Winner Takes All
Page 30
Jean was up first the next morning, curled on the sofa with her laptop, checking to see if there was a message from her boss. There was, confirming that he’d received her email about taking a day off. No problem. Nothing of importance on their office agenda for the day.
She read one from her father who was back in LA continuing his arrangements for the move to the East Coast. There was one from Marin.
Guess who I met? I think we’re dating. Or is this just a hookup? No response necessary. Hope to see you soon.
Jean smiled at that. Lots of good things suddenly seemed to be happening for a lot of folks. She certainly counted herself among them.
There was shuffling from the bedroom. She listened for a moment and knew that Patrick was finally waking up. She looked at the tablet clock. It was a little after ten in the morning.
“Jean?”
She put aside her devices and quickly headed for the bedroom. She’d found and dressed again in her night shift. She climbed onto the bed and back into Patrick’s arms, snuggling down against his chest. He kissed her forehead.
He let out a mighty yawn.
“How did you sleep?”
“I always sleep well when I’m with you.”
She smiled, brushing her hand across his hairy chest. “Why is that?”
“What I think is that I feel completely safe here. I’m away from my world and in yours. Not a work thing, but a man and woman thing. I haven’t given this a lot of scientific thought, but I’m happy when I’m with you. That’s the short explanation.”
“What about the longer one?”
Patrick placed his free hand behind his head and closed his eyes. “Not now. I think we’ll have time later for that. At least, I hope we will.”
She tilted her head to gaze at him. “Ask me again.”
“What?”
“Ask me again.”
After a moment, Patrick turned his head sharply to blink his understanding. “Will you marry me?”
Jean smiled, stroking his chest again. “Yes.”
She could feel his body completely relaxing, like air being let out from an inflated object.
“Seriously?”
“I want to marry you.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“I didn’t change my mind. I always wanted to say yes when you first asked me. But…I was afraid there wasn’t much room left in your life for me. I knew that, first and foremost, there was Nico. That was obvious. I just wasn’t sure that you would love me just as much. Almost as much.”
“Jean,” he moaned, with regret and frustration. “You have been the best thing to happen to me since I don’t know when. I felt that way about you right after I graduated, but that was because I liked you a lot, you weren’t like the other girls, and you kept me on track to graduate. You should be sainted.”
She laughed quietly. “Let’s not get crazy.”
He turned to face her. “So you mean it? We’ll get married.”
“Yes, my love. Do you think Nico will mind?”
“First of all, he’s a kid. I doubt he quite understands the concept of marriage. But he seems to really like you. I was sure he would. I kept thinking of that little French girl on the island.”
“Lily.”
“Yeah…Lily. She took to you right away. She made you her playmate, and you were so good, so natural interacting with her. Even her parents were impressed with your instant connection. That’s what I saw with you and Nicholas. I’m not worried about the two of you.”
“Is…your ex okay with your custody arrangement?”
“I think so. We’ll see what the future holds.”
“Has she remarried? Does she have someone else?”
“You know, I never thought about it. I guess, for now, her love life is not at the top of my list of concerns. If Nico ends up with a stepfather, I’ll see how it goes. What about your folks? Anything new to report?”
“Well…my father is moving his practice back to New York. He’s going to relocate.”
“Okay, I can figure out the rest. He and your mother are in love. They’re being open about it and going for all the marbles. I applaud them. ‘Don’t postpone joy.’ I’m not sure who said that, but I’m a true believer.”
“I asked my father if they are going to get married. I never did get a yes or no, but I believe it’s going to happen.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Very okay with that.”
“What about us?”
“We’re different. Or maybe not. We have this weird school background, but when we met again, we were starting over…”
“Yeah, but not totally from scratch. We were able to skip steps two through five, I think.”
Jean laughed.
“I think the next time your dad is in town, we should take them out to dinner and tell them about us.”
“That sounds lovely.”
“I hope I didn’t become a jerk and complain all summer, especially after coming into so much money.”
“Patrick, you didn’t complain. I think you were confused and you were a little scared. It was like Now what do I do?”
“Yeah, maybe.” His gaze was filled with warmth, satisfaction, and love. “You know what? All that green stuff is not bad to have. We’re going to have fun, but I want to be smart. Ross is all over the foundation idea, so I’m good with that.
“The thing is, Jean, none of it would mean a lot to me now, if I didn’t have you. I have your love. That means everything. That’s what really makes me a winner.”
“The two of us is a big win for me too. Sorry, no money comes with it.”
He kissed her with great gentleness. It seemed to seal their commitment. “I like this. Let’s do this every day of our lives.”
“Make love?” She grinned.
“Well, yeah. That too. I was talking about kissing each other every morning when we wake up. And at night before going to sleep.”
“That’s a great tradition.”
“I thought so.”
There was suddenly an odd grumbling coming from beneath the covers. They looked at each other and grinned broadly.
“The ‘urri upps’!” they said simultaneously and chuckled.
“Last one out of bed and into the kitchen makes breakfast!” Patrick challenged.
There was a wild, mad scramble on the bed, but Jean had learned one of his tricks on the island, and she was on the side of the bed closest to the door. She jumped off the bed, ran through the door, dashing around the end of the sofa and into the kitchen. She turned around, leaning back against the sink, grinning triumphantly.
“I win!”
But Patrick was sauntering toward her, naked, tall, and handsome, well rested. Not in a hurry, and not even trying. He trapped her against the sink, his hands braced on the edge on either side of her.
“Of course you do,” he said.
And then he kissed Jean again and again.
Acknowledgments
A HUGE, heartfelt appreciation to Alexandra Gil, JD, MLS, for supplying the law student’s POV to my story. Also, thank you to Alexandra for the many amusing insider anecdotes of her three years. After many years in the field, she then received her MLS to become a librarian in New York
About the Author
Prior to breaking out in the mainstream, Sandra Kitt was considered the foremost African American writer of romance fiction and was the first Black writer ever to publish with Harlequin. Sandra is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Fiction from Romantic Times. Romance Writers of America presented Sandra with its 2002 Service Award, and the New York Chapter of RWA presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Sandra received the Zora Neale Hurston Award.
A native of New York City, Sandra holds bachelor’s and master
’s degrees in fine arts from the City University of New York and has studied and lived in Mexico. A one-time graphic designer and printmaker, her work appears in corporate collections, including the Museum of African American Art in LA Sandra is a former managing director and information specialist in astronomy and astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and has illustrated two books for the late science writer Dr. Isaac Asimov. In 1996, Sandra wrote the last show script for the Hayden Planetarium, narrated by Walter Cronkite. A frequent guest speaker, Sandra has lectured at NYU, Penn State, Sarah Lawrence, and Columbia University and was an adjunct professor in publishing and fiction writing.
Sandra Kitt’s first mainstream novel, The Color of Love, was released in 1995 to critical acclaim from Library Journal, USA Today, and The Black Scholar and was optioned by HBO and Lifetime from a script by Sandra. The anthology Girlfriends was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Fiction in 1999. Significant Others and Between Friends appeared on the bestseller list in Essence, and Amazon has named Significant Others among the top twenty-five romances for the twentieth century.
A Million to One
Bestselling and beloved author Sandra Kitt is back with the Millionaires Club series!
* * *
Beck Dennison doesn’t know who the beautiful woman at his stepfather’s funeral is, but he’s determined to find out more about her—such as, exactly what was her relationship with Everett Nicholls? Mourning the loss of her mentor, Eden Marsh is shocked to realize she’s attracted to the handsome stranger who tries to comfort her. And that’s only the beginning. Beck and Eden discover surprise inheritances are in store for them both. Can this be the start of something wonderful, or will money and suspicions tear them apart?
“Sandra Kitt writes beautiful stories about fascinating characters I would love to know in real life. Winner Takes All is romantic, tender, emotional, and compelling.”
—RaeAnne Thayne, New York Times bestselling author, for Winner Takes All
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