Read, Write, Love (Love in Bloom: The Remingtons, Book 5) Contemporary Romance
Page 27
“Fine. You’re right. But I’m going to make all of my future decisions separate from any man. So…until my life is in order, no commitments for me.”
“Not me. I’d give anything to have what Kurt and Leanna have,” Amy said.
Bella lifted her end of the toilet easily as Jenna and Amy struggled to lift theirs. “Got it?”
“Yeah. Go quick. This damn thing is heavy,” Jenna said as they shuffled along the grass.
“More…” Leanna pleaded.
Amy stumbled and lost her grip. The toilet dropped to the ground, and Jenna yelped.
“Shh. You’re going to wake up the whole complex!” Bella stalked over to them.
“Oh, Kurt!” Jenna rocked her hips. “More, baby, more!”
“Really?” Bella tried to keep a straight face, but when Leanna cried out again, she doubled over with laughter.
Amy, always the voice of reason, whispered, “Come on. We need to close her window.”
“Yes!” Leanna cried.
They fell against one another in a fit of laughter, stumbling beside Leanna’s cottage.
“I could make popcorn.” Jenna said, struggling to keep a straight face.
Amy scowled at her. “She got pissed the last time you did that.” She grabbed Bella’s hand and whispered through gritted teeth, “Take out the screen so you can shut the window, please.”
“I told you we should have put a lock on the outside of her window,” Jenna reminded them. Last summer, when Leanna and Kurt had first begun dating, they often forgot to close the window. To save Leanna embarrassment, Jenna had offered to be on sex-noise mission control and close the window if Leanna ever forgot to. A few drinks later, she’d mistakenly abandoned the idea for the summer.
“While you close the window, I’ll get the sign for the toilet.” Amy hurried back toward Bella’s deck in her boy-shorts underwear and a T-shirt.
Bella tossed the screen to the side so she could reach inside and close the window. The side of Leanna’s cottage was on a slight incline, and although Bella was tall, she needed to stand on her tiptoes to get a good grip on the window. The hem of the nightie caught on her underwear, exposing her ample derriere.
“Cute satin skivvies.” Jenna reached out to tug Bella’s shirt down and Bella swatted her.
Bella pushed as hard as she could on the top of the window, trying to ignore the sensuous moans and the creaking of bedsprings coming from inside the cottage.
“The darn thing’s stuck,” she whispered.
Jenna moved beside her and reached for the window. Her fingertips barely grazed the bottom edge.
Amy ran toward them, waving a long stick with a paper sign taped to the top that read, WELCOME BACK.
Leanna moaned, and Jenna laughed and lost her footing. Bella reached for her, and the window slammed shut, catching Bella’s hair. Leanna’s dog, Pepper, barked, sending Amy and Jenna into more fits of laughter.
With her hair caught in the window and her head plastered to the sill, Bella put a finger to her lips. “Shh!”
Headlights flashed across Leanna’s cottage as a car turned up the gravel road.
“Shit!” Bella went up on her toes, struggled to lift the window and free her hair, which felt like it was being ripped from her skull. The curtains flew open and Leanna peered through the glass. Bella lifted a hand and waved. Crap. She heard Leanna’s front door open, and Pepper bolted around the corner, barking a blue streak and knocking Jenna to the ground just as a police car rolled up next to them and shined a spotlight on Bella’s ass.
CADEN GRANT HAD been with the Wellfleet Police Department for only three months, having moved after his partner of nine years was killed in the line of duty. He’d relocated to the small town with his teenage son, Evan, in hopes of working in a safer location. So far, he’d found the people of Wellfleet to be respectful and thankful for the efforts of the local law enforcement officers, a welcome change after dealing with rebellion on every corner in Boston. Wellfleet had recently experienced a rash of small thefts—cars being broken into, cottages being ransacked, and the police had begun patrolling the private communities along Route 6, communities that in the past had taken care of their own security. Caden rolled up the gravel road in the Seaside Cottage community and spotted a dog running circles around a person rolling on the ground.
He flicked on the spotlight as he rolled to a stop. Holy Christ. What is going on? He quickly assessed the situation. A blond woman was banging on a window with both hands. Her shirt was bunched at her waist, and a pair of black satin panties barely covered the most magnificent ass he’d seen in a long time.
“Open the effing window!” she hollered.
Caden stepped from the car. “What’s going on here?” He walked around the dark-haired woman, who was rolling from side to side on the ground while laughing hysterically, and the fluffy white dog, who was barking as though his life depended on it, and he quickly realized that the blond woman’s hair was caught in the window. Behind him another blonde crouched on the ground, laughing so hard she kept snorting. Why the hell aren’t any of you wearing pants?
“Leanna! I’m stuck!” the blonde by the window yelled.
“Officer, we’re sorry.” The blonde behind him rose to her feet, tugging her shirt down to cover her underwear; then she covered her mouth with her hand as more laughter escaped. The dog barked and clawed at Caden’s shoes.
“Someone want to tell me what’s going on here?” Caden didn’t even want to try to guess.
“We’re…” The brunette laughed again as she rose to her knees and tried to straighten her camisole, which barely contained her enormous breasts. She ran her eyes down Caden’s body. “Well, hello there, handsome.” She fell backward, laughing again.
Christ. Just what he needed, three drunk women.
The brunette inside the cottage lifted the window, freeing the blonde’s hair, which sent her stumbling backward and crashing into his chest. There was no ignoring the feel of her seductive curves beneath the thin layer of fabric. Her hair was a thick, tangled mess. She looked up at him with eyes the color of rich cocoa and lips sweet enough to taste. The air around them pulsed with heat. Christ, she was beautiful.
“Whoa. You okay?” he asked. He told his arms to let her go, but there was a disconnect, and his hands remained stuck to her waist.
“It’s…It’s not what it looks like.” She dropped her eyes to her hands, clutching his forearms, and she released him fast, as if she’d been burned. She took a step back and helped the brunette to her feet. “We were…”
“They were trying to close our window, Officer.” A tall, dark-haired man came around the side of the cottage, wearing a pair of jeans and no shirt. “Kurt Remington.” He held a hand out in greeting and shook his head at the women, now holding on to each other, giggling and whispering.
“Officer Caden Grant.” He shook Kurt’s hand. “We’ve had some trouble with break-ins lately. Do you know these women?” His eyes swept over the tall blonde. He followed the curve of her thighs to where they disappeared beneath her nightshirt, then drifted up to her full breasts, finally coming to rest on her beautiful dark eyes. It had been a damn long time since he’d been this attracted to a woman.
“Of course he knows us.” The hot blonde stepped forward, arms crossed, eyes no longer wide and warm, but narrow and angry.
He hated men who leered at women, but he was powerless to refrain from drinking her in for one last second. The other two women were lovely in their own right, but they didn’t compare to the tall blonde with fire in her eyes and a body made for loving.
Kurt nodded. “Yes, Officer. We know them.”
“God, you guys. What the heck?” the dark-haired woman asked through the open window.
“You were waking the dead,” the tall blonde answered.
“Oh, gosh. I’m sorry, Officer,” the brunette said through the window. Her cheeks flushed, and she slipped back inside and closed the window.
“I assure you,
everything is okay here.” Kurt glared at the hot blonde.
“Okay, well, if you see any suspicious activity, we’re only a phone call away.” He took a step toward his car.
The tall blonde hurried into his path. “Did someone from Seaside call the police?”
“No. I was just patrolling the area.”
She held his gaze. “Just patrolling the area? No one patrols Seaside.”
“Bella,” the other blonde hissed.
Bella.
“Seriously. No one patrols our community. They never have.” She lifted her chin in a way that he assumed was meant as a challenge, but it had the opposite effect. She looked cuter than hell.
Caden stepped closer and tried to keep a straight face. “Your name is Bella?”
“Maybe.”
Feisty, too. He liked that. “Well, Maybe Bella, you’re right. We haven’t patrolled your community in the past, but things have changed. We’ll be patrolling more often to keep you safe until we catch the people who have been burglarizing the area.” He leaned in close and whispered, “But you might consider wearing pants for your window-closing evening strolls. Never know who’s traipsing around out here.”
(End of Sneak Peek)
Check online retailers for the Seaside Summers series
Coming Late Summer 2014
SEASIDE DREAMS, Seaside Summers, Book One
Love in Bloom Series
Full LOVE IN BLOOM SERIES order
Love in Bloom books may be read as stand alones. For more enjoyment, read them in series order. Characters from each series carry forward to the next.
SNOW SISTERS
Sisters in Love (Book 1)
Sisters in Bloom (Book 2)
Sisters in White (Book 3)
THE BRADENS
Lovers at Heart (Book 4)
Destined for Love (Book 5)
Friendship on Fire (Book 6)
Sea of Love (Book 7)
Bursting with Love (Book 8)
Hearts at Play (Book 9)
THE REMINGTONS
Game of Love (Book 10)
Stroke of Love (Book 11)
Flames of Love (Book 12)
Slope of Love (Book 13)
Read, Write, Love (Book 14)
THE BRADENS
Taken by Love (Book 15)
Fated for Love (Book 16)
Romancing my Love (Book 17)
Flirting with Love (Book 18)
Dreaming of Love (Book 19)
Crashing into Love (Book 20)
SEASIDE SUMMERS (coming soon)
Seaside Dreams
Seaside Hearts
Seaside Sunsets
Seaside Secrets
THE RYDERS (coming soon)
Duke Ryder
Blue Ryder
Trish Ryder
Jake Ryder
Gage Ryder
More Books by Melissa
Chasing Amanda (mystery/suspense)
Have No Shame (historical fiction/romance)
Love, Lies & Mystery (3-book bundle)
Megan’s Way (literary fiction)
Traces of Kara (psychological thriller)
Where Petals Fall (suspense)
Specialty Jam Recipes*
Frangelico Peach
Makes 10 to 12 eight-ounce jars
Caution: Frangelico product contains nuts
3 lbs. peaches
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-1.75oz packages of store-bought powdered pectin
7 cups sugar
1/4 cup Frangelico Liqueur
Place peaches in blender and blend until they are finely chopped.
Place peaches and lemon juice in an 8-quart saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add pectin and return to a boil. Continue stirring slowly so as not to let it burn to the bottom of the pan.
Add sugar slowly; bring to a boil.
Add 1/4 cup Frangelico; bring to boil for 2 minutes.
Fill jars.
Apricot with Lime
Makes 10 to 12 eight-ounce jars
3 lbs. apricots
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-1.75oz packages of store-bought powdered pectin
3/4 cup lime pulp
7 cups sugar
Blend the apricots until they are finely chopped.
Place in 8-quart saucepan, add lemon juice and lime pulp, then bring to boil. Continue stirring slowly.
Add pectin and return to boil.
Add sugar slowly; bring to boil for 1 minute
Fill jars.
Strawberry-Apricot
Makes 10 to 12 eight-ounce jars
2 lbs. strawberries
1 lbs. apricots
2-1.75oz packages of store-bought powdered pectin
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1/4 cup white wine
Place strawberries and apricots into blender and mix until finely chopped.
Place the fruit into 8-quart saucepan and bring to boil while stirring slowly.
Add lemon juice and pectin; bring to boil for 1 minute.
Add sugar slowly, continue stirring and bring to boil.
Add wine of your choice; boil for 1 minute.
Fill jars.
*Recipes compliments of Al Chisholm, Al’s Backwoods Berries. www.alsbackwoodsberries.com.
Acknowledgments
Coming from a family of seven children, the closeness and importance of family is a subject that is always near and dear to my heart. I’ve received so many emails and social media messages from readers who enjoy the family aspect of my books, and I enjoy every one of them. As always, my fans have inspired, supported, and encouraged me. Thank you for reaching out. I’m delighted that the Remingtons and my writing has touched you, and I’d like to thank you for insisting that I write more books about the Bradens. I’m thrilled that the Bradens have stolen your hearts as they have stolen mine and look forward to more stories about the Bradens, the Remingtons, and the Snow Sisters.
In this book you’ve also met several of the characters who will be in the Seaside Summers series, and I hope you enjoyed them as well. If you follow me on social media, then you know Cape Cod is my favorite place on earth, and writing about it fills me with joy.
Congratulations to Denise Smith, who won a contest to name a character in this book. Thank you for giving me Leanna, and a special shout-out to your daughter Olivia. Thank you to all of my supportive friends and family who encourage me, talk me off the ledge, and indulge my obsessive writing endeavors.
There’s not enough gratitude in the world to cover what I owe to my editorial team: Kristen Weber, Penina Lopez, Jenna Bagnini, Juliette Hill, and Marlene Engel. Thank you, Natasha Brown and Clare Ayala, for your endless patience and expertise.
Many thanks to Al Chisholm of Al’s Backwoods Berries, my partner in the creation of Luscious Leanna’s Sweet Treats and the best damn jam maker around. If you’re ever in Wellfleet during the summer, you can find Al and Luscious Leanna’s Sweet Treats at the flea market, or visit his website noted on the recipe page in this book.
Last but never least, thank you to my supportive husband and family, who make my writing possible.
About the Author
Melissa Foster is a New York Times, USA Today bestselling & award-winning author. Her books have been recommended by USA Today's book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, and the World Literary Café. When she's not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa hosts Aspiring Authors contests for children, and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC.
Visit Melissa on her website, or chat with her on The Women's Nest or social media. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.
Melissa’s
books are available at most online retailers
www.MelissaFoster.com