Dating the Wrong Mr. Right (Sisters of Wishing Bridge Farm)

by Amanda Ashby

  Enough.

  He made the short drive to the farm singing loudly. It was a habit he’d started on his solo road trip, as a way to keep his mind clear. He wasn’t sure it really worked, but in lieu of any better suggestion, he’d kept doing it.

  There was no sign of Emmy’s old pickup or Charlie’s truck, which was probably why Bec had roped him into this in the first place. He retrieved the list from his pocket and used his spare key to go and gather everything up. The only one he couldn’t find was the rocking chair. He finally tracked it down in Charlie’s makeshift office at the back of the barn, but since it was locked, he had no way of getting it. Well, no legal way of getting it.

  He frowned. Part of him was tempted to just forget about it, but the other part—the one that didn’t want to tell a heavily pregnant, highly hormonal woman he didn’t have it—won out. He’d have to wait at the farm until Charlie returned from wherever he was.

  He left the barn and walked back to the kitchen and retrieved Ivy’s old coffee percolator. He might as well as get comfortable while he waited. Once it was settled on the stovetop, he picked up yesterday’s paper to catch up on the news he’d missed while he was away.

  “Any particular explanation for why you’re here and not at your own house?” a voice said from behind him. Pepper? He slowly put down the newspaper and turned around. It had been four and a half months since he’d seen her and his greedy eyes drank her in.

  Her hair was longer and hanging loose around her face, while the top half of her body was covered in an old linen shirt and her bottom half—God—was covered in barely there shorts.

  His pulse flickered.

  Since when did Pepper wear shorts like that?

  More importantly, why was she even here? Sure he knew she’d turn up when the baby was born, but there was no reason for her to be there early.

  She arched an eyebrow at him, letting him know she was waiting for an answer.

  “I’m guessing Bec didn’t call to tell you I was coming.”

  “She most definitely did not,” Pepper said as the stiffness left her shoulders and she allowed herself to smile. “But I’m pleased to see you. When did you get back?”

  “About a minute ago, and Bec immediately demanded I come and pick up some furniture.”

  “Let me guess, she played the pregnancy card on you. I swear that sister of mine isn’t going to know what’s hit her when the baby’s born.”

  “She’ll just play the ‘look how cute my baby is’ card,” Coop said as the coffee percolator began to steam. He stood up to turn it off. She was so close all he had to do was reach out and touch her. But that would lead to kissing, and wouldn’t be good for anyone.

  Or, so I need to keep telling myself.

  “Good point. Still, as godparents, we can hardly deny her or the baby anything,” Pepper said, her eyes seeming to follow him over to the stove. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve said she was checking him out. He frowned. Was this some kind of test? Because all of his old teachers could confirm he never tested well. He swallowed hard.

  “Yeah, I guess. How’s the job going? I heard through the grapevine you managed to pull in a major client.”

  “Oh.” Delicate color infused her cheeks and her mouth parted just enough to reveal her teeth. He tightened his grip on the coffee pot as he carried it back to the table, grabbing two cups on the way. Not that he wanted to drink it anymore, he just wanted something to stop him from touching her. “Well, business has been interesting. The last major client I pulled in was Vera Hobbs, who wanted to know if she could sue someone over in Daisy Hill for stealing her family’s hundred year old jam recipe.”

  Coop shut his eyes and then opened them again.

  “Vera Hobbs is your client? She can hardly afford gas for her car, how can she pay a Chicago lawyer?”

  “I guess you’d have to ask a Chicago lawyer that question.” Pepper shrugged as she pulled a business card out of the pocket of the cut offs and slid it across the table to him.

  Pepper Watson

  Littleton & Watson, Sunshine, CT

  Helping people protect what matters to them

  “What’s going on?” Coop said as Pepper studied her fingers. Was she nervous?

  “I’m now qualified to offer legal advice in the state of Connecticut and I bought into Stewart’s firm.”

  “I don’t understand.” Coop looked at the card and then back to her. Her shoulders were relaxed and there was a calmness to her manner he hadn’t seen before.

  “It’s perfectly true. Ask Stan. He has a huge sign plastered on the side of his taxi confirming it.”

  The sign Coop could picture. But everything else?

  “Everything you ever wanted was somewhere else. I still don’t understand. I think you’re going to need to talk me through it.”

  “You thought you were doing the right thing by pushing me away because this job is what I’ve always wanted. But you weren’t just thinking about me. You were thinking about Simon. And yeah, perhaps it was the kind of job he would’ve ended up in. We’ll never know. But I’m not him. And neither are you. As for this idea that I don’t know you. That I look at you and see him? It’s just not true. You’re the guy who makes sure my kid sister is okay no matter how crazy she’s being. The guy who pretended to be my boyfriend without even being asked. The guy who let me share the one place that reminded him most of his beloved brother. Don’t tell me I don’t see you.”

  “Pepper, I’m not sure what to say.” His entire body stiffened as adrenaline surged through him. Part of him wanted to ask if she was joking, but the Pepper he knew never joked. He rubbed his chin, his eyes never leaving hers.

  “Good, because I think it’s time I did some talking,” she said as she unsteadily sat down at the chair next to him. There was no table in the way, which meant her bare knees were almost touching his leg. Sweet lord. “When you pushed me away, I let it happen because I was scared it might all get screwed up.”

  His throat tightened. “I get why you were scared. Your parents. Simon. You’ve seen things screw up before. You know how bad it can be.”

  She slowly nodded as her hand reached up and undid the top button of the linen shirt. “I do, but lately I’ve also seen things work. Seen how good it can be. Emmy and Christopher. Bec and Lincoln. Hell, even Charlie and Miss Dottie.”

  “Uh huh.” Coop nodded, hardly able to take his eyes off the flash of chest in front of him. Then he frowned. “Wait? What? Did you say Charlie and Miss Dottie?”

  She grinned as her fingers undid the next button. “Yup. They eloped to Las Vegas to get married by an Elvis impersonator. Though they’ve promised to have a second wedding here at the farm when they return.”

  “Jeez. I was only gone for eight weeks. What else did I miss?”

  “I don’t know, but I know what I missed—who I missed.”

  Coop swallowed hard as she undid the last button and the blouse fell to the ground. All he wanted to do was touch her, kiss her, get lost in it all. But it didn’t make sense. Nothing had changed. He forced himself to stay still.

  “Not as much as I missed you,” he growled. “But I don’t want to be the guy who made you give up your dream. Can you honestly tell me that overnight you went from wanting to have a corner office, to dealing with arguments over who a tree belongs to?”

  “Well, for a start, it would depend on whose property the tree was on,” Pepper said in a logical voice that spiked his pulse even more. She reached around to her back and began to loosen her bra. “And no, my dream isn’t to be a small town lawyer, anymore than it was to be a big town one. My dream. The one thing I wanted since I was eleven was to go home. My only problem was I got confused about where home was. I love you, Coop. You’re my home. This is me. And my two feet.”

  Coop’s heart hammered in his chest as he finally allowed his hands to leave his side.

  “Do you remember when I said you were lousy at seducing someone?” he said, his voice low and gravelly.
Hell, he was surprised he could speak at all.

  “Yes, you gave me quite a lesson.” She shivered, as if uncertain what was coming next. He reached out and trailed a finger down her skin, sending shockwaves thundering through his body.

  “I was wrong.”

  “Thank God.” She let out a small sob. “Does that mean—”

  “Oh, it definitely means—” he started to say before his instincts got the better of him and he dragged her to him, so she was straddling him, half naked with only the tiny shorts separating them. “I love you, Pepper.”

  “Not as much as I love you,” Pepper said as she sunk deeper into his lap.

  He wrapped his arms possessively around her back as his mouth searched out hers. Definitely, the best homecoming he’d ever had.

  Epilogue

  “When I first saw this bridge, I was told it made wishes come true, and for the longest time I believed it. But it seems to me the old girl isn’t about wishes at all. She’s about happiness. And she’s made me plenty happy over the years. None happier than I am right now,” Charlie said as his weathered hands clutched his bride’s, who was a vision in a purple dress and a headpiece that looked like it had been stolen from a Vegas dancer. Knowing Miss Dottie, it probably had.

  “Pepper Watson, are you crying?” Bec nudged her as the celebrant declared the couple standing in front of the wishing bridge, man and wife. The entire population of Sunshine had turned up for the ceremony and they all began to cheer and holler.

  “No.” Pepper sniffed, cursing herself for not bringing a second packet of tissues. For someone who didn’t cry, she’d been doing a lot of it lately. At least most of them were happy tears. She glanced over to where Coop was standing. He’d slipped to the side to help keep their small godson amused until the ceremony was over.

  She grinned as she watched Timothy Watson Mathews, Lord Ashford the twelfth blow a raspberry in his face.

  “Well, I am.” Emmy leaned in and patted her own baby bump. “Thank goodness they finally came back here. Taking a year-long honeymoon to travel America in a RV seemed like a good idea, but I’ve missed them.”

  “Me too,” said Pepper as she thought of the collection of postcards Charlie had sent from his adventures on the road. Then she turned to her sisters. “Do you think Ivy would’ve minded he got married?”

  The three sisters were silent before Emmy gravely nodded. “Charlie once told me if Ivy had loved him, she would’ve married him and not let anything stop her. I think he was right about the bridge being happiness. We made her happy and that’s one tradition I want to carry on.”

  “Only one?” Bec arched an eyebrow at the huge vintage gazebo Emmy had recently added to the farm’s ever growing wedding business. “You know we don’t always have to buy old things.”

  “Hey, that one wasn’t on me. Pepper bought it when she and Coop went to a beer festival last month. Well, I happened to mention it would be nice if we could find one. But she’s the one who did it.”

  “Okay, I’m happy to take the blame,” Pepper said as she linked her arms with her two younger sisters. As they walked, the small tattoo of a nightingale flashed on her wrist. She didn’t mean to get it, but when Coop had decided to get one to remember his brother, Pepper had suddenly decided she would too. And since both of her sisters had birds, she’d decided to keep the tradition going. “But only because it’s wedding season coming up and I know how busy we’re going to be. And speaking of which, there are a few things I want to discuss—”

  “Coop,” Bec cut her off with a holler. “Come and take your woman away. She’s trying to talk business at a wedding.”

  “Weddings are our business,” Pepper protested, before grinning as Coop joined them and handed a giggling Timothy back to Bec.

  “Not today.” He wove his fingers through hers. “Now, I believe the rest of the bridal party is heading up to the barn. Care to join them?”

  “I had something else in mind,” Pepper said as she drank in his gorgeous face. A year later and she still had to pinch herself at how much her life had changed. At how much I’ve changed.

  “Oh hell yes.” He grinned as he glanced toward the farmhouse. Pepper shook her head as she reached down and slipped off the heels she’d been wearing. The ground was cool and moist beneath her bare feet.

  “Not even close.” She leaned in and kissed him lightly before walking down to the overgrown track that ran alongside the creek near the wishing bridge.

  “What’s going on? There’s nothing down here but an old swimming hole,” Coop said as he effortlessly followed her along the uneven track. She’d yet to see him in a situation he wasn’t comfortable. Well, apart from one time. And that’s a story I want to rewrite.

  “I know.” Pepper looked over her shoulder and winked at him before darting down the trail. The hum of insects and beams of sunshine dotted her path until she finally reached the clearing. The hole was only fifty feet wide and surrounded by trees. The slight breeze sent ripples across the dark surface while lazy leaves drifted through the air before landing on the water.

  She shivered as Coop caught up with her. His brow knitted together as he looked at the swimming hole and then at her.

  “Pepper, you’re not seriously thinking that we should go in there. It’s the middle of a wedding. And we don’t have bathing suits—” he let out a small gasp. “You want to go skinny dipping?”

  “I do. And I want you to join me.” She dropped her shoes to the ground and with a flick of her fingers she gave the belt of her wraparound dress a tug. It opened with one fluid motion and she stepped out of it.

  He didn’t move as pain filled his face. “But why? Are you still mad about what happened the first time I saw you half-naked?”

  “No, though for a long time I was mad that I’d put myself into a position where I needed rescuing.” She stepped toward him and loosened the belt of his trousers. “But this is about something else.”

  “It is?” He croaked as her fingers undid the buttons on his shirt, one by one.

  “That’s right.” She caught her breath. Some things never got old. Like seeing him naked. “First time I tried to be reckless, I was drunk on tequila and could hardly count my fingers. You have no idea how much that lack of control scared me. But this last year I’ve learned I don’t need to be scared. Look at my cute panties. I dare you to give me the same kind of look you gave me last time.”

  Coop tugged the rest of his shirt off before dragging her into his arms. “You are without doubt the sexiest, most amazing woman I’ve ever met. I love you entirely. But those panties aren’t cute, they’re hot.”

  “I love you too.” She returned his kiss and then wriggled out of his arms to run into the water. It was colder than she’d imagined but it didn’t stop her from submerging herself. Blood pounded in her ears as she caught her breath. Then she frowned at Coop, who was searching for something near his clothing. “Why aren’t you in here? You do realize that was part of the idea, right?”

  “I do,” he said as he stood up, his smile blazing as he walked toward her. The water splashed in all directions as he ploughed toward her, muscles rippling. “But you’re not the only one with plans, Pepper Watson. And you just helped my mine.”

  “What?” She stood up in the water, droplets forming on her skin as she studied his face for clues. None were forthcoming and she frowned. This was meant to be her surprise to him. Why wasn’t he acting surprised? Then he lowered himself into the water and held a small velvet box toward her.

  Her hand flew to her mouth as her legs wobbled.

  Was this really happening?

  “I’ve been carrying this around with me for months, trying to find the right time, the right place to give it to you. It’s only fitting that you came up with the answer. Because that’s what I love best about you. That you’re smart and beautiful and you never, ever fail to surprise me. Pepper Watson, will you marry me?”

  “You’re proposing to me while we’re naked? In a swimming ho
le?” She lowered herself down until they were nose to nose and reached out to touch his face.

  “Yes. Is that a problem?”

  “No problem at all. I love you and yes, I’ll definitely marry you.”

  “Right answer,” he said as he opened the box and slid a ring onto her finger. Then he leaned in and kissed her. His mouth was warm on hers and the last of her control disappeared. It really was the perfect day.

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  Acknowledgments

  As ever, books don’t get written without the support and wisdom of Sally Rigby and Christina Phillips. A big shout out to Rachel Bailey who is a plotting goddess and all around awesome friend! And to Sarah Z and Sarah M (one day I’ll change my name so we can be a proper gang!).

  Thank you to everyone at Entangled, especially Candy Havens, Crystal Havens, and the entire team. You guys rock!

  And finally to my very nice husband who has lived through so many books with me!

  About the Author

  Amanda Ashby was born in Australia but now lives in New Zealand where she writes romance, young adult, and middle grade books. She also works in a library, owns far too many vintage tablecloths, and likes to delight her family by constantly rearranging the furniture. You can find out more about her and her latest books at www.amandaashby.com.

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