Gently easing it from her fingers, Nick said, “It sure is. Come here, lean up against me. I’ll open it for you.” Holly nestled into him, her body fitting against his. Prying the box open, he turned it so she could really see what was inside.
“Oh!” Holly cried, her hands flying to her mouth, her eyes huge as she stared down at the wedding-ring set. “Oh, Nick!” She turned, looking down at him.
“What? You don’t like them?” he asked, suddenly feeling unsure.
“No … no, are you kidding? I love them! They’re beautiful!” She began sobbing with pure joy, burying her head against his, her arms wrapping around his neck, holding him so tightly.
Nick didn’t expect that reaction. He closed the case and set it aside, wanting to hold Holly, whose tears were soaking his neck and shoulder. Sliding his hand against her back and shaking shoulders, he thought that maybe, because she had lost her family, she never expected to marry.
Nick simply didn’t know why she’d had that reaction, and wasn’t about to go there. Holly was easily touched, there was no question. But he’d never had her cry like this, the sobs wrenching and so deep, tearing up and out of her soul. He buried his face in her sweet-smelling, red hair and rocked her gently in his arms, wanting to soothe whatever pain she was feeling. And it was clear to Nick that it was pain.
Gradually, the tears dissolved and she became quiet, her head nestled against his neck and jaw. It felt good to be able to give Holly the love that she wanted. “Better?” he asked, pressing a kiss to her temple. He felt her nod, heard her swallow several times, her breath still ragged with emotions.
“I never want anything more than you. Do you know that, Holly?” Nick squeezed her gently. “You’re my new life—the life I’ve always wanted, but never dared dream about. It’s you. You’re like a beam of light into my dark heart. Your smile, your laughter, your thoughtfulness, they pierce my soul, and it’s healing me a little at a time. You need to know these things. I know we don’t talk on this level very often, but you’re healing to me and I hope I am healing for you, too.”
Holly slowly withdrew from her position, lifting her head, sitting up more. She pushed her hair away from her face and scrubbed the last of the tears off her cheeks. All the while, her moist, blue gaze was on Nick.
“Do you know what I love about you, Nick? There are so many things about you, about how you treat me, love me, care for me …” She sniffed and took the tissue he offered her. Blowing her nose, she crumpled it in her hand. “You do heal me, Nick.” She slid her hand through his short hair, giving him a trembling smile. “You’re my family now.”
And then, she looked at the two dogs who sat like little Buddhas in front of them, expressions attentive but filled with so much love for them. “Snowflake and Lady are now a part of our growing family.”
He nodded, swallowing against a lot of rising emotions. “We are a family whether we realized it at first or not, sweetheart. Those rings? I didn’t buy them for you to pressure you. I like living with you. We’re three months into our relationship and I know it’s early to think about such things, but I just feel that solid with you, Holly. You can take your time about us, about the possibility of marriage, someday, to me. I just needed you to know the depth of my commitment to you … to us, that’s all.”
She gave him a tender look, cupping his face, leaning down, kissing him slowly and with all the love she had in her heart, for him. Lifting away from his mouth, she whispered, “I can’t wait to wear the engagement ring, Nick! I don’t see anything but good coming from us meeting and falling in love with one another.”
Nick tried to hold onto his escaping emotions, gazing into her warm, blue eyes, feeling her hand pressed against his cheek. He took her hand, kissing the back of it. “Then, let’s see if it fits. My mom took a guess on your ring size because I couldn’t ask you.” He gave her a shy grin.
Holly reached across him and retrieved the velvet box. “I understand.” She sat up and opened the box once more. “I just love that the engagement ring is a blue diamond.”
“I wanted to get one that matched the color of your eyes,” he said, holding it up. “It’s not quite a match, but close.”
“I love that you did this for me,” Holly whispered, holding out her left hand toward him. “It’s perfect!”
To Nick’s utter relief, the ring slid easily onto Holly’s finger. And it was a perfect fit. His mother was pretty good at this stuff. He watched Holly move her hand, the light playing through the blue diamond bracketed by two clear, smaller diamonds on either side of it. Her fingers were slender and she was so graceful, looking at the stones, pleasure wreathing her expression. “Do you like them?”
“I love them,” Holly said, a catch in her voice. She leaned over, kissing him again. “I love you, Nick Conway. Forever.”
He caught her hand in his, squeezing it. “Then, when we go over to my parents’ home for dinner tonight, will you wear the ring?”
“Absolutely. I know they’ll be happy for us, Nick.”
“They sure will be!”
Giving the dogs a loving look, she said, “We are so lucky to have Snowflake and Lady, too. They are gifts to our hearts.”
“They complete us,” he agreed. She snuggled back into his arms, content to lie against him. “This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had,” Nick admitted, looking up into her half-closed eyes.
“The best,” she agreed. “And Snowflake’s gift of bringing Lady to us was another good sign, too.”
Nick smiled at the dogs, both fully attentive, both with a happy expression on their faces as they listened to their humans talking in a language he was sure they didn’t understand. But dogs understand emotions and can sense them easily. “Lady will always be your dog, Holly. Just as Snowflake will be mine.”
“They are the best of friends, no doubt,” Holly said, reaching over, patting each dog’s head. “We have a journey ahead with Lady, but I know she’s happy with us as her new family. There’s some training to be done, I’m sure. I knitted her that oversized collar and maybe later we’ll see if she’ll wear it or not.”
“Yes. And even if she’s uncomfortable with it, you can keep working with her to desensitize that area of her neck so she can eventually wear it.”
“She’s so good at following Snowflake around, and she comes when I call her.”
“We’ve got lots of good, quality Lab to work with,” Nick agreed. “And this time around she’ll be loved by us. Love heals. And over time Lady will forget her nightmare past and realize she’s in a home where she’s loved.”
“And spoiled rotten,” Holly said, smiling.
“You spoil me,” Nick said, holding her luminous gaze, “so why wouldn’t you spoil everything and everyone else around you, too?” Holly had a huge, giving heart and Nick felt like the luckiest man in the world.
“I think,” Holly whispered, kissing his temple, “that we’re all being spoiled by one another, but when you love like we do, it just happens naturally.”
He kissed the hand wearing his engagement ring. “Forever,” Nick promised her, his voice low with feelings. “Forever.”
Lady whined and both of them looked over at their yellow Lab. Then, Nick’s heart thudded hard. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Lady was giving him a doggy smile that looked exactly like Dude’s, teeth and lips in the same big grin. Tears filled his eyes.
Lady got up and walked around to his left side, sitting, head cocked, and Nick reached out slowly, gently patting her head as she thumped her tail. She smiled again. It broke him wide open with the grief he’d long held for his loss of Dude.
How could Lady know? Nick had long suspected that dogs were aware of humans and their mass of emotions. He’d seen it so often with Dude. Now, Lady, the same breed as his WMD dog, was reflecting her own emotions to share with him. They were sharing an understanding and Nick heard Holly sigh with joy.
“Oh, Nick! She’s smiling just like Dude did in that photo you have of him! This is so
wonderful! She loves you! She truly does!” Laughing, she leaned over, patting Lady’s head, making cooing love sounds as the Lab happily thumped her tail.
He wiped his eyes. “Yeah, she knew, Holly. Somehow, Lady knew about Dude and how he’d smile at me, showing me his love.” Shaking his head, he couldn’t control the shock, the warmth, the opening, and healing of his heart that was triggered by her doggy smile.
“Not only will we help Lady to heal, Nick, she’s going to help you heal from all the grief you buried when Dude died. She loves you just as much as she loves me. You’ve got to agree.”
Nick continued to pet Lady, silently thanking her for her heart and her love for him. “Yes, I agree,” he choked out. He wrapped his arms around Holly, burying his face in her silky hair, holding her, wanting nothing more than her, ever. “It is the best for all four of us,” he agreed gruffly, tears running down his cheeks. “Just the best!”
THE BEGINNING …
Don’t miss Lindsay McKenna’s novella Never Enough, 3B1, Delos Series, about Matt Culver and Dara McKinley.
Only from Lindsay McKenna and Blue Turtle Publishing.
Available wherever you buy eBooks. Paperbacks are available through CreateSpace/amazon.com, and audiobooks through Tantor Media!
Read the sneak peek of Never Enough!
Excerpt from
Never Enough
by Lindsay McKenna
“I can help.”
“Nope,” he said, releasing her, heading for the doorway. “You just get comfortable and think about what you’d like to do with the rest of our day.”
She helped Matt to put their clothes away once he brought in the luggage. The windows were open, and there were birds singing outside. A cooling breeze wound through the bedroom, and she could smell the plumeria. After she finished putting her clothes away, she walked over to Matt, placing her arms around his shoulders. A moment ago he’d looked so intensely focused on his unpacking, but as soon as she came and moved her body against his, sliding her arms around his neck, she saw an instant change, and it warmed her heart. She loved affecting him so powerfully. His gold-brown eyes grew amused.
“Uh-oh, I’m being stalked,” he murmured, turning around and taking her mouth, sliding against her lips.
The world halted. When Matt devoted a hundred percent of his attention to her, Dara felt like the most desired and cherished woman in the world. She loved kissing him, feeling the passion barely restrained in his kiss as he controlled himself for her sake. Moving her hips suggestively against his pelvis, feeling how thick and hard he already was, sent an instant ache and need of him through her.
“Mmm,” she said, easing from his mouth, drowning in the gold intensity of his narrowed eyes. “Now you make me want to stay right here and love you instead of seeing Oahu.”
He smiled a little, moving his hand down her supple spine, the red dress beautiful on her. “Up to you, sweetheart. I’m easy either way. We’re on vacation, and we can do exactly what inspires you.”
She liked being in his arms, leaning against his hard body. “We just had a ten-hour flight, and I’m jet-lagged. Are you?”
Shrugging, Matt said, “Yes and no. In order to adjust to Oahu’s time, we should stay up.” It was nearly noon according to his watch. “Hungry?”
“Well,” she laughed, enjoying his hardness against her belly, inciting her, making her want to go nowhere, “my body is on East Coast time.”
“Then,” he said lightly, cupping the cheeks of her butt, moving her sensually against him, “let’s do something easy, something that isn’t going to drain us further.”
“Such as?”
“Let me drive you down to Waianae. It’s a pretty seacoast town, nice restaurants, the beach is nearby. You could kick off your sandals and walk in the sand or the ocean itself if you wanted.”
“I like that idea. I love the ocean.”
Matt slid his fingers through her mussed hair, watching the highlights glint beneath the lamplight above them. “Then let’s do that. We’ll be lazy today, just kick back, relax, eat when we’re hungry, rest when we’re tired.”
The Books of Delos
Title: Last Chance (Prologue)
Publish Date: July 15, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/last-chance
Title: Nowhere to Hide
Publish Date: October 13, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/nowhere-to-hide
Title: Tangled Pursuit
Publish Date: November 11, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/tangled-pursuit
Title: Forged in Fire
Publish Date: December 3, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/forged-in-fire
Title: Broken Dreams
Publish Date: January 2, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/broken-dreams
Title: Blind Sided
Publish Date: June 5, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/blind-sided
Title: Secret Dream
Publish Date: July 25, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/secret-dream
Title: Hold On
Publish Date: August 3, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/hold-on
Title: Hold Me
Publish Date: August 11, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/hold-me
Title: Unbound Pursuit
Publish Date: September 29, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/unbound-pursuit
Title: Secrets
Publish Date: November 21, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/secrets
Everything Delos!
Newsletter
Please sign up for my free monthly newsletter on the front page of my official Lindsay McKenna website at lindsaymckenna.com. The newsletter will have exclusive information about my books, publishing schedule, giveaways, exclusive cover peeks, and more.
Delos Series Website
Be sure to drop by my website dedicated to the Delos Series at delos.lindsaymckenna.com. There will be new articles on characters, my publishing schedule, and information about each book written by Lindsay.
Quote Books
I love how the Internet has evolved. I had great fun creating “quote books with text” which reminded me of an old fashioned comic book … lots of great color photos and a little text, which forms a “book” that tells you, the reader, a story. Let me know if you like these quote books because I think it’s a great way to add extra enjoyment with this series! Just go to my Delos Series website delos.lindsaymckenna.com, which features the books in the series.
The individual downloadable quote books are located on the corresponding book pages. Please share with your reader friends!
Snowflake's Gift (Delos Series Book 6) Page 13
