Cora Lee seemed happy and comfortable.
This was the kind of home and family he wanted her to grow up in.
Laughter and joking around a table full of food and chocolate chip cookies. Minus dogs in the yard. That he could do without. He shuddered. Thought of yesterday when those two bird dogs licked all over Kate’s face, including those full lips. It hit his gag reflex again.
Kate was in her element even though she was nervous. Probably over the ex coming. He’d spied her old prom picture in a closet while hunting for a hanger. Her and the ex. The reprimand from Honey about hanky-panky came back and the thought of that goober even touching her irritated Griffin.
“Griff, don’t turn around. Look straight ahead.”
Kate’s voice sounded close behind him. She and her sisters sounded a lot alike, but he’d know her voice anywhere. Then it hit him. Don’t turn around. “Why?” he asked cautiously.
“’Cause I wanna warn you that I have a dog and I don’t want you to jump in the pond and drown or get bitten by a water moccasin.”
A dog!
“A real one?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Footsteps gained closer. Finally, he felt her presence behind him.
“I’m going to sit down next you. Okay?”
“Okay.” His head spun.
She sat beside him, and out of the corner of his eye, he spied a teeny brown fluffy puppy. “You sure that’s real?”
“Yes. Give me your hand.”
He hesitated.
“Please,” she said.
He placed his clammy hand in hers and let her guide it to the puppy’s head, but he couldn’t watch. He flinched as its wet tongue licked his hand.
“Winnie likes you. She’s my sister’s newest addition.”
“What kind of dog is she?” He finally dared a peek.
“Collie. Go ahead and rub her back.”
Griffin shifted and did a double-take. “What is happening on your head right now?” Kate wore the biggest, floppiest white hat he’d ever seen. In a coral dress and pearls, she was a picture of a tea-party-going southern belle.
“You say one word you die. I didn’t have time to change.”
“So this is really why you didn’t want me to look.” The whole ensemble simply fit her. All Kate. It did a number on his heart. If she didn’t have that dog in between them, he might have sneaked under the brim of her hat and kissed her. “I like it.”
“You want out of petting this live dog.” She gave him a sharp look, but amusement sparkled in her warm brown eyes.
“Possibly.” But this place had given her a glow that Chicago didn’t. She belonged. Whether she thought she did anymore or not.
“Pet.”
“Okay, bossy.” He obeyed and stroked the fluffy soft fur. Not too bad.
“I’m going to put her in your lap, okay? She’s very gentle.” She waited until he nodded, then she placed the pup in his lap. It squirmed and he had to fight the urge to run. “Look at you, Griffin Noble. Holding a dog.” She sidled closer and positioned herself on her knees, reaching across his torso to touch the ear he’d had surgically repaired. Kate’s cheek brushed across his nose. Her jawline begged to be skimmed with his lips, the brim of her hat mashed against his nose. Touching his ear sent a ravaging fire through his bones.
“Only a faint scar.” She framed his face. “I’m proud of you.”
No one had ever told him that. The words connected with him in a deep place, moving and shifting inside him. “You are?”
“Absolutely.” She continued to cup his face.
A beat passed.
Two.
She pulled away from his personal space and retrieved the puppy. “We’ll work on a bigger dog soon. Party starts in two hours. We should go shower.”
“What would Honey think?” he teased, his throat like sandpaper.
She snickered. “You’re a very bad man.”
“You don’t even know the half of it.” He slung an arm around her shoulder, only mildly flinching when the puppy nosed up on her shoulder and licked his forearm. It was definitely progress.
Cars had come in droves. Music played, laughter echoed, and kids ran wild. Mama had taken off with Cora Lee, doting on her like a grandma. And why not? Emma Kate’s family had ignored her attempts to convince them that she and Griffin were friends at best.
She’d made good progress with him earlier. Before long he’d overcome all fear of dogs. Now if he would overcome the fear of his father and stand up to him. He’d been coming home earlier against Mr. Noble’s wishes, so maybe in the next week and a half Griffin would be able to admit that he wanted Cora Lee. How could he not? She was an angel. And she sure loved him.
Emma Kate watched from the edge of the big white tent as Griff played horseshoes with Dad and neighbors. An ache formed in her chest. This was the life she’d always wanted. Her husband joining in with her family. Events that brought the town together.
“Hey.”
Unmistakable voice.
Travis.
Emma Kate had dodged him all night.
Unavoidable now.
She pivoted. Once upon a time, he’d knocked the breath from her.
Not tonight.
“Hey.”
“Walk with me? Catch up?” He smirked. Still had a boyish smile. Thick blond hair and wintry gray eyes.
Might as well get it over with. Show him she wasn’t still bitter and angry. Oddly, she wasn’t. Embarrassed? Yes, unfortunately. “Sure.”
They walked toward the house.
“I guess you heard the news.” Travis shoved his hands in his khaki pants pockets.
“Honey called. I’m sorry.” Truly.
“Me too.” He glanced behind him. “Looks like you’re happy.”
Emma Kate followed his sight to Griffin. Griffin made her all kinds of happy. But he wasn’t a family man. Shaky faith at best. And he might be giving his own niece up for adoption. There was no hope for them. “Yeah. I am.”
“I never meant to hurt you. You know that right?” He stopped walking and laid a hand on her shoulder. Not a single flutter.
“Not intentionally. But you did. It’s all water under the bridge now, though.”
Travis nodded and sighed. “I regret it. I made a horrible decision.”
Emma Kate pressed a hand to her roiling stomach. “What’s done is done. I’ve moved on, Travis.”
He toed the grass and stole another glance at Griffin. “How did you two meet?”
“I knocked him over with a dog.”
Travis laughed. “Serious?”
“Great Dane. Slipped the leash, that one.” She laughed with him.
“And here he comes. Making sure you don’t slip the leash on him.” His chuckled. “Can’t blame him.”
Griffin approached, grim line burrowing into his brow. “Your dad says it’s almost time to eat cake and make the toasts.”
“Oh, I guess I lost track of time.”
“Me too,” Travis said and held out his hand. “Travis Dipley.”
Griffin shook his hand, but ice rolled off him in waves. “Griffin. Noble. How’s the vet business? Doing well?”
Tension rippled through them. Please do not bring up him taking money for college from me. That had rankled with Griffin since she’d told him.
Travis glanced at Emma Kate. “It’s doing well. I was about to ask Emma Kate for some advice about expanding the clinic, adding some extras.”
“And what are you charging for your consulting fee, Kate?” His tone matched his cold mood. Was he…jealous? No, he must be playing a part. A little too well.
“Kate?” Travis chuckled. “I thought you hated that.”
She had. A long time ago. “Well, Griffin has a way of…” She looked at Griff and the way he searched her eyes buckled her knees. “Making you fall in love with all sorts of things.” Oh no. She couldn’t be.
“I see,” Travis said. “So you have a consulting business?”
&n
bsp; She couldn’t tear her gaze away from Griffin. Intense blue eyes. Like he was seeing into her soul. Reading her thoughts. Her feelings. Finally she blinked and cleared her throat, focusing on Travis. “Not officially.”
“It’s in the works,” Griffin added. “Her fees are non-negotiable.”
Emma Kate snorted and Griffin slipped his arm around her waist. “Nice meeting you.” He led Emma Kate toward the tent.
She turned back. “Email me, Travis, with your thoughts.”
When they were out of earshot, Griffin huffed. “Why would you give him any free advice or advice at all?”
“Because I’m over him, Griffin. There’s nothing there. Giving him some ideas only benefits this town.” Talking to Travis only proved how over him she was. God may have been doing some healing work on her after all.
“Well, he’s not over you.”
“It doesn’t matter. And why do you care so much anyway?” She waited for him to answer.
He sighed. “I…I don’t want him to take advantage of you. I don’t want you giving him all your dreams. Save some for yourself, Kate.”
She squeezed his bicep and leaned into him as they strolled to the tent. “I appreciate that. Thank you for looking out for me.”
Emma Kate felt eyes on them the closer they came to the party. “Everyone loves you,” she said. “And like I predicted I’ve been asked when our wedding is taking place.”
“Did you tell them next May?” he teased.
A May wedding sounded like heaven. “No. I said March since you can’t wait to make me Kate Noble.”
The paper lanterns glowed with white lights and the big round light bulbs hanging in the rafters of the tent cast an intimate shimmer on the tables.
“Better than Kate Dipley. Dipley? Really, Kate?” Griffin sighed and slipped his arm around her waist. Ever playing the part.
David and Mary Ellis stood front and center, beaming. Flutes of champagne were passed around and Travis took his and clinked it with a small knife. “A toast to the couple.”
Everyone quieted.
“I’ve known David since he moved into town and needed a vet and I needed a gym.” Travis grinned. “You’d think he would have known dogs can’t indulge in chocolate.”
Emma Kate giggled with the crowd.
“Why is that funny?” Griffin whispered.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“I’ve known Mary Ellis longer,” Travis continued. “Since childhood. She was always snooping on me and her big sister.” He looked straight at Emma Kate and smiled. “Most of the time she didn’t see anything she shouldn’t.”
Heat rose clear to her head. How humiliating. Griffin’s arm tightened around her.
The crowd chuckled again.
Honey scowled.
Across the tent Cora Lee slept on Missy Ann’s shoulder.
“I’ve known a thing or two about hard times. About being with the right person. And being with the wrong person. I know what true love looks like. I know what it doesn’t.”
Emma Kate couldn’t breathe.
It was too quiet.
Too many eyes on her.
Could Travis not look at anyone but her?
“And I know these two have the genuine thing. Raise your glasses. To a couple meant to be together. Here’s to a happy long life. Cheers!” He drank and everyone sipped with him and threw out their cheers. They cut the cake and the music continued.
Missy Ann offered to put Cora Lee to bed. One of the teenage girls planned to stay inside with the monitors while the adults finished celebrating. “I’ll do it. I haven’t had her much today.” And she needed a breather.
Griffin kissed Cora Lee’s forehead. “You’ll be back out, right?”
“Yes of course. I’ll find you.”
“Or I’ll come find you,” he murmured. Something in his eyes sent a delicious chill down her arms. If he found her, then what?
Griffin struggled to pay attention to the conversation going on around him. Checking his watch, he frowned. Where was Kate? It had been thirty minutes. Cora Lee was exhausted. It shouldn’t have taken this long. He excused himself from the men talking sports and real estate.
The green-eyed monster had reared its ugly head this night especially when Travis had made an indirect but clear message of how he felt during the speech. Where was Travis? Laying in wait to profess his mistake and declare his love? Ask for a second chance? He could give Kate small town. Babies. Her dream.
But he’d failed. He didn’t deserve a second chance.
Griffin wandered the property until he found her curled up under the lit paper lanterns, her legs tucked under her sundress. “What are you doing over here all by yourself?” he asked and sat beside her.
The sliver of moon hung in a cloudless sky, but the stars shone brighter than he’d ever seen before. Frogs croaked. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted and cicadas were going crazy with their songs.
He slapped a mosquito. He’d been doing that all night.
“I hung those lanterns this morning and thought of you. Pink. Your favorite color.”
Kate drew her knees up, adjusting her dress to keep modest. She sniffed and laid her head on her knees. “That’s because they were mine,” she murmured. “They were supposed to be strung up on my engagement night. I’d been packing things away, saving up since I was seventeen. Sure that Travis and I would be together forever.”
Griffin refused to say he was sorry. He hated that she’d been hurt but he wasn’t sorry she wasn’t with Travis.
“They’ve been locked away in a hope chest, up in the attic, collecting dust all these years. So I told Mary Ellis she could use them.”
Griffin gazed at the paper lanterns, related to them. His childhood dreams and hopes had been locked up. Collecting dust. He’d become a man he never wanted to be. A man much like his father.
Until Kate.
She was the light in his lantern, illuminating every part of him, casting a glow he never wanted to quench. She pushed him, encouraged him, and when she looked at him…sometimes…it made him feel like he could do anything. Be anyone. Because she believed it.
All her talk of building guitars had rooted inside him. It had been on his mind for days.
His heart squeezed. Where would he be if Kate hadn’t come along? Hadn’t indirectly knocked him off his feet? Would he still have Cora Lee? Would he be sitting in a patch of grass, like right now, longing for a woman who loved sweet tea and fried food for every meal?
He couldn’t keep ignoring it. Couldn’t continue to deny it. He loved this crazy woman with the kindest soul he’d ever encountered.
“I’m glad that dog got off his leash.”
Kate gave him her attention, her face awash in moonlight. Puzzlement in her eyes. “What dog?”
“The Kent’s Great Dane.” His shoulder brushed hers. “I’d have never met you, Kate. I wouldn’t have made it this long with Cora Lee, that’s for sure.”
“And you’d have never pet the puppy.”
“Nope.” He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “I’d seen you so many times and never once thought to say hello. Maybe I would have if you hadn’t had a dog dragging you along.”
“I doubt it.”
She was probably right, and that would have been a tragedy.
Maybe God hadn’t written him off. Or Giselle. Maybe He was going the distance with them and helping them out along the way, opening up good things for him—like Kate. Maybe all this time, Griffin had written off God.
“I think you’re beautiful, Kate.” He couldn’t be more honest than that.
She snorted. “In an unconventional not-your-type-kind of way?”
What he wouldn’t give to take that stupid statement back. She’d brought it up periodically. He’d hurt her with the careless, and untrue, comment. Tipping her chin, he forced her to make eye contact. “In an inside-out-all-around kind of way. In an I’m-a-big-schmuck-and-have-no-clue-what-I’m-saying-half-the-time kind of w
ay.” He eyed her lips. “Have you let dogs lick your mouth since you showered?”
The statement startled her and she laughed. “Why? You planning on licking my lips?”
He gently gripped her chin, ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “I was thinking about it,” he murmured.
Her playful expression darkened and her breath hitched. “Ooooh. No. I’ve not been around any dogs but—”
Griffin cut off the rest of her statement by brushing his lips against hers. Softer than he’d imagined. Like playing a gentle acoustic ballad, he let his tongue strum along her bottom lip, taking in the taste of butter cream frosting and a flavor that was all Kate.
He slid his hands through her shiny hair, slowly savoring her, being thrilled at Kate’s own exploration of his mouth. He couldn’t seem to get close enough to her. She touched his cheek as a breathy gasp escaped.
Lazily, he guided her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her curvy waist, setting off another round of fireworks in his stomach.
She wound her arms around his neck, diving into his hair with her hands and drawing him with wild force into a more intimate kiss.
It grew passionate.
Frenzied.
Sizzling.
Dangerous.
He glided his hand from her upper back down over her hip and onto her thigh, squeezing through her flimsy sundress, but not touching skin. Skin would send him over the edge, and he was teetering on it already.
This woman had a hold on him. Not only the way she could unleash his feral side, but the way she saw something in him he didn’t. She cheered him on when he needed it, but never shied away from calling him out on his crap. She was the first thing he saw in the morning and the last thing he saw at night, and in a week he might die when it changed.
A dog took his ear and a surgeon gave it back.
A dog took his balance and now this woman had righted it.
She was everything to him. Didn’t matter they’d known each other a short time. In his heart, he’d loved her forever.
As if Kate could read his thoughts, she kissed his scarred ear, setting off ravenous urges in his blood. Finding her way back to his mouth, their breath turned heavy and ragged, but he was too greedy to let her have air. To take in any for himself.
Love at First Laugh: Eight Romantic Novellas Filled with Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After Page 47
