by Sandra Owens
Oh, Dylan. You sweet, wonderful, amazing man. “That’s something you’ll never have to worry about…well, I can’t promise I won’t peek under a kilt if the opportunity presents itself. You know, just to learn the answer to the age-old question.”
He grinned. “You can look but not touch. How’s that?”
“Deal.”
His smile faded, and he stared intently at me. “I want you to know that I’ll wait for you, however long it takes before you’re ready to come home. You’re it for me.”
Happiness filled me, warming all the places that had been cold since the day I’d lost my twin. I put my palm on his cheek. “Who do you love?”
He leaned his face into my hand. “Jenny. Just Jenny.”
There was nothing better he could have said to put to rest any lingering fear that his heart belonged to another woman. I smiled up at him. “I love you more.”
“Do not.”
“Do too.” That resulted in a round of wrestling and tickling, and when we were both laughing so hard we could barely catch our breath, he rolled on top of me and stared down at me. “Where do you go next?”
“I have a flight to London this afternoon, but—”
“Can I come with you? I have two weeks before I have to return.”
Before he interrupted me, I was about to say that I wanted to return home with him, but two weeks traveling with Dylan? That would be so awesome.
“If that’s not okay, I understand,” he said when I didn’t answer.
“Crazy man. Of course you can come with me. I want you to. And when it’s time for you to go home, I’m coming with you.”
“Are you sure? You’ve talked of nothing but seeing the world since we met.”
I could tell I’d pleased him. “And I still want to, but with you by my side. You get two weeks of vacation a year?”
“Actually I negotiated three weeks before I left. The mayor owed me a favor and was feeling rather generous.”
I clapped my hands. “Fantastic. Every year we’ll pick a country to visit.”
“Although that was Plan B, it was my favorite one.”
“What was Plan A?”
“To find you, tell you I loved you, and then send you on your way.”
Somehow I’d found the perfect man to love. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. So how does Italy next year sound?”
He pursed his lips as if thinking, then said, “Who knows, maybe for our honeymoon.”
My heart tripped over itself. While neither one of us was ready to talk marriage, that he was mentioning the possibility moved our relationship into a whole new realm.
“Well, I have heard that Italy is for lovers.” I could already imagine us in a villa by the sea, the windows open and sheer white curtains billowing in the air while we made love.
“And we’ll have to come back to Greece someday since I’m only getting a glimpse of the country this time around.”
“Definitely.” I loved Greece and wanted to experience it with him.
He rolled off me, then pulled me onto my side to face him. “Will you move in with me when we get home? I mean, you might as well. You’ll be spending all your time in my bed anyway.”
“Ha! Pretty sure of yourself, Chief.”
“No, I’m just hoping.”
His hand was on the bed between us. I curled my fingers around his. “The answer is yes.”
“Thank you.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. Then his expression turned serious. “I should mention that we’re going to have about a dozen kids.”
“Huh?” I gulped. “I was thinking two or three someday. In the future.” If we get married, I silently added.
“Nope. Somewhere between nine and a dozen if the vet’s right.”
At his amused grin, I punched his arm. “Don’t scare me like that.” Then it hit me. “Daisy’s pregnant?”
“She is. Must have happened right before I found her. It would have been noticeable sooner if she hadn’t been so undernourished. The vet said she’ll deliver in about three weeks.”
“We need to go home.”
He chuckled. “Another reason I love you. You love my dog as much as I do.”
“Almost as much. You have a slight edge over her.”
“That’s nice to know.” He leaned over me and kissed me long and hard. “Back to Daisy,” he said when we came up for air. “I want to keep her puppies.”
“All of them?”
“Yeah. I guess we could find them good homes, but how would we know for sure they were being treated right? Before I left, I asked Connor to scout out some land I can build a log house on. Adam said he would fast-track it and have whatever I decided on finished in six months. It would mean a houseful of rambunctious puppies in my apartment for a while, but we could manage it for a short time.”
“If we don’t get evicted.”
He laughed. “There is that. We’ll worry about that if it happens.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it? No telling me I’m out of my mind?”
“Nope. The more the merrier, I always say.”
“You can’t possibly know how much I love you,” he said. “And we’re still going to London. Daisy wouldn’t dare have her puppies before we get home.”
He picked up a lock of my hair and wrapped it around his fingers. “I think we’re done talking. I have other things in mind at the moment.”
I waggled my eyebrows. “You by any chance bring your handcuffs, Mr. Policeman?”
A wicked smile curved his lips. “No, but I’m very good at improvising. Let me show you.”
Turned out my man was very creative.
Coming Soon…
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Coming August 2nd . . .
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ALL AUTUMN
Autumn Stratton has it all. Or so she thinks until she catches her two-timing husband with his pants around his ankles. There is much Autumn can forgive but infidelity isn’t one of them. Since she obviously can’t trust her judgment in men, she decides they are only good for one thing…
Connor Hunter has been friends with Autumn since the first grade, and she’s like a sister to him. That changes the day she accidently flashes him. After viewing something he shouldn’t have, Connor is seeing his friend in a whole new light. When she says all she wants now from a man is a fling, Connor is all in. Having watched his twin brother fall apart because of a woman, Connor has no intention of giving any female the power to hurt him that way.
Autumn and Connor agree that friends with benefits is the perfect solution for both of them. They are friends and will never hurt each other. That’s the plan, anyway. But as happens, the best-laid plans often go awry. And when they do, the quirky residents of Blue Ridge Valley decide to take matters into their own hands, all in the name of love.
Acknowledgments
Romance readers—yes, you. It’s impossible to adequately thank you for the love and support you give authors. I wish I could personally meet each and every one of you so I could give you a hug. I’m blessed by the friendships I’ve made with readers the world over, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading my books. I love you all.
Book bloggers, you guys rock! I want to name you here, but I’m petrified I’ll miss some of you. Just know that I appreciate so much the support and love that you give authors.
To Jenny Holiday, my friend and critique partner, thank you for… well, where do I start? With the friend love or with the sometimes crazy e-mails between us that makes us laugh or just knowing that we’re there for each other? Or what about our Skype plotting sessions or your critiques that make my stories so much better. I guess here I’ll just say thank you and I love you, and then I’ll write you a mushy e-mail!
Miranda Liasson, you have no idea how much I love and value our long, chatty phone conversations. You have a very weird sixth sense about when to ca
ll me—somehow knowing when I need a pep talk or a good laugh. Thank you!
AE Jones, we write different romance genres, but we sure do make awesome beta readers for each other. Keep sending me those outrageously funny stories to read.
Ella Sheridan, not only are you a great author, but you make one hell of a copy editor/proofreader. Thank you for keeping me from embarrassing myself. Maybe someday I’ll figure out commas, but don’t count on it.
Jennie Conway, I’m sorry that we didn’t have a chance to “shine” together, but I’ll always remember that you helped me make this book better. Thank you!
To Sandra’s Book Salon Facebook group, you all are the best! Thank you for all the love and support and especially for the laughter! I can’t wait to see who you cast for Dylan and Jenny.
To everyone who has read and then posted reviews for my books, I’d kiss you if I could. Although you’d probably rather I didn’t, but tough. Seriously, though, reviews mean everything to an author, so thank you, thank you, thank you!
To my family—Jim, Jeff, and DeAnna—love you guys so much!
About Sandra
Bestselling, award-winning author Sandra Owens lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Her family and friends often question her sanity but have ceased being surprised by what she might get up to next. She’s jumped out of a plane, flown in an aerobatic plane while the pilot performed death-defying stunts, gotten into laser gun fights in Air Combat, and ridden a Harley motorcycle for years. She regrets nothing.
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Sandra is a Romance Writers of America Honor Roll member and a 2013 Golden Heart Finalist for her contemporary romance Crazy for Her. In addition to her contemporary romantic suspense novels, she writes Regency stories.
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