Lauren drove for another block and then pulled over before responding. “Okay. Tell me why.”
“None of it feels right. I don’t know if it’s the houses themselves or the fact that Reece isn’t here with me, but…” She stopped and shrugged. “Everything just feels off.”
For a minute all Lauren did was study Alesha’s face. Then she gave one curt nod. “I will completely agree with you after we look at one more house.”
“No, Lauren, really…I think I’d rather…” Alesha stopped speaking when Lauren pointed to the house they were parked in front of. “Wait…what?” She spun around and then turned back to Lauren. “I don’t understand.”
“There was a slight change of plans,” Lauren said, grinning. She turned and started to climb from the car. “You coming?”
Alesha couldn’t believe it. It was her house—the house she had put the offer in on! Scrambling from the car, she met Lauren on the sidewalk. “Change of plans? Does that mean the other buyer backed out? Did the deal fall through? Did they change their mind? Did…?”
“Alesha!” Lauren cried, laughing. Then she reached out and put her hands on Alesha’s shoulders. “Breathe.”
Taking a steadying breath, Alesha let it out slowly. “Okay, I’m good now. Sorry.”
“No worries. Let’s go inside.”
It wasn’t easy, but Alesha calmly followed Lauren up the front steps to the front door. Then she allowed herself to bounce on her toes a couple of times before they went inside. Lauren opened the door and then stepped aside so Alesha could come in. And that’s when she saw him.
Reece.
Standing in the middle of the living room looking better than anything she had ever seen before, was the man she loved.
Dropping her purse to the floor, she ran across the room and into his arms. Her lips were on his before his arms finished closing around her. Lifting her, Alesha wrapped her legs around his waist and felt like all was suddenly right with the world.
Somewhere in the distance, Alesha thought she heard the front door close, but there was no way she was going to stop kissing Reece to find out. Everything about him felt so good and warm and wonderful and she was just so damn grateful that he was finally here!
Slowly, Reece lifted his head. “That was quite a greeting. I think I’d like that every time I come home.”
A slow smile crossed her face. “I think that can be arranged.” She touched his cheek as if needing to reassure herself that he was really there. “What are you doing here?”
“Sweetheart, I wanted to be here yesterday, the day before—to be honest, I never wanted to leave.” He stopped and his dark eyes seemed to just drink in the sight of her. Slowly he lowered her to her feet and cupped her face in his hands. “I hated that the first time I told you I love you was over the phone.”
Alesha shook her head. “Don’t. It was wonderful. And I do…I love you so much. I missed you so much!” Then she laughed. “That feels so good to say!”
Hugging her close, Reece kissed the top of her head. “And it feels even better to hear.” He paused. “I love you, Alesha.”
They stood like that for several minutes, simply enjoying being close enough to touch each other. Finally Alesha lifted her head and looked up at him. “I still don’t understand how you ended up here, in this house.”
Reece took her hand and led her over to the lone piece of furniture in the room—a small sofa. They sat down and, with her hand still in his, he explained. “I’m the reason you didn’t get this house.”
Confused, she looked at him. “I…I don’t understand.”
“I kind of went and talked to Lauren before I had to leave Hope Falls, before you even started looking at houses.”
“Why?”
“I wanted her to sort of feel you out and hear exactly what you wanted in a house—what you loved, what you hated, that sort of thing. Whenever we talked, you basically mentioned very general opinions. I wanted her to get the specifics and I was going to draw up plans for a house. For you. For us.”
She went all soft at his admission. “Really?”
He nodded. “That was my plan.” Then he chuckled. “But then you went and got so excited over this house and I began to panic. She called me the day you looked at it and told me you were putting in an offer.”
“But…when? I was with her the whole time and then I talked to you not long after I got home.”
“She called me while you were in here taking pictures.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “So when you called me that night…”
“None of it was a surprise,” she finished for him. “Damn…that was sneaky.”
He looked worried. “Are you mad?”
Was she? It was possibly the sweetest thing anyone had ever done. Slowly she shook her head. “No. I’m not mad.” Leaning in, she kissed him. “I mean, I love this house and as much as I really want out of my dad’s house, I can wait—especially if it means we’re getting a place of our own.”
“Oh…um…” he murmured, looking away.
What the…? “What? What’s wrong?”
“I think you and I have got to get better at talking to each other!” he said with a laugh.
“Why?”
“Alesha, I want us to buy this house together. Eventually I want to build a house that is exactly what you want, but for now, I think this is a great house. I just wanted it to be something that we did together. I want both our names on it and I want to walk through it and make plans with you and do the renovations and…”
A noise was coming from somewhere in the house and Alesha turned her head in confusion. “You heard that, right?”
“Heard what?”
She pulled her hand from his as she stood up and waited. “It sounds like…scratching.” Making her way toward the bedrooms, she stopped and listened again. “Oh my goodness!” Opening the first door she came to, she was surprised to find the tiniest puppy sitting on the floor. Slowly she crouched down. “Look at you!” she whispered excitedly. “How did you get in here?”
When Alesha turned around, Reece was standing in the doorway. “He was supposed to wait patiently until we came back here. Obedience training may be in order,” he teased.
Alesha scooped up the dog in the palm of her hands and marveled at his adorable tan and white fur. “You are just the cutest little thing,” she cooed.
“He does need a name,” Reece said after a few minutes. “He’s pretty feisty for such a little guy.”
Turning around, Alesha had tears in her eyes. “Seriously, how is it that you were still single when we met? You are incredible!”
If she wasn’t mistaken, he actually blushed.
Reece leaned in and kissed her thoroughly, mindful of the puppy in her hand. When he lifted his head, his eyes were filled with heat and promise and love. “That’s simple. I was waiting for you.”
She couldn’t find the words to describe how much she loved him in that moment. Tugging his hand, they sat on the floor and let the puppy run around—all three pounds of him. “Reece Brooks, in my wildest dreams I never imagined coming home to Hope Falls and finding you. But I’m so incredibly thankful that I did.”
He ran a finger softly across her cheek. “I am too. All those years ago, you were my best friend and the girl of my dreams. I knew it then and I know it now.”
“So what are we doing? Are we buying a house?” she asked with barely contained excitement.
He nodded. “That’s the plan. Lauren’s got the paperwork ready, the owner has accepted our offer and can do a quick close on it. We could be in here in a matter of weeks. Do you think you can handle staying at your father’s for a little bit longer?”
“As long as I know that soon I’ll be coming home to you every day, I can handle anything.” Then she stopped. “But what about you? Are you okay with moving back to Hope Falls? What about your townhouse? And the commute? And your business?”
“Lauren already has several interested parties for the townhouse—she had
people in mind as soon as I gave her the listing. My foreman Kevin is going to be coming on as a partner in the company and handling our Tahoe office while I set up an office here in town.”
“Really? That’s amazing!” She threw herself into his arms again and hugged him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“With all the craziness going on with the last two job sites, it wasn’t easy to convince Kevin to sign on as an owner. But we got through it all and spent a lot of time talking about it and finally came to an agreement. I didn’t want to jinx anything by talking about it. Believe me, most of the time I was there, my head was spinning. I was a little overwhelmed.”
“I can imagine! I still can’t believe all of that hit the fan at once!”
“Well, it actually served a purpose.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Alesha replied.
He nodded again. “It’s true. By having to go through all of that, Kevin was right there with me and learned a lot about the business that he probably never would have learned any other way. Things like that have never happened to me before in all the years I’ve been doing this. So it was great on-the-job experience for him.”
Alesha laughed. “That’s one way of looking at it!”
“Sometimes you have to look for the silver lining.”
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too.” Then he took her hand back in his. “So what do you say, Alesha Reed? Are you ready to buy a home with me, own a dog with me and build a life with me here in Hope Falls?”
She smiled brightly at him, loving him so much her heart felt ready to burst. “I will. I totally will.”
“You said that never in your wildest dreams did you imagine this. But you know what? From the first time I laid eyes on you again in the park, you became my wildest dream. And one day soon, we’re going to be sitting here in our home and I’m going to ask you to marry me. Is that all right with you?”
“That sounds completely wonderful to me.”
And with their puppy sniffing and inspecting the room around them, Reece leaned over until Alesha was laying down and stretched out beside her where he kissed her again. “Welcome home, Alesha.”
“Thanks for making a home for me.”
Epilogue
One month later…
“Has anyone seen Scout?” Alesha called out, but no one answered. The scene was mildly chaotic. They were moving into their house and between the moving men and a bunch of their family and friends, it was wall-to-wall people. “Scout!”
She weaved her way from room to room calling out for him. When she finally found him, Alesha couldn’t help but stop and laugh. He was sleeping in a wicker basket that was filled with clothes in the master bedroom closet. She crouched down and stroked his little body and simply enjoyed the peace and quiet for a moment.
“So now you’re both hiding out?”
Turning around, she found Reece standing in the doorway grinning at her. “I was worried that he had gotten out, but it looks like he has the right idea—a quiet corner and a nap!”
“The truck’s just about empty so at least that will make for a few less people in here.”
Harry and Marlene were unpacking everything in the kitchen, Amy came by to help unpack the bathrooms and linens, Lauren and Ben brought lunch for everyone, while numerous folks from around town had been coming in and out all day volunteering wherever they were needed.
“Is it wrong that I want to stay in here with him?” she asked.
Reece came and sat down on the floor beside her and gave her a quick kiss. “Not at all. But if we go back out there and put in another hour of unpacking, we can send everyone home and be able to have dinner—just the two of us. What do you say?”
“Hmm…that does sound good. Can it be a sexy dinner?”
A slow grin spread across his face. “Sexy, huh? I can definitely do sexy.”
Alesha burst out laughing. “Yes you can!”
He playfully nudged her with his shoulder before jumping to his feet. Holding out a hand to her, he helped her stand up as well. “You do sexy pretty damn well too, beautiful.”
Before they could leave the closet, Alesha reached out and pulled him in close, hugging him. “I can’t believe this day is finally here.”
“Finally?” he teased. “We’ve only been together for a little over two months. I think some would argue that this is super quick.”
She shook her head. “Not me. I’m thrilled that tonight we’re sleeping in our own bed in our own place. I just wish that your schedule was a little bit better so you could fully move in.”
He held her tightly for a minute. “I know. This is a really big job and it’s important for me to be there for the final phase. Kevin’s really good at what he does but he’s not quite ready to wrap something like this up on his own. We’re still doing our weekends with your dad and then before you know it, I’ll be back here permanently."
Sighing, she leaned back and gave him half smile. “I know. Everything’s so much better though when you’re here though.”
“No place in the world I’d rather be.”
Someone cleared their throat loudly. Turning their heads they saw Marlene standing in the doorway. “Okay, you two. Enough. There is still a ton of work to get done out there and if you want us to ever go home, you need to come out and help.”
“Yes, Mom,” Reece murmured. When he stepped out of the closet, he gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek.
Alesha followed and did the same. “Thanks, Marlene.”
As they left the room they heard her cooing to Scout. “There’s my grandpuppy!”
“Ugh,” Reece moaned. “I was waiting to see how long it would take before she started making grandchildren references.”
“She’s not alone. My dad started dropping hints on the phone this week.” She rolled her eyes. Before she could take another step, Reece stopped her with his hand on her arm. Turning around, she looked at him questioningly.
“Does it upset you to have her do it? Because I’ll tell her to stop,” he said quickly. “I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable or…”
Alesha immediately cut him off. Stepping in close, she got up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “It doesn’t bother me at all and I know when the time is right, we’ll talk about it. But for now, I think they’re all going to have to get used to the baby in the house being Scout.”
With a loud laugh, he spun her around and gave her a playful shove toward where all the action was. She went willingly and was amazed at how much they had accomplished already today. Looking around the room as she finished putting all of her books on the shelves in the living room, Alesha felt incredibly happy.
Across the room, Reece was laughing with Kevin who had driven up to help them today.
In the kitchen, Harry was putting together a baking rack that she had ordered.
Marlene was getting puppy kisses from Scout and giggling like a young girl as she carried him out to the yard.
The kitchen table was covered with food that Lauren and Ben had brought over and there was a pot of chili on the stove, compliments of Sue Ann’s Café. She had brought it over earlier as a mini house-warming gift.
Life was good.
No, that wasn’t right. If Alesha had to describe it, she would stick with what she had told Reece on the day they decided to buy this house—this life was her wildest dream come true.
About Samantha Chase
New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contem
porary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina.
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