Best Laid Plans

“Well, I can’t play it, of course, but it took me only, say, 218 games against myself till I came up with one of the letters on the board I needed, and then the rest of the seven letters to play it.”

“You were determined,” I say with wonder as I read his phone again, my eyes filling with tears of happiness, my heart flooding with love, a love I didn’t expect but can’t imagine living without.

Now, as I look back on the last year, and the last week especially, I can see this is where our story was heading. Love was always what was written on our pages. I just had to keep reading the book.

“I was determined, and I am determined, because you’re worth it.” He lets go of the phone and reaches for me, lifting me in his arms. “I love you, Arden East. I love you so damn much.”

He drops a kiss to my lips before I can get a word in edgewise, but I don’t care, because I’m on a hot air balloon soaring to the stratosphere with him—my friend, my lover, and my man.

“I’m so in love with you. That’s what I was going to tell you,” I say when we separate.

He presses another soft kiss to my lips, and this is even better than sex. Tingles radiate all through my bones. I sigh happily, savoring every second, delighting in this true and honest kiss that feels like a promise.

But words matter too, so when we stop, I press my hands to his chest. “I don’t want to lose you, Gabe. I meant everything I said before. You mean so much to me. I hate the thought of you not being in my life.”

He threads a hand through my hair. “Wouldn’t you know? Turns out I hate that thought too. So let’s stay in each other’s lives.”

I smile like a woman in love.

And love feels so . . . empowering.

So does something else. Another choice I make. I clasp his face, loving the freedom to touch him like this. “What do you say we skip bowling, go to my place or yours, and spend the night together?”

“I’d say I’m game for that. I only have one condition.”

“What is it?”

“Tonight, I’m making love to you.”





*



At my house, he makes good on his promise. He spreads me out on my bed, strips me naked, and worships me with his lips and his tongue. He lavishes my body with kisses, settling between my legs and bringing me to ecstasy. Then he climbs over me, reaching for his wallet.

I stop him, circling my hand around his arm. “I’m on the pill. I want to feel all of you.”

He groans his appreciation for that answer, tossing his wallet behind him. It hits the floor with a thunk, and he wiggles an eyebrow. “Who cares about the damn wallet right now?”

“Definitely not me.”

He spreads my thighs wide, slides inside me, and I wrap my legs around his waist, hooking my ankles together, drawing him closer.

“Arden,” he groans, “I’ve been falling in love with you for a long time.”

“Keep falling in love with me,” I whisper as he moves luxuriously inside me. “And I’ll keep falling in love with you.”

He reaches for my wrists, raises them above my head, and pins them, driving me wild, making me love missionary in a whole new way because the man I love is taking me and fucking me and loving me.





*



The next morning when we wake, I wear nothing but an apron as I pluck eggs from the carton, prepping to cook him breakfast.

Before I can turn on the burner, though, he’s found other things to do with my apron. In a flash, I’m on the counter, my wrists tied with the apron strings as he introduces me to new uses for the kitchen, and after that we christen the yard too.

Eventually, a whole lot later, I cook him eggs, and he devours them. After all, he worked up quite an appetite.

I work up an appetite of another kind a few days later when he gives me a striptease. We’re talking the full regalia. Fireman suspenders, turnout gear, and a hot-as-hell dance.

Let’s just say I give him his reward.

On my knees.





46





Arden





A couple of days later, Perri pops by the bookstore and asks if I’m free to grab a bite to eat. I’m finished up, and Madeline is working for the evening, so we head to Helen’s Diner, one of our favorite places in town.

“How’s love? Is it as fabulous as everyone makes it out to be?” she asks as we sit.

I smile. I can’t help it. “It’s the most fabulous thing. I highly recommend unexpectedly falling in love with your best guy friend after he gives you hypothetical lessons in seduction that turn real.”

She wiggles an eyebrow and taps her temple. “And I’ll just file that away under possibilities I never expected.”

“Same here. But seriously, Gabe is great, and I’m the luckiest girl in Lucky Falls.”

“It’s not luck. You went after your happily ever after and you got it.

“And I’m not going to let it go.”

“You better not.”

Then it’s my turn to wiggle my eyebrows, because I want the dish on the guy Perri’s been hot for. She thought nothing would come of the man she pulled over, but Derek McBride turned up in her life again in a most unexpected way, and I’m dying for more details. “Tell me all the details about the hottie.”

“Whomever would you be referring to?” She plays it coy.

I shoot her a look. “The one you pulled over the other day who looked at you like he wanted to eat you up, toss you over his shoulder, and then pleasure you all night long. That one.”

Her eyes twinkle. “He did look at me like that, didn’t he?”

“Um, yeah. And if memory serves, I feel like you were giving him the same look.”

“You did hit the nail on the head when you said I had a type, and he is definitely it,” she says with a laugh as the server comes over to take our order. I opt for a chicken sandwich, and Perri chooses a salad. I steer us back to the conversation. “So, Miss Has a Type and He’s It—what’s next with him? You ran into him again, you flirted, you had an epic kiss, and now? Tell me what’s next?” I’m dying to know.

She sighs, and it seems full of import. “Seems he showed up last night on my doorstep, with his duffel, since my brother went ahead and rented the room above the garage to him.”