“Love you, too,” Celeste mouthed back.
Melding their lives together within such a short time frame wasn’t easy. She and her mother were in the process of packing up their two-bedroom apartment so they could move to Athens. In a couple of weeks they would be married, and in less than thirty days, she and Roarke would close on the new house, which would accommodate the four of them better than his condo.
Since they wanted to expand their family right away, they agreed Celeste could put off finding a job for a few years. In the meantime, Roarke handled the role of future stepfather well. Her ex had given her a hard time about it initially, but after he and Roarke had a man-to-man talk—which she had not been privy to—they no longer had any arguments about Roarke.
People couldn’t understand why she and Roarke chose to get married so soon after they’d met. Celeste settled back into the chair. She had no reservations. Sometimes you just knew.
And this time, she knew she’d found a good man.
THE END
More Stories by Delaney Diamond
Hot Latin Men series The Arrangement
Fight for Love
Private Acts
Second Chances
Hot Latin Men: Vol. I (print anthology) Hot Latin Men: Vol. II (print anthology) Hawthorne Family series The Temptation of a Good Man A Hard Man to Love
Here Comes Trouble
For Better or Worse Hawthorne Family Series: Vol. I (print anthology)
Hawthorne Family Series: Vol. II (print anthology)
Love Unexpected series The Blind Date
The Wrong Man
Johnson Family series Unforgettable
Perfect (fall 2014) Just Friends (spring 2015) Bailar series (sweet/clean romance)
Worth Waiting For
Short Stories
Subordinate Position The Ultimate Merger Free Stories
www.delaneydiamond.com
Excerpt from A Hard Man to Love
Book 2 of the Hawthorne Family series
Hating him is easy. Loving him is hard.
Derrick Hoffman never quite got over not having a relationship with his biological father. The woman he was seeing is pregnant, and there’s no way he’s going to let her raise his child without him—even if it means coercing her into marriage.
Eva Jacob made the mistake of falling in love with Derrick, a man she knows is incapable of love. After their breakup, she discovers she’s pregnant. When she agrees to a loveless marriage, she tries to shield her heart from further pain. But she soon discovers that the heart wants what the heart wants, and her heart wants Derrick’s love.
Chapter One
As Eva Jacob left the house to go to work, she said a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn’t thrown up her breakfast of buttered toast and ginger tea this morning. At almost four months pregnant, she was finally getting a bit of relief. Less than a month ago, she could hardly keep down any of her food.
Before her passing, her mother had told her stories about her own pregnancy with Eva, and she had worried she’d find her pregnancy equally as difficult. She was relieved her doctor’s prediction she would feel better soon had finally panned out.
The drive to the clothing and accessories store in Pier Village on St. Simons Island, the largest of the Golden Isles off the coast of Georgia, took ten minutes. The village was the central location for cultural activities and commercial businesses on the island. Antique stores, souvenir shops, clothing stores, and restaurants lined the main street and the waterfront.
As Eva entered the store, the manager, Ms. Elsie, greeted her with a smile.
“How are you feeling today?” the older woman asked.