“What are you doing?” she gasped.
Breaker lowered to his knee, a little stiff because like all of us, he was getting on in years. “I’m askin’ you to marry me, baby. Be my queen.” He held up the ring and through her tears, Jasmine nodded.
“Yes,” she cried, holding out her hand for the ring. “Yes. I’ll marry you, baby.”
Helping Breaker back to his feet, they kissed in a way that was probably a little over the top for the audience, but we were used to them being over the top, so we cheered while the kids squealed even though they didn’t really understand what was going on.
“Now I really do have everything I ever wanted,” Jasmine said, looking around at her family with her hand on her heart. “Life is pretty fucking perfect right now. Who’d have thought.”
“Grandma used a bad word!” Willow yelled, pointing at Jasmine as she gasped in horror. We all tried not to laugh as the kids gathered to find out exactly what was said, Willow proudly declaring that it was the F word. Sloane settled them all down with a game of cat and mouse and it was forgotten pretty quickly.
Before we knew it, the kids were all inside asleep and the adults were outside waiting for the midnight fireworks to light up the sky from where they were set off at the beach. With a drink in hand, we sat around the pool, cuddled up on loungers, talking about kids and the renovation on the surf shop we’d been working on lately. It was all so normal and so right; the dog curling up between Blair’s and my legs the icing on the cake.
I reached down and scratched her head. “Ready to do this all again next year, Coco,” I said with a smile. It had taken a couple of years for me to feel OK bringing another dog into my life after losing Rogue. But Coco, a chocolate-coloured Labrador, had been a welcome addition to the family with her zest for life and her love of chasing balls and licking sticky children. She made everything about my life just that bit more complete.
“Ready?” Sam said, looking at his watch before counting down from ten.
We all joined in, the stroke of midnight punctuated with the first boom of fireworks, a passion-filled kiss from my wife, and the crazy barking of my dog. Absolutely-fucking-perfect.
Life didn’t get any better than this. My dreams had come true, and I was living in the middle of a real-life Hallmark movie. I was the luckiest bastard in the world.
“Happy new year, Sunshine.”
Blair smiled and looked into my eyes as she placed her hand against the stubble on my cheek. “Happy new year, my heart. Here’s to many more.”
I grinned as I brushed her soft hair back from her face. “Forever should just about do it.”
“Yes,” she whispered, sucking lightly on my lower lip. “Forever sounds perfect.”
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Next for Lilliana fans, a brand-new laugh out loud comedy about second chances, wrangling kids, and crazy relatives.
The day Darcy learned the news of her husband’s remission she expected a celebration, or at least a nice piece of cake. Instead, she was served with divorce papers. Oh, and the knowledge they were bankrupt.
With her twenty year union over and two children to support on her own, she moved in with her eccentric grandmother, hoping to find peace and quiet in the seaside town of Hampton.
What she wasn’t expecting to find was a set of saggy old man balls upon arrival.
Needing to bleach her eyes, calm her screaming teen daughter and stop her eight year old son from filming the chaos to upload, Darcy was already reconsidering the sanity in her decision. Turned out, Nana was quite the player in the retirement circle.
She also fancied herself a bit of a match maker.
Deciding local football legend, Leo Murphy would provide the ultimate distraction for Darcy, Nana enlisted the help of her trouble-loving great-grandson with somewhat disastrous results. Leo didn’t even know what hit him. Literally.
With a great smile and a body to die for, it wasn’t hard to convince Darcy to give Leo a chance. It also helped that he had a lot of patience for one particularly rambunctious young boy and couldn’t run too fast on his busted knee—a captive audience was easily swayed, after all.
But with a teenager in the midst of a meltdown, a heart cracked and bruised, and a son who wouldn’t stop acting up, even a chance could prove too much for Darcy and not enough for Leo, who wasn’t the kind of man who gave up easily.
https://books2read.com/u/3L0zNX
All Preorders (2019)
Love is a Beach
A Beautiful Destination
Lying Game
Also by Lilliana Anderson
Preorders (2019)
Love is a Beach
A Beautiful Destination
Lying Game
Cartwright Brothers
Fool Me Twice
Fools Rush In
Foolish Games
Fool’s Errand
Fool’s Paradise
47 Things
47 Things
One More Thing
Standalones
In the Wind
Till There Was You
Never Again
Drawn Series
Drawn
Drawn 2 – Obsession
Drawn 2 – Redemption
Drawn to Fight
Zac & Evie
Hugo & Meg
Beautiful Series
Too Close
A Beautiful Struggle
Phoenix
A Beautiful Forever
Commitment
A Beautiful Melody
A Beautiful Rock
Devotion
A Beautiful Star
A Beautiful Taste
A Beautiful Danger
Entwined Series
Our Hearts Entwined
Our Lives Entwined
The Confidante Trilogy
Confidante: The Brothel
Confidante: The Escort
Confidante: The Madame
For more information on upcoming releases visit
www.lillianaanderson.com/preorders
About the Author
Bestselling Author of the Beautiful Series, Drawn and 47 Things, Lilliana has always loved to read and write, considering it the best form of escapism that the world has to offer.
Australian born and bred, she writes New Adult Romance revolving around her authentically Aussie characters with all the quirks you’d expect from those born Down Under.
Lilliana feels that the world should see Australia for more than just it's outback and tries to show characters in a city and suburban setting.
When she isn't writing, she wears the hat of 'wife and mother' to her husband and five children.
Before Lilliana turned to writing, she worked in a variety of industries and studied humanities and communications before transferring to commerce/law at university.
Originally from Sydney's Western suburbs, she currently lives a fairly quiet life in suburban Melbourne.
For more information on Lilliana and her work:
www.lillianaanderson.com
[email protected]
To join her Facebook reader group and talk books
https://www.facebook.com/groups/438800699591852
Acknowledgments
AS ALWAYS, there are people to be thanked! Many sets of eyes go in to the creation of each of my books and I am very grateful to every person who takes time out of their lives to help me.
To my editor, Marion Archer, I thank you all for your keen editing eyes and funny comments. Margaret Neal, thank you for helping to proof the final copy—hopefully we got them all!
To my team of author friends and sharers, you’re all so wonderful. I don’t ask you to do what you do, but you see something I post and share it far and wide. I’m eternally grateful. Thank you all so much. I love you all!
To every blogger and reviewe
r who has an ARC or has signed up to post about my book – I thank you too. You are the first step to announcing my work to the world. No author can do this without you xoxox
Also, a big thank you to my husband for putting up with my bitching and moaning and his unending support and encouragement.
Thank you to my kids for being so patient while I stare at a computer screen and finish typing out a thought. I love that you all come and sit with me while I work just to spend a bit of extra time with mummy!
And of course – thank you to all of my readers. You are the most important of all. Without you, I would be writing to the crickets.
Mwah! xoxox
Fool’s Paradise: Cartwright Brothers, Book 5 Page 25
