Her mother nodded and scooped up a bit of the flan on her plate. “I am. Would you like to come with me? I’m sure he’d be pleased to have you join us.”
She looked away and around the table. It had been easier than she had thought to come tonight, mostly because she hadn’t been the only single person there. She wasn’t quite sure she was ready to be a third wheel at her mother’s and Bill’s Christmas celebration. “I appreciate the invite, but maybe some other time. It’s been really hectic at work and I’d love nothing better than a quiet day at home,” she lied.
Her mother arched a brow, obviously aware of the fib. Not that she called Emma on it thankfully.
The rest of the night passed in a blur and it wasn’t long before Emma was hugging everyone and saying her goodbyes at the front door. Connie’s family and Robert Pierce would be staying at the Pierce beach house while Bryce Sinclair, Maggie’s dad, would be staying with Maggie and Owen.
Tracy and she looped their arms around each other and trudged through an inch of freshly fallen snow as yet more flakes fell gently. Big fat flakes that stuck to their coats and lashes, making them smile and laugh at the sight they made in the short distance to their cars.
“Merry Christmas, Emma,” Tracy said and hugged her. “Are you doing anything special tomorrow?”
Normally Emma would spend it with her mom, but not this year. “Just going to Mass and to relax after that. Maybe hit my treadmill to work off some of the calories from that spread we just had. How about you?”
Tracy chuckled and rubbed her too lean midsection. “Definitely treadmill or a run if this lets up. My parents . . .” She hesitated and a hint of sadness crept onto her friend’s features. “They’re off skiing somewhere. Aspen, I think. Or maybe Switzerland. Don’t know and don’t care.”
But Emma knew her friend did and was about to offer to join her on Christmas day when Tracy said, “I’m going to pick up every real estate flier I can find to look for my new place. Hop on the Internet and look some more. Something nice and welcoming, like your cottage.”
Emma nodded, reached up, and smoothed her hand across Tracy’s hair to brush away some of the snow, but also offer comfort. “I told you that you were welcome to stay with me as long as you’d like. I have a spare bedroom.”
The sheen of tears filled Tracy’s eyes, but didn’t spill over. With a brittle smile, she said, “I appreciate that. I may take you up on that offer.”
“Good,” Emma said and hugged her friend hard once again before heading to her own car just a few steps away.
The snow was still light enough to just brush away with a quick swipe of the wipers and she quickly pulled out and with a few quick turns was driving through the heart of Sea Kiss. Much as it had been the day of Connie’s wedding, the snow combined with all the happy holiday lights and decorations gave the town an almost magical feel and she savored it since they normally didn’t get much snow along the Shore although this year was proving to be different. If they did get snow, it didn’t last for long unless it was a major blizzard thanks to the buffering effects of the ocean.
Mindful of the snow falling, but even more mindful of the love and magic that had enveloped her that night, she drove slowly, appreciating the sights of all the businesses and homes done up for the Christmas season. As she pulled into her driveway, she smiled at the dancing colors of the twinkling lights in her bushes and along the gutters and windows of her cottage. A big evergreen wreath gaily decorated with brightly hued glass balls hung at her door, greeting you, but somehow she couldn’t find the will to leave her car.
It had taken her years to save the money to buy the quaint cottage in need of repair. She’d spent many a free day or weekend steaming off 1950s wallpaper, repairing and painting walls and cabinets, and pulling up matted pile carpets to reveal gorgeous parquet floors. But she hadn’t done it alone. Her friends and Carlo had helped her transform the cottage into her home.
Tonight, after spending Christmas Eve with her mom, friends and their families, her home seemed suddenly empty to her much like she had felt the extreme emptiness within her at not having Carlo at her side the last two weeks the way he’d been there for so many years.
She wondered if he’d stayed up in his parents’ Ironbound home for the night or come back to Sea Kiss. And she wondered if he could ever forgive her for the way she’d treated him or if he’d be willing to give her another chance because sitting there in her car, staring at the home she’d put together with such care, she realized that it would never be complete without love. Love like she had found with Carlo.
She put the car in gear and rushed back out of the driveway.
CARLO’S HOME WAS AT the most northern end of Sea Kiss, not far from the Pierce and Sinclair beachfront mansions. She turned onto his street and slowed the car to a crawl. Her heart raced in her chest as she saw his van was parked in front of his house and the glow of a light from within indicated he might still be awake despite the almost midnight hour. With a quick K turn, she pulled up behind his van and parked. Taking a deep breath, she mustered her courage and hurried to his front door.
Her heart was thudding in her chest, so loudly she thought she might not need to knock for him to know she was there. Dragging in a deep breath of fresh snow-kissed air, she raised her hand to the fanciful brass seashell door knocker, lifted it, and then rapped it quickly. Decisively. The sound seemed to carry in the still of the night and from beyond the wooden door came footsteps and then the snick of the lock.
The door opened and suddenly he was there, looking more handsome than ever, but there was a downward set to his normally smiling mouth and sadness in the dark cocoa of his eyes. He jerked back for a moment, obviously surprised to see her there, before recovering. In the blink of an eye, the first hint of a smile came to his lips and his eyes lost some of the dullness she’d noticed a second earlier.
With a quirk of his lips, he said, “I didn’t know Frosty the Snowman made house calls.”
Emma glanced down at herself and realized that in the short time she’d been standing there the snow had gotten heavier and now covered her black pea jacket. She raised a hand to her head and encountered the hard crust of partially melting snow covering her hat and hair.
“I must look like what the cat dragged in,” she said and shifted on her heels back and forth, expectant. Anxious. Grateful he hadn’t slammed the door in her face right away.
“Maybe I should drag you in so you can defrost. Is that okay with you?” he said, obviously just as unsure of what was happening at that moment and what would follow.
“I’d like that,” she said and stepped over his threshold.
Chapter 29
When he’d told Jonathan the other day that Emma was lugging a mountain called Everest, he’d never expected that mountain to come to him, but he wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to try and make things right between them.
Once she was inside, he gently brushed the snow off her hat, hair, and then off her coat. It settled on the hardwood floor by his entry and immediately melted thanks to the warmth of his house.
“I’m so sorry. I’m making a mess,” she said as she slipped off her jacket.
He took her coat and gestured with his head toward the living room. “Make yourself at home. I was just making myself some hot chocolate.”
“Your famous hot chocolate with Bailey’s and whipped cream?” she said and rubbed her hands together to warm them.
“The same. Sit down while I whip some up for us,” he said and couldn’t believe that after over a week apart and all that had happened, they were calmly standing there basically talking about nothing. It wasn’t how he’d pictured it, but it was better than nothing since he’d been missing her terribly. Christmas Eve without her beside him had only reinforced that it was time to find a way to have her in his life in a forever kind of way.
With a dip of her head, she did as he asked and sat, pulled a throw from the arm of the sofa, and wrapped it around herself to get
warm. That combined with the snow made him question just how long she’d been standing on his doorstep deciding whether to knock or not.
Determined to settle any uneasiness she might still be feeling, he chatted her up as he heated the milk and Baileys before adding sugar and the cubes he snapped off a bar of Mexican chocolate. “Did you spend Christmas Eve with your friends?” he asked.
She nodded and added, “And with my mom. Connie had all her family down too and so did Jon, Owen, and Maggie.”
He stirred the liquid as the chocolate began to melt and turned down the heat, not wanting to scorch the mixture. “That must have been quite a lot of people and a lot of fun.”
“It was really nice and the food was great. A mix of American and Cuban. Did you have a nice time with your family?” she asked.
He wanted to be honest and admit that he hadn’t had a nice time without her but thought it too soon to move onto that dangerous ground. “It was okay,” he said as with another few stirs the chocolate, milk, and Bailey’s blended into a creamy smooth liquid.
Lowering the heat to a slow simmer, he quickly pulled down two large mugs from the cabinet and whipped cream from the fridge. He finished prepping the hot chocolates and strode to the sofa, where Emma was sitting cross-legged on the comfy cushions. She had slipped off her shoes and made herself at home which gave him hope.
He handed her the mug and sat beside her. Silence reigned for long moments as they both sipped their drinks and Emma murmured an appreciative, “Delicious.”
“Thanks.” He faltered, unsure of what to say next and glanced at Emma. She held the mug with both hands as she sipped. Bright pink color from the cold still painted her cheeks but slowly faded from the warmth in the house and the drink. A bit of cream clung to her upper lip until she licked it off. The action had his gut clenching with need and he couldn’t just keep on sitting there, politely waiting for whatever she had to say.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad we can act like two civilized human beings around each other, but the last thing I feel around you is civilized,” he said, wanting her to understand just how much she affected him.
Her hands shook as she set her mug down on the coffee table and then twined her fingers together tightly in her lap. She looked down at her hands and did a little shrug before risking a quick glance at him. “I . . . I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been fair to you and I hope you can forgive me.”
His own hands were unsteady as he laid his drink down, turned, and cupped her cheeks. “Of course I forgive you, Emma,” he said and laid his forehead against hers. “This past week . . . Christmas Eve without you. I want you in my life, Emma, and I hope you want to be there. I love you, Emma.”
She cradled his head in her hands and met his gaze directly. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she said, “I didn’t dare hope you’d still want that because . . . it’s what I want, Carlo. My life without you has been empty and I can’t imagine not having you in my life.”
Joy filled his heart and he grabbed her hands in his. “Marry me, Emma. Be my partner in life.”
“And in business, Carlo. I trust you and I love you,” she said and kissed him, her mouth mobile on his. Demanding and he answered the demand, opening his mouth to hers. He pressed her down onto the sofa and hugged her body to his, loving the feel of her softness against him.
He broke apart from her only long enough to ask, “Say it again, Emma. Please, meu amor.”
She smiled and her green eyes glittered with happiness. “I love you, Carlo Aleixo da Costa. Love, love, love you!”
“Oh, God, Emma. I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift than to hear that,” he said and kissed her again. But soon, kissing alone wasn’t enough and he had to touch her. Smooth his hand across her breast where the hard tip pressed into his palm and he took it between thumb and forefinger to caress it.
She moaned into his mouth as he did so and she broke away and breathlessly said, “I think I know what I want from you for Christmas.”
He propped one arm on the sofa to rake his gaze across her flushed face with her kiss-plumped lips and eyes blazing emerald fire. “Really? And what would that be?” he said, his tone teasing but with barely contained need.
“Make love with me, Carlo. I want to be with you tonight. Every night,” she said and threaded her fingers through his hair to urge him back down so she could kiss him again. Take hold of his hand and lay it against her heart so he could feel the heavy uneven thud of hers beneath his palm.
IN A POWERFUL SURGE, Carlo wrapped her up in his arms and cradled her against his chest.
She grabbed hold of his shoulders and kept on kissing him as he marched across the space and down the hall to his bedroom where they fell onto the bed together, laughing and kissing. Jerking and yanking at their clothes in their haste to be together.
They scrambled into the center of his huge bed and he was on her, caressing and tasting her breasts with his mouth and hands. Dipping one hand down to find her center, kindling her passion until her body was shaking and on the edge. But as much as she wanted him inside her, stretching and filling her, she needed to pleasure him also.
With a forceful shove on his shoulder and a roll, she had him on his back and straddled him. At his questioning glance, she smiled and cupped his pecs. Brushed her thumbs across his hard nipples and then bent and tongued them. Beneath her center, his erection jerked and he groaned and held her head to him.
“You like?” she whispered.
“Yes, a lot,” he answered and she kissed her way down his center to take him into her mouth, loving and sucking on him until he was trembling and tangled his fingers through her hair to urge her up. She met his gaze which was so dark it was almost black.
He laid his hands on her hips and shifted her over him. She raised her hips and guided him to her center, slowly sank down onto him until he filled her so snugly she almost came from the pressure of him inside her.
She bit back her moan of pleasure, but he said, “I love to hear you when we make love. To watch the color sweep over your body.” As if to prove it, he drew the back of his hand up her body to run it across her breasts. Her nipples tightened into even harder nubs with the tender caress and a flush of color stained her skin.
“You are so beautiful, Emma. I’ll never get tired of looking at you. Being inside you,” he said with a subtle shift of his hips that dragged her eyes closed with the need it built.
“Open your eyes, Emma. I want to see you go over with me. I want you to see me lose myself in you,” he said and brought his hands back to her hips.
She did as he asked, opening her eyes to lock her gaze on his. Watch his face as she rode him, rocking her hips and meeting the thrust of his hips driving her ever closer to the edge until with one final push, her climax exploded across her body.
She called out his name and ground down onto him, wanting him so deep she wouldn’t know where either of them began or ended. “I love you, Carlo,” she whispered.
“I love you, Emma. Forever,” he said and cradled her to him, his erection still deep and hard inside her as her climax ebbed. But then he was rolling her beneath him and awakening need again. His strong powerful thrusts driving her toward another release that washed over them as they gazed at one another.
He dropped onto her, his big beautiful body pressing her into the mattress. His weight comforting and filling her with peace and contentment such as she’d never known. When he shifted to lie on his side with her tucked against him, his thigh across hers, she stroked her hand along the thick muscle there. Her touch tender and soothing. Her heart filled with so many emotions, expectant as she said, “Will you marry me?”
His body did a little jump, as if he was in disbelief, but then he said, “On one condition.”
She sat up and propped her head on her hand so she could see his face to hear his one condition. “Which is?”
“You plan the most epic wedding for us at the Sea Kiss Convention Center.”
She grinned and ran her hand across his chest to lay it over his heart. “Meu amor, I think that’s technically two conditions. But yes, I will.”
He covered her body with his again and playfully teased, “Will what?”
“Will love you and marry you. Will plan an epic wedding at our place,” she said and gave herself over to his loving again.
Epilogue
The May day was a harbinger of the summer season that would soon be there, bringing hordes of tourists to Sea Kiss. Bright sun flooded through the windows of the ballroom where Emma and her friends where getting ready to walk out to the lovely riverside garden behind the convention center. The landscapers had managed to get in an assortment of bushes thanks to an early March thaw and April showers had welcomed home the foliage. With early May warmth, the pink and red azaleas that had been planted were in full bloom along with dozens of spring bulbs in a riot of color. The lawn was the bright green of new life and set off the blazing white covers on the chairs where guests were gathering for the ceremony. At the farthest end of the lawn, Carlo waited with the priest from a local Roman Catholic church by a floral arbor resplendent with spring blooms and peach-colored ribbons.
Her heart ached at the sight of him looking so handsome in a new bespoke suit in deep blue. He wore a peach-colored tie that matched the color of her dress. The dress that had called out to her so many times over the years. The dress and she had been meant to be together just as Carlo and she had been destined to be together.
“Stop peeking out there. Everything is going fine. Lucy, Evelyn, and I have it under control,” Tracy said and rubbed her hand across Emma’s back.
“Are you sure?” she said, worried since it was the first time she’d ever planned a wedding, but had then been forbidden from running any part of it on the day of her big event.
Never a Bride Page 23