I Have Lived And I Have Loved: A Charity Romance Collection
Page 20
“I’m going to regret this.”
“Probably, but it’ll be fun.”
“You know, you’re the second woman today who has tried to set me up.” Michael shakes his head.
“Really?”
“Yeah, my sister, Laura—that’s whose house I was supposed to be at—said there was some girl coming that was”—he air quotes—“just perfect.”
“No way!” I laugh. “Willow, who, err, interrupted us earlier, was trying to do the same. She wanted to drag me to some work party of her fiancé, Reid.”
Michael looks at me a little funny, like he just smelled something weird. “Reid? You said—you said Willow’s fiancé is named Reid?”
“Yes.” I cock my head to one side, recalling something he mentioned a moment ago. “And did you say your sister’s name is Laura?”
“Yeah.”
Chills sweep down my arms, although I’m not cold. “Is your …” I clear my throat, thinking back to what Willow said. “Is your sister’s last name Thompson, by any chance?”
“It is.” Michael swallows and sits up a little straighter in bed. “Is this Reid guy’s last name something Italian?”
“Fortino,” I whisper. We stare at each other, our eyes going wide. I almost expect the music from the Twilight Zone to start playing.
“Oh my God.” Michael blinks, leaning back against the headboard. “I don’t fucking believe it.”
“Me neither.” It can’t be … can it?
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asks.
“That we were both supposed to be at the same party tonight so that we could be set up … with each other?” Even as I speak the words, it strikes me as too coincidental. Too unbelievable. Too insane.
Michael shakes his head. “It’s fucking crazy. But I think it’s true. My sister works with Reid. And she said his fiancée was bringing a friend who’d be perfect for me.”
I start to laugh. I can’t help it—this entire night has been so ridiculous and fun. “And Willow said I had to go to this party tonight to meet the little brother of this Laura woman who works with Reid.”
“Christ.” Michael runs a hand through his hair.
“I guess we saved them the trouble,” I wheeze. “Who’d have thought?”
“Right?” Michael laughs too, a deep, joyful sound that warms my insides. “I can’t believe it. My sister was right about something.” He pulls me onto his lap so I straddle his legs.
“They’re all going to flip out,” I tell him. “Willow especially. She’ll try to take credit somehow.”
He wraps his arms around my waist. “So will my sister. But I didn’t need them to find a perfect girl. I found her all on my own.”
I grin. “Stuck in a doorway with a Christmas tree. God, it sounds like a Hallmark Channel holiday movie, doesn’t it? We had our very own meet cute!”
“Do Hallmark Channel movies have sex in them?”
“Not onscreen.” I giggle. “It’s more like behind closed doors.”
“Your door is closed.” He flips me onto my back and covers my body with his. “And I’m very interested in a happy ending right now.”
“Me too.” We kiss, and I wonder if I’ll ever get enough of his sexy mouth on mine.
I wonder if this is the start of something as good as it feels. I wonder if someday we’ll be telling our meet cute story to our children and grandchildren—maybe it will be the one we tell every single Christmas as we put up the tree. And I wonder if it’s possible to fall for someone so fast, because as he moves inside me again, I feel myself spinning head over heels. I never want it to end.
Of course, I don’t say that to him.
But later, as we’re saying goodbye at my door, I tell him that tonight feels like an unexpected gift.
“For me too,” he says. He kisses my forehead. “And I, for one, would like to open it again tomorrow night. And maybe even the night after that.”
“Really?” My toes tingle, and I can’t keep my smile from getting bigger.
“Really. I don’t know what you did to me tonight, Harlow North, but I’m under your spell. And I’d like to stay there for a while.”
I lift my shoulders. “You know where to find me.”
And he does—the next night, and the next night, and the next. In fact, we don’t spend a night apart for the following year and a half, and two years to the day after he came to my rescue in the lobby, I walk down the aisle and become his wife.
We celebrate our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. West in our own home, where Michael is in charge of getting the tree in the stand, I am allowed to bake but not sing, and we laugh about how destiny wanted us together so badly, it left us no room to mess up.
Christmas miracle? Maybe.
But one thing is for sure—we were always meant to be.
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THE END
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Thank you for reading!100% of the profits from this anthology will be given to the Live A Thousand Lives charity.
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We hope you enjoyed this fun Christmas story set in the Imperfect Match world!
If you loved this story, be sure to check out Imperfect Match which is FREE in Kindle Unlimited along with our other co-write, Hold You Close.
About the Authors
Corinne Michaels is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of romance novels. Her stories are chock full of emotion, humor, and unrelenting love, and she enjoys putting her characters through intense heartbreak before finding a way to heal them through their struggles.
Corinne is a former Navy wife and happily married to the man of her dreams. She began her writing career after spending months away from her husband while he was deployed—reading and writing were her escapes from the loneliness. Corinne now lives in Virginia with her husband and is the emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun-loving mom of two beautiful children.
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Connect with Corinne:
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USA Today bestselling author Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she's not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like VEEP, Game of Thrones, and Homeland. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak.
She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.
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Also by the Authors
Co-Written Novels
Hold You Close
Imperfect Match
Books by Corinne Michaels
The Salvation Series
Beloved
Beholden
Consolation
Conviction
Defenseless
Evermore: A 1001 Dark Night Novella
Indefinite
Infinite
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Return to Me Series
Say You’ll Stay
Say You Want Me
Say I’m Yours
Say You Won’t Let Go: A Return to Me/Masters and Mercenaries Novella
* * *
Second Time Around Series
We Own Tonight
One Last Time
Not Until You
If I Only Knew
* * *
The Arrowood Brothers
Come Back for Me
Fight for Me
The One for Me
Stay for Me
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Willow Creek Valley Series (Coming 2021)
Return to Us
One Chance for Us
A Moment for Us
Could Have Been Us
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Co-Write with Melanie Harlow
Hold You Close
Imperfect Match
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Standalone Novels
All I Ask
Books by Melanie Harlow
The Speak Easy Duet
The Frenched Series
Frenched
Yanked
Forked
Floored
* * *
The Happy Crazy Love Series
Some Sort of Happy
Some Sort of Crazy
Some Sort of Love
* * *
The After We Fall Series
Man Candy
After We Fall
If You Were Mine
From This Moment
* * *
The One and Only Series
Only You
Only Him
Only Love
* * *
The Cloverleigh Farms Series
Irresistible
Undeniable
Insatiable
Unbreakable
Unforgettable
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The Bellamy Creek Series
Drive Me Wild
Make Me Yours
* * *
Co-Written Books
Hold You Close (Co-written with Corinne Michaels)
Imperfect Match (Co-written with Corinne Michaels)
Strong Enough (M/M romance co-written with David Romanov)
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The Speak Easy Duet
* * *
The Tango Lesson (A Standalone Novella)
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Want a reading order? Click here!
You Walked In
By Tia Louise
Chapter 1
“Mims Watson is a two-faced, backstabbing bitch.” My cousin Joslyn steps over a discarded tire making her way to a pile of twisted scrap metal.
“Wow. Harsh words.”
“Trust me, Daisy Sales.” She balances on the fat rubber tire. “She’ll smile and act like she’s so nice, but don’t turn your back on her.”
I walk over to a shed with a stack of old wooden signs leaning against it. “I’m pretty sure Mims Watson doesn’t even know I’m alive.”
Last month, I came to live with my aunt Regina in Fireside and her only daughter Joselyn, who we all call “Sly.” Aunt Regina is my dad’s younger sister, which makes Sly my first cousin, and it’s the second Sunday in a row she’s dragged me to the junk pile behind Owen Pepper’s taxidermy shop.
She’s searching for metal objects she can use to form the base of a giant flower sculpture she’s building for the homecoming dance on Friday. My cousin wants to be a superstar florist and live in Manhattan or Las Vegas… or New Orleans.
I didn’t even know you could make a career out of something like that.
“She knows. She’s like one of those creepy androids, and Stephanie is her spy drone.”
“I can’t think of a reason she’d ever be interested in me.” I slowly pull the signs towards me, one by one.
My dad said as long as we’re sifting through old junk, I might as well see if I could find anything he might be able to sell in his antiques store in Greenville.
“Either way, it’s important to know the mean girls.” Sly tries to lift one of the pieces of cast iron before letting it drop with a grunt, then she straightens, scanning the driveway with a frown. “Where is he?”
“Where’s who?” I snap a photo of a sign with gold lettering that reads, Please Wash Your Hands Before Returning to Work, and text it to my dad.
“Finally.” Her hands drop from her hips as an old, red Chevy step-side pickup truck pulls into the driveway. “Oh, yay!”
She takes off in the direction of the truck, and I when I see who she’s waiting for, my stomach jumps to my throat. I tug on the strap of my denim overalls and try to smooth the flyaway hairs around my face.
“Hey, girl. I brought a surprise.” Scout Dunne hops out of the passenger’s side of the car, leaning down to return my cousin’s hug.
My hands get sweaty, and my fingers tremble on the phone—which is so dumb. I’m not looking for a boyfriend in Fireside. I’m especially not looking for the quarterback for the high school football team—as if he’d even be looking at me. Guys like Scout Dunne only date head cheerleaders. Or supermodels.
“I didn’t know you were in town!” Sly bounces on her toes, holding the arm of another guy, who looks college-aged. “We’ll get this done in no time. Daisy, have you met Scout’s brother John?”
“John?” Scout’s nose wrinkles, and when he grins, a deep dimple in his cheek appears. “Try JR.”
That grin is still on his lips when his blue eyes land on mine, sending a bolt of lightning through my stomach.
“How do you do?” My voice breaks awkwardly as I nod at JR, doing my best to smile and not seem like a weirdo.
JR’s ice blue eyes study me, and he gives me a brief smile. He’s a little darker than Scout, but there’s no denying they’re brothers. They’re just about the hottest guys I’ve ever seen in my life.
“I’m alright,” he says. “What are we doing?”
“Just… Looking for hidden gems.” I push the oversized, horn-rimmed glasses higher on my nose and shove a lock of stick straight blonde hair behind my ear. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
“Okay.” He shrugs and turns to my cousin. “What are you doing?”
“Come on.” She catches his arm and drags him off towards the pile of scrap.
Scout looks after them, hesitating before walking over to where I’m digging through junk. His hands are in the pockets of his faded jeans, and my heart beats faster with every step he takes.
What is wrong with me? I’m not “boy crazy,” as my dad would say. Nor am I looking to form any attachments to this Podunk little town.
I’m only here because after twenty years of marriage, my mother decided she’d had enough of the antiques-dealing life and walked out on my dad and me.
I tried to believe she’d come back for me like she said she would, but as one month turned into two, it became clearer she was done with both of us.
First, she said her apartment wasn’t big enough, then she lost her waitressing job. Six months ago, we stopped hearing from her altogether.
Dad said I should move in with Aunt Regina and finish my senior year here with Sly. We’d played together as kids, and we used to text each other all the time. Aunt Regina told my dad I’d get the love and support I need here with her and her daughter.
/> Pushing the glasses up on my head, I go to the next pile of junk, thumbing through it on the chance I might find something of value.
“Daisy, right?” Scout’s sunny voice is at my side.
He puts his hands on his hips, and the maroon tee he’s wearing stretches tight across his chest. Lines of muscle run down his arms, and my throat goes dry. I can’t help wondering how it’s possible for him to look like that—like he stepped out of a superhero comic.
“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.” I try for casual, but I sound like a dork.
He grins, looking down at me. His blond hair hangs around his face a little too long, and his blue eyes remind me of the ocean. He’s also ridiculously tall, at least six foot two, and the sun shines behind his head, creating a glow.
I should take a photo of him, because it might be valuable one day.
“You probably don’t remember this, but we met when you visited Sly ten years ago.”
“Ten years ago.” I frown, like I’m doing math in my head. “When I was seven?”
“Yeah.” He laughs, like he can do math, too.
This guy.
My eyebrow arches. “What were we doing ten years ago?”
“Sly had a birthday party with Shetland ponies. Remember? You were scared because that brown one tried to bite you?”