“Finally, a wedding in your beautiful chapel,” Anna whispered to him. Inside the chapel, the sunset bathed the chapel in a rosy glow and streamed through the stained glass windows, splashing everything with jewel tones, augmented by the soft candlelight. “It’s beautiful, Carter. You should be really proud.”
“You look gorgeous,” Carter whispered back, his heated gaze on her. She smiled at him, the memory of yesterday coloring her cheeks. “Save me a dance later?”
Anna nodded and, as she’d done countless times before, strode down the aisle at the start of the processional. Just as she stepped forward, her heel snapped. Carter caught her as she wobbled. Under her dress, Anna kicked her ruined heels off and stepped forward as Carter scooped them up to hide behind his back. Anna grinned inwardly at what a good team they made.
The wedding, pictures, and reception passed in a happy blur. Anna saw Carter several times but could exchange no more than pleasantries as they worked to give the bride a gorgeous wedding.
Finally, an hour after midnight, the bride tottered toward her bed. As she started up the path, Kim turned back to Carter with a wide smile. “Thanks for making it amazing. There’ll be a 5 bouquet review in Happily Ever After next month but, even better than that, I’ll put it in my Kim recommends column. You’ll be booked solid by this time next year.”
“I’m so glad you enjoyed it,” Carter answered. He waited until Kim was out of sight to pick Anna up in a jubilant bear hug.
“We did it. Anna, I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Anna smiled down at him and cupped his face as she gave him a quick, congratulatory kiss, tasting of bubbly champagne and sweet wedding cake.
“Not so fast,” Carter whispered as he lowered her so her feet brushed the sand.
“I’ve been waiting over a day for you to kiss me again,” Anna complained.
“Impatient, are we?” Carter brushed her mouth again. “We haven’t had our dance yet.”
“There’s no music,” Anna laughed.
Dance after they wave the wedding couple off, the only music the slap of the waves against the sand and the pounding of her heart.
“Come see the sunrise with me?” Carter whispered against her mouth.
Yesterday, she’d been swept away with the romance of it all. Totally in the moment. Heady with the indulgence of a day to herself. Now, she had to make a conscious choice.
Slowly, Anna twined her fingers with his. “Come on, my room is closer.”
They slipped into the hotel and into the elevator without any one seeming to notice. In the elevator, he kissed her, cupping her face with trembling fingers. Carter made her feel treasured, wanted, desired and the knowledge of that made Anna bold and a little wild. She nipped at his lower lip, wresting a deep groan from him.
Their clothing became an irritant between them, as they stumbled down the endless corridor to her room, unwilling to part from each other for even a second, their desire too long denied.
They tumbled into her room. He tugged his shirt off as she opened the French doors leading to her wide patio, letting in the sound of the surf pounding on the beach. Carter traced his fingers over her bare shoulders before locating the hidden zipper in her blue bridesmaids dress. It tumbled to the ground in a froth of chiffon and she stepped out of it.
He fumbled with his belt as she grabbed a strip of condoms out of her travel bag, tossing them on the bed. She pushed away the thought of what that packed travel bag meant. She’d leave in just a handful of hours. He’d stay.
They had only this moment.
Clad in only a scrap of lacy panties, Anna pulled Carter against her, tugging his head down for another of those deep, drugging kisses. Together, they tumbled onto the bed, desperate and needy for each other, too crazed to make their pleasure last. Carter trailed his fingers over her skin as Anna curved her leg around his hip, arching into him.
Carter rocked against her, ready and eager, as he stroked her, his big hands warm and gentle. He nipped her lower lip, before sliding his tongue over the sting and exploring her mouth. Dizzy, overwhelmed, Anna licked her way down his neck as she slid her palms down his flat stomach to cup him and stroke him to readiness. When she wrapped her hand around him, Carter’s head fell back, his breathing ragged and his eyes slipping closed as he made a small sound that might have been her name.
Too eager to wait any longer, Anna straddled him and reached out, to grab one of the foil packets on the bedside table. He kissed his way down her neck, over the tops of her breasts, as he caressed her thighs; slowly moving toward her center. She rocked against his fingers as he circled her, teasing her, as she struggled to cover him with the condom. Desperate to feel him inside her, she guided him to her entrance and sank down on him. Her eyes fluttered shut as he filled her. Their hands laced together as they found their rhythm, hot, fast, hard, and a little wild. He sat up, so they pressed together from shoulder to waist, as he trailed kisses along her neck, his breath hot and his hands demanding. He nipped her earlobe, making her groan. She rode him hard and fast as they thrust together, each chasing their own climax.
Anna groaned his name as she fell apart in his arms, her release spiraling through her in little bursts of light. In just a few more thrusts, Carter followed her over the edge into bliss. Breathing hard, they clutched each other, their sweat-slicked skin sticking together but neither wanting to let go first. Anna dropped her head to his broad shoulder and struggled just to breathe.
“Worth the wait,” Carter groaned as he shifted to the side. He rid himself of the condom and climbed back into bed, gathering her close. They stared out the window at the moonlight dancing on the water as their breathing slowed.
“I’m exhausted but I don’t want to sleep,” Anna whispered. “I have to leave in a few hours.”
Carter brushed his lips over her bare shoulder and whispered, so softly that she could barely hear him over the waves. “You could stay.”
“Stay?” Anna’s heartbeat picked up again, pulsing widely in her throat.
“I need a wedding planner. You’ve more than proven that you’re up to the task.”
“I’m done with weddings,” Anna swallowed hard against the disappointment. She’d wanted him to ask her to stay because of her but that was silly. She didn’t know this man, not really. She couldn’t possibly be in love with him so fast. Anna shut her eyes, very worried that her foolish heart might have gone right ahead and fallen. “I’m going to start my own design firm.”
“Fine. I’ll hire you to design the treetop villas,” Carter stroked her side, his hand warm on the curve of her hip. “I need an eco-tourism conscious designer. I happen to know one.”
“The villas your grandfather won’t give you the money to build?”
“He will though, eventually,” Carter argued, even as he cupped her breasts, his hardness pressing against the back of her thigh.
“And you’d waste your money on an unknown, new firm?”
“You’re not unknown to me,” Carter answered, his hand now stroking her belly, slow circles that teased and comforted at the same time. He nuzzled her neck.
Anna rolled onto her back to look up at him. “You’re serious?”
“Of course I am,” Carter dropped a kiss on her nose. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He dipped his head to kiss her then but she pushed back on his shoulders, her heart thrumming in her chest. Stay here? With Carter? “I can’t just run off to the islands.”
“Why not?” Carter asked. “Just stay.”
“But—“ He covered his mouth with hers, rolling on top of her and effectively delaying their argument. After he loved her again, slowly and thoroughly this time, he fell asleep, his arm tossed over her while she lay, staring at the endlessly undulating waves until dawn pinked the horizon.
She crept from the bed and slipped into the bathroom to shower and dress, his single word request drumming through her mind with every heartbeat. Stay. Stay. Stay.
Anna wanted to stay.
What did she really have holding her to Savannah? She could start her business from here, in this gorgeous place, with the gorgeous man asleep in her bed.
She couldn’t just up and move, could she? Anna had never been spontaneous, all her life she’d planned carefully and meticulously, taking each challenge step-by-step. After her marriage crumbled, she carefully rebuilt her life from the rubble and moved on.
But had she, really? She’d run home to Savannah and taken refuge in the carriage house. She hadn’t really taken any risks. Starting her own firm would be risk enough. She couldn’t run off to the islands too.
Of course, a little voice in the back of her head that sounded an awful lot like Erin counseled her, she could move here temporarily. Just to see. Just to take the chance.
Just weeks after Erin met Matthew, she’d uprooted herself and her business to move to Savannah. Now, Always a Bridesmaid was thriving and flourishing.
Anna needed to think, to consider, to plan. She could always come back.
Could she though? Would a man as wonderful as Carter just wait for her? Should she take her second chance while she could?
No closer to a decision, Anna dressed and exited the bathroom. Carter lay, facedown on the bed, the rumpled sheets tossed over him. She would like nothing more than to just climb into that bed, curl up next to him, and stay. But Anna just couldn’t take that big of a risk. She grabbed her suitcase and carefully opened the door to the hall.
“Sneaking out without saying goodbye?” Carter rasped. He sat up, the sheet pooling around his waist, and raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll drive you to the ferry.”
“That’s okay. You sleep in,” Anna pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and stepped back. “Goodbye, Carter.”
CHAPTER 10
“What has you so grumpy?” Oliver Prescott asked that afternoon. “Figured you’d be happy finally pulling off a wedding in that chapel of yours.”
“Yep, it went great.” Carter answered, keeping his head down as he concentrated on reviewing the check-ins for the afternoon rush. His buddies in the military always assured him that working was the anecdote to heartbreak. Carter wasn’t so sure. It didn’t seem to be helping so far.
“So, if it went so great, how come you’re like a bear with a sore paw?”
“Just tired,” Carter answered.
“Just missing your bridesmaid more like,” Oliver chuckled.
“She’s not my bridesmaid,” Carter answered tonelessly.
“Could’ve fooled me. You could barely take your eyes off her last night.”
Carter tapped keys on the computer. “You gonna tell me what happened or do I have to guess?”
“Nothing happened,” Carter snapped. Oliver’s eyebrows went up. “She went home to Savannah, I stayed here.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Look, I asked her to stay and she said no. End of story.”
“And you’re just going to let that be the end of the story?” Oliver demanded. “Seems to me you already let her walk out of your life once. You gonna do it again?”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“We’ve got this newfangled invention called the phone. They even have them in Savannah,” Oliver said. “You could do whatever the kids are doing and send a twit or fax or what have you.”
“Really up on the technology, huh, Gramps?” Carter grinned at him.
“I’m just saying that that girl made you happy. Content. You fit together. Work well together. But you’re going to let all that go because you’re too chicken to call or write.”
“She left,” Carter pointed out, his voice sounding sulky even to his own ears.
“So she did. And you might write or call and she might not be interested.”
“You should have a lonely hearts advice column,” Carter rolled his eyes like a surly teenager.
“So, she might not want to hear from you and, if that’s the case, you’d respect that. I raised you to have manners,” Oliver said. “But then again, having seen the way you two mooned over each other, I think she might be mighty glad to hear from you.”
“Maybe,” Carter focused on the computer screen, fighting not to get his hopes up, when a jangle of tinkling glass against metal made him look up.
Anna stood across from the front desk, holding up a wind chime. “Thought of a place to hang it.”
“Where?”
“On that back deck at your house,” She tilted her chin up as Carter rushed around the desk to sweep her into his arms. “I got over to the main island and was just walking around, waiting for my cab to the airport. I walked into the marketplace and saw these and…well…I decided to stay.”
Carter dropped a kiss on her smiling mouth, “Welcome back to Eden Isle.”
And one year later, they celebrated another wedding at the chapel, having to squeeze it in between bookings. Anna, wearing a batik sundress the color of the Caribbean sea outside, strolled down the aisle to him, her hair a nimbus of wild curls around her head, barefoot, to be his bride.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Courtney Hunt writes smart, funny contemporary romances featuring strong heroines and the sexy heroes who steal their hearts.
* * *
In addition to her award-winning novel, The Lost Art of Second Chances, her work includes the light-hearted Always a Bridesmaid series and the heartwarming Cupid’s Coffeeshop series.
* * *
An attorney by day, Courtney lives outside Washington, DC with her own Prince Charming and their son.
Sign up for Courtney Hunt’s newsletter
Read More from Courtney Hunt
www.courtney-hunt.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Romanceauthorcourtneyhunt/
FINDING CORY
A SUNFISH ISLAND RESORT STORY
CAITLYN LYNCH
Olivia Stratten wasn’t thinking about romance when she accepted a job as marketing director for a resort island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. She just wanted to get far, far away from New York and her ruined career. Activities director Cory Gillette is the kind of man who is hard to resist, though, and Olivia finds that maybe she doesn’t want to resist anyway…
CHAPTER 1
The incredible heat surprised Olivia as she stepped off the plane and walked down the steps to the tarmac. It was just like being slapped in the face with a hot, wet towel. She broke out in a sweat almost instantly and considered pausing to take off the jacket to her pantsuit, but the terminal was just a few steps away and the promise of air conditioning beckoned. Shouldering her laptop bag, she made rapidly for the doors.
Since she'd come in on a domestic flight from Sydney, she didn’t have to clear international customs. After collecting her suitcase, she made her way to the greeting area and looked hopefully around.
Almost everyone who'd been on the flight with her were tourists, and they were making their way to several tour group and resort signs being held up around the area. Olivia bit her lip, wondering if she should head for the brightly colored sign proclaiming the legend SUNFISH ISLAND RESORT with the tourists going in that direction, or if there was a different protocol for newly arrived staff.
Not seeing anyone holding up a sign with her name, she shrugged mentally and headed on over. A pretty Chinese girl holding the sign and a clipboard smiled at her, though the smile turned quizzical as she took in Olivia's designer pantsuit and high-heeled pumps, a far cry from the comfortable holiday wear the tourists sported.
"Hi, I'm Jill! Your name, please?"
"Olivia Stratten."
Jill glanced down automatically at her clipboard before her head snapped back up. "Wait, you're the new marketing manager!"
"I am." Olivia smiled.
"Welcome, it's lovely to meet you!" Jill shoved her clipboard under her arm to pump Olivia's hand enthusiastically. "Sorry we didn't have a specific sign for you—well, we did, actually. Rosie was gonna hold it but it turns out that her boyfriend was the co-pilot on y
our flight and it's turning around and going back to Sydney in an hour so she went to try and see him for a few minutes."
Olivia blinked at the sudden gush of information delivered in a broad Australian accent. She'd only been in the country for a week and still struggled to pick up all the words when the locals talked quickly. She was pretty sure she'd gotten the gist, though, and nodded.
"That's alright. I hope she got some time with him."
Jill rolled her eyes. "Guy's a prick with a girl in every town. I keep trying to tell Rosie, but she's blinded by the whole airline-pilot-glamor thing."
"That's still a thing?"
"Considering how much pilots get paid, yeah," Jill said with a wry twist of her lips. "Here she is now."
* * *
OLIVIA TURNED to see another young woman hurrying toward them. She was a little taller than Jill and about Olivia's height, brown-haired, and very tanned. Her white teeth flashed in her brown face as she smiled.
"Hi, you must be Olivia! I'm Rosie, the staff manager at the resort. It's lovely to meet you!"
Charmed by the friendly, unaffected greetings from two women Olivia guessed were both around her own age of twenty-nine, Olivia smiled back at them. "It's lovely to be here. So different from New York." She'd left home in chilly, dark October, when the city seemed shrouded in gloom as winter approached. Sydney had been quite a shock to the system, warm and bright, green with spring growth. North Queensland was hot and far more humid. When she’d looked out of the plane window as it came into land, the view had been all turquoise water and sand-rimmed tropical islands.
"I reckon," Jill said with a laugh in her voice, giving Rosie a glance Olivia couldn't interpret before she turned away to see to the tourists awaiting her attention.
Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads Page 64
