by Noelle Adams
“Okay. We’ll need to get back up to the door soon.”
“We’ve got almost twenty minutes before they open the doors.”
“I know, but I want to make sure we’re in position. Here. I’m pulling up the listing. Let’s go over our plan of attack.”
“I already know which pieces I’m responsible for getting.”
“It won’t hurt to go over it again.” She showed him a photograph on the phone. “This is the Brandt painting in the dining room. I saw George Kent in line, and I think he’ll be in the first group. He’s going to be going for the painting too, so you’ll have to beat him. You grab that painting, no matter what they’ve priced it.”
Vince managed to hide a smile at Liz’s serious expression. “Got it.”
“When you’ve gotten that, you go to the dining room and grab any of the carved figurines you can that are priced under a hundred dollars. More than that, and they won’t be worth it. I’ll come back on Sunday and see if anything is left at a discount.”
“Got it. Painting. Then figurines.”
“And I’ll go upstairs and claim the armoire. Then I’ll check the shoes and handbags.” She rubbed her hands together excitedly. “This is going to be a good one. I can feel it. I’m glad I won the coin toss.”
They’d made an agreement to take turns at big estate sales like this so they wouldn’t be in competition with each other. Liz’s family had decided to keep ownership of Berkley’s for the time being since they’d gotten their finances under control, and Vince knew Liz was happy about it. Maybe things would change in the future, but for now they were working for different stores.
“If we can get the good stuff here and can sell it on at a good price, we might have enough to pay off the rest of Riot’s debt.” Liz was putting her phone in her purse and organizing herself, putting on her game face. “I don’t think we’ll have to sell Pemberley House.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Vince shook his head fondly. Liz was about to enter her full-fledged competitive stance, the one where she forgot about everything else in the world. Including him.
Then she surprised him by turning to meet his eyes. “Just so you know, we’d never have been able to get to this point if it hadn’t been for you.”
His heart clenched. “It wasn’t just me.”
“It was mostly you.” She leaned over to kiss him softly. “You saved us, Vince. Don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”
He hadn’t expected to be hit with this kind of emotion right at this moment, and he wasn’t prepared for it. He cleared his throat and glanced away. “I didn’t do that much.”
“Yes, you did. You saved us.”
He leaned forward to kiss her back. “If that’s the case, it’s only because you saved me first.”
Their gazes met across the few inches of distance as they pulled back from the kiss, and Vince saw everything he needed to know about her heart, their love, their future in her eyes.
Then Liz pulled them out of the car so they could be first in line for the estate sale.
They’d arrived together, and Liz had passed out the numbers.
She was Number One, and he was Number Two.
Vince wouldn’t have it any other way.
Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER, LIZ woke up when Vince started to get out of bed.
It was still early—too early—so she reached out to grab him. She was still mostly asleep, but she managed to hook her fingers around the waistband of his sleep pants.
She held on as the fabric stretched.
He fell back into bed with a grunt. “That was uncalled for.”
She giggled and blinked in the dark room. “What’s uncalled for is you getting up at the crack of dawn. Why are you awake so early?”
“I thought we were going to the estate sale.” He was bare-chested and his hair was a mess, kinked in all directions. He shouldn’t have looked sexy right now, but he did.
She made a face at him. “I’m rethinking it now. I’m not sure there will be anything good there, and I’d rather sleep in this morning.”
“You’re awake now, so you might as well get up.” Vince sounded (rather annoyingly) alert this morning, which was unusual since she was usually an earlier riser than he was.
She yanked at his pants again and was gratified when he rolled over on top of her with a wolfish smile. “Now,” she said, spreading her thighs to make room for his body. “That’s better.”
“You really want to have sex before six o’clock in the morning, before you’ve even brushed your teeth?”
This reminder of the possible state of her breath made her scowl. “Sometimes you don’t mind.”
“I’m not saying I mind. I’m asking if that’s really what you want to do right now, or are you just trying to think of a reason to keep me in bed.”
He was way too smart. Way too quick.
He always had been.
He was the only man she’d ever known who could mentally outmaneuver her.
Sometimes. Not all the time.
She’d just woken up, so she wasn’t at her best at the moment.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing’s wrong with that.” His expression softened as he pressed a little kiss against her lips. “I’ll have sex with you any time, any place, in any condition. Just say the word. But if you don’t want to go to the estate sale, just say so. You don’t have to offer sex as an alternative.”
She giggled and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “I love you. You know that, right?”
“I’ve been informed of that fact on more than one occasion, but I’m always happy for a refresher.”
“I love you,” she said again, her chest tightening with emotion. She’d never known what it was like to love in this particular way. To feel that this man and all his intelligence and depth and heart and sharp edges were hers. Hers. Responding to the strength of the emotion, she added, “And you know you can move in with me if you want, after Charlie and Jane get married.”
Jane and Charlie had gotten engaged last night. Liz was very excited for them, but the upcoming marriage would mean a change in their living situation. Jane would naturally move in with Charlie, which meant Vince would need to live somewhere else.
Vince’s eyes were very serious as he said, “I didn’t know until you told me just now. I didn’t want to assume I could move into someone else’s home.”
“Well, you can. I’d love to have you move in here.” She cleared her throat as she realized what she was saying. How serious it was. “If you want. There’s no pressure or anything. I know we’re on a different timetable than Jane and Charlie. I mean, just because they’re engaged doesn’t mean we have to... we have to make a big step too. You don’t have to move in with me. Or you could just take Jane’s room if you’d rather. If you want your own room. I mean...” She trailed off, feeling like an idiot. She was usually better at talking than this, but she was buffeted with a wave of nerves and self-consciousness.
Vince burst into laughter and wrapped his arms around her, rolling them both onto their sides. “If the invitation was a serious one and not something you accidentally stumbled into, then I’d love to move in with you.”
“Oh good. It was serious. I know I started rambling on afterward, but that was because I was suddenly afraid you’d think it was too much, too soon.”
“It’s not too much. I want to live with you.”
She found his mouth and kissed him. Not deeply, but tenderly. “I want to live with you too.”
“Then that’s settled.” Vince let her go and rolled to the side of the bed, hefting himself up with a soft groan.
She popped up into a sitting position. “You still want to go to that dumb estate sale? We could hang out this morning and talk about our upcoming cohabitation. It might not be as exciting as Jane and Charlie getting engaged, but it’s still—”
Vince turned his head toward her sharply. “You’re not feeling competitive, are you?”
“About what?”
“About Jane and Charlie beating us to the altar.”
“Oh. No. No! I know we’re not—” She broke off because the truth was she was more than ready to marry Vince. She didn’t want to lie to him and say she wasn’t, but she also didn’t want him to feel pressure.
If he ever asked her to marry him, she wanted it to come from nothing but a desire to do so. She wasn’t going to guilt or push him into it.
She started again. “We’re not Jane and Charlie. We don’t have to do what they do. I’m incredibly happy exactly as we are, and I’ll be even happier when you move in here with me. I’m not looking to beat Jane to anything else.”
He nodded, his lip twitching up slightly as if something she’d said amused him. “Okay then. If we want to be first in line for the estate sale, we need to get moving. I’ll get coffee.”
“But I was serious about wondering if we should even bother.”
He’d stood up, but he paused at her words. “You really don’t want to go? It’s your turn to get the good stuff.”
“I know.”
“We can skip this one if you want, but I still get the stuff at the next one.”
She gasped in outrage.
His lips twitched up again. “It’s only fair.”
She snarled. “Okay. Fine. But I’m not moving from this bed until you bring me coffee.”
Vince was chuckling as he left the room. He really was awake and in a good mood particularly early this morning.
She called out to his back, “And not the easy stuff. You have to use the french press!”
He laughed even more. But the coffee he brought back to her several minutes later was perfect.
THEY WERE LEAVING THE building about a half hour later, and Liz was getting into her competitive mood, ready to beat everyone else to the best items at the sale.
She wasn’t paying attention, so she almost ran smack into Em at the front entrance.
It was way too early on a Saturday morning for Em to be out and about yet. Plus she was wearing silk pajamas and a soft pink bathrobe.
What the hell was she doing coming back into the building at this time?
And why was Ward Knightley behind her.
Knightley was around forty, and he was a good-looking, easygoing man. He had a large frame, thick brown hair, and thoughtful blue eyes. This morning he was wearing plaid flannel pants and a T-shirt it looked like he’d just pulled on.
Liz gaped at them.
“What’s the matter with you?” Em asked, looking innocently from Liz to Vince. “You look like someone just socked you in the gut.”
“What are you doing?” Liz asked, her eyes running up and down Em’s slim body again to verify that she was indeed in her pajamas and coming back into the building with Knightley.
“Oh, I was just—” Em stopped short, as if the appearance had just occurred to her. She burst into laughter. “Oh my God, you should see your face! Do you think I spent the night with Ward or something?”
She evidently found that idea hilarious because she couldn’t stop laughing about it.
Knightley shook his head and rolled his eyes in an ironically amused expression. “She has a plumbing problem. She came out to get me.”
Liz laughed at his quite reasonable explanation for the situation. “Oh. That makes sense. I was wondering. But why didn’t you just call him?”
“I tried. Three times. He wouldn’t answer.”
“I was asleep.”
Em went on. “So I had to go all the way out and rouse him from bed. Talk about grumpy.”
“What’s the plumbing problem?”
“It’s just a clogged sink. I unclogged it, but Dad is in a dither about it, and he won’t settle down until we get Ward out to make sure it’s fixed.” Em was the only person who ever called him Ward. Everyone else called him Knightley. “You know Dad.”
“Yes. Hopefully you can quickly confirm that it’s unclogged, and poor Knightley can go back to bed.”
“Too late now,” he muttered.
Liz and Em both giggled at that, and Vince cleared his throat. “We better get going if we want to be first in line.”
“Okay. Fine. I don’t know why you’re all uptight about this sale. One would think you were the competitive one.” Liz touched Em’s arm. “I’ll see you later.”
“Definitely. We’ve got a wedding to start planning!” Em looked as excited about it as if she were the one getting married.
Liz watched her friend disappear into the building. “Do you suppose Em managed to get into Knightley’s cottage to wake him up, or did she just bang on the door really loud?”
“I have no idea. He’s used to catering to her father, and he didn’t really look annoyed by it. Now let’s get moving.”
“Fine. We’re moving. All I’ve got to say is that there better be some good stuff at this sale for all your pestering me about it.”
“We’ll see.”
THEY WERE THE FIRST people in line. They hadn’t really needed to hurry.
In fact, they were still the only people waiting when Farrah arrived at seven thirty, grinning at Liz as she approached.
“You’re early,” Liz said, checking the time. The staff from this company usually didn’t arrive until an hour before the sale was set to begin.
“Yeah. Just happened that way. No one else here yet?”
“No. Just Vince and me.”
“Well, since you came so early, I’ll let you guys in to look around right now. Just don’t tell anyone else I let you do it.”
“Seriously?” Liz clapped her hands, excited as she always was about getting a leg up on the competition.
“Sure. Why not? Take ten minutes to look around, but then come back out and wait in line. You can’t actually buy anything until the sale begins.”
Liz didn’t even question her good fortune. She just walked into the house, holding Vince’s hand.
“Let’s start upstairs,” Vince said.
“Okay.” She’d have started on the main floor, but it didn’t really matter to her where they started.
Vince led her up the stairs and then walked into what was obviously the master bedroom.
“There are some really good pieces here,” she said, eyeing the sleigh bed and carved armoire with a practiced eye.
“Yes.”
Liz jerked to a stop as her eyes landed on the long dresser against the wall.
On top of it was a tabletop chest.
A beautiful cedar chest with watercolors of birds and butterflies on the top.
“What’s the matter?” Vince asked.
“Look at that!”
“At what?”
“The chest. The chest! That looks just like the one... the one I loved that Mr. Edwards... Oh my God, it’s exactly the same.” She ran over to look at it. “It is the same. It has to be the same. But how on earth did it end up here? I thought you said your mom sold it to a private collector.”
“She did.”
“Then how... There couldn’t possibly be another...” She couldn’t even get a full sentence out. Her body was throbbing with excitement. She ran her fingers over the smooth surface.
It was beautiful.
Perfect.
Exactly what she’d always wanted.
She looked up at Vince and gasped at what she saw in his eyes.
“Vince?” Her voice broke.
“Maybe you should open it,” he murmured hoarsely.
Her hands started to tremble as she reached out to open the top of the chest.
Inside, resting on the deep red velvet, was a ring. An antique. It looked Edwardian with its elaborately engraved mounting and a beautiful round diamond.
It was an engagement ring.
She stared down at it, something deep inside her shuddering.
“If it’s too soon,” Vince murmured beside her, “I can hold it. I can wait. For as long as you need.”
She reached out for the ring greedily, li
ke someone might snatch it away. “No! I want it now!”
Vince made a choking sound. It might have been laughter. But when she looked up at him, his eyes were deep and full. “I love you, Liz. I want to go deep. All the way. As deep as we can get. Forever. So I want you to be my wife, if you could ever want me for a husband.”
She threw herself against him, the ring clenched tightly in her hand. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I want to be your wife more than anything!”
He hugged her so tightly she could barely breathe, but then he released her and was laughing when he pulled away. “So I can put the ring on your finger?”
“Oh. Yes. Please.” She handed him the ring and then presented him her left hand.
He was grinning as he slid the ring onto her finger. It fit exactly right, so he must have asked Jane for her size or else investigated her jewelry box on his own.
“Is that really my same chest?” she asked, looking back at the beloved item, almost as precious to her as the ring she wore.
“Yes. I bought it back from the man my mother sold it to.”
“Oh no! It must have been so expensive for him to give it up again.”
“It wasn’t too expensive. I wanted you to have it. You can call it an engagement gift.”
She was so emotional as she caressed the chest that she was afraid she might tear up. Fortunately, Vince distracted her before she did.
“So now that that’s settled, I can show you this.” Vince opened the closet door.
There was only one thing inside. A wedding dress hanging on the bar.
A wedding dress she knew very well.
It was too much.
She burst into tears and ended up crying against Vince’s chest. “I thought your mom sold it,” she gurgled when she was finally able to form words.
“She didn’t. She bought it so she could give it to me and so I could give it back to you. She knew we’d be getting here from the very beginning. So she wanted us to have this.”
“I feel like I’ve gotten everything I ever wanted.”