“What case?”
He showed her his phone. It was the image of him and her cat. “Your cat loves me. And let’s not forget he used me for a scratching post, but I forgave him.” He swiped the screen again. “Your kid loves me.” He pointed to the door. “Your pseudo dad…likes me. I wouldn’t call it love, but you heard him teasing me. You don’t tease people you don’t like. And while he did threaten to shoot me if I ever hurt you, I’m okay with that.”
She shook her head. “What are—?”
He lowered his phone. “All I need is for you to love me, Brie Ryan. Because…I’m in love with you. And it’d be nice if you felt the same.”
She heard his words but was having a heck of a time digesting them. “Connor you…you said—”
“I said a lot of stupid shit, Brie.”
“But…but you don’t want kids and—”
“I never said I didn’t want them. I said I was scared. Scared I’d screw up because my own father had. But when I held Casey this morning, I knew I could do it. I’m sure I’ll mess up every now and then, but with both of us trying, it’ll work.”
“Connor, you…”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “I want to be a part of yours and Casey’s life. I want to be Casey’s Eliot. I want to be your pancake buddy. Your cupcake and sprinkles when life sucks. And I know this happened fast, but all I’m asking for—begging for, actually—is a chance. Let me prove that I deserve you and Casey. And to show you I’m serious, I brought you this.”
He handed her the bag.
Brie swallowed the emotional lump. “What’s this?”
He chuckled. “Open it.”
She pulled a black purse from the bag. Baffled, she lifted her gaze.
“It’s got a place to put your keys, so you won’t lose them. And a phone compartment.”
When she didn’t say anything, he suddenly looked insecure. “You complained about your other purse.”
“Oh.” She opened the purse to check the inside and then looked up, really baffled. “A box of tampons?”
“Yeah. I…I’ll buy them for you. It’s the same brand and size you dropped in my car. I had to ask a clerk to help me find them. Which was kind of embarrassing, but for you, I’ll do it.”
She laughed. “I still don’t get…”
He frowned. “Mark advised that I needed to do something small but grand. Like buy something you like, you know food and stuff. Show you that I notice things. And he said that when he bought Annie, his wife, a box of tampons, it was a big deal because men didn’t like…” He frowned. “It’s stupid, huh?”
“No.” She had to wipe away another stray tear. “I love my purse and my tampons.”
“And there’s a chocolate candy bar in there. Because you like chocolate.”
“I love it.”
“What about me?” he asked.
“What about you?”
“You love the purse and the tampons…?”
“Oh.” She grinned. “I love you, Connor Pierce.”
He went to kiss her. “I really am contagious.”
He put his arm around her, and they sat there silent but happy. “Oh,” he said as he pointed to the purse. “There’s also a gift card for the diner. For pancakes, because I know you like them.”
She grinned. “I do.”
He inhaled. “I talked to Flora.”
She looked up. “And?”
“It was good.” He touched her cheek. “Really good.”
She forced herself to ask. “Did Marcus Armand make it?”
“Yeah. We’re charging him on three separate kidnapping charges and the murder of your sister. Two of the men working with him are talking. So ICE expects to get the others on human trafficking as well. ICE has contacted the Guatemalan authorities. It’s yet to be seen if any arrests there will be made on that end, but they think we have enough to shut them down here.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Like you didn’t do any of it.” He sighed. “Oh, and you were right, the Sala family is behind it. According to one of the men, Marcus has been doing all of Dillon’s work for the last year and a half because their brother-in-law, Luis Sala, benched Dillon from the business due to his cocaine habit.”
Brie pillowed her head deeper on Connor’s chest and breathed in his scent and listened to his heartbeat. He tilted his head down and kissed her forehead. “Say it again.”
“Say what again?” she asked coyly.
“Hey, you disfigured me. This nose was perfect before. I think I deserve to hear you say you love me a couple of times.”
She grinned. “Your nose is still perfect. But fine. I love you, Connor Pierce.”
Epilogue
Dada. Dada!”
Brie watched Casey flap her arms up and down as Connor picked her up and out of the car seat. It had only been three months but the love between them was palpable. For a man who’d resisted falling in love and having children, he’d taken to fatherhood like a hungry hound to a T-bone.
Last night, when she’d found an engagement ring on top of the pancake he’d made her for dinner, she’d teased him that she was worried he was proposing more to Casey than to her.
He’d responded that his heart was big enough to love them both.
Brie had to admit, she’d never felt more loved. She’d never been this happy.
“I’ll get her diaper bag.” She pulled it out of the backseat. “Can you come back for the food?”
“Sure.” Connor leaned down and kissed her, then Casey leaned in and kissed them both.
“It was so nice of Vicki to throw us a party.” They walked up to Juan’s porch, and the front door swung open. Vicki, Juan’s fiancée, squealed. “Let me see it.”
As soon as they got inside, Brie held out her left hand and Vicki eyed the ring. Little did Brie know that when she became part of Connor’s world, a bonus would be two great girlfriends. Vicki, and Annie, Mark’s fiancée, welcomed her into their pack from the start.
Annie joined them a moment later.
“Let me see,” Annie said excitedly. Brie flashed her ring at the kindergarten teacher. Come March, Mark and Annie were taking the leap into marriage. Juan was trying to talk Vicki into making it a double wedding, but Vicki insisted on having their own.
Annie looked up from the engagement ring to Connor. “You sure you didn’t have help picking that out?”
“Hey. I’m good at stuff like this.”
“Kitty. Kitty,” Casey called out when Sweetie, Juan and Vicki’s poodle, ran up dancing.
Connor laughed. “No, that’s supposed to be a dog, sweetheart.”
“She is a dog.” Bell, Vicki’s six-year-old niece-daughter, ran up to them.
“Nah,” Connor said. “That’s not a real dog.”
“She’s a real dog,” Bell argued. Then she looked up at Brie. “Can Casey play in my room?”
“Not in your room,” Vicki said. “That’s the only room I didn’t babyproof. Too many puzzle pieces.”
“Is Casey my cousin?” Bell asked.
“Not really, but you can call her that,” Vicki said.
The doorbell rang and Vicki turned around in the entryway to open the door. “Come in. I’m so glad you could come.”
“Look at my two favorite little girls,” Mildred said, beaming at Bell and Casey. Bell ran up to Mildred and hugged her around the waist.
“There’s wine, sodas, and beer in the kitchen,” Vicki said.
Brie took Casey from Connor’s arms. “Go get the buns and chips from the car.”
He winked at her. “Have I told you how lucky I am that you said yes?”
“Yeah.”
Bell looked up at Mildred. “Mommy and me made Connor and Brie congratulation cupcakes. With sprinkles.”
“You did?” Brie knelt down. “Thank you.”
Bell made a cute face. “I want Casey to be my cousin, because all my other cousins are boys.”
“Yeah, and we know girls rule,” Brie said while Annie, Mil
dred, and Vicki all cheered.
“Boys rule, too.” Connor walked out to get the food. Everyone else moved into the living room.
“Can I hold her?” Mildred asked.
“You bet.” Brie passed Casey to her crossword buddy. They talked almost every morning now as they worked on the puzzle. “Did you finish it this morning?”
“Only got halfway through,” Mildred said.
“Look who I found,” Connor called out, walking back in.
Brie turned around and squealed. “Eliot?” She ran and hugged him. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s your engagement party. I couldn’t miss it!”
She looked at Connor. “You knew he was coming and didn’t tell me.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Well, I’m surprised.”
Eliot smiled at Casey in Mildred’s arms. “My goodness, she’s already so much bigger.”
“Which is why you need to move here,” Brie said. She and Connor both had been bugging Eliot to sell his house in San Francisco. He hadn’t agreed, but she could tell he was seriously considering it.
When Casey saw Eliot, she started bouncing and calling out, “Pawpaw. Pawpaw.” Everyone laughed. No doubt the baby recognized Eliot from their Skyping.
Eliot grinned. “Well, heck. That does it. I’m going to have to move here.”
Her “pseudodad,” as Connor often called him, moved over toward Mildred. “Can I steal her from you?”
“You bet.” Mildred passed Casey over, and the child gave Eliot a big hug.
Right then the front door swung open and Juan’s brother, Ricky, and his wife, Christina, and her two boys strode in.
“Looks like a full house,” Juan said, walking in with a platter of cooked burgers and hot dogs. Even standing a few feet away, the smell was heavenly. Juan’s gaze shifted to his brother’s wife. “Tell me you brought the tamales.”
“Are you kidding?” Christina said as she held up a big plastic container. “You told me I wasn’t invited unless I brought them.”
“Not true,” Vicki said. “I’m the one who said that. I love your tamales.”
Mark came in through the back door with a platter of grilled corn. His gaze shifted to Brie. “Tell me you said yes and we didn’t plan this party for no good reason.”
Brie held up her hand with the ring.
“Daddy!” Bell called out to Juan. “Connor said that Sweetie wasn’t a real dog.”
“Well, Connor wouldn’t know a real dog if it bit him on his…big toe.”
Ricky laughed. “Bell, I was sure you were just about to get another five dollars for your cursing jar. The kid’s gonna pay her way through college just from my brother’s dirty mouth.”
Christina elbowed her husband and handed off her tamales for him to deliver to the kitchen, then came over to see Brie’s ring. “It’s beautiful,” she said, hugging Brie.
The doorbell rang again. “Come in,” Vicki called.
Brie went over to Eliot. “Please tell me you were serious about moving here.”
Eliot, who was making faces at Casey, smiled down at her. “If you are serious about wanting me here.”
“You know I am.”
“Can I see the ring?” someone said behind her.
Brie swung around to find Tory and Carlos standing there. She wrapped her arms around Carlos first. “I called you last night and you didn’t tell me you two were coming!”
“Connor wanted to surprise you,” Tory said, collecting his own hug.
Brie glanced over at Connor, who was on his knees, talking to Bell. He lifted his green eyes and winked at her. Then he mouthed the words I love you.
She mouthed them back. And nothing was truer.
The next few hours were filled with good food, laughter, and people who all felt more like family than friends.
Brie went to the kitchen to refill her coffee. She was adding cream to her cup when Connor walked in and wrapped his arms around her. “Having fun?”
She looked at the counter filled with desserts. “All cupcakes and sprinkles.”
There would always be bad stuff in the world, but by surrounding yourself with the people you loved, and laughter, you could make it a good life.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”
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About the Author
Christie Craig is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-nine books. She is an Alabama native, a motivational speaker, and a writing teacher, who currently hangs her hat in Texas. When she’s not writing romance, she’s traveling, sipping wine, or penning bestselling young adult novels as C. C. Hunter.
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Don't Look Back Page 32
