by V McFarlane
“So, uh,” I rub the back of my neck, “How have you been?”
She shrugs, looking down at her coffee. I see her throat work as she swallows and then her eyes close.
“Penny,” I start. I need to close this gap.
“No wait,” she stops me, “Please don’t apologise.”
Shit. This wasn’t what I thought it was. She wasn’t going to take me back.
“I need to apologise,” she finally says, “You didn’t do anything.”
“Huh?” I can’t help it, my tone is laced with disbelief, my eyebrows somewhere near my hairline in shock.
She chuckles, “It wasn’t fair of me. Grace basically gave me the hard truth, I acted like I had a big secret, like I had something to hide when really, I should have just told you. If I had told you this would never have happened, Carla wouldn’t have blurted it out and I wouldn’t have hurt you. So, I’m sorry.”
I’m stumped. My mouth opens and then closes and then opens again but no sounds come out.
“Can we fix this?” She asks after a long beat of silence.
“There’s nothing to fix,” I tell her, “Nothing was broken. Just a little messy.”
Her face softens, “Thank you.”
I cock my head to the side, “Penny, why are you so afraid of what people think about you?”
She shrugs, “I don’t know. I’m just afraid of rejection.”
“Penny,” I reach across the table, laying my hand on top of hers. She feels good against my skin, even just this small touch has started to settle my soul. “You’re a storm. Captivating. Beautiful. People get caught up in you and then the next thing you know, you’re right there, in the eye of it all with no way out.” She’s leaned forward, her eyes glistening, her lips parting. There’s so much about this woman that I love. Her kind heart. Her caring nature. Her selflessness. She just needs to be seen. Her. No one else.
“I see you, Penny,” I graze my fingers up her jaw, “I see you, darlin’.”
“Taron,” she breathes.
“And I don’t want to see anyone else. I only want you.”
She nods, a tear slipping down her cheek.
“Will you have me?” I ask.
A burst of laughter escapes her lips, “Do you even have to ask?”
With a grin, I close the space between us and press my mouth on hers. It’s definitely not a kiss for public display but I don’t care. I went for too long without a taste and now I’m making up for lost time.
It’s only when the burn of desire has my chest tightening and my will slipping that I pull away.
“If I don’t stop,” I growl against her mouth, “I will take you right here so it might be best we leave now.”
Her pupils are huge as if she’s feeling the exact same as me, but she nods and stands, brushing her tight little body up against me. I stifle a groan and follow her from the shop.
Her hand is in mine when we make it back to the park.
“Well thank the stars,” Grace shakes her head, “we good now? Can Penny stop moping around the house like a lovesick teenager?”
“I was not moping,” Penny defends, her cheeks turning pink.
Grace glares and then shakes her head, “Well at least it’s done now.”
The rest of the day is spent in the park with the kids, watching them play and laugh and the entire time, I never let Penny go.
I’ll never let her go again.
Forty-seven
Penny
When I wake the next morning there’s a warm, hard body next to mine. I reach out, skimming my fingers up the hard muscle on his torso, allowing the warmth of him to seep into my skin.
He mumbles sleepily, turning his whole body to me and dragging me into the cocoon of his body.
He nuzzles his face into my neck, “Morning.” He grumbles.
“Let’s do something today,” I tell him, far too awake for this early hour.
“Sleep first,” he says against my throat.
“It’s eight,” I tell him.
“Sleep.”
I chuckle, “The girls are awake.”
It was true I could hear them giggling away in Ripley’s room down the hall. I go to move from the bed but his grip on me tightens and I chuckle, “I’ll make you breakfast.” I try with a bribe.
“I’ll have you for breakfast,” Suddenly his weight is pressing me into the mattress, his body falling between my parted thighs. He grinds himself against me, his mouth kissing up my neck.
“No,” I giggle, “I need a break.”
He snaps back, his brows pulling down as concerns twists at his face, “Are you okay?”
“Nothing a shower can’t fix,” I tell him.
We made up. A lot. For a long time. And my muscles ached.
He pulls back, settling on his heels to look down my body just to confirm I was, in fact, okay. When he’s happy he drops to my side and pulls me in for a kiss. “I love you.”
I smile, “I love you too.”
He stretches out and then sits up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. “What’d you wanna do today?”
“A walk maybe?” Seeing as we didn’t get to do that yesterday. “Grace is heading home today.”
He nods, “Okay.”
I watch him as he climbs from the bed, the muscles beneath his golden skin flexing and rippling as he walks to the closet to pull on some clothes.
This was something I could definitely get used to.
Before we go downstairs with the girls, Taron strides over to me, taking my face into his hands and presses his mouth to mine. It’s tender but full of passion. Full of love.
It’s a promise.
And I realise, as his tongue caresses mine, that this is just the start of the rest of our lives.
Epilogue
Taron
Six months later
“Just close your eyes,” I tell Penny, wrapping the blindfold around her eyes and tying it at the back, careful not to tangle her golden hair.
“Where are we going?” She demands, her voice shaking with nerves.
I’ve learned a lot about Penny in the last six months, one of them being she hates surprises. And she hates her birthday.
Today was her birthday. And I had a surprise.
“You’ll see, be patient,” I say, helping her into the truck.
“Is the blind fold really necessary?”
“Yes.”
I drive the long way round but when I hit the dirt road heading up to the distillery, I start to panic thinking she’ll recognise the bumps in the road, I mean it’s not the easiest road to navigate. Something I’m having fixed in the next few weeks.
If she realises, she doesn’t say anything, she just holds the handle above the door but with every bump the hem of the little black dress she’s wearing creeps further up her thigh. I can’t help myself, I reach out and brush my fingers up the creamy skin, watching her skin break out in goose bumps at my touch.
“Did I tell you, you look beautiful in that dress?”
“A hundred times,” she laughs.
“Well here’s to a hundred and one.”
She shakes her head, “Are we there yet?”
“Nearly, darlin’.” I continue passed the distillery and then warm fairy lights light the way. This has been in the works for months now and it’s finally finished. This road at least is smoother and finally, I pull up and park the truck, smiling when I see everyone is already here.
As I climb from the truck, silence greets us, the crowd hushing so Penny has no idea.
Warm lights are strung up all around us. Crickets sound in the long grass surrounding us and if we’re lucky, we might even see some fireflies later. I spot Ava and Ripley bouncing with excitement close to Grace who’s holding a sleepy Logan in her arms.
Rhett’s somewhere around here but I can’t see him.
I guide Penny ahead and stop in front of the huge structure that’s been recently erected. It’s exactly as she had envisioned in all
those notes I found in the office at home. Our home. Notes she thought I’d never see.
“Ready?” I whisper in her ear.
She wiggles, “Yes.”
I slowly untie the blindfold and let it fall from her face.
Her eyes widen in shock, her mouth popping open.
“Oh my god!” She exclaims. “Look at this!”
I smile, taking in the barn with its floor to ceiling windows, thousands of twinkling lights hanging from the beams in the ceiling and visible through the glass.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathes.
“It’s for you,” I tell her, “If you’ll have it, I’d really like you to run this place, Penny.”
She turns her wide eyes to me, tears glistening, “Are you serious?”
I nod, “Yeah, darlin’. This was your idea. All those plans, the notes, you’re the only person I trust to do this right.”
“Taron,” she says quietly, “Yes, thank you!”
She jumps into my arms, clinging to me before pressing her mouth to mine in a kiss that should not be shared with the many eyes watching us.
I reluctantly pull away and clear my throat, “Turn around.”
She frowns and then looks over her shoulder just as the entire crowd shouts, “Surprise!”
Half the town is here right now, the guys from the distillery with their wives, parents from the school, their kids. With her distracted, I pull the black ring box from my pocket and swallow, dropping to one knee.
“Penny,” I say to get her attention. She turns and her hands shoot to her mouth, her eyes widening. “I love you. I’ll always love you. Will you–”
I don’t get to finish.
“Yes!” She yells, “Yes!”
I laugh and open the box to reveal a cluster diamond ring on a white gold band.
“Oh, it’s beautiful.” She fingers the ring, the rocks glinting as the lights hung all around us hit it.
“How do you feel about being the first to get married here?” I ask, slipping the ring onto her finger.
She nods, tears now slipping down her face, “Yes. Yes, Taron. I’d love to.”
The crowd cheers wildly around us as I grab my fiancé and pull her into me. The girls skip over to us, wrapping themselves around our legs as I kiss Penny.
The only thing better than a good whiskey is the love of a good woman.
I have both.
I’ll always have both.
THE END
About the Author
V McFarlane is an indie author new to the Contemporary Romance scene!
In between writing, she's a mother and a wife and if she hasn't got her nose in her laptop you'll find her reading.
She lives in the south of the UK, close to both the coast and the beautiful New Forest.
Avid lover of gin, cowboys and bad dad jokes!
You can keep up to date with upcoming releases and excerpts by following her on Instagram, Goodreads and Facebook!
Instagram: v.mcfarlanebooks
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More by V McFarlane
I Don't Want You: A Lakeside Romance
Read on for a peek of I Don't Want you, the first installment of The Lakeside Romance series.
ONE
Violet
I’ve never believed in soul mates, I didn’t believe in destiny or fate or love that’s written in the stars. I believe you have to work for what you want, a career, a relationship, happiness. Things don’t just simply happen. If everything you ever wanted in life just fell into your lap life would become very boring.
All of that is funny considering the song I’m writing is about meeting soulmates, finding the one, destiny, blah blah blah. The song's not mine. Well it is, but it’s not for me. A local band commissioned me to write it for them and despite it all, the song's good but there’s something missing.
A lyric. A word. A note. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’m not big time, in fact, I’m very small time, in a little town miles away from where I could make it big time. It’ll never happen for me but that’s okay. I write music, I sing sometimes and now and then someone listens to my music online and commissions me to write them a song. It’s always local bands, local singers and artists. I’ve never been recognised by anyone who could get me somewhere. It’s okay. Really.
I’m happy here, in Lakeside, Nebraska. I’m happy working in my family’s restaurant down next to the Lake and spending my down time walking, listening to music, or writing and playing my own.
My whole life is here, I grew up here, went to school, met my friends. I had my first kiss down by the docks. His name was Ryan Wilkes, he was a year older than me and my first ever crush at the age of fourteen. We went to dances together. And then he broke my little heart at sixteen when his family moved back to Washington and I never saw him again. I thought it was love of course, it wasn’t but my sixteen-year-old heart didn’t know that.
I broke my arm after climbing a tree near the Nature Reserve downtown, I was at the Theatre when I found out my Nana had died. My sister and I used to play on the shores of the lake as kids and then sunbathe there as teenagers. I had my first legal drink at the music bar, Tunes, and sang my first karaoke at Jimmy’s Bar. You get the picture, all my firsts are here, and all my lasts will probably be here too.
I can hear my own voice singing in my earphones, the new song for the band on repeat as I try to figure out exactly what it is it’s missing.
It’s as you would expect, all love and longing, hearts on sleeves and happily ever afters.
It’s cold, January in Nebraska is harsh with zero or below temperatures, frequent snowfalls, and ice. It’s not uncommon to be locked indoors for days because the snow is so heavy, and the roads are deadly.
This week’s been more settled, though one look at the sky tells me we’re in for another storm. The sky’s a deep grey colour, almost purple where the sun is trying to pierce the thick blanket of rolling clouds. We’ve only just gotten over the last lot, the evidence is still sat on rooftops and in the piles of black sludge on the roads and sidewalks. I’ve slipped more times than I can count on my walk this morning, not seeing the icy patches on the pavement below my feet.
I’ve been known to get in my own head when the time calls. I completely ignore the world around me, like it doesn’t exist at all. Want to have a conversation with me at that point? Forget it. Need something? You’re gonna need to wait. I only tend to get like it when I’m concentrating on something important. Like this Goddamned song. They are expecting the final version tomorrow and I can’t give them this.
Chances are they won’t notice the ‘missing piece’ but I know it’s there and whilst I make very little from this it’s important that I give it everything I have.
My legs move me forward, but I have no idea where I’m going. I’m just walking, hoping the fresh, crisp air will clear the fog in my brain. I have a thick winter coat wrapped around me, thermals beneath my skinny jeans, a hat, scarf, and gloves. I’m warm enough to stay out for a little bit longer.
The song starts from the beginning again and I look down at the notepad in my hands, reading over the lyrics as they play in my ears. It’s soft and calming, the music, a small tune I put together on my guitar to get a feel for it plays quietly behind the words. The band doesn’t need to use my music but it’s there for them to play with if they need it.
The music flows into the chorus, and I step off the pavement.
“…and it’s you and me baby. You and me today. You and me, tomorrow…”
A horn blares, cutting through the music in my ears so loud it reverberates through my brain. My head snaps up to see a car screeching towards me, the tyres locked but the car, it’s not stopping, skidding over ice on the road.
Well shit.
I jump back, but my foot hits another patch of ice, and the next thing I know I’m on my back, staring up at the grey sky. I’m braced, ready to be ploughed over by the c
ar. I can’t do anything now, my body is screaming in pain from the fall and my heart is beating so fast I’m sure it’s about to leap right out of my chest.
My song is still playing in my head. No other sounds, just my voice.
“…and it’s you and me baby. You and me today. You and me, tomorrow…”
Then it hits me. The bit it’s missing.
A face comes into view as my lips move, “There ain’t no time we gotta borrow!”
The man standing above me frowns but I pay him no attention as I push myself up from the floor, ignoring the twinges of pain rushing down my spine and settling in my hips. I grab my notebook, the pages are damp from sitting on the wet ground too long, but I can still work with it. I pull the pencil out of my pocket and quickly scribble the lyric and sigh with relief. That was it. I feel it.
Suddenly my earphones are ripped from my ears and his voice cuts through. As smooth as whiskey but husky and warm, rough in all the delicious ways. It’s the kind of voice that you hear long after they’ve stopped talking.
“Are you crazy, woman!? Do you not look when you cross a street!?”
Oh, he’s mad.
Right.
I avoid eye contact as I scan my surroundings, I’m downtown, miles away from my apartment above the restaurant. Wow, I hadn’t realised how far I had walked.