“I’ll never tire of hearing it.” Those were the last words we spoke. The next few moments were spent listening to our bodies. The pent-up desire from years of unleashed passion flowed forward. Paxton picked up the pace, his body pressing into mine, his rhythm unwavering until I shook and shuddered in his arms. There was no question I belonged to him. I always had.
When we were finished, he glanced at his sopping wet clothes and breathed heavily against my neck.
“I think people might work out what happened.”
I laughed softly. “Maybe, but I don’t care.”
His brow disappeared beneath the sweep of his bangs. “No?”
I pulled him back to me. “Now, they’ll know you’re mine.”
He smiled. “I think I’ve always been, don’t you?”
It was absurd to hear it, but it was true.
“Yes, and I’ve always been yours.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Paxton
It had been a tumultuous few days, but today was the wedding, and there wasn’t a dark cloud hovering anywhere.
It seemed ridiculous that only yesterday, I dreaded the ceremony. I hadn’t been likely to find it in me to be happy for my older brother, all things considered, but then everything changed.
The new reality couldn’t be further from the truth. I was ecstatic for Owen—the first one of the Cooper brothers to finally bring a woman into the family, and I was happier for myself with Rose on my arm.
No matter what had happened over the last few days, we’d worked it out. More than worked it out. Everything between us was finally set free. We’d come to terms with who we were and who we are. How could I ask for more than that?
The happily married couple were on the stage, ready to dance their first dance. Just yesterday, I’d made love to Rose only a few feet away. I couldn’t help but grin.
I glanced at her, expecting her to be thinking the same thing, but her eyes were on Nick, then Rich, and then Nick again.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She looked at me. “Nothing.” She jumped up and down. “Look.”
My eyes went straight to the table where Rich and Nick sat, hands entwined. “Who knew?”
Nick looked at us and smiled.
“He did. I swear he’s years ahead of the damn curve. He came to Frazier Falls and found exactly what he was looking for.”
We turned away from the scene, not quite sure what to say or do.
“You never had to leave to have what you wanted.” I pressed my lips against hers in a soft, sweet kiss.
“Are we a train wreck waiting to happen?” The music started, and we swayed against each other from the sidelines watching Owen twirl Carl around the dance floor.
“It’s not something I’m going to dwell on. Even if we are, no one can ignore a train wreck.”
She laughed. She slid her hand down my arm to interlace our fingers.
“Care to dance?” she asked.
I nodded. “I’d love to.” Having her in my arms was heaven, but not once had I had her in my bed.
We moved around the dance floor until I’d guided her to the exit.
“Where are you taking me?”
“How long do you think we can disappear before we’re noticed?”
She studied the crowd in front of us. “A week?”
“I like the way you think.” I tugged her behind me and rushed toward the creek. The soft pink fabric of her gown swished in the breeze as we raced up the path to my place.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rose - Two Years Later
“Are you ready?” Paxton asked.
“Am I the bridesmaid or best woman?”
“Hell if I know,” he said. “How can you label what we are?”
“Easy, we’re perfect for each other.” I looked at my sparkling diamond ring. The one Pax put on my finger less than a month after Carla and Owen’s wedding. I’d gone back to New York, but even a day without him was too much. I was no longer an editor at Flair but an independent consultant. I was also a wife and mother to a beautiful boy named Forest, who looked exactly like his father.
We stood at the edge of the creek and waited for Nick, who wore a custom Tom Ford tuxedo to walk up the aisle to Rich, who he’d dressed in Armani. No two men had ever looked so handsome and ready to start their lives together.
When Rich reached me, he stopped and smiled. “You’re the nicest mean girl I’ve ever known.”
I straightened his tie and gave him a hug. “Go find your bliss.”
The people around us made our lives full. We’d all been through hell and back. Carla and Rich almost lost their mill. Owen battled with anxiety and his health. Eli and Emily came close to losing their nerve, but Eli managed to get her to say I do after a trip to Vegas and a half dozen vodka cranberries. Paxton and I nearly lost each other because of words spoken and words withheld.
As I watched my best friend take his vows, I thought about the words Paxton and I had said to each other. We’d exchanged all the normal verses. The honor and cherish and death do us part, but we added a few at the end.
We promised that when we spoke, we’d always ask ourselves, Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?
Words are powerful. They can break hearts and heal wounds. They start and end wars. They’re necessary unless they’re not. That was the biggest lesson I’d learned from my husband. He didn’t waste words on people who didn’t deserve them. Sometimes the most powerful thing to say was nothing at all. Thankfully, I’d become worthy of his love because ever since I said I do, he hadn’t shut up.
“How long do you think we have to stay to make sure no one misses us?” Pax asked.
I knew where he was going. Mom was taking care of Forest, which left us free to be alone.
“We should wait until they say I do, don’t you think?”
He frowned. “Fine, but not a minute more. What do you think of a girl named Creek?”
I bumped him with my hip. “You’re all words and no action.”
His frown changed to a slow, sexy grin. “I don’t need words for the action I have in mind.”
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A Sneak Peek into A Tablespoon of Temptation
Danielle
Danielle Morgan needed more than one breath of courage to exit her SUV. Today she needed two. There was no telling what waited beyond Trish’s door. Last weekend it was Gene Horowitz; Danielle’s surprise blind date. A date she was not prepared for.
Two weeks ago, she walked in on kitchen sexy time between Trish and her husband Rob testing out the strength of their new granite island. Right then, she vowed to never eat at Trish’s unless it was takeout that went straight from the delivery person’s hands to the coffee table.
Before Danielle could knock, her best friend opened the door and greeted her with a big smile. It was her I’ve-got-something-up-my-sleeve look.
“You better not have another one of Rob’s cousins waiting for me.” She turned, thinking she still had time to get away, but Trish took her elbow and pulled her inside.
“No one’s here but Rob.”
“Is he decent?” Danielle cleared her throat. “Meaning, is he dressed?”
Trish laughed. “Decent … no. Fully clothed … you bet.”
Thank the heavens because there wasn’t enough bleach to get that kitchen scene washed from her memory.
“You ready to go?” Trish picked up her purse from the hall table and looked over her shoulder. “Honey, I’m leaving.”
Rob rushed around the corner and kissed he
r long and hard.
“It’s not like she’ll disappear forever. We’re only hanging out for a few hours.” Since her bestie had found love, their girl time shrunk from several nights a week dining out and watching movies to a few hours on the weekend. She didn’t begrudge Trish’s happiness. It was simply that Danielle was lonely. She wanted love. Instead, she got visiting rights to Trish.
She spun around and left the lovebirds on the doorstep to say their goodbyes.
Back behind the steering wheel, she waited and waited and waited.
Five minutes later, Trish skipped down the walkway like a teen after a tryst at Lookout Point. Her lips were red and bee-stung while her cheeks heated with a rosy blush.
“Sorry about that. It’s a special day—our three-month anniversary.”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Tell me it’s special when you hit your three-year anniversary. I hope his kisses still make you weak in the knees.”
Trish dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “You’re so jaded.”
“I’m allowed to be.” She squeezed the steering wheel harder and watched the blood drain from her fingers. “Don’t forget that on my three-month anniversary, my husband wasn’t running to give me a kiss. He was in room 301 banging Ms. Bancroft.”
“Not all men are like Chris.”
Danielle looked at her blissfully happy friend. “You’re right. I can’t punish every man for his infidelity, or his stupidity, or his complete disregard for anyone but himself. I should blame myself for being so impulsive. Who marries a guy after a month of dating?”
“We do. And sometimes it works out.” She cocked her head to the side. “Look at Cinderella. She got the prince after one dance, and one day you’ll hear the name Chris and say, ‘Who’?”
“Let’s hope.” Seeing Trish happily married made Danielle happy, but it also made her miss the times when there was a man to warm her heart and her bed. “What are we doing today?” She pressed the ignition button, and her car purred to life.
“It’s Swap Meet Saturday in Cedar Bluff.” Trish bounced in her seat like a kid with front row seats to her favorite band.
“Thank God, I feared you’d set up another intervention.”
Trish twisted to look at her. “Gene wasn’t an intervention. He was a—”
“A disaster. The man wouldn’t even look me in the eye, and you know how I feel about that. It’s a sign of disrespect or dishonesty. Besides, he had bigger breasts than me.”
“I can’t speak to the man boobs, but Gene is shy, not dishonest.”
“They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and since I never saw his, I’m certain he’s soulless.” She drove out of Trish’s neighborhood and turned onto the highway to Cedar Bluff.
“He’s got a soul. He also has an astigmatism and that makes him self-conscious.”
“Too bad he didn’t have another ism like magnetism. The man was as exciting as a wet sponge. If this is what my dating life will be like, I’ll pass. How could you think I’d be interested in him?”
Trish let out an exasperated breath. “You’re going to give me an aneurysm with your criticism. Cut me some slack. I’d never met him, but Rob said he was nice and decent looking.”
“If you like trolls.”
“Okay, I promise no more blind dates.”
They pulled into the parking lot of Cedar Bluff High School and exited the car. “You need to promise to stop meddling in my life,” Danielle said.
“You don’t have one unless you call working around the clock a life. You never take time for fun. You know what they say … all work and no play—”
“Keeps me out of bankruptcy. I’m saddled with debt, and fun doesn’t pay the bills.”
“Fine. What’s happening with the big takeover?”
“Argh, they’re starting with the sweeping changes already—instead of The Pines, it’s called Luxe Resorts.”
“Ooh, sounds posh.”
They entered the flea market and walked down the first aisle.
“Sounds scary to me. First, the name goes and next, the staff.”
“You’re good at your job. I don’t imagine you’ll have much to worry about.”
Trish would never understand financial fear. She came from money.
Something caught Trish’s eye, and she took off like a dog after a bone.
Danielle chased her, grateful she dressed in sneakers and jeans. “What are you looking for?”
“Inspiration.” She held up a lamp with a shade faded by age and bartered with the owner until she got him to take five dollars. After the deal wrapped up, she asked him to hold it until she finished her rounds.
At the next vendor, Danielle picked up a heart-shaped box and opened it to find nothing but lint and dust. Would her hollowed-out heart look the same inside?
Trish snatched the box from her and set it down, leading her to the next seller who had cross stitch and paint by number kits by the hundreds.
“You’re thirty-five, not dead. Look at me.” She stomped her foot to get Danielle’s attention. “I found love in my thirties.”
“I found it too, and all it got me was an empty bank account and heartache.”
Trish lifted a cross-stitch of a lady surrounded by cats. “If you’re not careful, you’ll be her.”
Danielle plucked the kit from her friend’s hand and set it down. “Never. I’m allergic to cats. I’m good with my life the way it is.”
“You work and sleep.” Trish shook her head and moved them along.
“And take field trips with you, which is all the fun I can handle.”
“Your life should be more. Maybe a hobby would be good.” Trish turned around and headed back to the craft table. “Cross-stitch could be fun.”
Had her life turned into TV dinners, cross-stitch, and Murder She Wrote? She’d only started watching that show to see if she could figure out a way to murder Chris and get away with it. But she realized the killer always got caught.
“If I agree to try a new hobby, will you stop setting me up with trolls?”
Smiling, Trish said, “Yes.”
Danielle searched the nearby vendors for anything to get Trish off her back. Spotting a box of cookbooks with a five-dollar tag, she hurried over. Trish knew Danielle couldn’t boil an egg, so it was a believable attempt at a hobby.
“I’m getting this.” Feeling victorious, she paid for the books and smirked.
Trish picked up the top one. “The Beginners Guide to Baking.” She let out a laugh that shook her entire body. “I can’t wait. The last time you “baked” a cake it cost you fifty dollars from Connie’s confections.”
“There was no way I was showing up empty-handed, and no one needed to know I bought that cake.”
“My mom still thinks you’re the most skilled cake baker in Pitkin County.”
Danielle lifted her chin. “What they don’t know won’t hurt me.” She asked the man to hold them, and they moved down the aisle. She had no intention of using the cookbooks. Chances were, they’d stay in the back of her car until she could donate them to a charity.
“I want to taste the first thing you cook. Rob can be your guinea pig too.”
Danielle stopped to look at her friend. “Do you have a death wish? Besides, I thought you liked your husband.”
“I do, but to keep you honest, I’ll be your first taste tester. And you’re not allowed to leave the books in the back of your SUV or give them away. Try your new hobby.” With that, Trish raced to another table and picked up a chinoiserie bowl.
When she caught up with her friend, Danielle said, “You already have one like that.”
“I did.” She shrugged. “But you know … there are so many surfaces.”
“That’s why you needed that lamp.” Danielle’s jaw dropped. “Come to think of it, that entry table is new too. You two are disgusting.”
“You’re jealous.”
She sucked in a breath and let out a sigh. “You’re right.” She moved through the ro
ws. “Is it really that good?”
“What? The sex?” Trish turned and headed down the next aisle. “Remember that better-than-sex, chocolate cake Ms. Ferguson made?”
Danielle gasped. “No. Better than that?” That cake was an orgasm without a man.
“It’s ten times that.”
She shouldered her friend. “I would hate you if I didn’t love you so much.” Trish was the sister she always wanted, but not one of the two she had by blood. They met their freshman year of college and were inseparable. Trish’s family was much like her own, except Danielle’s father never wore a yarmulke and he ate bacon and pork ribs like they were the only meat in the world.
“And because you love me, you’ll keep an open mind when I tell you what I did?” Trish led her to the funnel cake booth and ordered two with extra sugar.
“If it needs extra sugar, then it’s got to be bad.” She clenched her jaw until her teeth hurt. “What did you do?”
Trish picked up a funnel cake and stepped back. “It’s not that bad.”
“If you’re buying sweets, it’s bad. You also gave yourself running room, which means it’s worse than bad. Spill it.”
Trish stepped back once more. “I worked it out so you have an appointment with Aunt Freida.”
Danielle’s mind raced through Trish’s relatives until she figured out who Freida was.
“You did not.” She took a large bite of the sugary cake trying to cover the bitter taste in her mouth. “Aunt Freida, the matchmaker?”
“Yes, she set up my parents and my sister and my brother. She has a sixty percent success rate with women on the shelf.”
Danielle choked, and a puff of sugar floated around them. “I’m not on the shelf. I’m only thirty-five.”
Trish smiled. “My point exactly.”
Defend Me: A Frazier Falls Novel Page 16