by Denise Carbo
Writhing in ecstasy, sharp exclamations of pleasure emanate from me as he wrings an orgasm from my oh-so willing body.
I pant as he grabs and opens a condom from the nightstand drawer and sheaths himself.
He returns to me and I loop my arms over his shoulders and revel over his body covering and entering mine.
His movements halt.
“Franny, are you a virgin?”
“Well technically no, not anymore.”
He raises himself up and rests on one elbow as one hand cups my cheek. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have been gentler. Did I hurt you?”
“Only if you intend to stop now.”
He closes his eyes and rests his forehead against mine.
Afraid he will stop, I clutch his cheeks in my hands and kiss him with all the pent-up passion my body has been hoarding for him and him alone.
When he still makes no attempt to enter me fully, I reach down and grab his ass cheeks and surge against him.
He lets out a harsh groan and thrusts. “God, Franny.”
Pleasure climbs and throbs once again. I wrap my arms and legs around him exulting in the decadent sensuality of the act.
My body clenches in release. His hoarse groan of completion quickly follows.
Our sweat dampened bodies cool while we lay in each other’s arms.
My brain regains the ability to function, somewhat, and a thought pops into my head and then straight out of my mouth.
“That was unexpected.”
Chapter Thirty-two
“It’s time we finished that talk and make sure there are no misunderstandings.”
Tension seeps in ruining the languid afterglow of our lovemaking. My hand stops petting his chest and I chew on my bottom lip.
“Maybe we should get dressed for this.” I strain against his arms to pull away, but he holds firm.
“Hell no, I’m not letting you get dressed and take the chance you disappear on me again.”
I peek up at him through tendrils of hair.
“Do you know why I came back here to Granite Cove?”
“Because you needed a break and you remembered a few happy summers here?”
He brushes the hair off my forehead and tucks it behind my ear. “I came back because of you.”
My lip is now in danger of being permanently mangled as my teeth dig in. What does that mean? I’m afraid to ask. Afraid to hope.
“This isn’t my first trip back. About a year ago I drove through town. I only intended to take a quick look around and reminisce a little. I didn’t think you’d still be here, but I wondered because I had thought of you often over the years. Then there you were, waltzing down the sidewalk. I knew it was you instantly. This gorgeous hair was the same.” He buries his nose against my hair and breathes deep.
Mitch thinks my hair is gorgeous?
“You were wearing jeans that showed off these mile-long legs of yours.” His hand draws my leg over his and holds it in place. “You appeared to be in a hurry, striding down the sidewalk like you owned it. A car horn blasted at me because I had slowed to a crawl watching you. I made a U-turn and parked the car while keeping you in sight. You disappeared down the alleyway next to the building and, like a stalker, I got out of my rental car and trailed behind you and then watched you for a while through the window.”
Euphoria fills my veins. Mitch came back to Granite Cove for me.
Resting my chin on my folded arms on his chest, I stare up at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because at the time I was still in a floundering relationship. It was at that point I knew without a doubt it was over.” He cups a hand to my cheek and rubs my back. “I never felt a fraction of the emotion looking at her, or anyone, as I did seeing you. I planned to be back a lot sooner, but she started using again and I had to help her if I could before I left for good.”
“So, you bought the building and the house?”
“Yeah, I saw the house was for sale and I remembered you mentioning it one summer.”
“I did?”
“You described it and promised to show it to me, but then my parents left early a few days later.”
I don’t remember, but I had always loved that house. It makes sense I wanted to share it with him.
“Anyway, your parents sent an invitation to their Memorial Day party through my lawyer and I hoped it was from you.”
“Mother only told me the morning of the party that you would be there. I was sure you wouldn’t remember me.”
“How could you think I wouldn’t remember you?”
“Because we were kids and you’re famous and I’m…well, me.”
Mitch rolls me onto my back and looks down at me. “By that I surmise you mean you’re perfect in every way?”
Tears fill and over spill my eyes. He bends and kisses each one.
“I love you.”
I slap both hands over my mouth.
He stares down at me with one eyebrow raised and a smile lurking at the corner of his mouth. “Say that again, this time without the look of abject horror please.”
When I don’t comply, he tugs my hands away from my mouth and kisses me.
“Fine, we’ll work on that. Let me lead by example.” He kisses me again. “Franny Dawson, I love you. I love every single thing about you. I vowed I was going to make you mine. Nothing was going to stand in my way, not even when you declared you had a crush on someone else. I couldn’t stand the thought of not having you in my life. So, I plotted and hoped to show you the error of your affections. Your kisses nearly burned me alive. Each time I thought you must be feeling a hint of what I was, you dashed off or I’d find you with him. I wanted to drag you out of that restaurant when I spotted you there.”
I turn into a leaky faucet. Tears stream down my cheeks.
“Baby, please tell me those are happy tears.”
I nod and wrap my arms around him.
The tears subside as he holds me in his arms. Wiping my wet cheeks, I meet his gaze. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. It’s always been you, only you.”
“Thank God, because I’ve already told my parents all about you and that you’re the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. They can’t wait to meet you.”
He laughs at the appalled look I am sure my face is showing. He wants me to meet his parents?
Well, of course he does, it is a perfectly logical step. Not that anyone ever accused me of being logical.
“I want to meet your parents. I’m sure they’re lovely.”
“They are and they will love you, I promise.”
I kiss him and nod.
“What do you think of having the wedding at the house once it’s finished?”
Wedding?
I almost ask for whose wedding. The words are right on the tip of my tongue.
“Are you asking me to marry you?”
Mitch kisses me on the tip of my nose and grins. “I suppose that wasn’t very romantic. Say yes, and I’ll make it up to you.”
“I…I can’t.”
Why the hell did I say that?
I scramble to a sitting position dragging the sheet with me.
Mitch frowns and scoots up to lean against the headboard.
“Franny?”
“Just give me a minute to think—please.”
Tears fill my eyes and my chest feels like an elephant has plopped down on it.
I rub my forehead as if I can jump start my brain to help me make sense and explain.
“I love you. I think I’ve always loved you. But how can it last? You’re surrounded by gorgeous women all the time with your job. Hell your supermodel ex is claiming you’ve reconciled. That stupid photographer thought I was your housekeeper.”
Tears course down my face. I swipe the back of my hand under my running nose. “How can a marriage between us ever work? You’re going to break my heart like you did before.”
“Franny…we were kids.”
“I kn
ow that damn it! I realize how stupid it must sound to you. How could you possibly understand? I lived for those summers! They were all I had. You weren’t just my best friend—you were my only friend. You kissed me and disappeared. I suffered the whole school year just waiting for summer to arrive and you to return.”
I wipe my cheeks with the heels of my hands and then throw them in the air. “But you never did. I never heard from you again. It devastated me.”
I wrap my fingers around my necklace. “Then my grandmother died and I truly had no one. She was the only one who understood and accepted me.”
I choke on the sobs stuck in my throat.
“I’m just starting to make a life for myself. You have no idea how hard it is for me to trust someone to see the real me. I’ve been putting on this front for you trying so desperately to get you to see me as more than a friend, but the real me is a total disaster. I have anxiety attacks before social events. My instinct is to hide. What kind of wife to a famous director would I make?”
“Franny, I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was a thoughtless kid wrapped up in his own life. I told you about the rough patch my parents went through. I started acting right after that.”
He rubs his hands over his face. “It boils down to trust. You don’t trust me not to hurt you. Do you expect me to give up my career so I’m not around actresses? What’s next? You’ll be jealous of women in town? Do you see how silly that is? As for Margeaux, I already told you it’s you I love and not her. Yes, she’s been calling me saying she wants me back, but it will never happen.”
Mitch stands and walks to the bathroom. He stops in the doorway and stares back at me. “I think it’s you that you really don’t trust. I wish I could make you see yourself the way I see you.”
Chapter Thirty-three
The door shuts behind him and the shower turns on. I collapse on the bed sobbing.
He’s right. I don’t trust myself not to screw it up. I don’t believe I’m enough to hold his interest.
Oh God it hurts!
I curl up into a ball with the sheet tangled around me.
What am I going to do?
I don’t want to lose Mitch. I never thought he would propose marriage. I thought…I don’t know what I thought.
I didn’t plan beyond getting him to see me as more than a friend.
The hiccupping sobs constrict my throat and burn my eyes and nose.
What if he ends our relationship now? What if he leaves Granite Cove again?
It just might kill me this time.
The door opens and Mitch walks out with a towel around his waist. He stops when he sees me on the bed.
I bite my lips and try to hold back the sobs.
“Jesus Franny, you’re killing me. Don’t cry.”
He climbs on to the bed behind me and wraps his arms around me.
“I’m so—so sorry.” I’m blubbering and can’t stop.
He kisses the top of my head. “We’ll figure it out.”
“We will?”
“You don’t think I’m letting you get away after all this, do you? If you’re not ready to get married yet, then we’ll wait. I guess I’ll have to shower you with love and compliments until you see how special you are.”
I twist and throw my arms around him. “Oh Mitch, I was so afraid I was going to lose you. I love you so much.”
He squeezes me. “I love you too, baby. I’m a patient man. I can wait until you’re ready. You do think you’ll be ready one day, right?”
“I’ll make it my new goal in my life plan.”
He chuckles and the sound reverberates against my head tucked against the hollow of his throat.
“Is it so hard to imagine marrying me? Trusting our love?”
The image of him dressed in a black tuxedo smiling down at me flashes through my head. We’re standing on the back lawn of his house. My white gown glistens in the sun. Friends and family surround us smiling and laughing.
I look up into his handsome face and lift a finger to trace his eyebrows and down his perfect nose to his lips.
Fear.
Fear has guided my life for so long. I’ve been afraid of not being accepted, of being hurt, left alone, unloved.
“I can picture it.”
He kisses the tip of my finger.
I stare into his blue eyes.
I don’t want to live in fear anymore.
A calm washes over me. I love this man. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. He’s my first love, my only love, and I want him to be the last.
I smile and lean up to kiss him. “I don’t want to wait.”
He leans his head back. “Are you saying what I think you are? Never mind. I need to hear the exact words. No more trying to guess what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.”
“I’m saying yes. I want to marry you.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you into anything you’re not ready for.”
“I’m sure. I was scared, but I refuse to make decisions based on my fears anymore. All that matters is we love each other. I want to marry you and someday have your babies.”
He grins and leans down to capture my lips in a bone melting kiss.
“How many babies?”
Laughing, I swat his shoulder. “That’s up for discussion. At a later date.”
“I can live with that. I suppose I should ask your father for your hand in marriage.”
And the horror is back.
My mother will lose her mind.
The hard part is over. I have my Mitch and he loves me. Anything else will be a piece of cake.
And I know how to make one hell of a cake.
About the Author
Denise Carbo writes Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense, and Contemporary Romance. She is a voracious reader, loves to travel, is fascinated by the supernatural, and enjoys figuring out the culprit of books and movies before the ending is revealed.
She lives in a small, picturesque New England town with her high school sweetheart and their three amazing sons.
Visit her website: www.DeniseCarbo.com
Sign up for her newsletter to be the first to learn about new books, sales, and contest: Sign up
Books By This Author
He is Watching
Stalked and on the run, Julie Roy's life is in shambles. An unexpected detour in a quiet Vermont town ignites a surprising and romantic spark with the local furniture maker.
Joe Bascomb's skill of knowing when to be patient is put to the test when he meets Julie. Her kindness is a gift, yet he senses she is hiding from something or someone.
When Julie's determined stalker comes to town, she is ready to pull up stakes-despite her desire to stay. Joe realizes he will have to break down her fear as well as the walls around her tender heart. Can he keep her from running again in order to give their love a chance?
Legacy of Magic
Divorced, jobless, and homeless, Cory Bishop moves to Connecticut to begin anew. She gets lost along the way and causes a car accident which does not bode well for the next chapter in her life. However, the reconnection with her great aunt provides her with direction and purpose.
While solving a mysterious family secret, she is pursued by a charming lawyer and her exasperating neighbor who thinks arguing is a form of foreplay. But those circumstances are the least of her problems.
Cory soon discovers she is a witch and must learn to control her new-found powers. An ally, a confidant, and a surprise supporter guide her, but she is almost out of time. An immortal evil wants her powers and will stop at nothing to obtain them. When the battle lines are drawn, Cory must choose who is friend and who is enemy. Will love save her or endanger her even more?
Bloodlines
They have been here for centuries. Their planet was destroyed by war, and now they hide among us. Malcolm Donovan, a dragon shifter, rules over one of four clans. When a clan member is murdered, he must find the killer. Nothing will disrupt his pledge to
protect his clan. Nothing that is until he finds his mate.
Elsie Monroe, human to the bone, and the resort manager for the Donovan family finds herself falling in love with the charming Wyoming town, and she can’t help but be drawn to the mysterious Malcolm Donovan. His rude attitude is atrocious, but his kisses can bring chocolate to a boiling point. Not to mention what he does to her body and heart.
Soon Elsie is dragged into a world of secrecy and violence. Creatures she thought were fantasy are actually real. And she is left wondering if love will be enough to capture and tame her own personal dragon.
Scent of Betrayal
Wolf shifter, Davis Campbell is on a mission. His job is to babysit a woman from a rival clan. He believes all he has to do is get her back to Scotland. What he doesn't figure on is her possibly being his mate.
Bethany Leitner, an owl shifter, has been betrayed, attacked, framed, and left for dead. Trust in herself and others is hard to find. So when her self-appointed guardian begins to bark orders, she is ready to show her talons.