Return to You

by Samantha Chase

  “Nah, she’s just nosy. But that’s okay. She’s family, and I don’t mind.”

  Selena could sense a change in him: the way he spoke of his family, the relaxed posture, it was like a different person standing before her. The transformation was almost unbelievable. “So…what? Your uncle comes and sees me, gives me a fake name, throws money at me to get his way, and for what? What am I doing here, James?” It hit her that she should be annoyed. Once again, she had been lied to. She stormed over to the kitchen to check on the food. “Was this some kind of cruel joke?”

  He was behind her before she even heard him. He spun her around gently to face him. “No, this isn’t a joke. If he had come to you and said his name was William Montgomery, you don’t think you would have questioned that?”

  “Montgomery is a fairly common name,” she snapped and pulled free of his grasp. “I might have thought it was a coincidence, but then I would have moved on. You don’t own that much space in my head that I think everything is somehow about you.”

  James stood back and watched as she frantically stirred the bisque before checking on the food warming in the oven. She was crackling with angry energy, and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. When she had nothing left to stir or check on, she turned and faced him, her stance defiant.

  “So what exactly does that mean?” he asked casually. “Are you saying that you’ve forgotten about me?”

  “Well…no,” she said.

  He took a step closer.

  “Are you saying that you don’t think about me?”

  “Not anymore,” she lied.

  And he took another step closer.

  “Do you think of me at all? Even a little bit?” His voice dropped, and it was no more than a low rumble.

  “No,” she whispered.

  He was toe-to-toe with her.

  He could see the pulse jumping at the base of her throat, could feel the tremble of her body, and when those big green eyes looked up at him with something akin to longing, he was lost. “Liar,” he whispered right before claiming her lips with his.

  She didn’t even try to put up a fight. Selena’s arms came up and wrapped around his neck just as James’s arms banded around her waist to pull her close. Tongues dueled, hands wandered as they feasted on one another after too long of a drought. He couldn’t breathe, and yet the thought of taking his mouth from hers was the bigger threat. Her nails scratched his scalp as his hand traveled down and cupped her bottom to pull her even closer to him.

  Selena pulled back and directed his mouth to her throat and when he flicked his tongue over her pulse point, she shivered. “Tell me why you’re here,” she said right before she moaned with delight at what he was doing to her.

  “My uncle told you.”

  His uncle told her? Wait…what? Her brain fought to catch up, and when it did, she thought her heart would burst. “Maybe I want to hear it from you.”

  James lifted his head, did a quick look around, quickly placed his hands on her hips, and lifted her onto the nearest surface. She squeaked at the cool feel of the granite through the thin layer of her dress. He stepped between her thighs as he reached up and cupped her face to kiss her again.

  “Maybe there’s something I want to hear from you first,” he finally said.

  Shifting her position, she shamelessly rubbed herself against him; the need she felt for him threatened to overpower her. “What? What do you need to hear?” she gasped as he stepped in close and mimicked what he’d like them to be doing. She’d tell him anything if it meant they could get naked faster.

  “Tell me you want me,” he growled in her ear.

  And she did.

  He nipped at her earlobe. “Tell me you need me,” he demanded.

  And she did.

  His hands slid up her bare thighs until he found her panties. “Anything else you have to say?” he said as his fingers teased her into a frenzy.

  “Now,” she panted. “I want and need you right now.”

  “All you had to do was ask.”

  * * *

  Making love in a kitchen certainly was exciting. Not so much when your screams of pleasure echoed off the empty walls and food started to burn on the stove.

  James helped Selena down from the counter and stood back as she righted her dress. He could see the walls coming back up between them, and before she let them get too far, he pulled her to him and kissed her. “That was not what I had planned,” he admitted bashfully, “but I’m not sorry about it either.”

  “I’m not sorry about it, James. I’m still too confused about what’s going on.” She moved to take the soup off the burner and turn off the stove before letting him lead her into the living room.

  “Everything looks beautiful,” he said as they sat down. He kept her hand in his, needing the connection. “I don’t want to talk about the past,” he began. “We’ve been there, done that, and it really didn’t get us anywhere. What I want to do is to start fresh.”

  She looked at him doubtfully. “Start fresh? What do you mean?”

  Taking his hand from hers, he put a little distance between them and then held it out in greeting. “Hi. My name is James Montgomery. I’m a landscape architect, and I’m new to the area. I’ve heard from the locals that you are the best event planner around, and I’m hoping that we can work together.” Both his expression and his voice were hopeful, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Selena smile.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Montgomery. When did you settle in the area?”

  He didn’t let her hand go. “I actually just officially moved here yesterday, but I’ve been making the transition for about a month now. I have family here that have been kind enough to help with the move. You see, I decided to change careers and wanted a change of scenery to go along with it.”

  “You did, huh? Tell me, what did you do before?” There was a playfulness to their banter, and Selena found herself enjoying it.

  “I was in law enforcement.”

  “Wow! That’s quite a difference from landscaping. Why the drastic change?”

  “To be honest, I thought that being a cop was what I needed to be. I had a lot of issues and hang-ups about who I was and what was expected of me, and going into law enforcement seemed like a way for me to have some control.” His eyes never left hers as he spoke—it was one of the most honest statements he had ever made to her.

  “And was it?” she asked softly.

  He shook his head. “No. I was good at what I did, but it wasn’t my passion.” His eyes darkened and held with hers on the word “passion.”

  “What are you passionate about?” she said with a shy, sexy smile.

  “Oh, I’m passionate about quite a few things.”

  “Care to explain?”

  “Well, I’ve always loved working with the land and creating designs with plants and flowers that give people their own private oasis. I had a beautiful yard up in New York.”

  “Did you?” she asked, her head tilting to the side.

  “I did. But you know the problem with it?” She shook her head. “I had no one to share it with.”

  “Well, that’s a shame. Did you have someone you wanted to share it with?”

  “That leads us to the other thing I’m passionate about.”

  “Really?” She feigned surprise.

  “Really,” he replied, his grin wide. “You see, I am particularly passionate about a woman with dark hair, green eyes, fair skin; and she brings me to my knees when she wears black lacy lingerie.”

  “Wow…that’s pretty specific. What if she wanted to wear red lingerie? Or green? Would you still feel passionately about her?”

  “She could wear basic white cotton, and she’d still have me wanting her.” James tugged on her hand until she was sprawled across his lap. “It doesn’t matter what you wear
or what you do, Selena. I’m never going to stop wanting you.” He kissed her then and eased back on the sofa with her in his arms.

  “Mmm…” she said when she lifted her head up. “That’s impressive. So now that we’ve established what you’re passionate about, what are you going to do about it?”

  “The business has already started. I’ve got clients and contracts; I’m on my way. And as for you?” He sat up straight and gently lifted Selena from his lap before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet box. “I love you, Selena Ainsley, and I want you to be my wife. I’m not perfect, and I know you think that you don’t know the real me, but I want you to know that I’m working on figuring that out too. I want us to do that together. What I do know about myself now is that I can’t live without you; I don’t want to live without you. Being with you makes me a better man. There was no light or laughter in my life when you left. I realized how alone I truly was. I don’t want to live that way ever again. Say you’ll marry me, make a family with me, have a life with me.”

  He opened the box and Selena gasped.

  “Ten years ago, I didn’t even offer you a ring. I was too proud and too stubborn to really give you the things you deserved. I promise to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Will you marry me?”

  Tears streamed down her face as she reached out and placed a hand on his arm and did her best to not look too closely at the ring. It would only hurt more if he couldn’t accept what she had to offer. “I want to marry you, James, but I can’t give you a family…we talked about that.”

  Placing a finger over her lips, James silenced her. “Shh… Let me tell you something. I don’t care if we never have kids of our own. We can adopt, use a surrogate, or…we can see a specialist and see about a way to reverse it. Whatever you want, Selena, I’ll do it. I want to be there for you, and whatever our family ends up being, whether it’s just the two of us or a dozen kids, I’m going to be the luckiest man alive because of you.”

  Selena took a breath and pulled her hand from his arm. “I have just one thing to ask of you.”

  “Anything.”

  “Do you love me?”

  “More than anything. I always have and I always will.” He studied her face. “Can I ask you something?”

  She smiled shyly. “Anything.”

  “Do you love me?”

  “Always. I never stopped.”

  “Can we stop asking questions and finally answer the big one?”

  She paused just long enough to see him begin to sweat. “Yes. Yes, James, I will marry you!” With shaky hands, he placed the ring on her finger and rose to his feet to swing her up into his arms. He kissed her thoroughly before letting her slide down his body and back onto her feet. Selena touched and scanned his face, as if committing this moment to memory. “I just have one more question…”

  “More questions?” he laughed. “Isn’t there a dinner burning somewhere in this house?”

  “Maybe,” she said and then sniffed the air to make sure there really wasn’t.

  “So? What is it that you need to know?”

  “What took you so long?”

  Rather than answer, James burst out laughing. “Let’s just say that I needed a little help with the directions.”

  * * *

  They finally managed to have dinner before it was too far gone but decided to wait on the dessert because Selena really wanted to stop by the second event of the evening. “I hate to eat and run, but I promised my staff that I’d at least stop by and make sure everything was under control.” She looked at the dirty dishes and frowned. She’d get to them later. “I don’t know what I’m going to say when I see your uncle. I keep wanting to call him Mackenzie Williams; I hope I can remember to use his real name when I get there.” She was stepping back into the stilettos she had kicked off earlier. “I should be back in an hour or so. Is that okay?”

  “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll come with you. After all, he is my uncle, and I’m curious to see what he’s done with the business that required expansion. Plus, my future wife coordinated the whole thing, and I was highly impressed with this little party. I can’t wait to see what you did over there.”

  Selena blushed. “Believe me when I say it’s nothing compared to this.” She scanned the room for her purse and anything else she may have forgotten.

  “Well, I should hope not,” he said with a chuckle.

  She turned and glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” That’s when she noticed he was holding her panties.

  “Missing something?” he teased, and then a full-bodied laugh escaped as she reached out and grabbed them from him and ran into the powder room to put them on and make sure she didn’t look like someone who just had sex on the kitchen counter. A smile crossed her lips as she stared at her reflection. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

  When she emerged, she was still blushing. “I can’t believe I forgot about them.”

  “I’m a master of distraction,” he said, holding open the front door for her. Together they drove over to the newest Montgomery office in James’s car, and Selena realized he had gotten them there without her directing him. When she questioned that, he casually mentioned how his uncle had told him about the place.

  He parked the car and came around to help Selena. When they approached the two-story building, Selena stopped and read the sign. “JSM Design,” she said out loud. “Are you sure this is the right place?” She wracked her brain to try to remember if Mr. Montgomery had ever mentioned the name of the company when they had spoken. Wouldn’t it be called Montgomerys if it were part of the company? Ignoring her question, James led her inside, where they were greeted by at least a dozen different people, mostly male, who all bore a strong resemblance to James. Selena looked around the room and then back at James. “What’s going on?”

  William Montgomery walked over and shook James’s hand before turning to Selena. “Well, I hope that dinner was a success!” he said with a wide smile.

  From the moment she met him, Selena had thought his smile was infectious. Unable to hide her own smile she said, “It was a little touch and go for a while, but all in all, it was a big success.” She held out her hand and showed him the ring on her finger. William pulled her into his embrace, and he already felt like family to her.

  “Everyone,” he yelled, turning to face the crowd. “Tonight is a big night! We’re here to celebrate the latest addition to the Montgomery company as well as the family. As you all know, James is back in North Carolina, where he belongs, and has taken over property development and design for us. All of our offices will be getting major exterior face-lifts over the next twelve months.” There was applause all around them. “And tonight, he has asked the lovely Selena Ainsley to be his wife.” He waited for a response from the group and then realized he had left out a key detail. “And she said yes!” More applause broke out before everyone seemed to converge on them at once.

  James took his uncle’s place at Selena’s side as he introduced her to his family. “There’s a lot of us, so don’t feel bad if you forget anyone’s names,” he whispered in her ear to reassure her. “This is my oldest brother, Zach. He lives in Oregon and is getting ready to take his life in his hands by climbing Mt. McKinley. He’s the crazy one in the family.”

  Zach was an older version of James, Selena thought. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said warmly.

  “You too, Selena. Welcome to the family.” Leaning in, he kissed her on the cheek before congratulating them both and shaking his little brother’s hand.

  As Zach stepped aside, another man came forward. “This is my cousin Lucas. You may recognize him because he used to play professional football. Now he’s part of the company as well. He and his wife, Emma, have two little girls I can’t wait to introduce you to.”

  Lucas shook his hand and congratulated them both as well. �
�I wanted to bring Emma and the girls, but Kyla is cutting a tooth and not feeling very sociable right now. We’d love to have you guys over once you’re settled in though.”

  “That sounds like a plan to me,” James said easily. For the next twenty minutes, he introduced her to his other cousins, Jason and Mac, and told Selena how his uncle had been the one responsible for finding them both wives.

  Mac rolled his eyes. “Don’t encourage him. Please. He’s already feeling pretty cocky with his track record. I’m hoping he’s going to get over this phase soon.”

  “I doubt it,” Jason said, looking over at his father and chuckling. “There are too many single Montgomerys around.”

  “Yes, but I think we’re the last ones who live close enough for him to interfere,” James said.

  “Maybe,” Mac said, but he didn’t sound convinced. “Personally, I think Zach is climbing that damn mountain to avoid detection. If he stays on solid ground where it’s safe, he could be the next one with a target on his back. Especially since you and Ryder are both settling down.”

  “Did someone say my name?” Ryder came over and shook hands with his cousin before leaning in and hugging his brother. “It’s good to have you back, man.”

  “It’s good to be back,” James said, and he truly meant it. He was just about to introduce his brother to Selena when she spotted Casey and called her name.

  “How? When did they meet?” Ryder asked, confusion covering his face.

  “Don’t ask,” James said as Casey and Selena hugged and began to talk excitedly about parties and events.

  “I’m sure you’ll get to meet her before the night is over,” James said to Ryder.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time.”

  “Not as long as I have.” James turned and looked at Ryder. “You know, I wanted to be mad at you for interfering in my life. Now I realize that I’m a lucky son of a bitch because if you hadn’t done it, I’d still be lost and missing out on the greatest thing ever.”

  “So then it’s safe to say that you owe me. Big time.”