He laughs with me as I concentrate on my task, making a complete mess of him.
“Spread it down on my neck.”
I follow his directions, then lean back and take in my handiwork.
“I suck at this.”
“It’ll get the job done,” he replies, and hands me his razor.
“I get to put a sharp instrument against your neck?” I ask incredulously.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
Before I can begin, he leans in and plants a kiss right on my cheek, leaving a dollop of cream on my skin, making me giggle. “You’re making a mess!”
“We’re even on that score.”
He watches my face calmly, and holds perfectly still, as I glide the razor down his cheek, doing my best to get all of the whiskers.
When I get to his neck, I give up.
“You finish. This part makes me nervous.” He grins and takes the razor, slides me aside, and leans in to the mirror to finish up.
“You did a good job, amore.”
“I was worried that I’d cut you, my love.”
He stills at my words. He always does when I call him my love.
He wipes his face off with a towel, and I lean in and kiss him on the cheek, resting against him for just a moment.
He tosses the towel aside, and slides me back in front of him.
“You can’t wear this,” he says and slips his shirt off of me, then to my surprise, simply wraps his arms around me and hugs me close. “Your back is so slender,” he murmurs. “My hands look so big on it.”
“I love the way your hands feel on my back,” I reply softly, and breathe him in. “You smell good.”
“Alecia, you take my breath away.” He buries his face in my neck and, still holding on tightly, takes a deep breath. “You are everything good in my life.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, a bit concerned. He’s holding onto me almost desperately.
“I need you to know,” he begins and kisses my cheek, then pulls back only far enough to look into my eyes. “I don’t want to just spend my life with you. I want to spend my only life with you. Every day.”
He swallows hard and drags his fingertips down my back, then up again, caressing me sweetly. “I know that forever is a long time, but if you tell me that I get to wake up to your sweet smile every day, it will never be long enough.” He sweeps my hair back behind my ear. “A smart woman once told me that love is a daily reminder. It’s saying, I choose you. Today and every day. Spend forever with me, Alecia.”
My heart stills, then stumbles into double time.
“Did you just ask me to marry you?” I whisper.
“I need you to marry me, be my partner, my friend, my love. You’re everything, amore. I love you more than you will ever understand.”
“I love you too,” I reply and kiss his lips softly.
“Is that a yes?”
“Hell yes.”
Epilogue
Ten Years Later
~Steven Montgomery~
The day is just waking up as I pad down the stairs in my son, Dominic’s, home toward the kitchen. My bride of fifty years today is still sleeping like an angel upstairs, and rather than make love to her, which was my first thought, as it is every morning, I decided to let the poor woman sleep.
It’s going to be a busy day.
I’m surprised to hear quiet voices in the kitchen, assuming that I’m the first up.
“Good morning, Dad,” Natalie says with a grin. She and Luke are sitting at the breakfast bar, sipping coffee. It never gets old hearing this sweet girl call me Dad. I’m not the man that she comes from, but she’s been mine for more than twenty years now, and I couldn’t love her more. She gives me a big hug, and when I point to my cheek, she plants a kiss there as well.
“You two are up early.” I pour myself a cup of coffee and lean against the counter.
“Josie and Maddie got in late, so we stayed up with Brynna and Caleb waiting for them,” Luke says. “And then Haley woke up this morning with bad dreams, so we decided to just stay up. I’m still not used to the twins driving.”
“Neither is Caleb,” I reply. “No parent is ever ready for their kids to grow up.”
“Olivia has decided that she’s in love,” Natalie says with a grimace, and laughs when Luke simply glares at her. “It’s just hormones.”
“I’ll lock her in her room.”
“No, you won’t.”
“She’s twelve,” Luke says adamantly.
“It’s all downhill from here, son,” I inform him good-naturedly. “Before you know it, it’ll be your fiftieth wedding anniversary and you’ll have seventeen grandchildren.”
Luke pales and I laugh, enjoying his panic.
“We have a while before that happens,” Nat reminds him, patting his face. “Of course, it doesn’t help that you have three daughters.”
“I’m surrounded by women,” he agrees, and I smile as I think of the two littlest ones, Chelsea and Haley, who are two little spitfires, even at nine and seven. “Keaton is all boy, though, and helps balance things out.”
“How’s work?” I ask Luke.
“It’s good.”
“He’s collaborating with some amazing people for his next project,” Nat adds proudly. “I have a feeling he’ll be nominated for the Oscar again next year.”
“I don’t need Oscars,” Luke says with a shake of the head. “Although, it doesn’t suck to have one on the mantle.”
“I’m so proud of you, handsome.”
She leans in to kiss him, and I refill my cup and wink at them, then head out the back door to sit on the patio before they get too carried away. The fire is already roaring, and Isaac, Stacy, Caleb and Brynna are huddled around it, drinking their own coffee, my boys cuddled up to their women.
I raised smart boys, that’s for sure.
“Good morning,” I greet them and sit in the single unoccupied chair. “Seems everyone is up early.”
“It’s a good morning for it,” Isaac replies, gesturing to the sun coming up over the mountains, casting the vines in soft pink sunlight.
“It’s beautiful,” Stacy agrees. “And most of the kids are still sacked out in the play room, so we’re taking advantage of the quiet.”
“Good plan. I hear the twins got in late.”
Caleb frowns and sighs. “They made curfew, I just hate that they’re driving, and they came out here, so they were on the freeway late at night.”
“They’re good girls,” Brynna says, and rubs her hand down her husband’s leg. My boys chose well when it came to their women. Strong, beautiful, smart women, all of them.
“Is Maddie still insistent that she wants to go to New York after she graduates to dance?” Stacy asks.
“Yes,” Brynna replies with a sigh. “I don’t think we’ll be able to talk her out of it.”
“She’s so good,” Stacy says. “She could do great things with it.”
“New York is too fucking far away,” Caleb growls.
“We have time,” Brynna whispers.
“A year,” he says. “It’ll feel like ten minutes.”
You have no idea, my boy. More like the blink of an eye.
“What about Josie?” I ask.
“She has a boyfriend, you know,” Brynna says and eyes her husband, who scowls again. “She’ll probably go to college here in Seattle.”
“If he touches her, I’ll break his arms.”
Brynna rolls her eyes.
“I’ll help you,” Isaac says casually.
“Oh good, you start in too,” Stacy says.
“Sophie’s a teenager now. I may need his help before long.”
“I’ll be there, brother.” Caleb salutes Isaac with his mug, making us laugh.
“Liam and Michael were up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games. We may not see them until the dinner tonight,” Isaac says, referring to both of their youngest boys.
“We’re here to celebrate, so why should
n’t they get to do what they enjoy?” I ask with a shrug.
“I’m so happy that you and Mom wanted to do this,” Isaac says. “Of all the things you could have done for your fiftieth, you chose to have all of us come here for the weekend.”
“We would have sent you on a cruise, or to Europe, or somewhere quiet and fun,” Caleb adds.
“There is nowhere your mother and I would rather be than with our children.”
And that’s the God’s truth.
“You hate me!” A high voice shrieks and a small blonde girl runs outside in a sprint, crying.
“Erin! Get back here!” Meg yells, running after her older daughter.
“Hate us!” the youngest, Zoey, agrees and runs behind her sister, giggling.
“Stop being dramatic and get back here!” Meg stops, with her hands on her hips and glares at her daughters. “Why do they have to have their father’s speed?”
“It’s okay, lazy bones, I got this.” Will jogs past her and runs into the backyard after his daughters. “When your mother calls you, you come! Do you hear me?”
“They’re not children,” Meg says. “They’re aliens.”
“That’s why I didn’t have any,” Sam says with a yawn as she comes out back, Leo by her side. She wraps her arm around me and kisses my cheek. “Thanks for including us this weekend.”
“You and Mark are a part of this family, sweet girl. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Here, have a seat.” I stand and shake Leo’s hand. “I’m going to go wake my wife up.”
Leo drops into the chair, smiling when it rocks, then pulls Sam into his lap. “Rock with me for a while, sunshine.”
“When does the new album come out, Leo?” Will asks as he carries his girls, one under each arm, back to the house.
“Next month,” Leo says with a grin.
I walk inside, and in the short time since I left the kitchen, it’s become a war zone.
“Mommy, I’m not hungry!” Abigail cries to Nic, who is holding her youngest, Finn, on her hip.
“You need to eat anyway,” Nic says patiently. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
“Listen to your mama,” Matt says, boosts Abbi onto his lap, and offers her a bite of waffle on her fork. “She knows these things.”
It does my heart good to see Nic and Matt with their children. Thank God for adoption. They share a smile, the kind that also makes my heart warm.
They love each other. And at the end of the day, what more can you ask for?
“Did you seriously just drink out of my glass, you little brat?” Lucy, Mark and Meredith’s oldest, demands of her little brother, Hudson. “You are disgusting!”
“Hud,” Mark says and ruffles his son’s hair, “don’t be disgusting.”
“I want you to dance with me,” Emma demands of her aunt Meredith.
“Emma.” Alecia gives her daughter a stern look as Dominic strolls into the kitchen and sweeps his lovely wife up in a hug. “Aunt Meredith just woke up. Let’s give her some time, okay?”
“Okay,” Emma says, defeated.
“Good morning,” Dominic says, as he takes in the chaos, then erupts into laughter. “Never a dull moment when the family gets together.”
“I love it,” I reply and pull my son into a hug. “Thank you for this.”
“Nonsense,” Dom replies. “We don’t get together as often as we should.”
“Where’s Grandma?” Lucy asks.
“She’s still in bed,” I reply with a wink. “You all tuckered her out yesterday when we played football.”
“Grandma’s good at football,” Liam says as he walks in the room, looking for food.
“That she is,” I agree, and suddenly want to go cuddle her. “I’ll go see how she is.”
“Hey, Dad,” Dominic says, and the automatic smile that comes when he calls me Dad, slides across my face. “Happy anniversary.”
“Happy anniversary!” The others echo and clap.
“Thank you. I think I’ll go give your grandmother her anniversary present,” I say, just as Jules and Nate walk in the room with their daughter, Stella.
“Dad,” Jules says with a scowl. “Ew.”
“Nate,” I say with a laugh as I pass by them. “I’m going to let you handle your wife.”
“I’ve been trying to handle her for more than a decade, Steven. I’ve learned that’s just not possible.”
“That’s right.” Jules smiles and kisses my cheek. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you, baby girl.”
“Oh, for the love of all that’s holy,” she says as she sees Luke and Natalie kissing by the refrigerator. “Do you not know how you got four kids?”
I laugh as I climb the stairs to the bedroom. My family is big and chaotic and sometimes overwhelming, but they are perfect.
I slip inside the room and smile softly at the woman sleeping quietly. This person, right here, is the center of my universe.
I lie beside her and just stare at her sweet face. After fifty years of marriage, she still takes my breath away. There may be a few more lines on her face, and a few gray strands in her hair, but I love her with the love of a young man. She gave me all of those beautiful people downstairs.
She gave me a life. The best life a man could ever hope for.
As we are in the winter of our lives, I realize how rich we are. The money is nothing; it’s our children, our grandchildren, our friends, who fulfill us.
And most of all, each other.
I drag my knuckles down her soft cheek and smile when her eyes flutter open and she presses her lips to my hand.
“Good morning, my love.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“Whatever for? I haven’t even left the bed yet today.”
“For loving me. For our children.” I press my lips to her forehead. “For being mine.”
“I’ve been yours for a very long time.”
“Not nearly long enough.”
THE END
Shoes for Alecia
~Dominic~
She deserves every good thing in the world. I want to give her every good thing in the world. But for today, we’re going to settle for shoes.
My Alecia has a fondness for pretty shoes. They look like torture devices to me, and how she can function in them for hours on end is beyond my comprehension, but damn if she isn’t the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Her legs look impossibly long when she’s wearing heels on the end of them.
And they lift her already perfect ass just so, and I lose all rational thought completely.
She’s worked her ass off on my brother, Will’s wedding, and she deserves something pretty. So I’m out shopping in downtown Seattle today, trying to find just the right pair for the love of my life.
I should have brought Jules with me. She would know just the perfect thing to get.
I wander through Neiman Marcus, picking up several different pairs by different designers, but nothing feels right.
Nothing looks like her.
Why is this so damn difficult?
“I’m Martha. Can I help you?” a woman with perfectly styled salt and pepper hair asks, her eyes kind and patient.
“I’m shopping for shoes for my girlfriend,” I reply.
“Designer?”
“Yes.”
“Pumps?”
“Of course,” I reply with a smile.
“Do you know her size?”
I nod and tell her the size I found while snooping inside Alecia’s shoe when she was asleep.
“Perfect. Now, describe her to me in three words.”
A million words run through my head as I think of the woman I love more than anything. But finally I settle on, “Smart. Intelligent. Gorgeous.”
Martha’s lips twitch. “She’s a lucky woman.”
“I’m a lucky man,” I counter and shove my hands in my pockets.
“I have something that just came in,” Martha says and holds up a finger. “Give me just a moment.
”
I nod and wander through the sea of shoes. Finally, she returns with a light beige box.
“These Jimmy Choos just arrived.” She peels white tissue and reveals a pair of pink sparkly heels with sexy straps.
“She does pink well,” I murmur and hold the light, sleek shoe in my hand. “These are my Alecia.”
“I’ll ring them up for you,” Martha says with a smile. “Anniversary?”
“No, just because she deserves them.”
Her hands still as she tucks the box in a bag and her gaze whips up to mine. “That might be the nicest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I smile, not sure what to say. I sound like a love-sick puppy, but I can’t help it. After I sign the receipt, Martha passes me the bag.
“A piece of jewelry that sparkles might be a nice pairing with these,” she suggests with a wink. “Tiffany is just across the hall.”
“Convenient,” I reply and shake her hand. And perfect.
She’ll need a blue box tucked into each shoe.
MORE FROM KRISTEN PROBY:
The Boudreaux Series:
Easy Love and on audio
Easy Charm and on audio
Easy Kisses (preorder)
Easy Melody
The With Me In Seattle Series:
Come Away With Me and on audio
Under the Mistletoe With Me and on audio
Fight With Me and on audio
Play With Me and on audio
Rock With Me and on audio
Safe With Me and on audio
Tied With Me and on audio
Breathe With Me and on audio
Forever With Me and on audio
Easy With You
The Love Under the Big Sky Series, available through Pocket Books:
Loving Cara and on audio
Seducing Lauren and on audio
Falling for Jillian and on audio
Baby, It’s Cold Outside and on audio
An Anthology with Jennifer Probst, Emma Chase, Kristen Proby, Melody Anne and Kate Meader
Table of Contents
Prologue
Come Away With Me Page 101