by Elena Aitken
Promised Gifts
Elena Aitken
Ink Blot Communications
Contents
Free Books
Promised Gifts
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
About the Author
Also by Elena Aitken
Love in the Moment
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Promised Gifts
You're invited back to Castle Mountain Lodge!
* * *
For as long as she could remember, Marissa Duncan had been completely and totally in love with her older brother’s best friend. She spent her teenage years secretly crushing on Nick Slater until one day—sure he felt the same way— she got up the courage to tell him how she felt.
But instead of reciprocating her affection, the boy she’d fallen in love with had laughed in her face and sent her away broken hearted.
* * *
It’s been five years since Nick has seen Marissa Duncan. Five years that he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her and what could have been if he’d followed his heart the night she’d confessed her love to him. But the timing hadn’t been right, and there was a code between friends. He couldn’t date his best friends little sister. No matter what.
* * *
For five years, Marissa has managed to avoid Nick, but there will be no way to avoid him at her brother’s wedding at Castle Mountain Lodge, the most romantic location in the Rockies. Especially since Nick’s the best man, and she’s agreed to be the maid of honor. She has no reason to be nervous, after all, she’s no longer the awkward, uncertain teenager she once was. Besides, what she felt for Nick was only a childhood crush.
* * *
Things have changed.
* * *
Haven’t they?
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~A sweet contemporary romance~
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Author's note: While Promised Gifts can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel, check out the rest of the Castle Mountain Lodge Series for more mountain romance!
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Unexpected Gifts--(Colin & Andi)
Hidden Gifts--(Bo & Morgan)
Mistaken Gifts--(Jeff & Eva)
Secret Gifts--(Gage & Megan)
Goodbye Gifts--(Dylan & Carmen)
Tempting Gifts--(Jason & Lisa)
Holiday Gifts--(Ryan & Julie)
Promised Gifts -- (Nick & Marissa)
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Pre-order today Promised Gifts!
Chapter One
“Well? It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”
Marissa Duncan could think of at least a dozen words off the top of her head to describe the poof of lavender fabric she was wearing, but beautiful was not one of them.
She looked down at the skirt and attempted to smooth the dress down before she looked up to her sister-in-law to-be’s eyes. Jenny looked so anxious, clearly desperate for Marissa to like the dress that she forced a smile and nodded. “It’s very...full.”
“It is, isn’t it? Jake said you really liked the traditional dress styles from the eighties.”
“He did not?”
Everything was starting to make sense, and she was going to outright kill her brother when she saw him.
“I mean, it wouldn’t have been my first pick.” Jenny was still talking. “But Jake said you used to play dress-up in your mom’s old gowns and you really liked the fluffy ones.”
“He did, did he?” Marissa spun to face the mirror and her poofy, purple self. She shook her head slightly but couldn’t help but smile. Her big brother always did like to prank her. It was wishful thinking to assume he’d grown out of it.
Even when it came to his own wedding.
“You like it, don’t you?” Jenny looked so hopeful, and Marissa knew she was already under so much stress with her wedding and her own best friend unable to stand up for her, she couldn’t bear to upset her even more. After all, Jenny was going to be her sister-in-law, and she was a sweet girl. It was just a dress. She’d live.
“If you’re happy, I’m happy.” Marissa smiled.
Jenny’s face lit up and she impulsively wrapped her arms around Marissa. “Oh, I am,” she said. “I’m so happy to be marrying your brother and to have you as my sister.” She released her, and swiped at her face.
“Jenny, don’t cry. You’re happy, remember?”
“I am.” She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cry that came out much more snort-like than was no doubt intended. “I really am. And I really do want to thank you again for agreeing to be my maid of honor.”
“It’s my pleasure.” While they spoke, Marissa slipped into the changing room to shed herself of the dress. “And I know I’m no replacement for Sara, but I’ll do my best.”
Jenny’s best friend, Sara, had been called away to England suddenly because her grandmother was ill. So, when Jenny asked Marissa if she’d do the honors, there was no way she could refuse.
“You’re going to be great,” Jenny said through the curtain. “And it feels so right to have you there with Jake and me. I know how close you two are. Things just worked out the way they were supposed to.”
She was close with her brother. Only eleven months her senior, they’d grown up spending a lot of time together, and although of course they’d definitely had their moments when they drove each other crazy, Jake was legitimately one of Marissa’s closest friends. Despite the purple monstrosity he’d tricked her into wearing. She rolled her eyes one more time at the bridesmaid dress before carefully hanging it up, although she couldn’t imagine any scenario where she could possibly crush the poof out of it. Even with her best effort.
Not that there was any time anyway. Right after the fitting, they were leaving for all the pre-wedding activities. The wedding was taking place in only a few days, at the beautiful and utterly romantic Castle Mountain Lodge in the Rockies. It was only a few hours away from the city, and Marissa had only been there one other time, a few years earlier for a girlfriend’s birthday weekend. Everything about the Lodge was absolutely perfect for a wedding. When she heard Jake and Jenny were tying the knot there, she was both thrilled for them and jealous at the same time. Not that she was close to getting married herself.
She’d have to at least have a boyfriend for that.
Marissa wiggled into her black jeans and slid the gauzy summer blouse over her head before she slipped out of the changing room and joined Jenny. “When’s your family flying in? I haven’t even met your brother yet.”
Jenny’s family lived mostly out East. Although her parents had been in town for the last few weeks, her brother hadn’t arrived yet and she was looking forward to meeting him because he was going to be filling in as Jake’s best man. It was kind of ironic really, and a bit sad, that both the bride’s and the groom’s best friends couldn’t be at the wedding.
Not that Marissa was upset that Nick Slater, her brother’s best friend, wouldn’t be there.
Not really.
She hadn’t seen Nick in eight years. And she didn’t even want to think about how mortifying that last meeting had been. For years, she’d been so desperately in love with her brother’s best friend, until finally, sure that he mus
t feel the same way, she’d taken a chance and kissed him on the night of her graduation dance.
It had been the single best moment of her life.
Until he’d laughed.
Nick Slater had laughed at her.
And broken her heart.
It had been eight years ago, but she still remembered it as if it were yesterday.
Yes, it was definitely better that Nick couldn’t make it to the wedding.
Marissa shook her head and focused on the matter at hand. There was no point dwelling on the past. “So, when is the best man showing up?”
“Oh,” Jenny looked up from her wedding planning binder and blinked, as if she’d just heard Marissa. “You mean my Josh?”
“He is the best man, after all.” Marissa got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Oh, no.” Jenny shook her head. “I mean, he was going to be because Jake’s best friend couldn’t make it.”
“Nick.”
“Right.” Jenny smiled. “I forget that you must know him, too. Nick Slater. He wasn’t going to be able to make it to the wedding, something about a meeting overseas that he couldn’t get out of or something, but he worked some magic and...”
Marissa had stopped listening. Instead, an intense buzzing had filled her head.
Nick. He was going to be there? At the wedding. That they left for in only a few hours.
She shook her head, more in an effort to shake out the noise than anything else, but it didn’t work.
“Marissa?” Jenny’s hand pressed to her arm. “Are you okay? Do you need some air or some water?”
Marissa managed a nod. “I’m fine.” There was no way Jenny could have known that Nick meant anything more to her than just being her brother’s best friend.
Not unless Nick had said something to Jake about the kiss. But he hadn’t. She would have known, because Jake would have teased her relentlessly because of it.
No. He hadn’t told.
But she knew.
For eight years, she’d managed to avoid him. But there would be no avoiding the wedding.
“I’m fine,” she said again. “I think it maybe just got a little hot in here. Maybe we should get some air.”
Jenny nodded and after a quick word to the sales lady, who started bundling Marissa’s dress into a garment bag, they walked out into the warm summer day.
“Are you feeling better now?”
Marissa nodded. “I’ll be okay.” She said the words and let them sink in. Of course she would be okay.
Everything with Nick was a long time ago and she was a different person now.
Stronger, more confident and...no longer in love with Nick Slater.
Yes. She’d be fine as long as she just kept lying to herself.
* * *
“So you’re really going to do it, hey?” Nick Slater slapped his best friend on the back in way of a greeting.
Jake immediately spun around and pulled Nick into a bro hug. “You made it.”
“Of course I made it.” Nick dropped his duffel bag on the floor of the hotel lobby. “I wouldn’t miss this, man. I mean, it’s not every day your best friend gets married.” He nudged Jake in the ribs. “At least it better not be.”
“No way.” Jake shook his head. “Jenny is the one for me. The only one. I’m only doing this once.”
“That’s a good thing, because I can’t imagine you’d find two women to agree to marry you.” Nick laughed and ducked Jake’s punch. “Where is the love of your life anyway? I haven’t seen Jenny in far too long.”
“Maybe if you didn’t work so much we’d actually see you.”
Nick knew it wasn’t intentional, but Jake’s comments hit home. He’d been so busy working for his father’s manufacturing company for the last few years, taking on the role of sourcing parts, mostly overseas, he hadn’t spent nearly as much time at home with his friends and family as he would have liked. The fact that he almost missed his best friend’s wedding because of meetings in China had been a wake-up call.
A big one.
Important meetings or not, he wasn’t going to miss Nick and Jenny’s wedding. And when he’d told his father that was his reason for leaving before securing the manufacturing deal they needed, well...he wasn’t even sure he was going to have a job to return to when the weekend was over. Not that he was going to waste too much time thinking about it. After all, there was nothing he could do about it now.
Might as well enjoy the wedding and celebrate the man who had always been more like a brother than just a friend. In fact, the entire Duncan family had always made him feel more at home and accepted than his own. It had been Jake’s dad, Alan, who’d taught him how to fish while his own dad had been too busy working. Jake’s mom, Patrice, who’d sat with him for hours until he finally understood geometry in the tenth grade. And then there was Missy, who’d been just like his own little sister. Together, Jake and Nick had teased and tormented her until one day the teasing stopped and...
Missy.
“Hey. I was kidding.” Jake punched him in the shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Sort of. But I am glad you’re back. I couldn’t do this without you.”
“Sure you could.” Nick picked up his bag and together they walked toward the front desk so he could check in. “You just wouldn’t want to.”
“You got that right. As of tomorrow, I’ll have all my favorite people here. The girls are on their way. They had some last-minute dress fittings or something.”
“The girls?” Nick asked before giving the desk attendant his information and credit card to secure his room.
“Yeah. And wait until you see the bridesmaid dress. Marissa is going to kill me, but it was way too good of a—”
“Missy?” Nick knew he sounded like an idiot and he probably looked even more idiotic but he couldn’t help it. Of course, he knew on some level that Missy would be there. It was her brother’s wedding after all, but he hadn’t really thought about what that would actually mean. “She’s here?”
Jake shook his head and blinked hard. “Are you drunk, man? No. I just told you that the girls had dress fittings. And you really should stop calling her Missy. She hated it when we were kids, and I can’t imagine she’ll like it any better now.”
“When are they getting here?” Nick ignored the comment about Marissa’s nickname. He’d always called her Missy; it was their special thing. Or at least, it had been. She protested, but Nick was pretty sure she secretly liked it.
“They’ll be here later. In time for dinner.”
“Tonight?”
Jake nodded slowly. “That’s right. Tonight. At the dinner with the families and the bridal party. You got the email I sent you with all the details for the weekend, right?”
Nick vaguely remembered an itinerary with all the bridal activities, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it because he was busy trying to actually make it to the wedding. He figured Jake and Jenny could fill him in on all the particulars once he got here. “Maybe you can fill me in?” He shrugged apologetically before he accepted the key and information the front desk clerk handed him.
Jake shook his head and laughed. “I’ll get you a new copy of the itinerary. Jenny worked hard to make this a whole destination wedding thing. So we have a few days of activities planned for everyone.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely.”
“Anything I need to know about? Or can I just lay low until Saturday?”
His buddy chuckled and they walked through the grand timber-framed lobby toward the bank of elevators. “I’ll email you the itinerary right away so you can brush up before dinner or Jenny might just kill you. You should know better than to piss off a bride. She seems super sweet and all, but...”
“Ha! I can’t believe Jenny would get bridezilla. You maybe, but not Jenny.”
They laughed together as Jake walked with him up to his room and Nick knew he’d made the right decision. Even if it meant his dad disowning him and k
icking him out of the family business, there was nowhere he’d rather be than next to his best friend, laughing, joking, and helping him prepare for the most important day of his life.
The Duncan family meant too much to him.
“This is your room,” Jake said as they approached a door at the end of the hall. “I hope you don’t mind, but we had to switch up a few of the reservations when we were block booking the rooms.”
“What do you mean?” Nick held up the key to the door and heard a click as the lock released.
“So you actually have a two-bedroom suite,” Jake said as they walked into the incredible room. Instantly, they were greeted with a picture window that looked out at the mountain range, making it feel as if the mountain were right in the room with them.
“A suite?” Nick dropped his bag on a chair and walked around the impressive room. Sure enough, there were two doors leading to what must have been the bedrooms. “Okay. It’s a little much for just me, but whatever works.”
“That’s the thing,” Jake said. “The room was initially for some of Jenny’s cousins, but there was a bit of a fight between the women, and they refuse to share the space, so I had to give them two separate rooms and because it all happened really quickly, I figured that the best two people to share the suite were you and Marissa. I mean, you’re practically brother and sister anyway, right? So you grab a room and she’ll take the other one.”
“What?” Jake was so casual about him sharing a room with his little sister that it took Nick a moment to realize what he’d actually said. “You want me to share a room with Missy?”
