Simply Love (Love Collection)

by Natalie Ann

  “I don’t hate you,” he said. “I could never hate you. Why would you say that?” She could see he wanted to reach for her but was hesitating. That made her feel all the worse.

  “Because I was such a fool. Because I was careless with my words and my actions.”

  “You haven’t been careless with your actions,” he said. “Your actions told me you loved me. But your words weren’t coming. I was starting to wonder what I was lacking. Why you couldn’t say them to me.”

  It never occurred to her that he’d doubt himself like that. But maybe it should have, especially after witnessing the exchange with his mother and her throwing those hateful words at Blake.

  “It’s not you. You aren’t lacking anything. It’s me. I’ve never felt like anyone wanted me or loved me. For months I’ve worried you only liked the new me and wouldn’t like the old me.”

  “We’ve had this discussion before,” he told her. “And maybe I’ve felt the same way. Did you think of that? That maybe I felt like no one loved me either, but that didn’t stop me from trying.”

  “I know. And you made me believe. Which is all the more reason why I was so stupid about not believing that what I felt for you is love. It is. I know it is. My aunt even told me.”

  “What?” he said. “You had to ask someone?”

  “Oh God. I’m making a mess of this again. Why can’t I figure this out?”

  “Just tell me what your aunt said.”

  “I went home last night and she was there. She wants to meet you, by the way. Anyway, I was crying and she wanted to know what happened. I told her and she said everything you did. That everything I felt was love. That I was looking for more answers when sometimes there aren’t any. That it has to be how I felt. She asked me how I would feel if you ended things with me.”

  “How did it make you feel?”

  “Like shit. Like I was going to pass out. I couldn’t catch my breath. The thought of being without you was worse than anything I’ve ever felt before.”

  “I know that feeling,” he said, yanking her forward this time. Holding her tight. Holding her hard. Making her feel it was going to be all right. “So what is it you are saying?”

  “I’m saying I love you. I’m saying I want us to continue with what we have. I’m saying I hope there is more for us in the future too. I’m saying you’re perfect and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been with you and I don’t want to lose that.”

  “Those are all the right things to say because it’s exactly how I feel too.”

  Epilogue

  At the end of the school year, Gemma was cleaning her room out when she heard a noise in the hallway and turned to see Blake standing there. “Blake, what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to help you pack up your room and bring your stuff home.”

  “That’s very sweet of you. You didn’t need to do that though.”

  “I don’t have to do a lot of things, but I do them just the same.”

  “That’s because you’re perfect,” she’d told him.

  “You can stop telling me that. We know I’m not and you don’t need to pump my ego up any more than it is.”

  “I like a man with a big ego,” she said, giggling. “I’m almost packed up, but you can help me carry these to my car. Be my hero today.”

  “Gladly.” Once they were pulling into her cabin, he got out and grabbed two of her three boxes. “You know. Almost a year ago I wanted to help you unpack your SUV when you first arrived, but you wouldn’t let me help you.”

  “I had it covered back then,” she said.

  “You always say you’ve got it covered. I’m glad to know that you let me help you now and again.”

  “You’ve helped me more than just now and again and you know it,” she said. “You’re always doing things for me. Those first few months you changed my locks, you put security lights up, you taught me so many things about myself I’d never have figured out on my own on top of it.”

  “There is one thing I haven’t done yet,” he said.

  “What’s that?” she asked. “You can put those boxes in the spare room. I’ll take care of them later.”

  He followed her to the room and put the boxes on the bed, then he pulled her forward and just held her. “I haven’t asked you to marry me yet.”

  “What?” she shrieked.

  “I hope that is going to be a yes. That we don’t have to go through what we did when I said I loved you.”

  She laughed. “Are you seriously asking me to marry you? Or just saying you haven’t done it yet but it might be coming in the future? You know, like feeling me out?”

  “Is this answer enough?” he asked, pulling a ring out of his pocket.

  “Yes. I mean yes to your question. Yes, it’s answer enough. I mean you didn’t ask, but I guess you want to. Doesn’t matter,” she said, rambling. “The answer is yes.”

  “Thank God. I didn’t want to have to spend the night alone wondering if you were thinking of all the reasons to say yes or not.”

  “No more,” she said. “The reasons are simple. I love you and I don’t want to be without you another day.”

  The end!

  Want to read more of the Love Collection?

  Secret Love:

  Vin Steele has always been in control. Always been a leader. Failing at what he always did was a bitter pill for him to swallow, sending him into an isolation…of sorts. A new life and a new career, trying to find the person he lost.

  Piper Fielding spent her life putting on a good face. Looking for the positive in the light of all the negative in her world. When a threat forces her to face the ugliness she always avoided, she finds herself running to the only person she can trust. Her sexy neighbor that has mystery and complications written all over him.

  True Love:

  Shattered dreams vs a new beginning. Can they help each other heal?

  Jared Hawk thought he had it all. Until he didn’t. Until a bomb exploded bringing a building down around him and his unit, leaving him less than the man he was. Broken and disabled, he needed to figure out a new plan of action hoping to find a glimmer of the happiness he’d had before.

  Shelby McDonald wanted a fresh start. A new life. She didn’t expect to be a single mother—a widow—at just twenty-three. She was strong enough to start over once, she could do it again. She had to. She had no choice. It may not have been the life she envisioned, but she’d be damned if anything was going to hold her back…including the sexy Navy Lieutenant trying to find his way again.

  Finding Love:

  What happens when a hopeless romantic falls for a cynical romance writer?

  Sheldon Case spends her days writing about romance and love. Only she doesn’t believe in it herself. Happy ever after…nah. It only exists in books and movies.

  Dr. Erik McMann had the love of his life...or so he thought. Until he found out it really didn’t exist like he imagined. Like he always dreamed. But now he wants to try again, and when he meets Sheldon, he decides she’s the one. If only he could convince her that what she’s believed her whole life is false.

  Beach Love:

  A reformed playboy. A woman looking for love. What happens when trust becomes an issue?

  If you looked up privileged in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of Dr. Connor Landers, trust fund playboy extraordinaire. He loved having that title, but the real reason he was that way was something very few people knew. Then reality was shoved in his face and he had to make a choice.

  Melissa Mahoney was looking for love in all the wrong places. How hard could it be to find someone to trust? Someone to give her what she’d been dreaming of? She takes a risk and puts her heart in Connor’s hands, but will he just end up shattering it like she’d been fearful of all along?

  Intense Love

  A detective on the mend. A psychiatrist being tormented. Can their pretend relationship uncover who’s behind the threats?

  Dr. Cameron Mason went into private practice so sh
e could help the victims. She spends a lot of her time putting the accusers away. It’s what she thrives at. What she wants. What’s right. Until someone didn’t think it was so right and decided to silence her from ever helping others again.

  After killing a teenager hopped up on heroin—that happened to be stabbing his partner—Detective Ian Price is mandated to get released by the city shrink. He wants to get in, get his release and get out. Until he sees she’s being victimized herself. Now he must go undercover in his most dangerous assignment yet. The threat isn’t just for his safety or his sanity, but also his

  Autumn Love

  What happens when Ali’s grandfather’s ghost decides to make an appearance and meddle in her life?

  Liam Sullivan is a well-respected businessman in the community. He sees a beloved apple orchard falling into disrepair and offers to buy it, making a dream come true for his mother. When he discovers the woman he’s interested in is the daughter of the current owner, he’s stuck with a choice between work and pleasure. Or could he have both?

  Ali Rogers’s life is falling down around her. She’s in debt up to her ears. Her mother is selling the family business that should have gone to her and the sexy new owner has his eye on her. Only, there is nothing she can do about it because she is losing her mind. How else does she explain all the conversations she’s having with her deceased grandfather?

  Holiday Love

  Sometimes failed relationships are needed to make the next one count.

  Dr. Owen Taylor is on the fast track to running the Radiology Department at one of the top ranking cancer centers in the US. Plans of a family are in his future, just not his immediate future. That is until he finds himself a single father and failing miserably at juggling it all, forcing him to return home to Upstate New York needing help.

  Jill Duncan had plans of her own. But time, money, and a failed marriage squashed her hopes like a soldier's boot on a cockroach during an apocalypse. When a new doctor shows up at her job, she starts to think that old saying “better late than never” just might apply to her, if only she could get over her own insecurities.

  Christmas Love

  What happens when even the strongest are blinded by insecurities?

  Former model, Noelle Bennett has decided she wants to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. She is longing for peace and quiet. No more traveling. No more crowds. No more men hitting on her left and right. Or people only wanting one thing from her. Just her and the woods around her little home, snapping pictures of the landscape beyond. A normal life for once...maybe.

  Veterinarian Chase Martin has always gotten along better with animals than people. So when a sexy woman who looks like she just walked out of a fashion magazine shows up at his clinic offering to volunteer to take pictures of the dogs for his rescue shelter, he finds what should have been a great idea turning into uncharted territory for them both. Now he is wondering how he got so lucky...or is it more how unlucky he’s always been?

  Winter Love

  Kendall Hendricks spent the first decade of her life as a modern-day gypsy, until her parents finally planted themselves in Las Vegas. She loved it there. She made a name for herself. She was happy… or so she always thought. Then tragedy struck and her parents were gone, leaving her a note asking her to scratch those itchy feet she’d inherited before she settled down.

  Zeke Collins has never known anything other than working at the family lodge his whole life. Now he and his sister own and operate it and he’d have it no other way. Lake Placid is where he wants to be. It’s where his heart is and nothing could make him move. Not even the bewitching stranger with sorrowful eyes and adventure driving her course. The question is...can he change her mind?

  Chasing Love

  Her childhood crush. His best friend’s little sister. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

  Meena Dawson has always been loud. Always been wild. Always been bold. And she always thought she loved her brother’s best friend. She’s an adult now. Not so loud. Not so wild, but still bold and definitely in love with Troy Walker. It’s time to make her move now with the hopes of not scaring him away or ruining the family connection they’ve always had.

  Troy Walker has always been serious. Dull and even boring. He knew that because he’d been told it enough in his life, especially by all his exes. At least that was the reason they’d given him for leaving every time. But now that Meena Dawson is back in town, he’s wondering if he could find a way to not be all those things and maybe catch her eye. Only he has to find a way to make sure his best friend—Meena’s brother—doesn’t find out.

  First Love

  Sparks fly when a woman from the wrong side of the tracks catches the eye of the heir apparent to the family empire.

  Lauren Towne has had a tough life. A good work ethic and a lot of determination are the keys to changing her lot in life. The last thing she needs to focus on or worry about is her new sexy boss that might just end up making all her hard work vanish in the air when he realizes how attracted she is to him.

  Jace Stratton always knew he’d be the heir to his father’s grocery store empire. But before that happened, he was determined to make a name for himself. When his “rule with an iron fist” father falls ill, he finds his timeline pushed up faster than he’d hoped for. Now he’s out to prove that even though he’s falling for an employee, he’s nothing at all like his father and never will be.

  Forever Love

  Can their pretend marriage lead to the forever love and family they both always wanted?

  Leah Morrison used to believe in happily ever after. That is until her wedding planning business started planning more divorce parties than bridal showers. Now she’s jaded enough to focus on her business and growing it the way she knows it can, pretty much giving up on finding her forever love.

  Gabe Richards is more focused on the fast track and proving to his parents that he can run the family manufacturing business. But their meddling ways are getting on his nerves with wanting him to settle down. He comes up with a plan...a temporary marriage to get them off his back for good so that he can dedicate everything he has to the company. But when he starts to develop feelings for his fake wife, he needs to figure out how to get her to stay after their one-year agreement rather than taking the money to expand her business and running.

  Simple Love

  Being strong doesn’t make you a hero, but doing what is right does.

  Gemma Anderson has always been the ugly duckling of the family. Overweight, shy, and picked on...not just by friends, but by family. She turned to food for comfort, which only compounded her misery. As an adult, she’d had enough of her lonesome life and decided in order to break out of her horrible habits and routine, she had to move away, or risk being alone forever.

  Blake Wilson had one of the most dysfunctional lives of anyone he’d ever known. He grew up just wanting a stable family home life and knew if he ever got it, he’d have to avoid the drama of his current family. He enlisted in the service, then went into law enforcement. He’d always wanted to do right by people and prove he was nothing like his family. Now if he could only find the right woman.

  The Road Series-See where it all started!!

  Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery

  Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption

  Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality

  Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason

  The All Series

  William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love

  Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing

  Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me

  Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way

  Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want

  Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love

  Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You

  Landon Barber and Kristen Reid – All of Us

  The Lake Placid Series

  Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denni
ng – Second Chance

  Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance

  Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance

  Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance

  Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance

  Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance

  Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance

  The Fierce Five Series

  Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas

  Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody

  Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden

  Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason

  Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade

  Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella

  Fierce Family

  Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam

  Byrce Fierce and Payton Davies- Bryce

  Love Collection

  Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love

  Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love