by Joss Wood
Tanna touched her top lip with her tongue. “Back then, and up until recently, I couldn’t help contrasting my life with Addy’s. I felt guilty and the guilt grew and grew. I needed time to work through it, to work through a bunch of stuff.”
“Are you done with that?” Levi asked her, his tone gruff but his eyes, finally, hopeful.
Tanna nodded. “Yep, I’m done. I mean, I feel incredibly lucky but I’m going to just be grateful and not let my past stop me from being happy. From living the life I want to lead.”
Levi tangled his fingers in hers, his grip tight. “And what type of life do you want to lead, Murphy?”
Tanna shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re in it. I’ll take anything you can give me.” Tears brightened her eyes. “I’m not proud. I just want you, however I can get you.”
Levi stared at her for a long minute, maybe two, and Tanna squirmed in her chair, wishing she could figure out what was going on in those dark blue eyes. His were the eyes she wanted to look into for the rest of her life.
“Nope. I’m not buying that. What do you really want?” Levi demanded. “I need to know, Tanna.”
Okay, laying her heart on the line here. Fine, she could do this. She would do this. This was only the rest of her life she was fighting for. She’d start with the easy stuff.
“I spoke to Carrick earlier and he wants me to join Murphy’s, help out in PR, be the liaison for their wealthiest clients.”
Levi narrowed his eyes. “Is working for Murphy’s absolutely what you want to do? What about being an EMT? You worked hard to qualify, and it’s important too.”
His concern over her happiness made her feel all squishy inside. “I’m going to find an organization that can use my skills on a part-time, volunteer basis. Professionally, I think it’s a balance that will work for me.”
Levi nodded and Tanna saw his agreement in his eyes. Right, now came the hard part...
“Personally, I want to be able to tell the movers to deliver my furniture to this house. I want to move my clothes into a closet next to yours, use your shoulder as a pillow. I want to wake up every day to the sound of your breathing. I want to see your smile, feel your mouth on my skin, make love as often as we possibly can.” Tanna broke off, conscious she was babbling.
Levi gestured for her to continue.
“I want to give you babies, fight with you, laugh with you.” Tanna looked for a last little bit of courage. “I want the wedding we never had. But wedding or not, I really, really, want to be your wife.”
Levi’s eyes lightened and hope flared when she saw the humor in his eyes. He shrugged, aiming for casual when she knew he was feeling anything but. “So...ask me.”
Tanna frowned, puzzled. “What?”
“I asked the last time. It’s your turn now,” Levi told her, leaning back in his chair, a small smile on his face.
His meaning sank in. Seriously? He wanted her to do this?
Levi made a circular motion with his index finger. “I’m growing old here, Murphy.”
Laughing, Tanna placed both her hands on his forearms and dug her fingers into his bare skin. “Will you marry me, Levi Brogan?”
If he said no, after all this, she’d slap him. Really, really hard.
“And why do you want to marry me, Tan?”
Hadn’t she explained all that in her rambling speech earlier? Then Tanna realized what she’d left out and she swallowed, tears clogging her throat. “Because I love you, Lee. So very much.”
“Thank God.” Levi leaned across the table and touched her lips in the sweetest, sexiest kiss she’d ever experienced. He pulled back, touched her cheek and smiled. “Are you going to bail on me again, Murphy?”
“I promise you I won’t. If you say yes, I’m in this for the whole for better and for worse, richer, poorer, death do us part deal.”
Levi grinned. “No obey?”
“Nice try, Lee.” Tanna rose, walked around the table and plopped herself on his lap. Levi’s arms immediately went around her waist to hold her tight, his mouth on her temple. After exchanging tender kisses, Tanna pulled back and stroked his cheek with her thumb. “You didn’t give me an answer, Lee.”
“You know my answer, baby.” Levi placed his hand on her heart and copped a feel while he was at it. “Yes. To everything. To moving in, to babies, to marriage...”
Levi cuddled her close and Tanna felt like her life was starting over, as if she was cracking open a brand-new journal, the white pages begging her to fill the pages with love and beauty.
“I also say yes to spontaneous sex in the bathroom.”
And laughter, Tanna thought as she blushed. They’d fill their lives, and the journal, with love and happiness, great sex and a whole bunch of laughter.
It sounded perfect, and best of all, she finally felt like she deserved this very wonderful man, and the life she’d been given a second chance at having.
She wouldn’t, she vowed, waste a second of it.
* * *
Look for the Murphy brothers’ stories,
coming soon!
Carrick’s story will be available
February 2020!
Only from Joss Wood and Harlequin Desire!
Keep reading for an excerpt from One Night, Two Secrets by Katherine Garbera.
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One Night, Two Secrets
by Katherine Garbera
One
Throwing up three mornings in a row wasn’t unheard-of for an O’Malley. After all, they were a family known to live life to the fullest, and that often involved excess. But Scarlet hadn’t been drinking for weeks, ever since her best friend, Siobahn Murphy, lead singer for the hottest girl group since Destiny’s Child, had broken up with her fiancé and he’d immediately eloped to Vegas with Siobahn’s main rival. The paparazzi had been on Siobahn 24/7, and Scarlet had wanted to keep her wits about her to help protect her friend. She’d had her own experiences being hounded by the press, and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Now Siobahn was safely ensconced in the guest room of Scarlet’s East Hampton cottage, being watched over by Billie, Scarlet’s personal assistant.
As Scarlet splashed water on her face, she went through all the reasons she might be throwing up. Food poisoning wasn’t the issue. No one else staying here had been sick and her personal chef, Lourdes, was pretty scrupulous about kitchen hygiene.
“Not food poisoning,” she muttered aloud as she wiped her face with a muslin cloth recommended by her aesthetician. At twenty-eight, she didn’t have many fine lines or signs of aging, but still, her mother had always said it was never too late to take steps to prevent them.
You’re distracting yourself from the obvious.
Scarlet looked in the mirror, knowing the voice was in her mind and that she was alone. She’d lost her sister three years ago to a drug overdose, but that hadn’t stopped Scarlet from still hearing her voice at odd moments. Usually when she least wanted to hear it.
Tara had been a bossy older sister and apparently didn’t want to stop giving her orders. Scarlet sighed and stared down at her stomach. She hadn’t had a period in over six weeks even though she’d always been re
gular as clockwork.
Yup, you’re preggers. Wish I was still there to see the old man’s face when he hears the news.
“Shut up, Tay. I’m not even sure yet.” Scarlet couldn’t believe she was talking to herself, and that she was even in this situation to begin with.
If there was one thing the O’Malleys were good at, it was making money, living life full on and making colossally bad decisions. It went all the way back to her mother, who’d died when Scarlet was seventeen. Dying under mysterious circumstances that had been concluded an accident but many believed might have been more deliberate. Her father was on his sixth wife, and that didn’t count the mistresses he’d had in between and often during those liaisons. Scarlet’s longest relationship to date was twelve days, and honestly, she knew that was because they’d been on her private island and Leon’s private plane couldn’t land because of high winds.
She couldn’t be pregnant.
If she was...
God, this was a nightmare.
She knew the responsible thing would be to give the child up. Everyone said she was spoiled, and she took it as a compliment. Her goal had always been to live her best life.
But a kid?
She had a few acquaintances who had children but they tended to employ an army of nannies to care for them. Her own childhood had shown her how alienating that could be.
She walked into her bedroom and fell back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling that she’d had painted to resemble the night sky. As she looked up at the “stars,” Lulu, her miniature dachshund, bounded up the ramp that Scarlet kept next to the bed and hopped on her stomach. She petted her sweet little dog as she lay there trying to ignore the inevitable.
What about the dad?
Tara’s voice again.
The dad?
That’s right... Mauricio Velasquez. Texan Humanitarian of the Year. Other than drinking too much with her and hooking up for one night, he was pretty rock solid. And he’d told her about his large family and how close they all were.
She put her hand on her stomach again. Mauricio might be the best chance this baby had...if there was one. She’d have Billie get Dr. Patel to drop by later on today. If she was pregnant, she’d book a trip for herself, Billie and Siobahn to Cole’s Hill. The tiny town might be the perfect place for Siobahn to recover from her breakup while Scarlet checked out her baby daddy.
Four hours later she was sitting on the couch across from Billie and Siobahn, who were both staring at her as if she’d lost her ever-loving mind. To be fair, she might have.
“Texas?” Siobahn asked again. “No way. That’s the last place I want to be chased by paparazzi.”
“Precisely my point,” Scarlet reminded her friend. “They won’t follow you there. It’s the perfect move. I rented a house this morning in something called the Five Families neighborhood, which has a manned security gate. We’ll have plenty of privacy.”
“But why Texas?” Billie asked. “I mean, I don’t mind going, but it’s hot in Texas in July.”
Not as hot as it was going to be when she found Mauricio Velasquez. Dang, but the two of them had burned up the sheets during their one night together.
“I need to see someone there, and we could all use a break,” Scarlet said. “Trust me. It will be fun, and Siobahn, you’ll forget all about Maté.”
“I already have,” her friend said.
“Liar,” Scarlet said in a kind tone. She walked over and sat down on the arm of Siobahn’s chair and hugged her friend.
“This will be good for both of us,” Scarlet promised.
Siobahn looked up at her, and it broke Scarlet’s heart to see her usually bubbly friend’s sad, red-rimmed eyes. She would do whatever it took to distract Siobahn, and though she hadn’t mentioned it to her friend, Scarlet knew that this pregnancy was going to be a distraction for both of them.
Dr. Patel had confirmed it—she was going to have a child. Scarlet was still reeling from the news but she’d always been the kind of girl who dealt with things by getting busy and moving. She couldn’t stay in New York City or the Hamptons. She had to see Mauricio again and then she’d figure out this entire baby thing.
If there was one thing the O’Malleys were bad at it was taking care of someone else.
A baby.
She had always wanted someone of her own to love, but she had promised herself that she’d never have kids. She’d seen firsthand what happened when the wrong sort of people had kids. And she had never been anyone’s idea of a “good girl.”
She put her hand on her stomach and looked in the mirror. Mauricio Velasquez was a decent guy. He’d won a humanitarian award. He’d be a good father, right?
She’d meet his family and make sure, but she wanted everything for this baby that she’d never had. Two loving parents, and a family support network so that her baby wouldn’t turn out like her.
* * *
Sunday brunch with the parents was a Velasquez tradition, one that Alec Velasquez had been lucky enough to miss for the last month thanks to various speaking engagements at different technology symposia around the globe. In fact, if he could figure out a way to miss this week, he would do it, as well.
He hadn’t been back to Cole’s Hill since the fiasco where he’d posed as his twin brother, Mauricio, to accept a humanitarian award on Mo’s behalf in Houston and—damn. He’d had the night of his life with Scarlet O’Malley. But there’d been no way for him to contact her again. He’d tried to come up with a plan where he’d go to New York and just casually run into her, but then he kept coming up against how to tell her he wasn’t Mo. He knew straight off that no woman liked being lied to like that.
At least he’d spoken on the phone to Mo’s girlfriend, Hadley Everton, and cleared things up with her. After initially thinking it was Mo in the tabloid photos with Scarlet from that night, Hadley had been able to sort it out with him. And now they were engaged. That made their mom so happy she’d almost been okay with Alec missing all those brunches.
But she knew he was back in town and she wanted answers. Given that Hadley and Mo were engaged, everyone knew it was Alec who had hooked up with Scarlet O’Malley. Around town, the gossips referred to her as “the heiress.” And unless he wanted to deal with the full force of his mother’s temper, he’d be at brunch.
He sat down at his laptop and looked at the email to Scarlet he’d saved in his drafts folder. He kept changing it but every time he read it he knew he couldn’t send it to her. He should be happy they had one night together and let it go.
He heard the ding of his security system and suspected it might be his twin brother, who had texted him that they could ride together out to the polo grounds where brunch was being held today.
He hid the email window on his computer and stood up just as his brother entered the room. The walls of Alec’s home office were lined with leather-bound volumes of books; the interior designer had thought they would make the study look more elegant. But Alec had insisted that the books all be ones he’d read. So there was an entire shelf of Goosebumps and Harry Potter, all leather-bound, right below the Shakespeare and Hemingway.
“Morning, bro.”
“Morning,” Alec said. They did the one-arm bro hug and then he stepped back. “Where is your better half?”
“There was some sort of emergency with Helena’s wedding and she had to go see Kinley this morning to solve it,” Mo said. Hadley’s sister, Helena, was planning a wedding to her high school sweetheart, Malcolm. They had faced a rough patch recently when Mal had gambled away their wedding fund. But the couple had come back together stronger than ever.
Kinley Quinten-Caruthers was a sought after wedding planner working for the famous Jaqs Veerland. Kinley was a hometown girl who’d moved back to Cole’s Hill a few years ago to open a Texas branch to service high profile clients including former NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers
, who became her brother-in-law after she married Nathan Caruthers, the father of her child.
“What kind of emergency? It’s a Sunday.”
Mauricio shrugged and shook his head. “I have no idea. I’m told it’s better not to know.”
“Indeed,” Alec said. “I guess we should be heading out.”
“Before we do...”
“I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“That you were here for something other than to carpool,” Alec said.
“Well, you’ve been shifty recently.”
“Shifty?” Alec asked, arching one eyebrow.
“Mom’s words. She suggested I use our twin connection to find out what’s going on with you,” Mo said, pacing over to the bookshelf. “I didn’t want to tell her that it’s probably a girl problem because that would activate her matrimony radar and you’d never have a moment’s peace today.”
“Thanks for that.”
“You need to come up with something I can tell her,” Mo said.
“Yeah, we don’t want a replay of what happened when we were kids and you told Mom that I skipped soccer practice to talk to a girl.” Alec smiled at the memory.
Harking back to their childhood provided a momentary distraction, but he knew that Mo wasn’t going to let this go that easily. While neither of them believed in a psychic twin sense, they’d always been able to perceive when the other brother was in turmoil.
“And still it’s a woman causing you problems—wanna talk about it? We have some time before we are due at the polo grounds.”
Did he want to talk about it? Hell, no. He wasn’t a touchy-feely sort of guy, and to be fair, neither was Mo.
“Not really.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? Mom would be so disappointed,” Alec said.
“No she wouldn’t. I suspect that Bianca is going to be the next one to try to figure out what’s going on with you.”
