The House on Sunshine Corner
Page 23
“Hi,” he said, minutes or hours later—Abby wasn’t sure which—when he pulled back and gazed down at her.
She sank into him, glad his arms were around her holding her up because he always managed to kiss her stupid. “Hi, yourself. Just out of curiosity, when are you planning to stop greeting me like that?”
Carter lifted both eyebrows. “I’m actually glad you asked.”
He stepped away from her and strode toward the record player as she watched with furrowed brow, having no idea what he was doing.
“Are you going to answer me?”
“One sec.” He shot her a grin over his shoulder, before he lifted the needle and put on the song they’d danced to back in March. As the melodic strains flowed through the air around them, Carter walked back to her, holding out a hand and beckoning her closer.
Without question, she walked to him. Knowing she’d walk anywhere for him. He held her close, the two of them swaying silently for long moments, Carter’s hand a firm but gentle presence on her back, holding her close. Though he wouldn’t have to. Now that she had him, she didn’t intend to let him go.
Abby delved her fingers into the hair at his nape, gliding her short nails against his scalp like he loved. He groaned and glanced down at her as she bit her lip, knowing exactly what this was doing to him. She could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing into her stomach, and she wasn’t sorry in the least for eliciting that reaction. After all, she was desperate for him nearly every minute of the day. It was only fair he was a captive to her all the same.
Grinning, she stared up at him, into the eyes of the only man she’d ever loved. The one she’d fallen for at sixteen and again at twenty-nine. The only one who saw her for who she truly was and who loved her, not in spite of her flaws, but because of them.
“So…about that question…”
Abby furrowed her brow, wondering how long she’d been trapped under the spell of Carter’s mesmerizing green eyes that she no longer recalled a question at all. “I asked…What?”
Carter grinned down at her with the playful smile that tugged one side of his mouth higher than the other, and she felt an answering pull in her heart. “You asked how long I intend to greet you like this.”
She breathed out a laugh. “Oh, right. So, what are you thinking? The next month or two? I figure we’ve got a year, tops.”
“Actually, I was thinking a little longer than that.” Carter stepped back, reached into his pocket, and dropped to one knee. He opened a small black velvet box and held it up to her like an offering, the center stone sparkling off the lights in the kitchen.
Abby gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes already filling. “Carter…”
“I wasted a lot of time chasing after dreams that I thought made me the person I needed to be. But I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been running away. Not when everything I could ever want is right here, with you. I don’t want to wait another minute to be able to tell everyone you’re mine. My forever. So what do you say, Abby? Can I be your forever, too?”
She breathed out a watery laugh and nodded. “Yes,” she said, breathless, her throat already clogged with emotion.
He beamed up at her, pulling the ring from the box and slipping it on her left hand. Then he stood, gathering her close as he held her and crushed their mouths together. “You said yes,” he repeated over and over again, his lips brushing hers with every awed word.
Abby had long since given up the fight to keep her tears at bay, and they ran unchecked down her cheeks as a grin split her face. “Did you have any doubts?”
“You have no idea…Luckily, I had someone reassuring me along the way.”
Before she could ask him who he meant, Hilde strolled into the kitchen and tsked. “I thought we came to an agreement that you two wouldn’t do that down here anymore after the last time.”
Abby choked out a laugh and buried her face in Carter’s neck, her cheeks already flaming. Her grandma took absolutely every opportunity to bring up the one time she’d caught them in the act. “We’re celebrating,” she mumbled against his skin.
“I can see that,” Hilde said wryly. “What, exactly, are we celebrating tonight?”
Abby glanced at Carter, one brow raised in question. At his short nod, she spun back to her grandma and held up her left hand directly in Hilde’s line of sight. “We’re engaged!”
“Well, hot damn!” Hilde said, smiling as she enveloped both Abby and Carter in a group hug. “It’s about time you asked her. If you’d have waited much longer, there were bound to be whispers around town. People will already be counting back the months…”
“You knew he was—Wait, what?” Abby asked as the rest of Hilde’s words finally registered. Her eyes grew wide as she lowered her hands to her stomach and stared up at Carter, worry and apprehension weighing her down. It was one thing for him to say he was all in with her and for him to propose. It was another thing entirely to be faced with the possibility of a child so soon.
But instead of running away like she feared he would, instead of turning in on himself or lashing out, he grinned down at her and lowered his face until their lips were a mere breath apart. Against them, he whispered, “Now or later, I can’t wait.”
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A Wedding on Sunshine Corner
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Phoebe Mills lives near the Great Lakes and loves her family, coffee, and binge watching, in that order. During the day she wrangles kids and by night she conjures up strong women, dreamy men, and ways to wreak havoc on their lives—before giving them a happy ending, of course! It’s a tough job, but there’s nothing else she’d rather do.
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ONLY FOR YOU
by Barb Curtis
Will a fake relationship between two friends lead to true love?
After having his heart broken on national television, Tim Fraser knows only one way to stop the gossip about his love life—a new girlfriend. The problem is, he’s done with romance forever. A fake relationship with his friend and Sapphire Spring’s sweetest baker, Emily Holland, seems the perfect solution to getting rid of his newfound fame, but their fleeting fauxmance is stirring up the kinds of feelings Tim has sworn off for good.
Emily has secretly lusted after Tim for years, but pretending her feelings are all for show never factored into her fantasy. Still, her decades-long crush makes it impossible to say no to Tim’s proposal. But with each date, the lines between pretend and reality blur, giving Tim and Emily a tantalizing taste of life outside the friend zone…if they can find the courage to give real love a real chance.
Chapter One
Emily Holland had two simple New Year’s resolutions.
The first, reorganizing her life. She’d kick-started the day—and year—by cleaning her apartment and purging her closet of two bags of clothes for Goodwill. Then she’d monopolized both sets of washers and dryers in her building’s laundry room down the hall, which was the reason for the cut-off jean shorts and threadbare NSYNC tank top she currently wore.
With the holidays officially over and fad diets in full force, Tesoro, her patisserie in the strip of storefronts downstairs, would see a lull in walk-in traffic until business picked up again before Valentine’s Day. She could use the break to organize her work life, too.
Her second resolution? Well, he lit up her phone with his third text in an hour.
Tim Fraser—friend since high school, upstairs neighb
or, fellow town council member, and secret object of her affection for longer than she cared to admit.
As recently elected town councilors, she and Tim had spent the last six weeks on the volunteer committee for Sapphire Springs’ Christmas festivities. They’d also collaborated on last night’s New Year’s Eve party, which Emily had secretly hoped would end with a lightbulb flickering on in his ridiculously gorgeous head, when he finally realized they were both single now and a perfect match. He’d kiss her at midnight on the rooftop of town hall, fireworks blasting behind them, and the rest would be history.
Too bad he’d bailed at ten p.m. without even saying goodbye. It had been the final straw, prompting her New Year’s resolution to kick her secret crush to the curb once and for all. All she had to do was stop hanging out with Tim all the time. From now on she’d put herself out there, meet other guys, and find the real Mr. Right—somebody who could look past the friend zone and see her as more than “the girl downstairs.”
With a nagging buzz, her phone announced another text.
Someone’s being persistent today.
Curiosity tempted her to read his texts and see what had prompted so many, but she knew she would then feel compelled to respond, and that would inevitably lead into one of their back-and-forth conversations that lasted an entire evening, until one of them either invited the other over to hang out or said they were going to bed.
Not today, Fraser. No way would she blow her resolution on day one. The clock was ticking, and watching her best friend, Leyna, fall in love with her soul mate and plan their wedding had Emily wondering if she’d ever get her own happily-ever-after. Determined to ignore him, she propped her bare feet on the coffee table and flicked on the television to channel surf as her phone vibrated again.
They’d established a routine back in the fall, watching TV together, or more often than not, watching the same show separately and texting each other the entire time. It had begun with a bunch of nineties teen flicks, like Clueless and She’s All That (her choices), then they’d spent a day on John Hughes classics and another bingeing Adam Sandler movies. Then the Christmas movies had begun. Emily loved the cheesy romances—in fact the cheesier, the better. Tim mostly teased her about it and always got even with a Tarantino flick or two.
In these last few months he’d really leaned on her. They’d gotten close—well, they’d always been sort of close, but now she’d kind of become his “person,” which both thrilled her and ignited an ache in her heart that she’d never survive if she kept squashing her emotions. She couldn’t do it anymore. It was like the tighter their bond, the further the possibility of them ever being more became.
A chill danced across her shoulders as the clicking of her thumb slowed. On a long sigh, Emily reached for the fluffy mauve blanket draped over the back of the couch and pulled it around her. She lowered the remote to the arm of the couch. Behind Closed Doors was airing a mid-season marathon.
The reality TV show revolved around four men and four women in their thirties sharing a mansion in L.A., and it starred Tim’s ex, Melissa. After three years together, not only had she cheated on him with one of her roommates, but she’d come to Sapphire Springs back in early September, flanked by her entourage, and dumped him while the cameras rolled.
Her phone lit up again.
Shit.
It was literally the only thing on TV right now, and she’d bet that Tim needed a distraction to stave off the temptation to watch. Emily tipped her head back, resting it on the couch, to stare at the ceiling medallion encircling the light fixture, willing the tiny bulbs to help her decide how to play this.
If the roles were reversed, she could count on him, no question. Take Todd, the hunky police officer she’d dated back in the summer. When Emily dumped him, Tim had shown up with a chocolate cake that had CONGRATULATIONS piped across it in pink frosting. They’d spent an entire Sunday watching reruns of Friends. She laughed even harder during the commercial breaks than she did during the show.
Tim was such a great guy. He hadn’t deserved to have his heart ripped out.
The ache in her heart throbbed a little harder.
Ugh. This was exactly the kind of thing that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She plucked her phone off the coffee table.
Six messages.
Happy New Year!
Mel’s show is on all day for the second day in a row. I keep landing on it and getting caught up, like an idiot.
Maybe I’ll go for a run.
And then the three most recent messages:
I’m back. What’re you up to?
There’s a “potty putter” infomercial coming on