“Learning to be with myself.” Chase flicked the silver’s claws out of his shirt and petted the kitten until she settled next to her sibling.
“How’s that going?” Travis approached, skepticism shifting across his face.
Chase dropped his head on the back of the couch and looked at the ceiling he’d considered painting earlier. But he’d been overwhelmed by the different shades of white he’d discovered on his internet search. Nichole liked details. No doubt she could’ve explained the nuances in the colors. Still, he’d started a renovation list of ideas to make his place more of a home and less of a transient college dorm.
He shifted his attention to Travis. Surprise lifted his own voice. “Really well. Turns out I’m not all that bad to hang out with.”
Travis sat down on the longer section of the L-shaped couch and laughed. “You’re just now figuring that out. We’ve known it all along.”
“I’m not always the fastest on the insightful stuff.” Chase propped a pillow behind his head and considered Travis. “I’m also not the best about revealing my true self, but here goes.”
Chase opened with an apology to Travis, moved on to his struggle with dyslexia, the prognosis for his surgery and finally his thoughts on retirement. Travis listened, asked questions and listened some more. And he never judged Chase. A gift Chase would be forever grateful for.
Chase drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “Where does that leave us now?”
“The same place we’ve always been. Friends first.” Travis leaned close to Chase and held out his hand. “How would you feel about a sports commentary position?”
Chase gripped Travis’s hand, grateful for his friendship and his guidance. “You’re serious.”
“Camera loves you,” Travis said. “And you love the game.”
Chase nodded. “But teleprompters aren’t my friend.”
“That can all be worked out. It’s a job, and it keeps you connected to football.” Travis stood and touched the silver-streaked kitten. A smile drifted across his face. “But Nichole and Wesley—it’s the ones you love that keep you connected to life. They’re the ones that remind you to keep on living life.”
“A sports agent and a psychologist.” Chase frowned at Travis. “You couldn’t have shared your insight earlier.”
“You wouldn’t have heard me.” Travis smiled warmly and waved at the room. “You only recently started to listen to yourself.”
Chase picked up the kittens and set them on the couch. He stood and hugged Travis. No more apologies were needed.
“Do you have a plan?” Travis asked.
“Not quite.” Chase rubbed his chin and grinned. “But I have a family, a rather large extended one, and I think it’s past time I show them what they mean to me.” And what Nichole meant to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“GENTLEMEN, THIS CONCLUDES our business relationship.” Nichole stood inside the private dining room of Sapphire Cellar and addressed the two partners of Fund Infusion and her former business associates. “In A Pinch is no longer available for sale.”
“We had an agreement.” Vick Ingram dropped his cocktail glass onto the table and rose from his chair. A bottle of champagne sat in an ice bucket and appetizers waited to be sampled, as if Vick and Glenn had already begun the celebration. Before Nichole’s arrival.
“We had signed NDAs.” Nichole remained steady and tall. “We never had a binding sale contract.” For that, she was thankful for her impromptu ski-moon in Tahoe and the interference of her make-believe marriage.
“Was this another fake invention like your pretend marriage?” Glenn asked. A twisted frown emerged from beneath his thick mustache. “After all, we never were allowed to validate your code. I suppose it doesn’t actually exist and you’ve wasted our time.”
“The code exists. The app is built and functioning.” Nichole lifted her chin, drawing on even more confidence. Her inner strength she fully embraced. And besides, the only time being wasted was hers.
“Then you should want to sell.” Glenn stabbed his fork into a shrimp. “It would seem without Chase Jacobs to depend on, you’d be in need of the money.”
She had her own money and knew could depend on herself. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have liked Chase beside her though. “I want my app to launch nationwide. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? At least, for you and your main client and In A Pinch’s only active competitor in the market.”
“Excuse me,” Glenn sputtered, and wiped his napkin across his mouth.
“How do you know about our clients?” Vick smoothed his hand over his wrinkled tie.
“I have people like Chase Jacobs in my corner.” And family and friends who had her back. Always. Just as she had theirs.
“Chase Jacobs is nothing but a fraud,” Glenn claimed.
“Is that because he exposed your true intentions for my program?” Nichole took aim, hit her target. Controlled the meeting. Maybe it was the dress. Or the power color: red. Or perhaps it was simply Nichole. She’d found her own inner power and a confidence she didn’t expect to ever give up again.
“We fully intend to acquire your app,” Glenn stuttered.
“It’s not available,” Nichole said. “I won’t allow you to pay me off and kill my creation.”
Vick shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his face pinched into an unflattering shade of pink. “I’m sure we could come to some kind of agreement.”
“There is no agreement if it includes shutting down In A Pinch.” Nichole straightened, every part of her steady from her heels to her chin. Even inside, nothing swayed. Nothing faltered. “You can let your client know I will take In A Pinch to market and it will hold up against anything they develop.”
Vick and Glenn exchanged an uncomfortable look.
“But they better hurry. In A Pinch has technology and offerings your client hasn’t even come up with yet. And they’ve been in the market for several years.” Nichole smiled and waved to the table of now-cold appetizers. “Enjoy your dinner, gentlemen.”
Head high, shoulders straight, Nichole exited the private dining room. Never wobbled on her heels. Never looked back. Welcome to the game, Nichole.
She allowed her smile to extend across her face. Allowed herself to relish the moment. Allowed herself to own her victory.
She walked into the bar of the Glasshouse Inn, chose a stool in the very center and greeted the bartender. She had one more item on her to-do list. The most important task on her list.
She pulled out her cell phone, opened her text message app and typed:
Meet me for drinks at Glasshouse Inn. I’ll wait as long as I need to.
Nichole put her phone to sleep and turned it over on the bar top. Now she waited. And for the first time all evening, she wavered. Worry clipped along her spine. But she refused to bend. Refused to give up now. She intended to fight, and she intended to win.
“Nichole.”
She closed her eyes, soaked in her name coming from the one person she’d have waited all night for: Chase. And suddenly a calm assurance replaced the worry coursing inside her. She spun around. “Chase. You’re here. That was really quick.”
He tugged on his suit jacket and motioned toward the exit. “I was outside with the valet.”
“You were here.” He’d already been in the parking area. Already been on his way. Nichole rose, closed the distance between them to less than a hand’s width.
“I was coming here to see you.” He opened his arms. “Nichole, I’m...”
Nichole stepped into his embrace, set her finger over his mouth. She’d owned her newly discovered confidence with Vick and Glenn. Now she had to believe in her heart. “I’ve been thinking quite a lot recently.”
Chase reached up, curved his fingers around hers and pressed their joined hands against his chest. Nichole felt his rapid h
eartbeat, heard her own—just as rapid. Just as fast. He waited. His gaze fastened on hers.
“We tried the pretend part of a marriage and it didn’t work out.” She’d forgotten they were only pretending. And if she believed in Mia’s photographs like her friends did, Chase had forgotten too. She moved fully into him, stepping right into his personal you-can’t-ignore-me space.
His arm locked around her waist and anchored her in place. Exactly where she wanted to be. She arched one eyebrow and enhanced the challenge in her words. “I’m proposing we try it for real this time.”
“Do you think we’ll have different results?” Teasing. But in the depths of his green eyes, she saw it. Recognition. Tenderness. Affection.
Her reply came in a breathless whisper. “Definitely.”
“So do I.” He released her and dropped onto one knee.
Nichole touched her throat, tried to catch her heart cartwheeling from her chest. She’d come to fight for Chase. For them. Now her entire body wanted to float. To dance on those clouds.
He pulled a ring box from his jacket pocket, opened the lid and revealed a square-cut sapphire, her birthstone, surrounded by sparkling diamonds. “Nichole Marie Moore, I love you. I loved you the day you challenged me to be more than a cheater. I loved you for remembering I liked red licorice. And I love you even more now.”
Tears fell from her cheeks; her hands trembled. Her voice went missing. She struggled to locate even the smallest sound. Something to acknowledge she’d heard him. Something to express the love bursting inside her. But Chase wasn’t finished.
“You showed me how to like myself—every part of myself—and it’s a gift I’ll never be able to repay. But I want to try for the rest of our lives.” He paused, but there was nothing unsteady about the breath he drew. Nothing hesitant in his words. “Nichole, will you marry me?”
“Say yes, Mom!” That familiar exuberant shout came from across the hotel lobby. “I already did.”
Nichole covered her mouth, trapped her gasp against her palm. Wesley stepped into the bar area, his grin wider than Nichole had seen in far too long. More tears soaked her cheeks. She glanced at Chase. How could she possibly love him any more?
“I brought backup,” he admitted.
“You asked Wesley if you could marry me.” A tremor snaked up her legs. The good kind. The kind that anticipated being swept off her feet, then being caught safely.
“He’s part of our team.” Chase’s one-sided grin returned, tripping delight up into his gaze. He tipped his head toward the entrance. “I might’ve asked the rest of the family too.”
Nichole gaped. Brooke, Dan, Ben, Josie and the rest of her extended family walked into the bar. Chase’s family followed, Travis and Elliot included. His mom wiped the tears from her eyes. Wesley helped Nonna, holding on to her arm and beaming with pride.
“Has she said yes yet?” Nonna patted Wesley’s hand, then pushed her glasses up. “I’m ready to celebrate. Haven’t been here in an age, but I recall the bartenders make a delicious Shirley Temple.”
Happiness surged through Nichole, uncontainable like those stardust sprinkles on the clouds. She launched herself into Chase’s arms, confident he’d never let her fall. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you.”
Chase caught her and spun her around. Their kiss ended too soon. He pulled back, touched her cheek. “You should know I’ve drafted my retirement statement and scheduled my surgery.”
“You should know we’ll be there with you every step.” Nichole framed his face with her hands. “Always right beside you. We’re a team.”
Chase set his forehead against hers. “We’re a family. It’s the strongest team there is.”
Nichole fell into another kiss, then leaned back. A tease in her own voice. “Does this mean you can share your grilled cheese recipe now?”
His laughter shimmered around the chandeliers. “I love you more than you can know. And I’m quite fond of you in the color red.”
“I quite like it myself. I think red suits me.” Nichole curved her arm around his waist and forgot about recipes and dresses. She saw only Chase, her family and her future.
EPILOGUE
Three weeks later...
CHASE ADJUSTED HIS shoulder splint and stepped around to put his good side next to Nichole. He reached over with his left arm and stopped Nichole from dumping her cup of flour into the mixing bowl. “You need to scrape off the extra flour from the top of the measuring cup.”
Nichole frowned. “With what?”
Chase handed her a butter knife. “Just a smooth slice across the top.”
“I could slice cheese even better.” Nichole cleared the extra flour from the measuring cup and grinned at him. “I haven’t forgotten about the grilled cheese recipe.”
“We aren’t making grilled cheese.” Chase tweaked the tip of her nose.
“Yeah, Mom. You’re supposed to be making sugar cookies.” Wesley laughed from the far end of the table. He’d pulled up a chair beside Nonna. The pair had decided to devise a kitten-naming challenge to begin after dinner. A dinner that had grown to include more than just them. Nonna and Wesley were currently detailing the rules and regulations of the challenge on a whiteboard.
“Nonna and I already made those last week and ate them all,” Wesley added.
Nichole aimed her measuring cup at the duo. “I have a rule to add. The winner gets full naming rights. There will be no veto powers handed out.”
“That’s two rules.” Wesley frowned at her.
“And we really must reserve the right to veto.” Nonna winked at Wesley. The two had become quite the united front. Nonna continued, “After all, we can’t have the kittens running around with poorly chosen names.”
Wesley nodded, his face and voice somber. “They’ll feel really bad if we give them bad names.”
Chase covered his mouth and his laugh. They’d been debating the best names for more than two weeks. He’d heard Nonna and Wesley already calling the kittens, Misty and Trixie. Both names Nichole had come up with after she’d won the first board game contest to determine naming rights. Chase guessed that now Nonna and Wesley simply enjoyed their game nights and joking with Nichole.
“Fine, but I want veto power too.” Nichole set her hands on her hips and looked at Chase. She missed Nonna and Wesley silently sharing a giggle. Nichole asked, “What’s next?”
The flour on Nichole’s chin distracted him. He reached over, rubbed her jaw and leaned in for a soft kiss.
She laughed and stepped away. “You’re supposed to be teaching me to bake. Stop diverting my attention.”
“We don’t really need cookies.” Chase adjusted his shoulder splint. But he had needed another kiss.
Nichole fended him off with her measuring cup. “I’m supposed to be learning to cook while you recover from surgery. So I can help out in the kitchen.”
She’d already helped him. She’d been with him every step of the way, from the time he went into pre-op to the moment he opened his eyes in recovery. She’d held his hand. Made him laugh. Brought him red licorice and kept her promise to always be beside him. Just as he would be for her.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it.” Wesley jumped up from the table and shouted, “It’s the rest of the family!”
Chase curved his good arm around Nichole’s waist, tucked her into his side and kissed her. Voices and laughter vibrated through the house, extending into every corner and filling every part of Chase.
Elliot and Travis challenged Dan and Drew to a car race on the video game console in the family room. Ben and Wesley shouted advice and driving tips. Josie and Brooke each cradled a kitten on the sunporch. Theo, Josie’s boyfriend, shook his head at Chase and grinned at Josie after her suggestion that they adopt some kittens too.
The doorbell rang again. His mother and sisters swooped into
the kitchen, carrying casseroles and dessert trays. More family and friends crowded into the house. More laughter and warmth surrounded him.
Nichole touched his cheek, drew his attention to her. She asked, “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“There’s no place else I’d rather be.” He kissed her again, allowed their love to flow through him. “What about you?”
“You’re beside me and then there’s all this family.” She placed her hand over his heart. “I’m home and it’s better than any dream.”
Home. He lifted her hand, pressed his lips against her palm. He finally understood Nonna’s words.
The only home he ever wanted to run to was Nichole.
* * *
For more great romances in the City by the Bay miniseries from Cari Lynn Webb, visit www.Harlequin.com today!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Cowboy’s Secret Baby by Leigh Riker.
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The Cowboy’s Secret Baby
by Leigh Riker
CHAPTER ONE
HER CHILDREN WERE GONE.
“Bye, Mom!” nine-year-old Jordan, her oldest, had yelled on his way to his father’s car.
“Bye-bye, Mommy.” A worried look from Stella, almost eight. “Will you be okay?”
“Why aren’t you coming with us, Mama?” This last from six-year-old Seth, her shadow.
For the first time in nearly a decade, she’d be childless for the next few months, and the summer promised—threatened?—to be one lonely day after another, which would only give her space to obsess about the recent changes in her life. “What am I going to do until August?” Elizabeth Barnes asked her empty house. It was only mid-June. Her kids had left less than an hour ago, and already she missed them terribly.
Her Surprise Engagement Page 23