“Chris, I… I don’t even know what to say about this!” I close the book and hand it back to him, trying to keep the happy tears in my eyes from falling.
His face falls at my reaction. He looks down at the book in his hands, then quickly returns his gaze to me. “You don’t like it?”
“Oh, god no, it’s beautiful! I just— It’s all so much. So overwhelming!” I continue fighting those tears as the culmination of everything this means slams into me like a ton of bricks. Not just the book, but him, this incredible man standing in front of me. I have painstakingly found a hundred and one reasons not to like him, but there seem to be a hundred and one more to fall in love with him again and again.
Fall in love? Yikes, where did that come from?
But the way my heart is swelling right now…maybe I just needed a sign. Maybe this book is it.
“Brynne, I—” He stops for a moment as he takes a step toward me. He reaches out to take my hand into his, then pulls me so our bodies are so close, we have no choice but to breathe the same air. Next thing I know, his fingertip trails down my cheek as my eyes shift down and back to his. There is nothing but openness and honesty there.
“I don’t think you realize what an impact you had on me this past weekend…your incredible bravery, your incredible story. You are such a remarkable woman…”
My heart is pounding against my ribcage so hard I am afraid he can feel it in his own chest. His arms wrap around me, pulling me even closer to his body, and then I’m positive he feels the beat thrashing against his skin.
“I’d be crazy if I didn’t try to persuade you that not all cops are selfish, vain players. Some of us are nice guys who’ve just been waiting around for the right woman to swim into their lives.”
I can’t help but giggle at the word “swim.”
“It’s not just the selfish, vain part, Chris,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I have real concerns about our schedules. A cop’s schedule and an ER doctor’s schedule are both so crazy. Putting them together is like exponential craziness. Trust me, I’ve tried before, so I know how it goes. We’d probably only ever see each other in passing while we’re working…”
“Well,” his lips are still tugged high, even though I expected his grin to fade, “what would you say if I told you I’m not a cop anymore?” His eyebrows waggle as he waits for my reaction.
“What do you mean? Not a cop? You quit your job to write?” I step back out of his arms, hoping he didn’t really leave the state police. Not for me, anyway.
“Well, depends on if you consider a school resource officer a cop,” he explains. “The Captain is recommending me to be the full-time resource officer at the Delmarva Academy. The hours are 7:30 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.”
“What? Seriously?” I gasp.
“Yeah, and I’d get to work with kids, which is a pretty incredible bonus. Talk about having access to beta readers.” He laughs.
How many of these signs can I ignore? How can I keep fighting when there is overwhelming evidence this is meant to be?
Crockett interrupts my train of thought when he stops in the hallway right outside the door and lets out a low, pitiful meow. Then he walks into the room, circles Chris’s legs and cries again.
“Awww, what’s his deal?” I question, thinking he’s asking for food.
“He probably wants to be let outside,” Chris guesses, bending down to stroke the cat’s furry gray head. “I haven’t been letting him out very much since Tubbs disappeared a couple of months ago.”
After Chris stands back up, Crockett starts to brush up against my legs. It seems like since Chris said no to his request, he’s now asking me if I’ll do him a solid and let him outside. He looks up at me and gives me the most hopeful look, one I didn’t even know a cat was capable of expressing. Then he starts to walk toward the hallway again, looking back to glance at me again.
“I think he wants us to follow him,” I say with a shrug.
“He can be very persistent,” Chris notes.
Chris continues to stand there, but I decide to see where Crockett goes, so I follow him into the hallway, then through the kitchen to the back door, which leads to a patio. He stands at the door and lets out another long howl.
“Daddy says you can’t go outside,” I tell him again, but I open the door anyway, just to see if there’s something out there.
Sitting on the concrete patio next to an empty food bowl is a large black short-haired cat. Crockett immediately presses up against the screen, and the black cat does the same. They clearly know each other.
“Hey, Chris?” I yell down the hallway.
He takes his time ambling into the kitchen but stops abruptly after making it three paces in.
“Oh my god.”
I turn to look at him, my brows raised. His face transforms right before my eyes from one of shock to one of utter elation as he runs to the door and throws it open. The black cat runs inside, and when Chris bends down, it leaps right into his waiting arms.
“It’s Tubbs!” he shouts, tears glistening in his gorgeous hazel eyes. “It’s Tubbs! He came home!”
I think someday when I’m looking back on this week, this crazy week—maybe this entire crazy Spring—I’m going to remember this one exact moment the most.
It’s the moment I have tears streaming down my face and am holding my missing cat, who’s just pulled a Prodigal Son on me, and I look over at this woman I’m clearly falling in love with, and that hard look in her eyes, the one of denial, the one of all of her walls being up and firmly in place, suddenly vanishes. And in its place is a look that says, fine, I give.
Okay so, it’s not a look of utter adoration like I would love to see right now. It’s more a look of concession. She’s exhausted every single excuse she can think of to reject me, and the universe has laid a zillion signs on her, everything short of God skywriting For crying out loud, give Chris a chance! in the skies over Rehoboth Beach.
Tubbs leaps out of my arms and onto the floor where he nuzzles his brother, and they proceed to sniff each other’s butts, ‘cause that’s what cats do. It’s one big happy reunion.
I smile at them before returning my gaze to hers, and the first thing I notice is that her expression has changed yet again. She’s like Delmarva weather in the springtime, this feisty redhead. The white flag expression has been replaced with one of sheer determination, and, if I’m not mistaken…desire.
She steps toward me, over the reuniting, butt-sniffing cats. Hey guys, can you please take that in the other room? I think something big is about to happen here—
She sweeps me into her arms and presses her lips against mine like she’s been holding that kiss in for a million years. Or at least since Sunday morning before we risked life and limb to swim ashore together.
“What was that for?” I ask, finally pulling away from her.
“You’re right,” she says, her arms still wrapped around my waist. “You’re just right. I didn’t want to admit it, but you are, and I’m tired of making myself call you Trooper Asshat in my head—”
“Trooper What-hat?!” I scoff.
She laughs and shakes her head. “I’m done fighting it,” she tells me, a grin breaking through her teary-eyed blush. “I don’t care if you’re C.J. Evans or Corporal Chris Everson. I’ve never felt like this before, and I think I’d be stupid not to see where it goes.”
“Well, you’re clearly not stupid,” I interject, nodding my head.
She laughs as she strokes a finger down my cheek, then leans in to press a soft kiss against it. “Not stupid, but maybe a little crazy. Or maybe I’m just destined to be a Badge Bunny, and there’s no use fighting it.”
“I’m good with that!” I agree, having trouble controlling the grin spreading between my cheeks. “Does this mean we can hop off into the sunset together hand in hand?”
Her smile fades for a moment as a thoughtful expression straightens her features. She reaches down and takes my hand into hers, an
d at first I think she’s simply going to agree with me. But instead, she glances back up into my eyes and quips, “No, I’d prefer we swim.”
THE END
Check out all the Romance in Rehoboth Books at www.klmontgomery.com
Book #5, Wedding War, is scheduled to release in Spring 2019!
Acknowledgments
Writing the Romance and Rehoboth Series has been such a pleasure—the characters are fun, insightful, and always getting themselves into interesting predicaments. But I can’t do these books justice without a lot of help from a lot of people. Special thanks to my personal assistant, Jared Gallant, and my proofreader, Tina Kissinger. I also don’t know where I’d be without my Indie Author Support Group, my Phoebe’s Angels, or my own personal angel, Colleen Noyes of Itsy Bitsy Book Bits. Colleen has been a godsend with her book spotlights and review teams. Her dedication to supporting indie authors and her generosity truly take my breath away! There are also a ton of blogs that regularly share my work and read ARC copies, including Read.Review.Repeat, I Am A Book Hoarder, BookBistro, Rae’s Reading Lounge and so many more.
I want to thank James and Amanda Ford for answering my Coast Guard questions.
Thank you to my amazing husband for answering way too many police questions and for allowing me to use some of your experiences as a springboard for all the crazy things that Chris deals with.
Thank you to my Angel Teri Ruscak for giving me the brilliant idea for Chris’s secret hobby.
Most of all, thank you to my readers who keep coming back for more. I love all these characters so much, and getting to revisit characters from previous books really makes this series such a joy to write. I hope to share many more adventures from my Rehoboth Beach crew in the years to come.
Author’s Note
I have to admit I got quite a bit of inspiration for Sonnet and Andrew’s wedding from my own. Though we were not stranded on a flooded peninsula, had we chosen to get married closer to the beach instead of our backyard, it certainly could have ended that way. We got married on October 3, 2015, in the midst of a Nor’easter and Hurricane Joaquin. Good times!
You can read all about our big day and all the craziness leading up to it here: http://mountainswanted.blogspot.com/2015/10/our-wedding-story.html
You’ll also see where the inspiration for a certain millipede came from!
Thanks for reading <3
About the Author
K.L. Montgomery grew up in Greencastle, Indiana, and studied psychology and library science at Indiana University. After a career as a librarian, she now writes novels and wrangles three sons and four cats at her home in rural Delaware, which she shares with her husband and the aforementioned creatures. She has an undying love of Broadway musicals, the beach, the color teal, IU basketball, paisleys, and dark chocolate.
Visit K.L.'s website at www.klmontgomery.com and sign up for her newsletter. She welcomes social media stalkers at the following places:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/greencastles
Twitter: www.twitter.com/klmontgomery8
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Bookbub: www.bookbub.com/authors/k-l-montgomery
Also by K.L. Montgomery
Fat Girl, Romance in Rehoboth #1
Fresh ink on her divorce papers.
A new job on the horizon.
40 is right around the corner...
The time is ripe for reinvention, and Claire Sterling is tired of being the Fat Girl. With the help of her gay best friend, therapist, a new fitness regime and lots of wine and snark, Claire sets out to find her happily ever after.
Will she get the body and the man of her dreams, or is she forever destined to be the Fat Girl?
The Flip, Romance in Rehoboth #2
Andrew and Sonnet hated each other in high school. Always rivals for the best grades and top academic honors, there was no love lost between these two nerds after graduation.
Ten years later, they've both been named heirs to property in Bethany Beach, Delaware, after the passing of its owner, Penelope Vaughn. Ms. Vaughn was Andrew's Great Aunt and Sonnet's beloved next door neighbor growing up.
The quaint beach cottage needs serious work before going on the market. Andrew and Sonnet are both willing to bury the hatchet in exchange for drills and saws, especially since they stand to make a pretty penny with the beachfront property, which will finance Drew's dream of opening a business and Sonnet's plan to earn her doctorate in astrophysics.
But when they face a multitude of home improvement obstacles, will these two former adversaries be able to pull off a successful flip? Or did Great Aunt Penny have something else in mind with her bequest?
Plot Twist, Romance in Rehoboth #3
A brand new show is coming to Rehoboth Beach! Jack and Claire (yes, THAT Claire) Reilly have written an original musical, and they have the perfect cast. Plus, there’s pirates. Who doesn’t love pirates?
Meric Chandler is a neurotic, introverted accountant by day, but at night he transforms into a magnetic leading man whose voice makes all the girls swoon. Just getting over a divorce, he has sworn off backstage romances. After all, that’s how he met his EX wife.
Lindy Larson prefers to stay behind the scenes, but her girlfriends convince her to audition for a new local theater production. She has a stunning voice but plans to blend in as much as possible, which isn’t easy to do when you’re the awkward plus-size girl with two left feet.
While backstage romances are to be expected, they don’t usually shut down the entire production. But you know what they say: the show must go on!
Given to Fly
Can you break your vow if it's the only way to save yourself?
Annelise thought her purpose in life was to get married and have babies. That's what her family and church have been telling her since she was a little girl. But when her marriage turns rocky, and she struggles with her weight and infertility, she fears the childhood dream thrust upon her will never come true.
Then she meets Trek Blue, the father of a little girl in her preschool class. After losing his wife to cancer, he's moved to Indiana with his two young children to seek a fresh start. In need of a friend, Trek is immediately drawn to Annelise, who begins to think of him as a confidant and bright spot in her otherwise dreary life.
But when the two grow close enough to raise eyebrows, she is forced to make a choice. Will Annelise honor her faith, family, and wedding vows? Or will she spread her wings and fly away?
Green Castles
Inspired by true events, Green Castles tells the story of three former high school best friends; Jennifer, Kat, and Michelle; who are reunited in their small Indiana hometown when Jennifer's daughter loses her battle with mitochondrial disease. Through a series of flashbacks to their teen days in the late 1980's/early 1990's, the three women learn about resilience, forgiveness, and just how strong the bonds of family and friendship truly are.
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