Unguarded (One Fairy Tale Wedding, #1)

by Noelle Adams

  Feeling like she was going to cry, she said she’d be right back and hurried into the lobby restroom. She stood in front of the mirror and breathed deeply until she was in control of herself again.

  She was smiling as she came out. Simon wasn’t where she’d left him, so she looked around and discovered Simon had gone into a little sitting room off the lobby and was on his hands and knees, helping a hotel maid pick up dishes—some of them broken—that must have been on a tray she dropped.

  Charlie stood in the entrance and watched as he shrugged off the maid’s assurances that she was fine and didn’t need any help. He stayed on the floor until all the pieces were picked up. Then he stood up, picking up the tray for the flustered young woman, who was thanking him in murmured tones.

  Simon wasn’t smiling, although he did mumble out a “You’re welcome.”

  Charlie was hit by another wave of emotion as she watched.

  He had such a warm, generous heart beneath the gruff exterior. He was genuinely kind, whether he knew anyone was watching or not.

  She loved him so much.

  When he turned around, he gave a little start, evidently surprised by her presence.

  “Sorry,” he said, coming over to stand in front of her. “I was just...”

  “I saw.”

  He gazed down at her, his eyes very sober.

  “What?” she asked, when he didn’t say anything.

  “Are you not happy?” The brief question was low and hoarse and utterly serious.

  “I...”

  “Tell me the truth, Charlie. I want you to be happy. More than anything. Even if it means I don’t get what I want myself. And I’m afraid... I’m afraid you’re not.”

  She was shaking with emotion, the feeling coming on her all at once. “I... I want to be with you. I do. But...”

  “But what?” He wasn’t touching her, but it was like he could see into her soul just the same.

  Because it seemed like he knew her so intimately, she let the deepest truth spill out. “But I just can’t guard my heart the way you can. I can’t... I can’t be smart and strong and realistic and accept the world as it is. I want the world to be better. I want... everything. I don’t want to guard my heart. And trying to do so with you feels as wrong as wrong can be.”

  He stared at her, unmoving, unspeaking, for more than a minute.

  She clenched her trembling hands at her side.

  It looked like he was finally about to say something when one of the bellman called out to them. The valet had driven up with their car. They went outside and waited as the bellman lifted the back hatch and loaded their luggage.

  When the valet offered Simon the keys, he took them and passed him the tip.

  Then Charlie finally realized she needed to get into the passenger seat. The valet was holding the door open for her.

  She stepped toward it.

  Before she could reach it, Simon moved all of a sudden, taking her by the shoulders, turning her around, pressing her back against the side of the car.

  “What—” she gasped.

  “I don’t want you to guard your heart, Charlie,” he murmured roughly.

  She blinked.

  “That’s never been what I wanted.”

  “But... but you told me...”

  “That was a year ago, and I was talking about other men. Men who might hurt you.”

  His body was pressed into hers, and he was trapping her with his arms. They were basically embracing, right there on the side of the car in front of the hotel. Charlie wasn’t aware of any of that. She only saw the smolder in his dark eyes.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Simon went on. “I’d never hurt you.”

  “I know you’d never mean to, but it feels like you’re holding back on me, and I don’t want you to. I don’t know how to be with someone that way. Especially not you. And that... that hurts.”

  His face twisted almost helplessly. “It’s not because I want you to guard your heart. And it’s not because I’m still conflicted or worried that I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s because I keep trying to guard mine. I was trying to be reasonable, realistic, give us a... a normal beginning. But the truth is I’m so in love with you that I want everything right now, right away. I want everything from you at this moment. And I know I can’t expect that. You’re...”

  “I’m what?” She could barely get the words out. Her heart was pounding a loud staccato.

  “You’re used to dating. And I don’t know how to date. I only know how to be in love. So I keep trying to rein myself in so I don’t expect too much from you too soon.”

  “Too much...”

  “Everything.”

  “Everything.” She sounded like an idiot but all she could do was repeat the words.

  “Everything,” he murmured, even more softly. He leaned forward to kiss her gently.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling away as the words finally processed. “You want everything?”

  “Yes. That’s what I said. More than once.”

  “You love me?”

  “More than anything in this world.”

  “And you want everything? That’s why you keep holding back?” Her voice almost squeaked with emotion.

  “How many times do I have to say it?” Just a hint of dry amusement glinted in his eyes.

  “You idiot!” She pulled his head down toward hers. “I want everything too!”

  She kissed him soundly, slightly annoyed when he pulled back to ask, “You do?”

  “Yes, I do! I love you too, you big dummy. Why do you think I was so upset about you holding back? I don’t want to hold back. And I don’t want you to hold back. I want everything with you.”

  He finally seemed to believe her because he kissed her again, and this time it was deep and hard and eager.

  It might have gone on for a long time if a familiar female voice hadn’t come from the sidewalk behind them. “Uh, Charlie, some of us are still waiting to get out of here.”

  Giggling, Charlie pulled away from Simon’s mouth to see that Hannah and Bruce were standing hand in hand, watching them in amusement.

  Simon cleared his throat and stepped back. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

  “No, it wasn’t.” She let him help her into the passenger seat, grinning so much she thought her smile would burst out of her face. “I like you when you let go. I like you like that a lot.”

  “Well, I’ll do better letting go in private.” He was smiling too as he walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat at last.

  Charlie rolled down her window to wave at Hannah, who must have had just as good a weekend as Charlie had had herself. Hopefully Madison had too.

  As they were driving away, Charlie reached over to put a hand on Simon’s thigh. “So I really don’t have to hold back?” she asked.

  He glanced over, his expression hot and fond. “Please don’t.”

  “I can love you as much as I want?”

  “Please do.”

  “And I can trust that you’ll love me too.”

  “I’ll never do anything else.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “That’s exactly what I want.”

  “Me too.”

  “Good.” With a satisfied nod, she looked ahead at the road in front of them. “Sounds like a happy ending to me.”

  SIX MONTHS LATER, CHARLIE and Simon were spending the weekend at her parents’ estate.

  Charlie still thought about the place as her parents’, although obviously it belonged to her now. She and Simon had both been busy lately, so she’d wanted to get away for a quiet weekend with him. Maybe a little romance.

  But Simon had been quiet and grouchy all weekend, and he’d been hiding himself away in the library upstairs for the past hour, evidently working or stewing or something.

  Charlie was starting to get annoyed.

  Simon was never going to turn into a charming, smiling chatterbox. She wouldn’t want him to. She loved him t
he way he was, and she wasn’t expecting him to change.

  But still...

  This was supposed to be a romantic weekend, and the damn man wasn’t cooperating.

  The past six months had been good. Amazing, really. They’d had a few expected hiccups from the transition in their relationship, but she couldn’t remember being happier, and she was convinced the same was true of Simon. She was satisfied with where they were right now, and she wasn’t in a hurry to move their relationship along. The idea of an engagement did occur to her occasionally. She hoped Simon might ask her to marry him eventually.

  She would like that. A lot.

  But she wasn’t going to be impatient about it. It had been hard for him to accept that his feelings for her weren’t what he used to think they should be. It was likely to take him longer than other men to take the next step.

  He loved her. He was committed. She was allowed to love him with all her heart.

  It was more than enough.

  But she was annoyed about this weekend, and she’d had a random idea about what she might do about it.

  It was spontaneous. Perhaps a little silly. But she couldn’t get it out of her head.

  It was just ten in the evening. They hadn’t yet gotten ready for bed, although she was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a camisole since it was a warm night. Lady Jane was at her feet—since the dog followed her everywhere—looking up at her with interest as if she suspected something exciting might be happening soon.

  Charlie stood in the entry hall next to the security console on the wall and stared at it for a minute.

  Then she decided.

  She activated the security system and then purposefully walked over to the side door.

  She opened it, setting off the blaring alarm.

  She stood in the hall as the alarm sounded loudly and Lady Jane started to bark.

  In about thirty seconds, Charlie heard Simon’s bellow from upstairs. “Charlie? Charlie! Where are you?”

  “I’m down here,” she called, hit with a little flicker of guilt because he sounded so urgent and worried.

  Down he came, wearing the clothes he’d had on all day and brandishing one of her father’s signed baseball bats.

  She couldn’t help but giggle.

  When he reached her, he gave her and Lady Jane a quick once-over, assuring himself that they were all right. Then his eyes narrowed—as if he suspected what she was up to—and he stepped over to punch the code into the console and talk to the security company.

  When the alarm was silenced, he turned toward her slowly. “What the hell, Charlie?” he growled.

  “I wanted to get you out of your cave.”

  “I wasn’t in a cave.”

  “Yes, you were. You closed the door and weren’t coming out.”

  “You could have come in.”

  “The door was locked.”

  “I would have opened it.”

  “That’s not the point. The point is I don’t want to be locked out of your life. You would have snarled at me if I knocked. That’s what bears do when someone intrudes.”

  “You wouldn’t have been intrud—”

  “I didn’t want to come into your cave. I wanted you to come out.”

  His face was softening, and she could see that he understood. “I wasn’t hiding in a cave, sweetheart.”

  “Then why were you in there for so long? I thought we were going to spend the weekend together.”

  He let out a long breath and reached out to pull her into a soft hug. “We were. We are. I was... I’ll show you. Come with me.”

  He took her hand and led her up the stairs. She had no idea what was going on, but she went with him willingly. Lady Jane trotted happily behind them.

  Simon led her by the hand toward the library. He paused before he opened the door. “I wasn’t locking you out of my life, Charlie.”

  Her eyes were wide, and a shiver was running up and down her spine. She didn’t know why until he’d opened the door and pulled her into the room.

  It was filled with candles and vases of lovely red roses on nearly every surface, filling the room with soft light and fragrance. There was a silver ice bucket holding a bottle of champagne next to two crystal flutes.

  She blinked in surprise and turned to Simon questioningly.

  He made a face. “I wasn’t quite finished.”

  “Finished with what?” she breathed.

  “Trying to make it... like a fairy tale... for you.” He looked stiff. Slightly awkward. But also... adorably hopeful.

  “Make what like a fairy tale?”

  He walked over to a big antique desk and picked up a small velvet pouch.

  She let out a squeak when he fiddled with it until he was able to pull out a lovely diamond ring on a platinum band.

  Simon came back toward her, holding the ring. “I was trying to make this like a fairy tale for you. I’m not any good at it, and I wasn’t quite done. I was going to change into a tuxedo.”

  She was shaking now and swaying slightly on her feet. She could hear Lady Jane panting excitedly.

  Charlie asked in a wobbly voice, “Are you going to do it with the bat?”

  Simon gave a little jerk and seemed to realize for the first time that he still had the baseball bat tucked under one arm. With an amused huff, he retrieved it and put it down on the floor.

  Then he moved closer to her and knelt down on one knee.

  He wasn’t smiling at all as he said, “I’m never going to transform into a prince. But if you want a grouchy, old bear, he’ll be yours for the rest of his life.”

  Her face crumpled as she was slammed with a wave of emotion. “I do want my bear,” she managed to say. “He’s the only one I want.”

  His expression changed just slightly, but it was all the sign she needed of the state of his feelings. His dark eyes were blazing with joy. “So you’ll marry me?”

  “Yes!” she burst out, reaching out to drag him back up to his feet so she could throw herself in his arms. “Yes, I’ll marry you! This is exactly the story that I want.”

  Evidently Simon felt the same way. His arms were strong and urgent as he embraced her. His lips were possessive. And he was even laughing a little as they held on to each other.

  He finally pulled away to slip the ring onto her finger, and Charlie had to lean over to pet Lady Jane, who was dancing around in excited confusion.

  It was pretty much the perfect night, and Charlie thought it was better because the fairy tale hadn’t happened to her from out of the blue.

  They’d made it happen. Charlie and Simon. Six months ago at that wedding weekend and then every day since.

  And now soon she’d have a wedding of her own.

  IF YOU ENJOYED THIS story, be sure to check out the next book in the One Fairy Tale Wedding series, Untouched, about Hannah and Bruce. You can find an excerpt from it on the following pages.

  For news on my sales and releases, as well as updates to the serial novel I’m writing, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

  Excerpt from Untouched

  Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Hannah, whose prince hadn’t yet found her.

  She’d been waiting for twenty-five years (at least as many of those years as she’d been aware of the existence of princes), and she was honestly getting a little impatient with his slowness to appear.

  One early winter night, she went out with a very handsome man whom she thought had prince potential. He brought her flowers and took her to dinner and kissed her under the stars, but her heart wasn’t moved.

  Neither was her body.

  She sent him home without inviting him inside.

  She had a tiny apartment in Georgetown—one she could just barely afford even with a good salary as a media specialist at an environmental advocacy nonprofit. Unlike her two best friends, her family wasn’t wealthy, and she’d graduated from an exclusive prep school and an Ivy League university on a scholarship. Her parents had raised her to be c
areful and thrifty, so it made her nervous to use nearly all her paycheck on monthly living expenses. But she’d wanted to avoid a long commute, and she liked living in the same building as her friend Bruce.

  She was glad to see her cute little place after she’d said goodbye to her disappointing date. She poured herself a glass of wine and checked her messages to see that her best friends, Charlie and Madison, had both texted to wish her luck on her deflowering that evening.

  “Deflowering” was their word, not hers.

  She’d wanted to have sex for the first time tonight.

  She texted them back to let them know it hadn’t happened after all, and as she did so, another text came in.

  This one was from Bruce. He worked for the same nonprofit she did, so she’d known him for the two years since she’d gotten her job. She’d never had a close male friend before in her life. Bruce was her first.

  He’d texted, Any action?

  If it had been anyone but Bruce, she’d have been embarrassed by the question, by a man knowing she was still a virgin at twenty-five. But it was impossible to be embarrassed around Bruce, and she didn’t really have any secrets from him.

  No. I’m home.

  Ten minutes after she’d sent the text, she’d changed into her pajamas and settled on the sofa with her wine to watch TV when someone knocked on her door.

  Frowning, she got up to answer it, checking the peephole to discover it was Bruce.

  He wore jeans and a black T-shirt but still managed to look expensive and pulled together. He had medium brown hair—cut very close since he didn’t like his curls—a short beard, and blue, heavy-lidded eyes that gave him a perpetually sexy look.

  Swinging the door open, she frowned at him. “Don’t you have a date tonight?”

  “I’ve already had it.”

  “It’s just after eleven. You had time for dinner and sex already?”

  He gave her a slow smile with slightly raised eyebrows. His naughty smile, she called it. “Drinks and sex. No dinner.”

  She shook her head. “You couldn’t even bother to pay for dinner for her?”

  “She was on some sort of strange diet where she couldn’t have anything good. She picked around a couple of plates of tapas, but then we just gave up and went for the good stuff.”