by Melody Grace
I’m Yours
Sweetbriar Cove: Book Four
Melody Grace
Melody Grace books
Copyright © 2017 by Melody Grace
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design copyright British Empire Designs.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Introduction
Also by Melody Grace
I’m Yours
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
I. No Ordinary Love
Chapter 1
Also by Melody Grace
About the Author
Thank you for reading!
Sweetbriar Cove is the start of a new series for me, set in a charming small town on Cape Cod.
I have tons of happy memories of New England, and it was so much fun inventing the town - and all its inhabitants. Mackenzie, the heroine of I’m Yours, loves Christmas in her small-town, but planning the annual Starbright Festival takes an unexpected turn when a face from her past returns.
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I hope you enjoy reading I’m Yours as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. So pour some cocoa, snuggle up, and enjoy this taste of autumn wherever you are.
xo Melody
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Also By Melody Grace:
The Sweetbriar Cove Series:
1. Meant to Be
2. All for You
3. The Only One
4. I’m Yours
5. Holiday Kisses (A Christmas Story)
6. No Ordinary Love (2018)
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The Beachwood Bay Series:
1.Untouched
2.Unbroken
3.Untamed Hearts
4.Unafraid
5.Unwrapped
6.Unconditional
7.Unrequited
8.Uninhibited
9.Unstoppable
10.Unexpectedly Yours
11.Unwritten
12.Unmasked
13.Unforgettable
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The Oak Harbor Series:
1.Heartbeats
2.Heartbreaker
3.Reckless Hearts
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The Dirty Dancing Series
* * *
The Promise
Welcome to Sweetbriar Cove: the small town where happily-ever-after is guaranteed.
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Book Four
I’m Yours
Artist Mackenzie Lane is almost thirty and still single, which, according to her neighbors, pretty much makes her the Spinster of Sweetbriar Cove. She’s sworn off terrible fix-ups, and is looking forward to her solo future of woolly mumus and cats. (Lots of cats). But a chance Halloween rendezvous awakens her reckless spirit, and makes her wonder if love might be in the cards, after all…
Jake Sullivan is back in town for the first time in years, recovering from a career-ending sports injury. He’s dazzled by the mysterious woman he meets by chance - and even more intrigued when he discovers it’s his high-school friend Mackenzie.
Ten years ago, Jake was the first (and only) guy to put a dent in Mackenzie’s invincible heart. She’s determined not to make the same mistake again, but when the pair are forced to team up to plan the annual Starbright Festival, old sparks fly - and new passion runs riot.
Soon, Mackenzie and Jake are risking it all. But will their connection last longer than the first snowfall? And can these old friends start a new chapter for love? Find out in the sizzling, romantic new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melody Grace!
The Sweetbriar Cove Series:
1. Meant to Be
2. All for You
3. The Only One
4. I’m Yours
5. Holiday Kisses (A Christmas Story) (Dec 2017)
6. No Ordinary Love (April 2018)
1
Mackenzie was going undercover for the night. Her wild red curls were hidden under a sleek black wig, and she’d traded her usual funky dresses and knit sweaters for a tight black catsuit, complete with a pair of knee-high platform boots. She paused by the mirror, carefully touching up her smudgy black eyeliner, and felt a thrill at the stranger staring back at her. Usually, she went zany and creative for Halloween, but she’d spied the catsuit in the corner of the thrift store and impulsively grabbed it from the rack. Now, she felt unrecognizable in her disguise: sexy and mysterious, like some foreign agent on a secret mission, out to seduce and destroy.
She grabbed her keys, locked up, then slipped them under a flowerpot by the door. There was no room for a purse with this figure-hugging get-up, and besides, secret agents didn’t carry a battered old tote bag. No, they got by on their wits, charm—and a switchblade hidden in their cleavage.
Mackenzie wouldn’t need any deadly weapons at the town Halloween party, but her cleavage wasn’t too shabby, she decided, thanks to the extra five pounds of ice-cream weight she’d put on over the summer. She set off down the street, an extra swing in her step as she imagined conquering exotic nations and seducing rogue spies, but the illusion lasted all of the five blocks it took her to reach the town square.
“Aww, Mac! You look so cute!” someone called the moment she approached the crowd.
“Great costume, Mac.”
“Mackenzie! Where did you get that belt?”
So much for sexy and mysterious. Mackenzie sighed. This was what she got for living in the same small town most of her life. There was no going incognito here, not when everyone knew everyone else’s business, and half the town had seen her dressed as an Oompa Loompa in the school play.
“Watch out!” A group of pint-sized ghosts charged past, clutching baskets of candy, and Mackenzie was sent spinning.
“Easy there!”
Mackenzie turned to find her friends Poppy and Cooper arriving, in matching 1920s bootlegger costumes. “Hey guys.”
“You look amazing!” Poppy exclaimed, greeting her with a hug. “I almost didn’t recognize you in that wig.”
“Thinking about a new style?” Cooper teased, flicking the sleek, bobbed hair.
Mackenzie laughed. “Not anytime soon. The last time I tried short hair, it all puffed up into a frizzy ginger halo.”
“I remember,” Cooper grinned from under the brim of his trilby hat. “We called you Orphan Annie for months.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.” Mackenzie gave him a friendly glare. Between the bad hair, hand-knitted sweaters, and smelly home-packed hummus from her hippy parents, high school hadn’t exactly been kind to her.
“Don’t worry, nobody remembers that stuff now.” Poppy linked her arm through Mackenzie’s as they strolled through the busy streets.
“Spoken like a newcomer,” Mackenzie shot back, laughing. “Sweetbriar never forgets.”
“I can’t believe everyone’s costumes,” Poppy continued, deftly changing the subject. They passed another crowd of trick-or-treaters, dressed up in a dazzling array of robot, witch, and Disney outfits. “Back in the city, I just had a couple of neighbor kids come to my door dressed in regular clothes, demanding candy.”
“Haven’t you learned by now?” Mackenzie asked. “We don’t ever miss the chance for a party in this town.”
Halloween in Sweetbriar Cove was a big deal. Well, pretty much any festival was a big deal there. Nestled in the crook of Cape Cod, Sweetbriar had built a reputation for its small-town charm—and for going all out with the decorations at the smallest excuse. There were harvest hay-bale mazes, and spring jamborees, and the winter Starbright Festival was the pride of the Cape, drawing thousands of visitors from all over the world.
Tonight, it was the Halloween Hoe-Down, cleverly recycling all those hay bales until they put the Tennessee backwoods to shame. The Town Hall was already lit up, with music and laughter spilling out into the brisk autumn night, and inside, crowds of people were already enjoying the food and dancing: a robot spinning around his zombie bride, while a trio of ghouls harmonized with a harmonica up on stage.
“Ooh, candy apples!” Poppy’s eyes lit up when she saw the buffet along the back wall. “Be right back!” She grabbed Cooper and cut a path towards the baked goods, leaving Mackenzie to adjust her wig. It turned out, sleek and sexy was also itchy as hell.
“There she is.” Debra, the unofficial town events planner, made her way through the crowd. Tonight, the older woman was dressed in flowing robes, with a magician’s wand in hand. “Thanks again for helping out,” Debra said. “The murals look great.”
“Creepy enough for you?” Mackenzie asked. As the resident artist in town, she was always getting recruited to help out with decorations. This time, she’d painted some ghoulish backdrops, complete with cobwebs and tombstones, but Debra had kept insisting on more blood. Now, it looked like a murderous frenzy was splashed over the back wall.
“Just perfect!” Debra declared. She took a step back and looked Mackenzie over, getting a familiar glint in her eye. “You look very nice. I think I saw the Janowitz boy back from Colorado somewhere, dressed as Batman. You know he’s a partner now in that law firm—”
“I know,” Mackenzie cut her off. “You already told me. Twice. And so did Larry at the hardware store, and Franny when I saw her at the market. I’m surprised you didn’t send a newsletter out: alert, eligible bachelor returns!”
Debra gave her a knowing look. “We’re just looking out for you, sweetheart. It’s about time you found someone. What are you now, thirty?”
“Twenty-nine,” Mackenzie corrected, feeling a sting.
“Exactly. You’re not getting any younger.”
She blinked. “Gee, thanks—” But Debra had already steamed away—probably to find that Janowitz boy and corral him into asking Mackenzie on a date. Debra was out of luck. Mackenzie had already had an infamous coffee with Craig Janowitz, back after college, and she definitely wasn’t his type, catsuit or otherwise.
In fact, Mackenzie would bet there wasn’t a single guy between the ages of twenty-five and forty on the Cape that she hadn’t been fixed up with at some point. It was par for the course, for the Spinster of Sweetbriar Cove, as she jokingly called herself, and she knew they only meant well, but all the good intentions in the world wore a little thin when everyone in town was worried you were going to die alone.
Alone, but with cats. Mackenzie had already decided the moment she hit thirty, she was adopting a litter of adorable kittens. If she was going to be a spinster, she may as well go all out: stop shaving her legs and give up on underwired bras, like that poem about getting old and wearing purple.
She was almost looking forward to it.
* * *
Mackenzie danced for hours, with everyone from the mayor to her seven-year-old neighbor. The murals were a hit—judging by all the gruesome selfies people were snapping—and something about the costumes let even the most straight-laced residents let their hair (or wigs) down. She was breathless and laughing by the time she wound up doing a clumsy “Thriller” with Cooper, trying to remember the routine from years ago. Then music suddenly switched to a slow song, and there was a tap on her shoulder.
“Mind if I cut in?” Poppy asked with a smile.
“Be my guest.”
Mackenzie stepped away, watching as the dance floor paired off. Poppy and Cooper, Riley and Brooke, Grayson and Summer . . . Looking around, she realized that all her friends had someone with them that night. Even the sworn bachelors among them were cradling their partners closer, gazing at them with pure affection in their eyes.
Mackenzie felt an empty pang.
Suddenly, her wig itched in the heat, and her catsuit was uncomfortably hot. The noise of the crowd felt like it was closing in on her, so she skirted the slow-dancing couples to the exit and slipped outside, letting the door clatter shut behind her as the cold night air hit her lungs.
She took a deep breath, and then another. It was late now, and the town square was dark, lamplights casting a warm glow over the still of the empty streets. Mackenzie could hear the music still echoing from the party, but instead of rejoining the crowds, she strolled slowly across the square, past the closed up storefront of her little gallery, and towards the green.
The wind whisked around her, sharp, and Mackenzie smiled. She loved winter on the Cape. They were famous for their summers—a parade of beach days, lobster rolls, and ticker tape fluttering in red, white, and blue—but Mackenzie preferred the blaze of fall colors and that first taste of snow. Already, she’d pulled the heavy blankets down from her wardrobe, and traded her denim cut-offs for thick wooly tights, and she had her snow boots waiting by the door, ready to crunch through the pristine snowfall the first morning it arrived.
Maybe this year, she’d do another set of snowflake ceramics. The tourists for the Starbright Festival had loved them last time around, and she could play around with different glazes to get that perfect wintery luster on the bowls and delicate tea cups . . .
Mackenzie climbed the stairs to the gazebo, still lost in thoughts of winter ahead; she didn’t even notice somebody else was already sitting on the narrow bench until she knocked into a pair of outstretched boots. “Sorry,” she exclaimed, stumbling hard on her stacked heels.
A pair of hands caught her waist, and then Mackenzie found herself pressed up against the solid planes of a muscular body.
“I’ve got you,” the stranger said, moving out of the shadows. And suddenly, Mackenzie was gazing up into a pair of stormy blue eyes she would have sworn she’d never see again.
Her heart froze, right there in her chest.
It couldn’t be . . .
But it was.
She blinked, disbelieving, but the mirage didn’t shift. Sure, he had ten years on the gangly teenage boy she used to know: dark stubble on his jaw, and a weary look on that gorgeous face, but she couldn’t have forgotten him, even if she tried.
Jake Sullivan. Her best friend, once upon a time. The first boy she’d ever loved. The only man to ever put a dent in Mackenzie’s invincible heart.
And he was looking at her like they’d never met.
* * *
Jake carefully placed the mysterious vixen back on solid ground. He’d been ready to snap at whoever stumbled in, interrupting his moment of solitude. Then he felt the soft curves pressed against him, and caught a glimpse of a heart-stopping face framed with inky black hair. Suddenly, he didn’t mind the company.
“Thanks.” The woman sounded breathless. “It’s these boots, they’re a hazard.”
“Not your usual style?” he asked, amused.
She laug
hed, a bright, warm burst of sound that filled the dark space and immediately put him at ease. “Umm, no. Can you imagine hiking through the woods in these things?”
He took in the wicked boots. “Good point.”
He could imagine her doing plenty of other things in them though. Clothing-optional things . . .
He shook his head, wondering for a moment if he’d wandered into some fantasy life. Then he remembered: it was Halloween. He’d been driving all day to make it back to the Cape, but it figured Sweetbriar would go all out when it came to the holiday.
“Let me guess, you’re on a secret mission?” he asked.
“Well, if I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret now, would it?” The woman gave him an impish grin, and Jake chuckled.
“Unless you need a partner in crime. I could be useful.”
“Oh, really?”
“Sure. I’m great at ordering takeout food and picking a good movie on Netflix.”
She laughed. “Those are pretty important skills.”
“They wouldn’t see us coming,” Jake agreed, smiling now.
The woman was looking at him carefully, almost like she wanted to say something, and Jake braced himself for the usual blink of recognition, and then the excited questions. He was used to it by now, after a career in the NFL—and the accident, which was splashed across ESPN for weeks.