by Melody Grace
“I’ll, um, be right back,” she said, excusing herself.
She made her way to the bathroom for a moment to clear her head, running her hands under the cold faucet as she tried to process what had just happened.
A job offer? Nick had presented it so casually, but Letitia was stunned. All she’d ever known was the family company. She’d never once considered going anywhere else.
The door swung open, and her mother walked in. “So?” Sylvie asked, giving her an expectant smile. “You and Nick seem to be hitting it off. I had to switch those place cards quickly, before he was stuck with poor cousin Suzie talking his ear off.” Letitia’s mom checked her reflection, smoothing down her hair. “You can thank me when we’re planning your wedding, next summer.”
“He didn’t ask me out, mom,” Letitia told her slowly. “He offered me a job.”
Sylvie paused, meeting her eyes in the mirror.
“I would never take it,” Letitia added quickly, in case her mom thought she was being disloyal. “I told him, I’m a Prescott.”
Sylvie slowly pulled a makeup compact from her purse. “Did I ever tell you about Clifford Martindale?” she asked, opening the small mirror.
Letitia blinked, confused by the sudden change of subject. “No, I don’t think so.”
“He’s a man I knew, back when your father and I first started dating.” Sylvie kept one eye on her reflection, touching up her powder. “I was crazy about your father, of course, but he was young, and in no hurry to settle down. I was tired of waiting, so, one day Clifford asked me out to dinner, and I said, ‘yes’. We had a perfectly nice time,” she said. “And then the very next morning, your father showed up on my doorstep with a bouquet of flowers, saying that he wanted us date exclusively.”
Sylvie gave a smug little smile, and Letitia knew, that was exactly how her mom had planned it – and why she was telling Letitia now.
But Letitia shook her head. “I don’t want to have to play games to make him notice me.”
“I know, sweetheart, but your father needs a little push sometimes.” Sylvie closed the compact, and turned to her, sincere now. “Take the job,” she said quietly. “He’ll see what he’s been missing.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Letitia asked, reeling.
“Well, then you’ll be building a wonderful career of your own, with people who see just how smart and talented you are.” Sylvie gave her a sad smile. “I’m just sorry that we haven’t been so great in that department.”
Letitia was so surprised by the apology, she couldn’t say a word.
Then her mom reached out and fussed with her hair. “And of course, spending all that time with Nick, who knows what might develop?” Sylvie continued brightly. “He really is very eligible. Now, come on, we mustn’t miss the toasts.”
Letitia followed her out into the restaurant and drifted back to her table on auto-pilot. Her head was still spinning, trying to make sense of Nick’s offer – and everything her mom had just said.
Leave the Prescott Group?
Letitia was shaken by the thought. All she’d ever wanted was to be a part of that company, carrying on the tradition of her father, and his father before him. It had been her plan to take over, ever since she was a little girl.
She looked across the room, to where Arthur was chatting to some relative. He hadn’t apologized for that stunt with the board, and she wasn’t sure he ever would. He didn’t value her, not yet. How could he, when he still didn’t see her. The thought of going back to work like nothing had happened, striving and planning and trying her hardest all over again…
She couldn’t do it. Not this time.
Something had to change.
There was a tapping noise, ringing out through the room. The crowd fell silent and all heads turned as Cal got to his feet, looking bashful. “Before dessert arrives, and Uncle John gets too drunk on that whiskey, I wanted to say a few words about my beautiful bride-to-be.”
“No!” Eliza groaned beside him, covering her face with her hands. “You promised!”
Cal laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not the writer, so I’ll keep it short and sweet.”
“Very short.” Eliza said, her cheeks flushing.
Letitia watched them tease each other, and felt a terrible ache. Her heart was tied up in knots, her thoughts were being pulled in a dozen different directions, and there was only one person she wanted to talk to.
Chase.
He would know what to say to make it all simple again. Somehow, he was the one who made her feel her most confident, like she could take on the world. He’d been more of a partner to her in just a few weeks than some of the men she’d dated ten times as long.
“I think everyone here knows, that when Eliza and I first met, we didn’t exactly see eye to eye,” Cal began, to the sound of laughter. “In fact, it was pretty much a disaster from the start. I couldn’t figure out why she got under my skin so much… Or why I couldn’t stay away. She was a challenge, to say the least, but that turned out to be exactly what I needed. Sometimes the best things in life, you don’t see coming,” he said, giving Eliza an affectionate smile. “She pretty much turned my whole life upside down, and I’m the better man for it. Here’s to the detours and flat tires,” he said, raising his glass. “Sometimes they lead you exactly where you need to be.”
Detours…
The word echoed through her. Letitia’s plan had always been so clear: climb the ladder at the Prescott Group, meet an eligible man, settle down and have that happily-ever-after she was so sure would follow on afterwards.
But how was that plan working out for her now? She’d strategized, and studied the data, and made the safe, logical choices…. And still wound up a million miles from where she wanted to be. Her job at the company was a dead-end, she was single and heartbroken, and none of the perfect, eligible men she’d met had even come close to making her heart race like Chase did.
He was the only one she wanted. Desperately; soul-shakingly. And maybe that was the only plan that mattered right now.
She pushed her chair back, suddenly filled with a new determination. “I… have to go,” she blurted. Nick looked at her, surprised.
“But the dinner isn’t over yet.”
“They’ll understand.” Letitia said. If there was anything Cal and Eliza knew about, it was taking a chance on love. “But, I’d love to talk more about the job,” she added breathlessly, grabbing her purse. “Call me, and we’ll set a real interview.”
“I’ll do that.” Nick still looked confused as Letitia hurried out of the dining room. She caught a frown from her mom, too, but she didn’t slow down. All she could think about was getting to Chase.
She’d been wrong about him. About her future. About what really mattered in her life. And now she could only hope she wasn’t too late.
21
Letitia drove back through Sweetbriar Cove, her heart beating faster with every mile. She knew she had to go to Chase, to try and find a way, but would he even be there to listen? Or was he already out celebrating his freedom, thanking the universe for his lucky escape?
Her nerves grew as she turned off the dark highway and down the bumpy lane leading to Earl’s place. It was late now, and the house was dark when she pulled up outside, but Letitia refused to be dissuaded. She got out of the car and began circling the yard, trying to figure out which room Chase might be staying in.
“He’s at the back.”
A low voice made her yelp, and then a strange man stepped out of the shadows on the front porch. He didn’t seem surprised to see her. “Second window on the left,” he added. “Unless you’re looking for Earl…”
Letitia was lost for words.
“Thought so,” he said with a strangely familiar grin. “Good luck… but don’t go too easy on him.” And with that cryptic comment, the man disappeared inside the house, leaving Letitia alone in the dark.
She took a deep breath. Adrenaline was still sparkling in her veins, urging her on
, so she circled around to the back of the house and searched the ground for a pebble. But maybe she should have spent a little less time reading The Economist, and a little more time playing team sports, because when she tossed it up at Chase’s window, it skittered off the siding without barely making a sound.
She found another rock, and tossed harder. This time, it landed with a clatter. A moment later, the window was yanked open, and a sleepy, scowling face emerged.
“What the hell?” Chase complained. Then he saw her standing there, and stopped. “Letitia?” he asked, squinting down at her like he couldn’t believe it.
Her mind went blank.
“Hi,” was all she could think to say, and then she gave him an awkward little wave.
A wave! As if she was casually passing him on the street, not skulking around his yard at midnight, tossing rocks at his window like some obsessed stalker ex. Letitia gulped.
“Wait right there,” Chase called down, and then disappeared. Letitia tried to pull herself together, but when the back door opened and he stepped out into the yard, all her hopes for eloquence and persuasion disappeared into the night.
God, she’d missed him. He was tugging on a T-shirt, yawning, his hair ruffled from sleep, looking so delicious that it took every last thread of self-control not to go to him right then, hurl herself into his arms, and swear she was never letting go.
“What are you doing here? Wasn’t the rehearsal dinner tonight?” Chase asked, still looking confused. He took a step closer, searching her face. “Are you OK? Did something happen?”
“I’m fine,” Letitia answered automatically. Then she stopped. “No, that’s a lie, I’m not fine. I can’t be fine, not with the way things are between us.”
Chase’s expression changed. “Look, Letitia—” he began, but she had to get this out before she lost her nerve.
“I was wrong,” she interrupted him. “I was so focused on the future, I missed what was standing in front of me right now. I love you, Chase,” she said urgently. “And I’m not willing to just walk away. What we have between us, it’s too special to give up so easily. You make my life so much better; every day with you is an adventure, and I don’t want that to end. So, if you’re not ready to make a commitment, I can live with that. I don’t need a promise for forever,” she told him. “If I can just be with you right now.”
Letitia fell silent. She looked at him hopefully, her heart racing in her chest as Chase absorbed her words.
“No,” he said at last, and Letitia’s heart sank. “No, you shouldn’t have to make that kind of compromise.” He closed the distance between them, taking her hands. “You were right, I was being a coward. I thought that if I could just keep my distance, I wouldn’t risk being hurt again. But I’ve been going crazy these past few days,” he confessed, gazing intently into her eyes. “And it made me realize, I don’t want to be without you. I love you, Letitia, and I’ll do anything you want, anything at all to be together.”
He loved her.
Letitia was still reeling from the revelation when Chase pulled her into his arms, and captured her mouth in a heart-stopping kiss. Sweet and smoldering, hot and deep; he kissed her like it was the end of the world, but Letitia knew, it was only just the beginning.
She wrapped her arms up around his neck, trying to smother any space between them. “I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered, overcome.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised her, with a heart-stopping smile. “I’m staying right here, for the summer, or longer if you want. I could even move to Boston, if that’s where you’ll be.”
“But the Airstream—“ Letitia asked, frowning.
“I’m selling it,” Chase interrupted her. “I don’t need to keep roaming around when I have everything I need right here.”
He kissed her again before she could say a word. Letitia surrendered to his touch, to the delicious rush: Stepping off the edge of the cliff, knowing that she wasn’t going to fall.
This time, they’d fly.
She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, breathlessly making up for lost time, but her blood was burning and her knees were weak from his kisses when suddenly, they were flooded in light.
“Show some manners, boy,” Earl called down from his window. “Take her inside at least.”
Chase broke away, laughing. “Thanks for the advice, gramps.” He called back, as Letitia blushed.
“Hi Earl,” she added, with a wave.
He made an amused snort. “Miss Prescott. See you at breakfast, I’m sure.”
Earl yanked his window shut, and Chase looked back at Letitia, his eyes full of mirth. “That sounds like a good idea to me,” he said, tracing his fingertip down her bare arm.
Letitia shivered happily. “Breakfast?” she teased. “Sure. I’m a fan.”
He kissed her again until joking was the last thing on her mind. “Your place or mine?” he asked, lips grazing her ear. “My room is closer, but…”
“But I have privacy,” Letitia finished, already yanking him towards her car. She wasn’t sure how they made it back to the beach house, but the moment they crashed through the door, the world melted away in a hot tangle of hands, and mouths, and gasping moans. Chase stripped her naked, kissing every inch of Letitia with a fevered reverence that left her breathless. She tugged him upstairs, and tumbled back onto the bed, already reaching for more. Her blood was on fire, an inferno that only he could soothe. It felt like she’d been waiting forever for this; every hot, restless night she’d spent dreaming of him; every day she’d bitten back her desire and pretended that he was just a friend; every empty night alone, craving him… They’d all been building to this: the hot slide of their bodies, arching towards each other like gravity.
“I love you,” Chase murmured, poised there above her in the moonlight.
Letitia answered the only way she could, taking him inside her, until there was nothing between them anymore. This was where she belonged, right there in the arms of the best man she’d ever known. And as the pleasure took her over, and she tumbled headlong into the dizzying rush, she knew she was never letting go.
22
Letitia woke to sunlight streaming through the windows – and a muscular arm draped warmly over her chest. She smiled, snuggling closer to Chase. Last night still felt like a dream, but here they were in the bright light of day, and she still felt as giddy as she had done falling into his arms.
He loved her. He was staying. He was willing to take the chance to be with her.
She studied him, sleeping soundly there beside her. She could look at him for a hundred years and still never be bored. The curl of his eyelashes, the strong sweep of his cheekbones, dusting of blonde stubble on his jaw... She’d watched him sleep before, but not like this. This time, she wasn’t stealing moments to savor when he was gone. This time she knew she would have a thousand more mornings to learn him by heart.
He was staying. He’d even sold the Airstream. She thought of that tiny cabin and paused. He loved that beat-up RV, and all his adventures out on the road. Now he was giving all of that up?
“See anything you like?” Chase’s eyes opened, and he fixed her with a teasing grin.
She smiled back at him. “Maybe...”
“Hmmm, we can do better than that.” He rolled, trapping her against the mattress beneath him with the full, delicious length of his body stretched taut against her. Letitia sighed with happiness, sliding her hands over his bare torso and relishing every inch. “I have to be at the hotel in an hour,” she warned him. “It’s the big day.”
“I remember.” Chase didn’t seem to be in any rush as he dropped lazy kisses down her stomach. “Do you still need a date?”
Letitia blinked. “You want to come with me?” she asked shyly. “It’s just, if we go together, my family will assume...”
“That I’m madly in love with you?” Chase replied, giving her an irresistible smile. “That sounds about right to me.”
It was a go
od thing she had the full hour, because it took that long for Letitia to show Chase exactly how she felt about him, too. But eventually, she couldn’t ignore the clock. “I really have to go,” she said, reluctantly dragging herself out of bed. “I can’t risk leaving Eliza alone and undefended against the Prescott women.”
“Good point.” Chase grinned. “We don’t want to have to bail her out on her wedding day.”
Letitia laughed, dressing quickly in a simple sundress and sandals. Her wedding outfit was already at the hotel, and her mom had insisted on bringing in a professional hair and makeup team. “What time do you need me?” Chase asked, sprawled there, naked and tempting.
“The ceremony starts at two,” Letitia said, leaning over to give him one more kiss. “Are you sure you want to come? I really won’t mind if you give this one a pass.”
“Are you kidding? Free food, great booze, the most beautiful woman in town on my arm… I’ll be there,” he promised. “Knock ‘em dead.”
Letitia grabbed her things and headed out. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for the wedding: blue skies and warm sunshine, with a refreshing breeze rolling in off the ocean, but as she drove up the coast towards the hotel, she had the strangest feeling that something wasn’t quite right. The Chase she’d met at the start of summer would never have come to the wedding; he’d have been too busy surfing to put on a suit and tie and mingle with her stuffy society relatives. She loved the fact he was taking it all in stride now – for her – and making plans for the future, but she didn’t want him to give up everything. That wasn’t fair on him, and it wasn’t the way she wanted to start this relationship.
She saw the sign for Sweetbriar Cove up ahead, and made a split-second decision. She was cutting it close, adding one more errand to her morning, but it didn’t take her long to swing by the realtor’s office, and find June browsing her gossip magazines.
“Letitia, look at you, you’re positively glowing.” June greeted her with a knowing smile. “A little bird told me you reconciled with that hunky surfer of yours, but I could tell it just by looking at you.”