by Dawn Atkins
She'd been blind. Too hurt and insecure to see the truth until Jasper opened her eyes. Her heart brimmed with love for Max and regret over her own stupidity. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Max."
"I'm sorry I lied to you, Lacey."
"And you were right," she said. "I do belong here. I don't really want that corporate thing. I realized it the minute I pulled up. It was like coming home."
"You were kind of right about me, too," Max said. "I wasn't running from my old life, but I was ignoring my strengths. Construction was not my thing."
"No kidding," she said.
"No need to rub it in."
"Sorry."
"Anyway, I found something else. I've started a little consulting business. To help small companies get off the ground."
"Jasper said you were doing something like that."
"I use my accounting background, but it still feels real. I've got six clients already through word of mouth."
"That's wonderful, Max."
"I feel good about it."
He looked happy, too. And she had a stab of selfish regret. Maybe he didn't need her anymore. "I'm glad you're happy, then. I guess everything worked out for the best."
"Not quite," Max said and his eyes got that look – that sexy, I-want-you look. "There's one more thing I need to be happy."
She didn't have to ask what it was because he yanked her into his arms and kissed her hard, like he had the night they'd made love. Like she was already his and would be forever. And if she had any say about it, she would. Because he was hers, too.
The kiss – like seeing the café – was like going home, warm and promising and safe. And so lusty she felt like she was about to melt and dribble all down his Hawaiian shirt and comfortable pants, which were getting a little tight around the groin area, she could feel.
Max broke off the kiss and looked at her. "There. Now do you believe I love you?"
She was so woozy she could hardly stand, so she could only mutter, "Do I believe…?"
"Well, let me be perfectly clear then." He kissed her again, even more passionately.
"Okay, I believe you," she gasped afterward.
"Good," he said, brushing his brow in feigned relief. "Because the next thing, I'd have to strip you naked and make love to you right here in front of all these people."
She looked where he indicated and found a grinning semicircle of friends – Jasper and Ramón, Buck, the cowboy bar waitress, and her brother Wade, with, amazingly enough, Pepper, the harem woman, dressed in a purple cocktail dress, on his arm.
Everyone smiled at them. "Looks like you're about to do me another favor, Max," Wade said, her brother's grin broader than she'd ever seen it.
"What's that?"
"Make my sister happy."
"That's not a favor, Wade. That's an honor." He looked down at Lacey, his eyes filled with tenderness. "That's something I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Will you let me, Lacey?"
"If you'll let me do the same for you," she answered.
"Absolutely." Then Max's face took on a mischievous look. "Actually, Lacey, it's a good think you're coming back. There's another building project you'll want to handle. We've got the Wonder Coffeehouse, Theater, Gallery and Amazatorium, but we need one more thing."
"What now?" Wade said.
Max looked lovingly down at her. "A wedding chapel."
"A wedding chapel?" Wade said. "Oh, hell."
"Oh, Max," Lacey cried, looking up into his dark eyes and wise-ass grin, her heart brimming with joy. All she'd hoped about true love – that it meant intense passion, deep intimacy and melding with a soul mate – turned out to be true. And she'd found it all right here. She couldn't believe her good fortune.
"And I know just who the first clients will be," Max finished. He kissed her, soft and slow. Her entire soul rose to meet him. The people around her faded away and she was aware of only him and the way he cared for her. He broke off the kiss. "Lacey, will you marry me?"
She looked into his eyes, seeing not a cowboy, or an accountant, or a handyman, but Max, the man who loved her, supported her and respected her, the man she loved with all her heart.
"Yes, Max. I will … on one condition." She gave him her own mischievous look.
"What's that?"
"That you wear a cowboy hat for the ceremony."
"A cowboy hat?"
"Yes. I can't help it. It's that cowboy thing."
"How can I say no? It's that Lacey thing."
And then they kissed, to the gentle applause of their friends. Neither noticed they'd jarred the foam ice-cream cone. When it tipped over and thumped against them, they were so absorbed in each other they hardly felt the blow. What was one little thump after they'd been hit over the head by love?
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