Love and Learn (Voretti Family Book 2)

by Ava Blackstone

  Her legs parted, like he was already there between her thighs, and she took a deep, gulping breath.

  “Yeah, sweetheart, we’re gonna fight. But that means we get to make up. And as for the sex, don’t you worry. I have plenty of different things we can try if you get bored.”

  She shivered, every inch of her skin primed for his touch.

  “And no way would I ever take you for granted. You want to know why it was so easy for me to deal with that broken engagement? Because, deep down, I knew Bri wasn’t the right woman for me. Just like I didn’t have a problem leaving the Navy because that’s not where my heart was. I loved that I had a chance to make my country a little safer, but my heart was always here. With you.”

  He pulled back slightly. “I know you’re not ready to marry me yet, but I think I have an idea how we can calm your family down and buy me enough time to convince you we belong together.”

  He was holding a box. A small box covered in black velvet.

  Her heart stuttered in her chest.

  He pulled off the cover, revealing a brilliant-cut diamond. It caught all the light in the room, beaming it back at her like a promise. Forever.

  “Will you wear my ring? We can be engaged for a while—as long as it takes me to convince you to marry me.”

  “I….” Her voice broke.

  “Damn. I did this wrong again.” He dropped to one knee right there in the middle of the bathroom floor. “Annabelle Voretti, I love you. I’ve loved you since high school, even though I was too stupid to understand what I felt. I’m still kinda stupid when it comes to emotions. I came this close to getting arrested, trying to get you a dress you didn’t even really want.”

  “Arrested?” Her heart had a mini-seizure. “What happened? Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I should never have asked you for that stupid dress.”

  “Stupid?” He grinned. “That’s a Natashja original you’re talking about. When you decide you’re ready to marry me—and that day will come—you’re gonna wear that dress. And it’ll look amazing on you. But, for now, know that I am trying to learn from my mistakes. I’ve had a while to get to know you—not the way you smell or the way you feel in my arms, but the way you think—and I love you, irrational phobias and all. You’re messy and you’re inconvenient, and your family is gonna be up in my shit forever, but none of that matters, because I love you. Will you marry me?”

  CHAPTER 16

  “YES! OF COURSE I’ll marry you.” The words came out before Annabelle had a chance to think, but all too soon her brain forced its way into the action, neurons firing off hundreds of different scenarios in which this sudden engagement could go horribly wrong.

  Her chest tightened, squeezing her lungs.

  She forced herself to breathe. Just breathe.

  Everything was going to be fine. She hadn’t agreed to anything rash. She would marry Ty, but only once she was sure. Once they were both sure.

  She tugged Ty’s hand, pulling him back to his feet. “Thank you for understanding that I need to take this slow.”

  “I’m gonna have you for the rest of my life. I can wait as long as you need to be sure we’re right together.”

  He gathered her close, his arms strong around her, and she tried to concentrate on that. His clean, masculine scent. The steady, even beat of his heart.

  “So we’re okay?” he asked.

  “Of course.” She made her voice light, ignoring the knot in her gut. Probably she was worried about breaking the news to her parents that the wedding tomorrow wasn’t going to happen. That was understandable.

  “Good.” He smiled, but he was watching her closely.

  She plucked the ring box out of his hand. “I guess I should put this on, huh?”

  He reached for the ring at the same time she did, and their hands did an awkward dance before they both pulled back.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “No, I’m sorry.”

  “Do you want me to—”

  “Please.”

  He slid the band on. It fit her ring finger perfectly.

  Still, the knot in her stomach tightened. She breathed in through her nose. Only nerves. Once she broke the news to her parents, she’d be fine.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Ty asked.

  “Absolutely. I’m tired, that’s all. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  “Take a nap.”

  “I think I will.” That was what she needed. The sweet oblivion of sleep, where she wouldn’t have to wonder why she was freaking out on the happiest day of her life. “But I have to talk to my parents first. I need to break the news that they’re going to have to wait a little while before the wedding.”

  “You get some sleep. I’ll let them know.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. Gonna have to negotiate a cease fire with your dad before he walks you down the aisle, right? Might as well start now.”

  She should say no. She should be the one to break the news to her family.

  But she was so tired. And the idea that she could close her eyes and all her problems would be magically taken care of was too appealing.

  “Go ahead.” Ty grinned his I-can-handle-anything grin. “I’ll be finished before you know it.”

  “I owe you one.” She let Ty herd her into the bedroom, where she kicked her shoes off and slid under the covers.

  “Sleep well, sweetheart.”

  “Thank you.” She closed her eyes, and that felt better. Safer.

  Ty might’ve stroked the hair back from her forehead, but she couldn’t be sure, because the only thing she was letting herself think about was her breathing—a slow, deep inhalation, then a steady exhalation—as she moved determinedly toward sleep.

  Click.

  She jerked upright, startled awake, though it took her a second to identify the sound. The front door shutting behind Ty.

  She turned onto her side and burrowed deeper into the pillow, but she was wide awake. It was too quiet in her apartment. With the windows closed, she couldn’t even hear cars on the street outside. Why hadn’t she ever noticed that before?

  She sat up and swung one leg out of bed. There was a piece of lined notebook paper, folded into eighths, sitting on her nightstand. Her name was printed in the middle of it in neat block letters. Ty’s handwriting.

  Her head swam, like she’d sat up too fast. It looked exactly like the note he’d dropped in her mailbox seven years ago.

  A sharp edge dug into her palm. She was crumpling the paper.

  She forced her muscles to relax. She and Ty weren’t teenagers anymore. He wouldn’t have broken up with her in a note. She knew him better than that.

  The panic cleared immediately, because she wasn’t giving herself an empty pep talk. She really did know Ty better than that.

  She unfolded the paper.

  Dear Annabelle,

  After all the letters and emails I’ve written you, I don’t know why this one is so hard. Maybe it’s because every time I pick up the pen, I remember those other letters. I think about how far away I was when I wrote them. I wanted more than anything to see your face and hear your voice, but a letter was as close as I could get. I don’t ever want to be that far away from you again.

  I needed to tell you that. And I thought maybe if I wrote it down I wouldn’t mess it up as bad as I seem to when I talk to you. Or, don’t talk—because that’s the problem, right? I should have told you I loved you as soon as I knew. Way before your family busted in on us.

  And I do love you. I know I already said it, but here it is again. I love you. And I’m going to tell you every day, for the rest of our lives.

  All my love,

  Ty

  He loved her. She could feel the truth of it in every carefully inked letter, impossible to ignore.

  Love swelled in her heart. She loved Ty, and she couldn’t fight it any longer.

  She needed to see him. To wrap her arms around him and tell him she felt the same way.

  She
went for her cell phone, but it wasn’t on her nightstand or her desk or in the pocket of the pants she’d been wearing yesterday.

  Where had Ty gone? He’d said he would tell her family the wedding would be postponed, but surely he’d meant over the phone. He wouldn’t go over there alone after Papa had described the intimate details of his gun collection.

  Who was she kidding? Of course he would.

  Her heart thrashed against her ribcage, a wild animal trying to escape captivity.

  There was no time to find her phone. She grabbed her keys and her wallet and tore out of the apartment.

  Something jabbed the arch of her foot. She hissed in a breath, dislodged the pebble, and continued downstairs. She didn’t have time to go back for shoes.

  There was no sign of Ty’s truck. He was probably walking into her parents’ house right now.

  Why did he have to drive so fast? Why did he have to be so stinking impulsive?

  She jumped into her car, jammed her keys into the ignition, and roared down the street, hitting fifty miles-per-hour before the end of the block.

  Why had she let Ty walk out? She didn’t want to use their engagement like some kind of probationary period where she’d spend every day judging him, making mental pros and cons lists to decide if he’d finally earned the right to be her husband. That wasn’t the way love worked. And she loved him, there was no maybe about it. Yes, he’d disappointed her back in high school, but he hadn’t broken her heart. She hadn’t known him well enough to love him. She’d filled in the blank spaces in her head with fairy tales and fantasies, making him her prince. But he hadn’t been a prince, he’d been an eighteen-year-old boy.

  The man he was now, though? That man, she’d spent the last seven years getting to know. The letters they’d exchanged hadn’t been sweet or romantic or funny. They’d been real. He’d told her how lost he felt when his parents died. That, for his first few months on the front, every loud noise, even the supply jeep backfiring, sounded like gunfire. That it scared him how easy it was to kill someone. He’d shared his life with her, and—so slowly she hadn’t been aware it was happening—she’d fallen in love with him.

  She was in love with Ty, and she didn’t want to wait to marry him. It had already been too long.

  She screeched into her parents’ driveway, slammed on the brakes, and skidded to a halt inches from the garage door. She hit the ground at a run.

  Her heart beat in her throat, urging her faster. She sprinted to the front door.

  Locked. Darn it all.

  She flipped through her key ring. Where was—

  Wait a minute. Where was Ty’s truck?

  She turned in a circle, breathing hard. There was the old black van Liv drove, and the neighbor’s Nissan, but Ty’s truck was nowhere to be seen.

  She stopped in the middle of the porch. The cement was cold under her feet, and she shivered despite the sunlight. She’d been so sure…

  A faint noise caught her attention. It sounded almost like…

  Ty’s truck rolled around the corner—the motor-vehicle equivalent of a lazy stroll. He pulled to the curb and swung open his door. “Annabelle? How’d you get here so fast?”

  She’d beat him here? How fast had she been driving?

  She didn’t realize she was running toward him until she hit his chest and his arms came around her. They felt amazing. She didn’t ever want to leave him again. Why had it taken her so long to figure that out?

  “I don’t want to wait. I love you and I want to marry you. Now.”

  His arms tightened around her. She could feel the smile on his face even before he pulled back, letting her see it. “Think you can make it a couple days? We already have that appointment at the county administration center, and it sounded like your parents have the whole thing planned out.”

  She groaned. “You know that they’re never going to let us live this down, right? Every year, on our anniversary, Papa is going to tell the story about how he singlehandedly brought the two of us together.”

  “I think I can deal with that,” Ty said. “It’s a helluva lot better than a hollow point in the chest.”

  Annabelle glanced at the house. The curtain hanging over the big picture window in the living room twitched, like someone was peeking out. Typical.

  “Were you really going to walk inside and tell my parents we were postponing the wedding?”

  “Yeah.” Her brave soldier went a little green. “Why do you think I was driving so slowly? I was giving you time to change your mind.”

  “And what if I hadn’t?”

  He leaned into her, letting her feel the hard muscle behind his t-shirt and jeans. “Then I would’ve had to use stronger methods of persuasion.”

  Her whole body came to attention. “Tell me more about these methods.”

  He glanced at the window. “Later.”

  “I want to know now.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her body flush against his. Close enough that she could feel exactly where he was hardest.

  He swallowed. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

  “I ended up staying at my parents’ last night. I borrowed a change of clothes from my mom, but her bras don’t fit me.”

  He cursed. “If your dad comes out here with an Uzi, it’s on your head.”

  “He wouldn’t shoot you. Then who would make an honest woman out of me?”

  Ty glanced at the window again. Then he looked at her. “Fuck it.”

  He kissed her.

  There was nothing tentative about it. Now that his mind was made up, he kissed her with his whole body.

  It wasn’t only a kiss, it was a declaration. You’re mine. Forever.

  Her body was already answering, going soft and pliant.

  Tension built low in her belly. It didn’t matter that it was the middle of the day, in her parents’ front yard. She needed him closer.

  She wrapped a leg around his waist, but it wasn’t enough. She needed pressure. Friction.

  Ty’s hands clamped onto her hips, angling her body just so, and—there.

  She moaned, desperate for—

  “Get your hands off of my daughter!”

  Ty froze.

  Annabelle’s whole body screamed in protest. Papa was standing on the porch, waving around some kind of rifle that was so big it must be illegal for civilian use. She was going to have to talk to him about his guns. Only not right now.

  “It’s okay, Papa. We’re getting married.” She wasn’t sure if he’d taken his finger off the trigger or not, because she was kissing Ty. His body shuddered as she gave him everything. All of her.

  “All right.” She was only vaguely aware of her papa’s response. “But you had better be at the rehearsal dinner on time.”

  And then she lost herself in the kiss. And found her forever.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Love and Learn! If you liked it, please help other readers discover it by leaving a review at the site where you bought it.

  If you haven’t already read Sean and Keri’s story, it’s available now in Marriage: Impossible. The timeline of Marriage: Impossible overlaps with Love and Learn, so you’ll get another perspective on Ty and Annabelle’s relationship as well as learning all the juicy details of how Sean and Keri go from friends to lovers.

  Want a sneak peek into Sean and Keri’s wedding? It’s time to say I do, but the bride is MIA. A simple case of cold feet or something more complicated? Find out in the FREE bonus chapter.

  Next up in the Voretti Family series, Liv is getting her own book with Pretty in Ink. Liv was so much fun to write, and I can’t wait to share her story with you. Turn the page for an excerpt.

  Thanks for reading, and keep in touch. You can contact me via my website: http://avablackstone.com.

  All the best,

  Ava

  BOOK 3: PRETTY IN INK

  Never close your eyes while you’re getting a tattoo—even if you have a pathological fear of needles.


  All Liv Voretti wanted was a small, tasteful butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. What she got was her (now ex-) boyfriend’s name—the worst goodbye present in the history of the universe. Even worse, the tattoo is about to be revealed to her entire family by the strapless bridesmaid dress Liv has to wear to her cousin's wedding.

  Afraid her judgmental parents will pull their loan for her fledgling clothing design business, Liv comes up with a desperate plan. She'll convince the stable, responsible, incredibly hot family friend—who just happens to have the same name as her ex—to pretend to be her boyfriend until the loan goes through.

  Even with your eyes open, sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of you.

  The Vorettis are the closest thing to family Caleb has, and he’s not about to risk that relationship for a fling with Liv. The woman can't even commit to a lipstick shade for longer than an evening—she'd be bored with his predictable, color-inside-the-lines lifestyle inside a week. They're just not compatible, even if she is the last person he thinks about before he falls asleep at night.

  But when Liv comes to him for help, he can’t say no—not when he’s the reason she ended up with her jerk of an ex in the first place. He agrees to pose as her boyfriend until she gets her loan. But as their pretend relationship begins to feel all too real, Caleb must decide whether he’s going to stick to the plan, or take a chance on a woman who isn’t the person he’s looking for, but might be exactly who he needs.

  EXCERPT

  “It’s not your name,” Liv blurted out.

  Caleb didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to, because he was staring at his name in bold, cursive letters that would never come off her arm. Her skin burned under his gaze, which made everything worse, because, no doubt, Caleb could see that too.