by Aven Ellis
“Okay,” I say, and as soon as he’s out of sight, I dash into the hall closet, where I stashed his gift earlier today. Oh, I can’t wait to see his face when I give it to him!
Luca comes back with a package tucked under his arm. When he sees my package, his eyes light up.
“Happy Valentine’s Day! I want you to open yours first,” I say.
Luca sets his package on the coffee table, and we sit next to each other on the sofa. Luca tears off the paper of my gift, revealing a huge sketchbook and brand new art pencils along with a card.
“New art supplies, this is perfect,” Luca says.
“There’s more in the card.”
Luca opens it and pulls out a gift certificate. He reads the card first.
“‘Luca, there are no words to tell you how much I love you,” he reads, his voice soft. “Thank you for being the man you are. You’re my inspiration. You’ve taught me to live. I am so glad to celebrate this Valentine’s Day with you. I love you with all my heart, more than I ever dreamed I could love anyone.’”
Luca shifts his gaze to me. “I never thought any woman would write me a card like this, let alone one like you. I love you, Collins,” he whispers.
“I love you, too,” I whisper back. I lean forward and kiss him, a slow, sweet kiss reflecting everything that is in my heart.
“Don’t forget the gift certificate.”
Luca glances down at it.
“This is for that art studio we went to,” Luca says.
“It’s one month of private sketching lessons,” I say.
Luca’s face lights up with sheer happiness.
“Seriously?”
“I remembered how much fun you had in the studio that day, and I thought you would love the professional instruction.”
“Sweetheart, it’s perfect,” Luca says, leaning over and kissing me. “I can’t wait to use it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I say, so happy that he loves my gift.
“Now yours,” Luca says, reaching for his present on the table.
I eagerly accept it and remove the red ribbon and rip off the white paper. Inside, I find a sketchbook. I glance up at him, confused.
“Am I going to learn to draw, too?” I ask.
Luca grins. “No. Open the book.”
I flip open the book, and the first page is another rendition of me with Major, from Livy’s website. This time, Luca has written on the drawing.
“‘She was the most unique woman I’d ever seen,” I read aloud. “And I had to know her.’”
I lift my eyes from the page.
“It’s our story,” Luca says. “In pictures.”
I flip the page and gasp as I see me walking down Beckett’s lawn in Wisconsin toward the lake. The drawing is in vivid detail, from the moon shining down on me to the lanterns on the cobblestone fence.
“I met you under the moon, and I started to fall,” I say, my voice growing thick.
I continue on. There’s a picture of us in Major’s stall. Walking in Lincoln Park. Me waiting for him after a game. All drawn in vivid detail with his memories of how he fell in love with me written beneath. All straight from his heart.
I cry as I continue to read.
I get to the last page and see a picture of something that hasn’t happened yet.
I’m standing in his living room in the sketch, but in the picture, Luca is on one knee, holding a ring up to me.
A ring.
In our story . . .
“Oh my God,” I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. “Oh my God.”
Luca stands up and takes my hand, helping me up. Then he drops down on one knee.
“Collins Elizabeth Brady,” he says, his voice strong, “I love you. I want all the rest of my days with you. Will you marry me?”
Then he pops open a velvet box, revealing a sparking diamond and platinum ring to me.
But it’s not an ordinary ring.
The pear-shaped diamond is set inside a diamond horseshoe.
I begin shaking. I love him so much, I’ll burst with happiness.
“Yes,” I say. “Yes. Yes. Yes. I will marry you, Luca Christopher Ballerini. I will marry you!”
Luca grins and takes my hand.
“Cinderella, can you steady the hand for a moment?” he teases. “You’re making this hard to put on your finger.”
I begin to laugh, and he does, too.
Luca slips the ring onto my finger and stands up. I stare at my hand, hardly believing what’s happened.
I’m going to marry this man.
I leap into his arms, catching him off guard, and he laughs loudly in response as he catches me. Wells begins barking like crazy.
We’re engaged.
Luca puts me down, and I cup his gorgeous face in my hands.
“I love you,” I murmur.
“I love you,” Luca says, sliding his arms around me. “I’m going to give you the life you’ve dreamed of. We’re going to get a house out in the suburbs with land and a stable so you can have Major with you all the time. We’ll have another dog, and someday, kids.”
“You’ve already given me the life I’ve dreamed of,” I say, gazing up at him. “By loving me.”
“I’m still going to piss you off,” Luca says, smiling at me.
“That’s all right. I’m annoying.”
“I’ll forget to reload the seasonal creamer.”
“And I’ll burn dinner.”
“I can’t wait to marry you,” Luca says. “But first, I get to help you send out save the date cards for our wedding.”
I laugh. “Save the date. Appropriate for a goalie to be involved in a save, right?”
“Ha-ha. You’re so funny.”
“And you love it.”
“I do. I love you,” he says seriously.
“I love you,” I say.
As Luca kisses me, I know Nana was right.
I found my truth.
Right here in the arms of my Prince Charming.
Also by Aven Ellis and Soul Mate Publishing:
CONNECTIVITY
Overachiever Mary-Kate Grant (who is indeed named after an Olsen Twin) has followed every rule to the letter to pursue her dream of working in TV programming. Ripping a page from the “hard work pays off” playbook, she takes an assistant level job at a Chicago sports network to break into the industry.
MK has no time or desire for a relationship right now—she is totally focused on her career and being independent, unlike the other women in her family.
But MK’s plans are run through the shredder when she finds herself working for William Cumberland, a British media mogul who made his fortune with Connectivity, a social media site. William blows into Chicago just like the winds off Lake Michigan and purchases the group of networks MK works for—and makes her his personal assistant in the process.
Suddenly MK finds her career plans in jeopardy. William makes her question everything she has ever thought and has the uncanny ability to see right through her. And for the first time in her life, MK finds herself not only questioning what she wants for her career but for her personal life as well.
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/npzdr6c
WAITING FOR PRINCE HARRY
(A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)
Twenty-four-year-old Kylie Reed has always been a rule follower. Organized and cautious to a fault, her dreams for life are often filed away for future use—when she has a house, when she meets her future husband, when she has been at her visual display job at a chic Dallas boutique longer. Kylie always has a reason for living her life in the future, not in the present, and fears not living her life to the fullest and reaching her dream of becoming a fashio
n designer.
The only exception to rules, of course, would be running away with Prince Harry. But living in Dallas and not knowing Prince Harry make this a non-option.
Or does it?
Because when Kylie accidentally falls into the lap of a gorgeous ginger guy—yes, even more gorgeous than the real Prince Harry—all bets are off. Kylie’s life takes some unexpected twists and turns thanks to this encounter. Could this stranger be the one to show Kylie how to live in the present?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/paapxo8
CHRONICLES OF A
LINCOLN PARK FASHIONISTA
Recent college graduate Avery Andrews is ready to begin a new life in the big city. She’s landed an apartment in Chicago’s famed Lincoln Park neighborhood–and has her eye on the cute commodity trader just a floor above.
If Premier Airlines knew about her fear of flying, they never would have hired her to be their marketing assistant—but it’s not like Avery wants a lifelong career. Right now she simply wants a job to pay her bills . . . and fund a few little shopping excursions, too.
Her new lifestyle comes with a price tag, as Avery is not only faced with paying a ridiculous rent but finds she’s perceived as one of the vacant, husband-hunting fashionistas who live in the area. Avery resents this stereotype. So she doesn’t want a lifelong career, and she loves fashions she can’t afford, but that doesn’t mean she is empty-headed and spoiled, does it?
When an opportunity to participate in a documentary at work arises, Avery finds a two-fold solution to her problems. She’ll earn extra money for it, and the documentary will show her as a serious career woman, enabling her to shed that husband-hunting fashionista label for good.
When the camera is on, Avery attempts to be a motivated professional woman. But when she is challenged by Deacon Ryan, the videographer assigned to cover her story, Avery finds herself wanting things she was never supposed to want—like a lasting career—and Deacon. And Avery might just gain more from the experience than a perfect career image and extra cash to put in her Tory Burch wallet . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mv87r8v
THE DEFINITION OF ICING
(A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)
Kenley Hunter finally has everything sorted out. Fresh from studying chocolate making in Europe, she's gambling everything on her new business, Confection Consultations.
All Kenley wants in life is people to take her seriously, to see the person on the inside rather than the blond beauty on the outside. While pursuing her passion of chocolate, Kenley discovered people seek her knowledge. They see past the exterior and fall for the chocolate delights in front of them.
So with work as her focus, Kenley is ready to start her career in Dallas. Men are out of her recipe, because she fears that once they get past her looks, they’ll be disappointed in what they find. Kenley decides she's all about the chocolate now.
Or is she?
Because a chance meeting with new Dallas Demon hockey star Nate Johansson might change everything. Sent to Dallas in a blockbuster trade, Nate is somewhere he doesn't want to be, for reasons that have caused him heartbreak on multiple levels. Nate knows he will never trust a woman again after what happened to him in Minnesota.
But when he meets a woman with an intriguing name and a passion for chocolate, Nate isn't so sure about his theory. And he might just learn a definition of icing other than the one used in hockey with Kenley as his guide . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pjh8fab
THE AUBREY RULES
(Chicago on Ice Series Book 1)
Some of the Aubrey Rules to Live By:
*If I’m going to indulge in French fries, I must add extra time to the treadmill the next day.
*Always keep your work and private life separate.
*Being open to new experiences will never involve eating kale.
*Never, ever date a professional athlete.
For Chicago social media professional Aubrey Paige, the rules are everything. So much so that Aubrey has painstakingly written her rules for living into a polka-dot Kate Spade notebook that she carries with her at all times. It’s her personal guidebook to living her life. These rules are the Holy Grail—ones never to be broken. They guide her actions for everything, from dealing with workplace drama to finding a great guy to date. After all, these are her own rules, built from her life experiences and observations. So they have to be perfect, right?
Or are they?
Because when Aubrey meets a cute Canadian, she suddenly finds her rules being tested and challenged in ways she never dreamed possible. Beckett Riley is the shy, quiet, determined captain of the Chicago Buffaloes, a hockey team on the verge of turning the corner to becoming a winning organization. He’s Aubrey's opposite, with so many qualities that Aubrey had listed as ones she’d never want in a man.
Yet Aubrey finds herself drawn to Beckett in ways she’s never known. And when she unexpectedly finds herself working with Beckett, she wonders if rules are meant to be broken after all . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/oxbmobd
SURVIVING THE RACHEL
Bree Logan is ready to start her post-college life, but when she’s dumped by The One, unable to land a professional job, and has to move back in with her parents, she doesn’t think things can get worse until she ends up with her hair chopped into The Rachel, the infamous haircut made famous by the show Friends. Which is not good since it’s no longer 1994. But sometimes you have to go through challenges to get what you really need, and for Bree, could that include a different career and a romance with Jack Chelten, the boy-next-door?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/nnkzjfj
BREAKOUT
(A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)
While Texas is known for loving football, Lexi Stewart has always been drawn to the ice. Hockey is her passion, and she wants nothing more than to pursue a career in video editing for the home network of the Dallas Demons hockey team.
Lexi has an editing job for a corporate account, but it’s not fulfilling. Nor is her dating life, despite having the so-called help of The One Online Dating Service. Lexi knows there has to be more for her—on both fronts. She’s ready to take the next step, but it doesn't seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon.
Until a flying puck changes everything.
Niko Xenakis is the new Dallas Demons TV producer, and he’s looking to make his mark in his new role and hopefully work his way back to his hometown of Baltimore. But once he meets Lexi, he might just change his mind on what he wants for his future . . .
But the road to love is never easy, complicated by the fact that they both carry emotional baggage from the past in their hearts. Can these two “breakout” of the past to find love in the present?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/hsmgujh
TRIVIAL PURSUITS
(Chicago on Ice Series Book 2)
Landon Holder is exactly the kind of man Livy Adams should stay far away from.
The flashy, flirty star defenseman for the Chicago Buffaloes is known for hooking up with women all over Chicago. Livy finds herself attracted to Landy, but his sexy good looks and charm are irrelevant. She had her heart shattered by a cheating athlete in college, and Livy vows she will never let her judgment lapse like that ever again.
Yet Livy knows she can’t spend the rest of her life focusing on building her jewelry line during the day and her evenings playing TriviaPlayOrPass! on her phone, either. Even though she does have fabulous conversations with a player named Scott, it’s time to get back in the game—in real life. While Livy tries to figure out her career path in jewelry design, she knows it’s time to take a chance on romance again, too.
But in a strange twist of fate, Livy finds h
erself getting to know Landy on a much deeper level. Sometimes people aren’t always as they appear to be. Just like a diamond, you have to look closely to see true clarity.
As Livy unwraps the layers around Landy to see the man behind the image, will she have a change of heart? Can she leave her past behind for a future with Landy? Or is it all a game of trivial pursuits?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/jhxzlgx
ON THIN ICE
Holly Johansson knows some things in her life are certain after college graduation: 1.) It’s a long road to becoming a full-time author. 2.) She’ll need to work to pay her bills. 3.) And Dallas Demons superstar Matt Rhinelander will never return her feelings.
Holly knows her unrequited crush on the partying hockey player is ridiculous. There’s no way Matt would be attracted to a woman who prefers watching TV or reading books when he’s known for his frequent bar hops and fast lifestyle. Obviously he would never see her as anything other than his teammate’s little sister.
Yet Holly is drawn to the other side of Matt—the man she knows has always been thoughtful and easy to talk to whenever she’s been alone with him. It is this Matt that fueled the crush Holly has on him. And she knows it will always be just that—a secret crush.
Or will it?
Because when Matt helps Holly through a crisis, her heart begins to believe that there might be feelings on his part, too. After a night of hard partying puts Matt in jeopardy with the Dallas Demons, can Holly be the one to save him? And when Matt admits he sees her as more than Nate Johansson’s sister, will it put them both on thin ice?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lh65g3b
