughter. For once in her life, everything’s
going according to plan—until a real estate flipper steals the house
out from under her! She can’t afford to outbid him—but she can’t
seem to stop thinking about him, either . . .
Dan Amador isn’t back in Spinning Hills to stay. Checking on his
brothers and renovating one house in the family tradition will be
plenty until it’s time to move on. Yet what seemed easy turns out to
be anything but, especially when it comes to the gorgeous single
mom who lives next door. Before he knows it, Dan seems to be
creating the house of her dreams. He doesn’t believe in the kind
of fairy-tale ending Holly longs for—but he can’t deny that her
stubborn optimism has found its way into his heart . . .
Needs a Little TLC
In Spinning Hills, Ohio, “quirky” is a good thing—especially the
charming houses that line the streets. One by one, the Amador
brothers are restoring them, committed to a new beginning for the
old-fashioned town. But they’re learning that every house needs a
heart to be a home . . .
Real estate agent Cassidy Morgan specializes in historic homes, but
her own history is something she likes to avoid. Back in Spinning
Hills for the first time in ten years, she has a chance to put her small
agency on the map as the premier Realtor of restored houses. But it
means a partnership with the one man she’s never forgotten—and
can’t quite resist . . .
Sam Amador doesn’t quit—and he doesn’t run away from his
problems, like a certain stubborn, extremely attractive real estate
agent did all those years ago. Working with Cassie is a risk, but
Sam knows his heart is more likely to suffer than his renovation
business. How can he convince her that this time, Spinning Hills
is where she belongs—and that his love has always been hers?
About the Author
Inés Saint was born in Zaragoza, Spain. She’s bilingual and bicultural and has spent the last ten years raising her fun, inspiring little boys and sharing her life with the man of her dreams, who also happens to be her best friend and biggest cheerleader. Her greatest joy is spending quality time with family and close friends.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
LYRICAL SHINE BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2016 by Inés Saint
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Lyrical Shine and Lyrical Shine logo trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.
First Electronic Edition: January 2016
eISBN-13: 978-1-60183-439-3
eISBN-10: 1-60183-439-X
First Print Edition: January 2016
ISBN: 978-1-6018-3439-3