Audrey pressed her palms to her cheeks. “Are you serious?”
“Always.”
“Ask me.” Her voice was but a mere whisper. Hope danced inside her like pixies, spinning and twirling and churning all her feelings up into one tornado of emotion.
“How many feet can a llama spit?” His sexy grin brought a sparkle to his eyes, his hands already reaching for hers. “I’ll give you a moment to do the calculations.”
Audrey laughed, one fat tear finally plopping down onto her cheek. “You’re giving me a free pass?”
“I couldn’t take a chance, Audrey. Not with something this big. Not with you.” He pulled her closer, brushing her long braid over her shoulder and running his thumb along her jaw. “So what’s your answer, huh?”
“Fifteen feet,” she said, laughing. “And they have really good aim.”
Ronan lowered his head to hers, capturing her mouth in a tentative kiss. But there was no need for him to go slow, no need for him to wait and see. Audrey rose up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, arching her body into his.
The entirety of Kisspresso Café erupted in a cheer, and Audrey was pretty sure someone’s phone camera flashed. But she didn’t care. Couldn’t care.
The only thing that mattered was that she was exactly where she was supposed to be—in Ronan’s arms. When he pulled back, his eyes were dark and inviting, hinting that dinner might have to wait for other types of reunions.
“Does this mean he’s not buying all the muffins?” a young girl asked. “Because I really want one.”
Audrey laughed and covered her mouth, eyes bright and watery. Ronan grinned and motioned to Lana behind the counter. “Whatever she wants, it’s on me. That goes for everyone in here.”
“Are you really doing this?” Audrey asked. “Giving up your career for me?”
“My career will be different. But I’m still going to finish this book and see what happens. I’m still passionate about my work, and I’ll have to travel from time to time, but if I’m telling you that you can have it all, then it seems mighty hypocritical for me not to do the same.” A slow, sensual grin curved his lips. “The thought of having a home base, coming home to you every day, dragging you to bed every night, waking up to you every morning…I can’t get it out of my head.”
“Me neither,” she whispered. “But my family—”
“We’ll make it work. Whatever it is, Audrey, we’ll make it work. You want to find a house big enough for both of us and Deanna and the twins? Fine. You want me to cook dinner every night? Can do. You want me to worship you every second of every single day? I’ll start right now.”
His arms tightened around her as he brought his lips down to hers again. Energy crackled around them, and Audrey was sure there were fireworks behind her eyelids as they shuttered closed. Ronan’s kiss was soft and deep, and it hinted at more. So much more.
His tongue danced with hers, coaxing her to open to him. To melt into him. To be his, wholly and completely.
“I will do whatever it takes,” he said, trailing his lips along her neck. “I can’t watch you walk away twice.”
“You have no idea what you’re promising,” she said, shaking her head. “Offering to house three teenagers is not for the weak of heart.”
“Good thing my heart’s a lot stronger than I ever gave it credit for.”
“I love you, too.” The words burst out of her as she looked up at him, arms around his neck and body lining his. “I’m so glad you walked into the café that first day.”
“Are you glad you called me a sex robot?” he teased. “And accused me of being a heartless thief preying on small business owners?”
“Absolutely.” Her tone was 100 percent sincere. “I take my job very seriously, Professor Sex Robot.”
Who would have known that the future could be so bright and shining and full of good things? She’d cleared the dark shadows from her mind, brushing them away by speaking up for herself and facing her fears. By forging the kind of life she truly deserved.
And right now, with love in her heart and a sexy, perfect man promising to worship her every day, Audrey’s future was more exciting than ever.
Epilogue
Wedding rings are placed on the third finger of the left hand because ancient Egyptians believed the vein in that hand ran directly to the heart.
One year later…
Ronan stood in the kitchen of his and Audrey’s new home, a small but cozy townhouse in a newer development at the edge of Kissing Creek. It wasn’t quite as convenient as his walk across the leafy Harrison Beech grounds to get to his office, but having a space to call their own made him feel like his life was complete. Besides, Audrey had started her degree at Harrison Beech—part-time—now that she’d gotten her GED. That meant they often drove to the campus together.
Almost all of their belongings were in boxes scrawled with Sharpie and sealed shut with duct tape, but he’d unearthed enough utensils to cook a basic meal for their first night together. For all of them…
Audrey sat on the floor with Deanna, their matching blond heads bowed as they rifled through boxes marked kitchen.
“Found them!” Deanna held up a fork triumphantly. “Now we don’t have to eat with our hands.”
Audrey shot Ronan a look and closed the flaps on the box. “I would have been perfectly happy to order pizza.”
“No way.” Ronan shook his head. “This is our home. I’m not ordering takeout for our first meal. It’s a special occasion.”
Audrey pushed up from the floor and came over to him, the hem of her long skirt swishing around her bare feet. “Best I find the wineglasses, then,” she said, planting a kiss on the tip of his nose. “That champagne isn’t going to drink itself.”
“Can I have some?” Deanna asked, getting to her feet. She’d grown up a lot in this past year, shooting up several inches and developing her confidence. He’d grown to love her like a little sister, given that she shared Audrey’s sparkling personality and happy disposition—as happy as a teenager could be, anyway.
“You won’t like it,” Audrey warned. “It’s not sweet.”
“But I want to celebrate.”
At that moment, there was a knock on the front door, and Deanna ran over to greet their guests. She skidded to a stop on her sock-covered feet and yanked the door open.
“Hey everyone!” Georgie appeared in the doorway, tapping away at her phone as usual. Jane was close behind, along with her boyfriend from college. Oliver brought up the rear.
“I can’t believe you wanted me to invite everyone over on our first night when we don’t even have things unpacked,” Audrey said, grabbing the champagne from the fridge. She wrapped her hand over the cork and gave it a gentle twist, easing it out with a satisfying pop. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy in love with you,” he said, pulling her close for a kiss. “Which means I want your family to feel welcome here.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “This house, this…everything—I can’t believe it’s ours.”
“And I can’t believe you’re mine, Audrey.” He gave her a little nudge. “Now go and welcome everyone. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”
Grinning, she dashed off to greet her siblings. Even with them being scattered across the country, they were close. Georgie was off studying at Columbia, Jane was still at Duke, and Oliver had spent six months overseas, doing an exchange-type program with a specialty digital arts school.
They all saw their father periodically, but the relationship was slow to repair. Especially Oliver. Ronan knew that struggle, though he was happy to say that he and his mother were much further along. They spoke every few weeks now, and he visited her and his grandmother once a month. It gave him hope that Audrey and her siblings would get there one day, too.
Deanna came up beside Ronan and snuck a look over h
er shoulder to see if anyone was watching her. “Everyone’s here now.”
“Can you get them all to sit down at the table? I’ll dish up.” He winked at her. “Then it’s showtime.”
She grinned but quickly smothered the expression. “You’ve got it?”
Ronan nodded. A small velvet box wasn’t the easiest thing to stash in his jeans without it looking totally suspicious. But the apron he’d thrown over his clothes was perfect, with deep, loose pockets perfect for stashing an engagement ring.
He’d taken Deanna to a jewelry shop in Boston a few weekends ago, claiming that they were going to the MIT Museum for a school assignment. In reality, Deanna had helped him pick out the perfect ring, since she knew way more about that kind of girlie stuff than he did.
She’d guided him toward an oval-cut citrine, since yellow was Audrey’s favorite color, surrounded by glittering white diamonds. It was almost vintage-looking, a little old-fashioned, which he thought suited her to a tee. She liked old things like dusty bookstores and black-and-white movies.
“Get your butts into those chairs,” Deanna demanded, rounding up her siblings.
Audrey had located the wineglasses and the plates, and the table was set in a few minutes. Ronan thought maybe he should have been nervous about proposing, especially with an audience. Having an audience for anything personal was not his style.
But this felt right. Audrey’s family was the most important thing in her life, and he was fully aware that marrying her meant making her family his own. And instead of informing her father that he intended to ask for her hand in marriage, he’d gone to Deanna to ask for her blessing. Everyone else was in on the plan, except Audrey.
“By the way, you didn’t give me a fact this morning,” Deanna said with an exaggerated pout as they all took their seats. “But that’s okay. I’ve got one for you.”
“Oh yeah?” Audrey asked. “Go on. Dazzle me with your facts.”
“Wedding rings are placed on the third finger of the left hand because ancient Egyptians believed the vein in that hand ran directly to the heart,” she said with a smug grin, flipping her long blond hair over one shoulder. “Romans even called it the vein of love.”
Everyone at the table was silent and looking at Audrey. She cocked her head as if she’d started to suspect something, but before she had time to figure out what was going on, Ronan walked up to her and dropped down on one knee. He fished the box out of his pocket and held it up to her, opening it like he’d seen in the movies. Audrey gasped, and she pressed a hand to her chest, shaking her head.
Don’t focus on the shaking head. Just ask the damn question.
“I said I wanted our first night in our new home to be special, and I meant it. This past year has been the first time I’ve ever felt like I wanted to set down roots and build a life in one place, and that’s all because of you.”
“Oh my gosh.” Audrey looked to her siblings, who were all grinning and giggling. Her hands shook. “I wondered why you were so insistent that we have everyone over on the first night.”
“I know what marrying you means. I’m joining your family and mine, and your devotion to your family is one of the things I love most about you. So, of course, I wanted to make sure they gave me their blessings.”
“We do!” Deanna said as unofficial spokesperson for the Miller siblings, clapping her hands together.
“Thanks, Dee.” Ronan pulled the ring out of the box and reached for Audrey’s hand. “Audrey Dorothy Miller, would you do me the honor of sticking with me for the long haul? I want to see every amazing thing you do with your life, and I want to keep loving you until we’re old and gray. I want to hear your quirky facts and hunt through bookstores with you; I want to tell everyone who’ll listen how we met when you called me a thief and a sex robot.”
Audrey laughed, her eyes sparkling. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Never.” He hovered the ring at the end of her finger, the perfectly cut yellow stone glinting like pure sunshine. Just like the woman he loved. “Will you marry me? It’ll make me happier than I ever thought possible.”
“For a professor who teaches a class about positivity, that’s saying something.” She grinned. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Ronan. I want to be your wife, and I want to see all the amazing things you do with your life.”
“With our life.” He slipped the ring onto her finger and got to his feet so he could drag Audrey into his arms.
He brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her long and deep to a chorus of vomiting noises from her siblings. Laughing, they broke away. Audrey cupped his face, her smile wide and bright and so true he felt her happiness right through to the core of him.
This wasn’t a fake holding-it-all-together-smile, because Audrey didn’t need those anymore. When she was happy, she smiled, and when she wasn’t, she let it all out. She trusted him, and that was the greatest gift of all. And, in turn, he let himself become closer and more in love with her every single day.
“Our life,” she echoed. “I like the sound of that.”
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Acknowledgments
Firstly, I can’t write a book all about family without thanking my own family first. To my parents and my little sister, thank you. It’s been a rough few years, but no matter what life throws at us we’ll tackle it as a team.
To my husband, who is always quick to challenge me whenever I think I can’t do something, thank you. Your drive and ambition and relentless pursuit of our dream life is a blessing. I love you more every day.
To Luke and Jill, our family in Canada, thank you. Our nights laughing over boardgames and drinks, our endless catalogue of silly in-jokes and the true friendship we have is something I am incredibly grateful for. And to my Wednesday-night ladies—Shiloh, Myrna, Madura, Tammy, Jeanette, Aliza, and Lou—thank you for being a bright spot in my week.
To Taryn, thank you for everything. For keeping me sane in the ups and downs of this job, for always being there to brainstorm, for being the best cheerleader and sharpest critique partner and most genuine friend a gal could ask for.
To all the amazing people who had a hand in bringing Kissing Lessons to life. Thank you to my agent, Jill Marsal, for all your sage advice. Thank you to Liz Pelletier, Lydia Sharp, and Hannah Lindsey for your keen editorial input. Thank you to the rest of the Entangled Publishing team—Curtis, Riki, Jessica, Bree, Heather, Meredith, and everyone—for all your hard work behind the scenes.
Lastly, thank you to my readers. Your emails, DMs, reviews, and comments make my heart so full. Knowing my stories connect with you is the most rewarding thing in the world. Thank you.
About the Author
Stefanie London is a multi award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romances and romantic comedies.
Stefanie’s books have been called “genuinely entertaining and memorable” by Booklist, and “Elegant, descriptive and delectable” by RT magazine. Her stories have won multiple industry awards, including the HOLT Medallion and OKRWA National Reader’s Choice Award, and she has been nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA award.
Originally from Australia, Stefanie now lives in Toronto with her very own hero and is currently in the process of doing her best to travel the world. She frequently indulges in her passions for good coffee, lipstick, romance novels, and anything zombie-related.
Also by Stefanie London…
The Rules According to Gracie
Pretend It’s Love
Betting the Bad Boy
Loving the Odds
Taken by the CEO
Trouble Next Door
How to Win a Fiancé
How To Lose a Fiancé
The Aussie Next Door
Her Aussie Holiday
Forever Starts Now
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