Of course, the women in the room have broken into a series of hushed conversations as I snatch up my tea cup and my paperback and make a mad dash for the door with my eyes firmly on my feet.
Book club ladies are like wild animals, making eye contact only provokes them.
Which is how I run into whoever Bethany went out to greet a moment ago when I heard the bells on the front door jingle.
The shoes are decidedly masculine. Tan, suede work boots that have seen their fair share of real dirt, and worn, blue denim scrunched over the tops of the boots.
"Sorry," I mumble as I bounce off the wall of solid muscle that undoubtedly is associated with the boots.
Only a few of the book club ladies are married, and I rarely see husbands here in the store, but a few do date and I guess it's possible that the deep voice that grunts when I walk into him is here to meet Susan or Connie for lunch after the club meeting.
So I'm taken completely off guard when the grunt and the muscle and the boots include a pair of strong hands that wrap around my upper arms as if they belong there.
And before recognition dawns, I'm aware that the room behind me has gone silent. In the eternity that it takes for me to raise my head and look into the face of the wall I just hit, my only thought is what would make 23 middle-aged women stop talking all at once?
Nathan looks down at me from warm, brown eyes that crinkle a little at the corners as he gives me a cautious smile that says he's happy to see me and worried that I don't feel the same way.
"Why are you here?"
As soon as the words tumble out of my mouth I regret them. I'm so happy to see him, the last thing I want is to do or say something that will make him leave.
"I mean, uh..." Apparently my stammering isn't reserved for book reviews today.
"Raven called me." Nathan's eyes sparkle and the crinkles deepen. He isn't exactly grinning, but it's close.
That's when I notice Helen standing behind him, still on the other side of the doorway that Nathan's large frame is blocking.
I shoot a look at the elderly woman grinning like the Cheshire cat behind Nathan's back. Helen puts up her hands and shakes her head, indicating that she had nothing to do with it.
I have a hard time believing that and I'm about to say so when Bethany clears her throat with a nervous cough, looking incredibly guilty from where she's practically hiding next to the wall beside Helen.
"Raven called me," Nathan starts again, this time his handsome features are full of grin, "because she got a call from someone who said that a certain meddling neighbor of mine had shown up down here."
" 'Someone?' " I crane my neck so I can see past Nathan's shoulder and give Bethany a suspicious glare.
Beth blushes, "I just wanted you to get your happy ending," she says apologetically.
My happy ending. Of course that's what Beth was thinking. She's so sweet. And naive-- thinking it would be as easy as calling the match-maker to relay an overheard conversation.
Just because I realized that I was about to walk away from a good thing doesn't mean my good thing is willing to let me turn around and walk right back into his arms.
Except...maybe?
I look down at the strong hands that have loosened their grip from my upper arms and moved down to a casual hold near my elbows. He's holding me gently, not letting go, still staring at me intensely as if he's waiting for something.
I open my mouth to speak. I want to tell him I'm sorry. I want to explain why I called it off, why I thought I shouldn't go through with marrying him, I want to tell him I changed my mind and I desperately want him to understand.
No sound makes its way out of my mouth. There just aren't words that are powerful enough to undo the level of damage I've inflicted here.
Hoping that Nathan is here to give me another chance is foolish; the sort of naive fantasy that Bethany believes in.
I know better.
This is real life.
I look up at Nathan through eyes that are fogged with threatening tears and prepare for the inevitable good bye that I'm sure is coming along with the speech I deserve about what a bitch I turned out to be.
Nathan's hands drop from my arms and he shoves them in his pockets as he takes a step away from me. Putting space between us that I wished he had closed instead.
The gesture tears my heart into pieces as it forces me to accept my true feelings for the man.
I love him.
I love him and I want to spend the rest of our lives together.
And I'm not going to get that now.
Because I got scared.
The ladies behind me are still silent. Helen and Beth are statue still behind Nathan.
It's all I can do to stand here waiting for whatever he came to tell me but I deserve it. He should have a chance to say whatever he needs to say. We both deserve the closure.
I'm still steeled for an angry tirade when Nathan pulls his hands from his pockets. For an instant, I think he must have dropped something when he's suddenly on his knee at my feet.
23 middle aged women gasp behind me.
1 teenager's hands fly over her face as she watches over Nathan's shoulder.
1 old woman settles back on her hip and crosses her arms with a wry smile.
1 30-something widow stares in disbelief at the ring in the velvet box that's being held up to her.
"Raven said you changed your mind," he tells me.
Nathan
Damn, my ring looks good on her finger.
That's all I've been able to think since I slipped it onto the trembling hand that Tiffany held out for me while I knelt on the floor of the bookstore with all those ladies watching.
I wasn't sure she was really going to say yes. Hell! I didn't know I was going to propose until I felt the ring box in my pocket. Next thing I knew, I was down on one knee, hoping to God I wasn't making a damn fool of myself.
Sure, I went all the way out there with every intention of bringing Tiffany back home with me for good. I just thought I'd save the proposing for a nice dinner, or a private moment when it was just the two of us, after we'd had a chance to sort through things.
When I saw her looking at me like she was expecting me to tell her off or something? I just reacted. I couldn't stand seeing her look at me so scared like that.
I never want Tiffany to feel scared again.
"I still can't believe you flew out just because Beth called Raven." Tiffany giggles as she says it again for the umpteenth time.
"Of course I did," I say-- again, "no way was I about to lose my opportunity."
We're not back in the book store surrounded by all those book club ladies, with Helen and Bethany gloating at us like getting us back on track was all their doing.
We're not driving back to Tiff's place in her car while she nervously looks at the ring on her finger every 30 seconds and asks me to repeat the story of how my day went from quoting a job in a field in Colorado to standing in her bookstore based solely on one cautiously optimistic phone call from our match-maker.
We're not standing in the little house that Tiff used to share with her late husband. The one that she'd spent years redecorating to be all hers so it wouldn't feel like she was sharing it with a ghost.
We're here. Back in Colorado, in my house-- our home-- with my woman right where she belongs: in my arms.
It's been 3 full months since she sold her little house and handed the keys to the bookstore over to Beth to run on her own.
We've spent those months dividing our time between turning my place into our place and planning a wedding even though I'd just as soon head down to the courthouse and make Tiffany my wife today.
I can't wait to add a wedding band to the engagement ring on her finger.
Actually, what I can't wait for is the feel of my woman's body wrapped around mine again.
I'm on my way to her, one step toward her with my hand about to wrap around her neck to bring her mouth to mine, but she beats me to it.
/> Tiffany's lips are pressed against mine, her tongue hot and slick as it moves into my mouth and invites me into hers.
Her hands wrap around my waist and slide up my back as I pull her close to me.
My fingers run through the thick waves of Tiffany's hair, pulling them free of the clip that's been holding them back today.
"This has to go," I murmur into the crook of her neck between kisses as I unhook her bra and push the straps off her shoulder.
Tiffany almost giggles but it catches in her throat at she lets her head fall back and grasps my head with her hands when I make my way to her nipples.
So long and hard and the perfect shade of deep rose when they're shining and slick from pulling them into my mouth and rolling my tongue over them while she moans and arches her back against me for more.
That's when I know it's time to make our way to the bedroom. If I don't guide her toward the newly redecorated master suite now, we're likely to end up fucking right here in the hallway-- again.
It was one of the biggest surprises, but also one of my favorite discoveries, about my new fiance-- and myself. I knew the chemistry was off the charts from the moment I first saw her. I discovered Tiffany's passion the first time I kissed her.
I've never considered myself an adventurous kinda guy. I always just wanted a good woman to come home to, to share my meals, my life, and my bed with.
Something about Tiffany sends me over the edge. I don't just want her in my bed, I want her on the sofa, on the kitchen counter, up against the bathroom vanity or the shower wall, in the garden, the garage, and once on the front porch before we even made it through the door.
Thank God I live out in the country where no one can see us!
My hands roam over Tiffany's body, my fingers reaching between her legs to slide between her folds and finding her wet and ready for me already.
The feel of her juices coating my fingers makes my already rock hard cock throb with need as I start to push her against the wall.
I don't care about laying her down on our soft bed anymore, all I want is to coax another moan from her throat, another gasp from her lips. I need to feel her walls clenching around my fingers as I move them inside her till her body goes rigid and her nails dig into my sides.
I have to get inside her again. And again. And I have to do it now.
Tiffany
It's been like this since I moved in with him, we can't get enough of each other.
Nathan has me backed up against the wall in the hallway just outside our bedroom door. We were headed toward the king size bed waiting for us just a few feet away-- and then his hand moved between my thighs and I lost my sense of direction.
I feel my own fingers tighten in his flesh just above the waist band of his jeans as my body writhes against his hand while his fingers delve deep inside me.
My head falls back against the wall and the narrow room spins with me as he brings me over the edge and then continues to stroke me slowly till I catch my breath and open my eyes to find him watching me with a smile on his lips.
The sexy smirk and the lust in his eyes is enough to quicken my heart beat all over again.
A quickie in the hallway isn't going to be enough this time. I need my man to take me to our bed so we can do this long and slow and I tell him so.
"Make love to me, Nathan," I whisper into his ear as I reach down to press the thick bulge of his hardness into my palm. "Lay down and let me return the favor," I add a promising squeeze and feel his cock twitch under the denim between us.
We take the few steps through the bedroom door still tangled together, all lips and hands and bodies that refuse to stop touching.
Nathan lays me on the bed gently, freeing me of my clothes as he works his mouth over my body. This time more carefully, taking time to taste and tease his way across my flesh, bringing up goosebumps all over me and making me shiver and pant in anticipation as he moves down my body.
I want to push him back, roll him over, and slide my mouth down his body. I want to feel his abs quiver under my lips and I want to enjoy the way his hands move in my hair as I curl my tongue around his thick shaft.
I wiggle under him, hoping to encourage him to lay down and let me take over but he pins my body with his hands as he kneels between my thighs.
"I promise I'll only make you come once this way," he teases softly before the tip of his tongue draws down the seam of my pussy and begins working back to my clit.
He knows I want him inside me, that we've spent too much time building up for me to be truly satisfied until I feel him filling me up. And he knows he can make me come so many more times than just once-- this way or any other way-- and I'll let him wear me out till we're spent and panting and asleep still tangled together.
Nathan's fingers join his mouth and work in tandem till I forget my urgency to get him out of his clothes. In fact, I temporarily forget everything. Everything but how good it feels to come undone all over again, everything but how good it feels to come undone for Nathan.
I'm breathlessly begging for his cock before I've even fully recovered, insistently pulling him free of his clothing as I roll both of us over and straddle his thighs.
"God, you look good up there, baby." Nathan's voice is deep and raspy, his hands grip my thighs, and he moves me so that the head of his dick slips against my wetness.
His eyes close momentarily and his mouth opens in a sharp intake of breath as I lower myself onto his hardness, putting all my effort into going slow and enjoying watching his pleasure.
The feel of his thickness filling me up inch by inch is too good. I can't stand to torture myself any longer by going slow and I let my body plunge down until I gasp at the feeling of having the full length of him fully seated inside me.
His hands tighten in the hinge of my thighs and I know he's ready for me to move.
"Harder," he tells me hoarsely as he pulls me firmly against him, "I want you to come on my cock."
I lean forward and steady myself with my hands against his chest. Every time he talks to me so bluntly while we're fucking, it does something inside me that I can't control.
There's no holding back, no way I can refuse to grant his request when he's gripping me so tightly and thrusting up to meet my movements as I grind against him.
It's not unusual for us to come together, both of us panting and grasping at each other as our bodies move together as one, and that's what's happening now.
I can feel his cock pull back inside me, as if it's trying to twitch but is held captive as my walls clench tightly around it. I feel my pussy begin to pulse and my nails dig into Nathan's chest as I begin my next topple over the edge.
Suddenly he feels thicker, longer, harder for just a moment and then he's pumping into me, both us of us clutching and gasping and finally collapsing.
I lay against his chest, Nathan's hand stroking my hair, gently pushing the sweaty strands off my forehead as I listen to the steady beat of his heart return to its resting rate.
"Marry me, Tiffany," he says.
"I think that's been the plan all along," I laugh lightly and stroke the trail of hair the runs along his abdomen.
"No, really," he starts and then kisses the top of my head before continuing, "marry me because we would have fallen in love if we'd met any other way, not because we both happened to pay the same person to find us something sensible to keep us from dying alone."
My hand stills against his chest. "A sensible arrangement," I'd told her. I wasn't expecting to feel passion for a man again. I didn't think I'd ever fall in love with another man-- I didn't think I wanted to.
It all seems so far away now. So impossible to think that I'd ever thought I'd be content to be with a man I wasn't hopelessly in love with.
"Let me simplify things for you, Mrs. Henries-Rowe," I can hear the smile on his face even though I don't look up when he speaks.
"How are you going to do that?" I smile too as my fingers resume tracing their tiny circles on his c
hest.
"I'm going to give you just one last name."
There was a time in my life when that would have felt like something was being taken away from me. But when Nathan whispers it gently as we lie together still naked and sticky from lovemaking in the bed we recently bought to share for the rest of our lives?
"That sounds like a great idea," I say. And it does, it sounds like a gift. I feel my body relax, moulding to his even more completely than I thought possible and a happiness spreads through me that I can't remember ever feeling before.
"Yes," I answer his original question, "Yes, Nathan Wright, I'm going to marry you. I'm going to marry you because I love you, because I would have fallen in love with you no matter how we met, but," I finally move my head and look up at him, "I'm still pretty happy about not dying alone."
I giggle a little as he gives my shoulders a playful squeeze.
"And I don't regret hiring Raven one bit to make finding you easier," he tells me.
"Worth every penny," I agree.
Thank You for Reading
Thank you for reading A Sensible Arrangement
Another Raven Swann Modern Match-Maker Romance
If this was your first book in the series, you'll be glad to know that each book follows one couple to their own happily ever after without any cliff-hanger endings and can be read in any order.
There are more great stories to be told from the files of Raven's match making portfolio, and plenty of other stories in the works so keep in touch so you don't miss a new release.
Rocklyn's Newsletter
Also by Rocklyn Ryder
Modern Match-Maker Romance
(Raven Swann's client files:)
A Perfect Gentleman (excerpt included)
A Sensible Arrangement: A Modern Match-Maker Romance Page 10