by Leah Atwood
It felt like every cell in her body had leapt to high alert. She could hear her pulse pounding in her ears. This man made her feel things. Crazy things. She would hate herself later if she agreed and then found herself, once more, abandoned. But how could she not at least give this a chance?
A frown tugged at his brow. “Chels?”
“How about we start with lunch?”
A full-out grin stretched across his face. “Lunch is a fantastic idea.”
Consternation jabbed her. Had she given him too much hope? “Cannon.” She leveled him with a look. “I want to be clear. I’m not convinced we can make this work, but I’m not to the point of being certain it won’t. So…I guess…let’s just…” Just what? She didn’t even know. She blew out a frustrated breath.
Cannon pulled her to her feet. “I promise not to push too hard, Chels. Let’s just take it a day at a time. For now, let’s eat lunch and you can tell me all about what’s been happening in your life lately.”
Chapter Three
Relief coursing through him, Cannon followed Chelsea past the large Christmas tree with the fake presents beneath it on the walk out front and through the garland festooned doorway into the main part of the restaurant. At least she hadn’t outright called him a liar. Or said she didn’t want anything to do with him. Things would be difficult, sure. But given time, they could make this work. He hoped.
Christmas lights and evergreen swags decorated the interior of the restaurant. Combined with the everyday décor some of it had him chuckling – like the two kissing fish on the wall with mistletoe hung above their heads.
The Ivar’s hostess led them to a table near one of the windows overlooking the bay. Chelsea chatted with her as they walked, asking about her little boy who apparently had been in the hospital the last time Chelsea had been here.
The hostess smiled and hugged her before she sat down. “He’s doing so much better. In remission the doctors are calling it. We are taking one day at a time, but life holds hope again.”
“I’m so glad to hear that!” Chelsea practically squealed and did bounce up and down a couple times. “I’ve been praying for Ricky and I’ll keep on. I’m so happy for you two!”
“Thank you.” The hostess had mist in her eyes as she set their menus on the table before them and hurried away.
“You know her from somewhere other than here?” Cannon pulled off his knit cap and ruffled a hand through his curly locks, but by the look on Chelsea’s face and the way she pressed her lips together to keep from laughing he knew his finger-comb probably hadn’t helped much. He grinned. “I have hat hair, don’t I?”
Her small laugh ignited a spark in her eyes that gave him a warm-as-a-mocha feeling he could revel in all day, if given a choice.
She nodded and offered a mischievous wink. “But you look fine, I promise. And no, I met Heidi for the first time a few weeks back when Aunt Flo and I were in here for lunch. She looked discouraged, and I asked her if there was something I could pray for her about, and that’s when she told me about her son. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to hear that he’s doing well.” Her laughter tinkled like Christmas bells, matching the holiday music pumping through the speakers.
He sank into his chair, more because his knees gave out than because that was the appropriate thing to do at that moment. “It’s good to hear your laugh again.”
Good? It was amazing. And if he wasn’t careful he was going to scare her off. The menu. Focus on the menu.
Cannon kept the conversation light, and lunch passed in a friendly fashion. He plied her with questions and she filled him in on Flo’s, the wedding, and even about the idiot, Ted, who’d tried to kiss her that morning. Good thing he hadn’t known about that when the guy stormed past him earlier today.
They had long-since finished the brownie à la mode they’d shared when her phone made a sharp chirping sound. She glanced at it and gasped. “Oh crumb! I’m due at the dress shop in fifteen minutes to help Havyn and finalize our fittings.” Her gaze flew to his. “Do you mind coming with me? I’m going to be even more late if I have to run get my car at Flo’s.”
“Of course not.” Cannon stood and dropped several bills into the little black folder that held their check, and by the time he looked up she was already half way across the restaurant.
He shook his head and hurried after her. Life with Chelsea would never be boring, that was for certain. Boy, the girl could move when she put her mind to it. But he’d nearly caught up to her now. She rushed out the doors, stopped and spun toward him. “Do you mind if I drive because—”
“—Whoa!” He nearly bowled her over and had to grasp her arms to keep her from falling. He gripped her firmly. “You okay?”
She nodded but seemed at a loss for words. Her eyes were large and round and he was suddenly aware of her palms resting flat against his chest. He let her go slowly, but it was a moment before she stepped back. Her brow crinkled in the cutest way, like she was trying to remember what she’d been about to say.
“You want to drive because…?”
“Oh, right! I know exactly where I’m going and the back streets will be faster, but there are lots of one-ways down here and if you miss one sometimes you have to go a few blocks out of the way and that can actually add at least an hour of…” She must have noticed his grin because she trailed to a stop.
“And here I thought you just didn’t like my African style driving.” He held the keys out to her.
She took them. “Well, that’s the real reason. I just—you know—didn’t want to hurt your feelings.” Her quick wink belied the statement.
True to her word, Chels seemed to know every back road and shortcut through the hills of Seattle and they pulled up in front of the dress shop only seven minutes late.
Through the front window of the shop, Cannon could see Levi pacing. He grinned at Chelsea. “I thought it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress?”
Chelsea made a dismissive noise and waved a hand at him. “Havyn and Levi don’t go in for that kind of stuff. They’re too down to earth for that.”
The bell above the door jangled as she pushed through. Havyn was already standing in front of a three way mirror and a woman was marking the hem.
“Hey you two. Sorry I’m late. Look who I ran into today?”
Levi and Havyn welcomed him like long lost family and he realized how good it felt to be with all these people again. His job really could get lonely sometimes. A burly man in a black suit stood at discreet attention in one corner of the room. A bodyguard? No one else in the room seemed to be paying the man any mind.
The dressmaker looked at Chelsea. “Your dress is in the second dressing room. Let’s give it one last look too.”
“Okay, I’ll run try it on.” Chelsea disappeared into the back for a few minutes and when she came back wearing a deep green dress, it was almost more than Cannon could do to keep his jaw from hitting the floor.
It wasn’t just her beauty. Nor was it the shy way she bit her lip and glanced over at him as if to see if he liked the dress.
It was only a moment. A fleeting glimpse into history that took him back to the summer he’d been fifteen and living in California. The summer he’d thought for sure that acting was going to be his career. He’d gotten a role as the son of the lead officer in a police procedural drama, Blue Streets. And the girl who’d been his love interest was actress Lainey Keeson. She was only supposed to be his love interest on the show, but Lainey had a personality that wove its way into the lives of everyone she met and made them care deeply. She was sweet, and shy, and compassionate. And after four years of working together she had captured his heart. He’d thought they might get married. But she’d been killed in a car accident on her way to the set one day in mid-July the year he’d been nineteen. The show never recovered and had been cancelled six months later.
Acting had never held appeal for him after that. And he’d switched his major and gone into architectural engineerin
g instead.
But now it hit him – Chelsea Tan was all the things that Lainey Keeson had been, and more. She had basically given up her life to help her aunt keep her coffee shop running when her husband died. She gave constantly of herself – whether to come to Africa and help build a school for orphans, or to help her friend organize her wedding. She cared enough about people to know the names and history and hurts of practical strangers. His feelings for her were ten times more powerful than they’d ever been with Lainey.
And life is so short.
Was this what the feeling of impending change had been about recently? Because he suddenly knew with even more certainty that he didn’t want to let her out of his life again.
“Cannon?”
Cannon shook himself out of his reverie, realizing that Levi had called his name several times and that he was still staring at Chelsea like a love-struck teenager.
Levi chuckled and glanced back and forth from him to where Chelsea was fussing over Havyn’s dress. One of his eyebrows lifted in a so-how’s-that-going look.
Cannon shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged, giving Levi a grin that told him to mind his own business.
With a laugh, Levi held up his hands. “I surrender. Listen, I was wondering if maybe you and Chels could do Havyn and I a favor?”
“Sure,” Chelsea called from across the room.
She’d just volunteered them before even hearing what the errand was, but Cannon didn’t mind. He would have said yes, too. He nodded.
“Oh, that’s such a relief!” Havyn sighed. “Rayne McQuaid and her friend Dixon Nash are flying in this afternoon, and Levi and I were going to pick them up, but something has come up at the florist’s. Apparently the lilies they ordered from Hawaii didn’t arrive and another shipment isn’t going to get here until after the wedding, so we have to go pick out something different.”
“I’m so sorry!” Chelsea looked as if someone had just died. Then her face blanched in surprise and anticipation and she whispered, “Dixon Nash?”
An uneasy feeling coiled in the pit of Cannon’s stomach. Of course Rayne, the elite Hollywood starlet who had costarred with Levi in several of his films, would be arriving with a guy who’d been in world news last year for crashing his hundred and fifty thousand dollar Tesla Roadster into a freeway barrier after leaving a Hollywood party. And of course Chelsea would go weak-kneed at the thought of meeting him.
But Havyn didn’t seem to notice Chelsea’s last question. She had already turned to study the back of her dress in the mirrors. “Oh, I don’t even care at this point. I just want there to be flowers and a minister that says ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’.”
“Hear, hear.” Levi bounced a little on the balls of his feet as if anticipating sprinting down the aisle with his new wife.
Chelsea seemed to pull herself back to the present. “But you wanted those lilies.”
Havyn took her friend by the shoulders and looked her in the face. “Chels, it’s going to be fine. The lilies would have been nice, but it is not the end of the world. I’m really fine with it.”
“Okay.” Relief etched Chelsea’s face, and Cannon’s heart softened to her even more. She cared so much for everyone around her. “So what time do we need to pick them up at the airport?”
“Four thirty.”
Chelsea gave a quick glance to her phone and her eyes widened. “That means we need to leave in like, five minutes. I better go fix my makeup.” Her cheeks turned a pretty pink before she flicked a glance Cannon’s way, then cleared her throat and hurried from the room with a parting, “Be right back.”
Cannon felt his brow bunch. She looked fine. Why would she think she needed to fix her makeup to pick a couple of people up from the airport? Maybe her crush on Dixon Nash was more than just a crush? “Is Chelsea interested in Dixon Nash?” He couldn’t believe he’d voiced the question aloud. And sounding a touch jealous too. He lifted a hand. “Never mind, it’s none of my concern, I guess.”
Havyn stopped next to him and settled one hand on his arm. “Chelsea’s never met Dixon Nash and I bet she only knows his name because he was in the last movie she and I went to together. You have to understand…” She trailed off and pressed her lips together, searching his face as if trying to decide whether to proceed. Finally she continued. “Chelsea hasn’t had the easiest life. Her parents died when she was only ten and she’s lived with her aunt since then. And Aunt Flo can be very…demeaning. So Chelsea…compensates.” She nodded in the direction Chelsea had just disappeared. “I love Chels to death, and I’m glad you are here, but her self-confidence has already taken enough hits, so please don’t lead her on.”
Levi shuffled his feet. “Havyn—”
“—No it’s okay.” Cannon gave Havyn a nod. “I understand and I have no intentions of hurting her.”
Havyn stepped back, lifting the full lace skirt of her dress. “I’m sure you don’t.” She offered a smile of truce, but the gleam in her eyes said she would come after him if he hurt her friend. “Levi, I’ll just get changed and then we can go.”
Levi clapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry about that. Those two are like sisters. Havyn is only trying to watch out for Chelsea.”
Cannon forced a grin. “It’s fine. I’m glad she has someone looking out for her best interests.”
He may have been smiling on the outside, but on the inside every emotion was crumbling at the thought that anyone would ever have made Chelsea feel like she was something less than special and perfect.
Chapter Four
Chelsea downshifted to match the speed of the traffic slogging its way through the December drizzle that had started just as they left the dress shop. She tossed a glance at Cannon, trying to ignore the pleasant feeling it gave her to have him filling up the extra space in the little car. “You didn’t have to come with me. I could have picked up Rayne and Dixon by myself.”
Cannon propped his elbow against the door and rested his temple against his fist, eyeing her. “Wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to spend more time with you.”
Chelsea cocked an eyebrow. “Couldn’t be that the thought of seeing the beautiful Rayne McQuaid again held a little appeal?” She was teasing him, but couldn’t tamp down a niggle of apprehension. She still had doubts. Could Cannon really be interested in her?
Cannon didn’t laugh as she’d halfway expected him to. Instead, his expression turned very serious and he assessed her thoughtfully.
It felt as though he could look right through her and see all her insecurities plain as day. She swallowed and turned her attention to the traffic which had started moving a little faster again.
Cannon lifted one hand and wrapped one of her curls around his finger. “Chelsea Tan, Rayne Whatever-Her-Name-Is isn’t a shadow of the woman you are.”
A tremor of nervous energy made her giggle. “Rayne ‘Whatever-Her-Name-Is’? She’s only one of the top box office names in the country.”
“Mmmm, well, you’ll recall that I don’t live in this country most of the time.”
She rolled her eyes and merged into the next lane. “From what I remember about Rayne she’ll be more than happy to let you get to know her well enough that you’ll be able to remember her last name after this week.”
“Chels…” He tugged on her curl. “I was kidding about not remembering her name. I was just making the point that it’s not her I’m interested in. If it was, I would have flown to L.A., not Seattle.”
A pleasant soft emotion filled her chest. How she wished she could believe him. She would even settle for a pithy comeback, but nothing came to mind.
“Besides,” he added, “even if I wasn’t interested in you, Rayne is not the type of woman I’d be running after. I want someone committed to the Lord, first and foremost.”
Chelsea pursed her lips as she took the exit off I-5 toward SeaTac. Well he did have her there. She was committed to God. But if that was his main criteria, surely there were plenty of women better suit
ed for him than her?
Traffic near the airport slowed to a crawl and by the time they pulled in to ‘arrivals’ not even the melodic Christmas carols Cannon had tuned into on the Christian station were doing much for Chelsea’s nerves anymore.
A long line of people stretched the length of the Alaska Airlines section, and Rayne and Dixon, bracketed by a couple of bodyguards, were signing autographs and chatting with people.
Chelsea felt sorry for them.
“Can you imagine how annoying that must be?” Cannon asked.
“I was just thinking the same thing. It would be awful not to have any privacy anywhere you went.” She pulled over to the curb and cut the engine. “Even Levi has had to travel with a bodyguard lately since his last movie was such a hit.”
Rayne glanced up and Chelsea gave her a little wave. A look of obvious gratitude crossed her perfect features. She nudged Dixon and pointed to Chelsea’s car.
“I’ll help them load their bags.” Cannon stepped out onto the walk.
Rayne and Dixon’s bodyguards were already brushing people back and making room for them to escape the press of humanity.
Bodyguards. Chelsea glanced into the tiny back seat of Cannon’s rental and then back to the four people waiting for a ride. She felt the blood drain from her face. There was no way they were all going to fit in here.
Rapping on the trunk drew her attention to the rearview mirror. Cannon peered in at her, motioning for her to open it. “Sorry!” With a quick tug, she released the latch. She probably should see if they needed help with anything back there. She started to climb out, but another tapping sound drew her attention to where Rayne and Dixon stood waiting to get into the back seat. “Oh!” Another quick flick unlocked the doors.
Rayne climbed in first, followed by the actor Dixon Nash. Chelsea turned in her seat to greet them. She had the fleeting thought that Dixon wasn’t quite as good looking in real life as he had been on screen.
