by Marina Adair
And Luke, always living up to expectations, had delivered. He’d delivered a blow that took her out at the knees.
God, he was a bastard. Kennedy had come here looking for a fresh start, to make the shop a success and Destiny Bay her home. She clung to the good memories because there hadn’t been a lot of them in her life. And Luke had managed to taint the few positive ones she’d created here. And for what? A business deal.
It was like his dad all over again, he thought, walking into his house and slamming the door shut behind him.
“Careful, or you’ll shake the air out of my meringue.”
Luke rounded the kitchen corner and found his mom standing behind the counter, and Hawk manning the juicer. “What are you doing here?”
Paula lifted the wooden spoon and smiled. “Making my son breakfast.”
“Don’t fall for it, man,” Hawk said, squeezing oranges. “She lured me out of bed with the promise of a home-cooked meal. Flapjacks, bacon, sticky buns, the works. When I showed up, she handed me an apron and a bag of oranges. That was three gallons ago. Haven’t seen a single sticky bun.”
“You can’t celebrate without mimosas, and that cartoned juice doesn’t cut it.”
Hawk looked over his shoulder. “This is the first I’m hearing of mimosas, man. I say run while you can.”
“He’ll do no such thing,” Paula said, pulling a third apron out of the top drawer, when Luke didn’t even know he owned one. “Now suit up. You’re in charge of the pancakes. The Stark family should be arriving in a few minutes and they’ll be hungry.”
“Stark family?”
“Ah, shit,” Hawk grumbled.
“Why are they coming here?” Luke asked Paula, his eyes squarely on Hawk, who went back to juicing as if the end of world hunger depended on it.
“They’re coming to get the papers signed for Bay View Orchards,” she said. “Now can you get the pancakes going? The ham is almost ready to come out and I’ll need the griddle for the hash browns. Nobody likes mushy hash browns.”
“Nobody likes a snitch either,” Luke said, looking at Hawk. “And I’m not ready to make the offer.”
“And I’m not ready to admit having a numskull for a son either, but life moves forward and here we are.” She set down the spoon. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
Luke let out a breath. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case the deal fell through. I know how much that house meant to you; I couldn’t stomach the thought of you losing it twice.”
“I’m not going to lose the house,” Paula said, exasperated. “And I was talking about how you misled that poor girl, then broke her heart.”
“I didn’t mislead her,” he said honestly. He’d been a straight asshole from the start. And she’d still accepted him as he was. “I needed the apples to close a deal with…” He sighed. “Long story short, I thought I was saving Bay View Orchards, doing what dad would have wanted.”
“Your dad would have wanted to you act with compassion,” she said, and Luke felt all of the shame and disappointment ball up. But then his mom lowered her voice and took his hand. “And, son, your dad would have taken one look at how that girl made you smile, brought the life back to your eyes, and he would have wanted you to go with your heart.”
“Even if it meant not getting you your house back,” Luke said.
“How about you guys take this in the family room and I’ll finish up here,” Hawk offered.
Paula put her hands on her hips. “Just because I’m not looking your way, don’t think that means I’m not talking to you, too, Bradley.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Hawk said, sounding thoroughly scolded.
“The deal with the Starks is between me and them,” Luke said, making it clear that he wasn’t backing down. He’d given up a lot for this to happen, and he’d be dammed if his mom stepped in and messed it up. “And I think Dad would have done whatever it took to make sure you were able to sit in your sunroom and watch the waves, just like he promised.”
Paula’s eyes glazed over. “Is that why you’re doing this, to fix the mess your dad left behind?”
Luke shrugged. He didn’t know why he was doing it anymore. Maybe it had started out as him trying to fulfill his dad’s last wish, but somewhere along the way, he was ashamed to say, he did it to prove that he wasn’t the kind of guy who bailed on family when they needed him the most.
Even though that was exactly what he’d done to Kennedy.
“Oh, Luke.” Paula walked around the counter and cupped his cheek. “No house can give me back what I lost. It was never about that sunroom; it was about sitting by your dad’s side, sharing the beauty of the world with the one person who I wouldn’t have to explain it to.”
Paula’s eyes filled with sadness and a quiet understanding. “Your dad read me better than I read myself, and vice versa. That’s what love does. So I know that he wouldn’t want this. He wouldn’t want you living your life to make up for something you didn’t do. I knew the company was in trouble; I could have called you at any moment to ask for help.”
“I would have come,” Luke said past the emotion in his throat.
“I know you would have, but your dad and I wanted to go through this alone, just the two of us. Maybe that was selfish, but we didn’t want to spend our last months together fixing things; we just wanted to be together. And we got that time, and it was perfect, but now it’s your time.”
The same words Fi had said to Kennedy.
Luke thought about the past few years, how every thought and action he’d made was through the filter of how it would affect his family. Then he wondered what it would be like to start a day without expectations. Start every day waking up next to someone who read him better than he read himself.
And that, that, would make him happy. Get rid of this emptiness Kennedy had warned him about that felt like it was eating him whole. Only she’d said good-bye, made her stance on a second chance clear, and the best thing he could do for her was to give her space. So that she didn’t feel like she had to leave to find her home.
“I don’t want to make it worse,” he said, running a hand down his face. “For her.”
“The only way you can make this worse is to let her think you don’t care,” Paula said quietly. “You’ve got a girl down there about ready to make the biggest deal of her life and she wants nothing more than to have somebody stand by her side and share her beautiful moment.”
“She’s not leaving?” he asked, because last weekend she’d said good-bye, and it had seemed so final.
“The girl’s got more pluck than that,” his mom said, and a huge wave of relief rolled over him. Of course she wouldn’t leave—Kennedy was one of the strongest people he knew. She’d picked herself up and pushed forward. He loved that about her.
“She’s staying,” he said almost to himself.
“She’s staying, delivered her first payment yesterday,” Paula said as if she’d never doubted Kennedy. Something Luke would never do again. “Only Cosmo’s coming in today and she’s all alone, her apples are still hanging from the trees, and come tomorrow she’d going to have to find someone to help her deliver.” Paula leveled him with a look. “Do you want her calling someone else, asking them to be a part of that moment?”
“No,” Luke said without hesitation. In fact, he wanted to spend all the beautiful moments with Kennedy, the rough ones, too. He wanted to spend every single moment he could with her. No expectations and no expiration.
Paula smiled and pulled him in for a hug, and every muscle melted into her. She might be a foot smaller, but she gave hugs that could make a grown man weep. And Luke nearly did.
With a pat to the back, she looked him in the eye. “That’s what I thought. Now, I suggest you shower, then get yourself down there before she forgets all of your good qualities, and only remembers the bad ones.”
“What bad ones?” Luke asked.
“I have a list,” Hawk offered. “It’s on the wall in the women’
s room at the bar. Want me to call the cleaning guy and have him read it off to you?”
“No.” He already knew, could write that list himself. Hell, he’d shown every one of them to Kennedy. Regret and a nasty collection of bad decisions coiled in his stomach. “I doubt she’ll even want to see me.”
“Of course she will,” Paula said gently. “That girl might not like you very much right now, but I know she loves you. And there’s always a second chance when it comes to love.” At this point, the only way he stood a chance was if love came with nine lives.
“What about the Starks?” he asked, knowing that was a problem he could fix.
“Hawk and I will handle them,” Paula said, walking back to pick up her spoon. “Since he’s buying Bay View Orchards.”
“What? No way,” Luke said.
Hawk rolled his eyes. “Told you he’d freak.”
Luke walked around the counter to get in his face. “Yeah, because we already talked about this, and decided that you have sunk enough money into this—”
Paula inserted herself between the two boys and raised her spoon with intent. Even though she came up to their chests, they both backed down. “That contract said that our family had the first right of refusal on the property, and last I checked, Hawk is family. Is he not?”
Luke sighed. “Yes.”
“Then are you going to stand there and tell me which son is allowed to buy that property?”
“No, ma’am,” Luke said, and Hawk smirked behind her back at Luke.
“Good, because Bradley is as much mine as you are, and if he’s going to be a partner in this company, then he needs to bring some apples to the table.”
“A partner?” Hawk said, and this time Luke smirked. “In Callahan Orchards?”
“Yes, dear, catch up,” Paula said. “It was what Orin wanted, we just didn’t trust your wife, but now that she’s gone, it’s time to bring the family back together. Not to mention, you’re a grown man. You were a son to us, and you need a home of your own.”
“I have a home.” Hawk blanched. “I’m buying the apples for the business and the house for you.”
It was Hawk’s cheeks that Paula patted this time. “Nonsense, you have a place above the bar. You’re never going to catch a wife living there.”
Luke heard Hawk ramble off a list of reasons why living above the bar worked for him, but Luke wasn’t listening; he was too busy grabbing his coat. Kennedy’s shop opened in less than an hour and he had a lot to get done if he was going to prove that he deserved a chance at being her partner.
A chance at earning her love back.
* * *
Wednesday came surprisingly quick. Once word spread that Destiny Bay’s own Shop Girl had taken two titles, the store was a never-ending hive of activity, which helped distract her from the pain. Kennedy hurt more than she’d thought possible. The loss went deeper than anything she’d ever experienced—even with Philip and her mom.
This kind of loss was the kind one never got over. The past few days were proof of that. She was trying to move on, only she found herself going back and replaying every moment, desperate to figure out what had been real—and what had been a lie.
No matter how many times she told herself it was all a lie, she couldn’t get past how real it had felt to her. Then she would remind herself that if it had been real, he would have come by to check on her at least. He’d left a few messages that first day, but she hadn’t been ready to talk, didn’t know if she’d ever be ready. A nonissue really, since she hadn’t heard a word from him in three days.
So yesterday, after a much-needed cry—and a caramel pumpkin pie—she dried her face off and reminded herself that she’d been through worse. That this, too, would pass, and she might be a Sinclair, but she wasn’t a quitter. So she’d called Cosmo, told him she was ready to sign those papers, but she’d need an advance—which she used to make her first payment to Paula and Fi.
Then she focused on all the good things happening in her life. Possibilities that she’d never imagined, right there, just waiting for her. All she had to do was sign on the line and embrace her new life.
But when the bell above the door jingled, all the oxygen vacated her lungs, and she decided that she didn’t want a new life. She wanted the one she’d spent the past few weeks building with Luke.
“Hey, sweetness,” he said, standing at the door, the morning sun casting a silhouette over half of his face. She squinted to see if it wasn’t a lack of sleep playing tricks on her.
Nope, it was Luke. Standing in her shop, looking dirty and tired and so handsome she ached to run into his arms. Only to remember that the embrace she’d once thought of as safe had shattered her world, to a point that it still ached to breathe. So she held the counter instead, reeled it in, and reminded herself she had no idea why he was here. “Can I help you?”
He took off his ball cap and walked toward the counter, her heart pounding with every step he took. “I have a delivery for the owner of the shop.”
“Deliveries come through the back door.”
“This delivery needed to be done face-to-face.” His eyes were calm and locked on hers. “Through the front door.” He slid a delivery slip across the counter.
With a shaky hand, Kennedy took it. It was a purchase order for the remaining three acres of apples, with a bold red DELIVERED stamped across the top. She handed it back. “You don’t have to do this. I made a few calls to other companies.”
“Well, call them back because it’s done.”
“Done?” Her face went slack and she looked out the window. What the hell was she going to do with three acres of apples at once?
“Well, I have the truck loaded and just need to know how much you want delivered and how much you want stored. Free of charge, of course.”
“Of course.” She forced herself to smile through the tears. He hadn’t come out of love, he’d come out of moral obligation, because she was another person he was afraid to disappoint. Not because he realized he didn’t want to be without her. “I can e-mail you about the delivery size and times.”
“I estimated how many you’d need. Based on past orders and the expected increase due to Kline Fine Foods.” He rattled off some amounts and days as if every word wasn’t breaking her heart.
“Thank you,” she managed, hoping he’d just leave. It was taking everything she had not to lose it, and she was holding on by a thread, but if he kept talking to her like another customer, she’d break—and wouldn’t that be humiliating.
He took the slip from her hand, then walked around the counter and cupped her hips. “I also came to tell you that I’m sorry. I’m sorry about the apples, and the games, and ruining your day Saturday.” He pulled her closer. “But most of all I’m sorry that I let you walk away thinking that I hadn’t chosen you.”
“Where are you going with this, Luke?” she whispered, because more than anything she wanted to be chosen. She wanted Luke to choose her, because her heart had chosen him and he was there to stay.
“When I said I didn’t know what this was, I lied,” he said. “I knew what it was, almost from the start, but I was too scared of losing you to admit it.”
“And now?” she asked, afraid to hope.
“Now, I’m scared that I’ve lost my chance. Lost my shot at something beautiful and special.” He ran his thumb over her cheek. “I’m terrified that I lost the woman I love.”
She sucked in a breath. “You love me?”
“Every single part of you.” He put a finger to her lips. “And before you give me a disclaimer of the parts I don’t know, know this. You are the most incredible, sweet, amazing, and stubborn woman I have ever met. When I am with you, I see the world differently, because I see it through your eyes. The more I see, the more I love you.”
“Luke,” she breathed.
“I don’t need to land some big deal or buy my mom that house to prove I’m a good guy; being around you is all the proof I need.” He gave her a gentle kiss. �
��Being with you is all the proof I need, because you are as good as they come, sweetness. And if you’ll let me, I will spend the rest of my days by your side, proving that you are so special to me, I’d choose you every time.”
Barely able to speak through the tears, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I choose you back.”
“Thank Christ.” Luke wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him in a kiss that seemed to span eternity. “You’re my view, Kennedy. You’re what I want to look at forever.”
And in that moment, Kennedy knew what forever felt like, and when she kissed him back, she knew what it tasted like, too. Forever was the same as coming home.
Romance blooms again in Destiny Bay…
Look for Feels Like the First Time, the next book in Marina Adair’s Destiny Bay series, available in April 2017.
A special preview follows.
Chapter 1
Nothing pissed off Bradley Hawk quite like being played. Except, being played while wearing nothing but boxers and an epic case of bedhead.
For a guy whose front door faced Main Street, to grab his hockey stick, forgoing jeans, and rush out the door was a bonehead move. But he’d heard the alarm sound, the one rigged to let him know if someone was tampering with his inventory, and acted without thinking.
A trait he’d worked hard to overcome, with little success.
Over the past few weeks, several empty kegs had disappeared from his bar. Not enough to call the cops, but enough to make him think one of his employees was selling them on Craig’s List.
It wasn’t about the money. For Hawk, it came down to getting screwed over by someone he trusted. Because the Penalty Box wasn’t just his sports bar and grill, it was his home. The employees his family. And he refused to let his home be torn apart from the inside.
Not this time.
So pants be damned, Hawk raced down the steps of his apartment, which sat above the bar. The wood planks were cold beneath his bare feet, slick from the fog that had rolled in off the Pacific Ocean.
