by Lucy Score
She’d run to Niko’s arms and beg for forgiveness.
And after she groveled and begged and threw herself on Niko’s mercy, then she would find Mason, thank him for his kind offer, and turn him down. She’d known the moment she’d seen him on her porch that it was Nikolai Vulkov that she loved. There had been a time in her life when “safe” felt happy. But that time had passed, and she wanted more, so much more.
The June sun was warm on her face as it shown through her windshield. She pulled into the farm’s driveway, praying that he hadn’t packed up and left town last night. But a quick scan of the garage and barn showed the place was deserted. Niko’s bike was missing, too.
Shit. Well, if she had to drive to New York to say her piece, she would.
Emma smacked herself in the forehead. Sunday. Farmers market day. “Please be there,” she whispered as she turned around and sped out of the driveway, a cloud of dust kicking up behind her.
She kept chanting the whole way into town, not letting up until she parked on a side street and jumped out of the car. It was then that she realized she was still wearing blue plaid pajama pants. But that couldn’t be helped now, and she wasn’t turning around to go home and change.
Emma jogged the rest of the way to One Love Park where the farmers market was in full swing. The colorful canopies created a rainbow above homemade soaps and soups, hand woven socks, and fresh funnel cakes. The free-range petting zoo which consisted of farm animals milling about the park was, as anticipated, a wonderful disaster.
People called out greetings to her, but she was on a mission. He had to be here. She had to find him. It couldn’t be too late.
Through her watery vision, Emma spotted him. And the relief cut through her like an axe. Her entire body sang. Niko was crouched down, taking pictures of Aurora who was cuddling a struggling chicken that looked like it wished it could return to its free-range life. Ellery, decked out in her Frankenstein shoes and glitter skull t-shirt, stood nearby gnawing on her black fingernails and checking her watch.
“Nikolai!” Emma waved.
He glanced up from the screen of the camera he held, a frown of concentration on his face. When he saw her, something that looked like hope lit his eyes before he carefully put it away, returning his beautiful face to the impassive mask.
She was running now, looking like a hysterical idiot in her pajamas. She knew someone would be live streaming her breakdown to the Blue Moon Facebook group and didn’t care.
She was long overdue for putting herself out there, heart and humiliation be damned.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she gasped the words out. She gripped his forearms with her hands, determined to keep him here. She needed him to hear every terrifying word. “I was so wrong,” she began, her voice breaking a little.
“Mama, what’s happening?” Aurora hissed at Gia. Her sister held up a finger to her lips to shush the little girl.
“I spent my entire life trying to protect myself from hurt. I thought I wanted safe and stable and boring,” she let out a short laugh. “But in protecting myself from hurt, I ended up locking myself away from life… and love.”
Nikolai swallowed hard but said nothing.
“You saw me,” she whispered. “Really saw me. And you loved me, not just for the role I played but for the woman I am underneath all my fears, all my needs. You saw that hot mess clinging futilely to control, and you still wanted me.”
“So what are you saying?” he asked softly. She heard it, that slight hint of Russia woven into his words.
“I’m saying I love you, Nikolai. I want a life with you, whatever that may look like. I want to live a life of adventure with you. I want to be scared about losing you. I want to wake up sweating because you’re draped over me every damn morning. I want to be late to work because we got carried away. I’ll follow you anywhere as long as you promise to follow me, too.”
Nikolai looked down at the camera in his hands. He pulled away from her grip, and Emma felt the first punch of fear. But he handed the camera to Aurora.
“Kid, I’m going to want some good pictures of this, okay?”
Aurora nodded solemnly when he looped the strap over her head. “That button right there. Got it?”
“Oh, God, please don’t break that, Roar,” Gia whispered under her breath.
Nikolai straightened and took Emma’s hands. Her heart sang with hope, with love, with all of the feelings she’d ignored for so long.
“What made you change your mind?”
“Someone proposed to me and offered to let me make all the decisions in life from here on out.”
“You’re engaged?” There was fight in those beautiful dark eyes of his.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Emma heard Ellery chanting softly as she swiped her hands over her pale face, dislodging her heart shaped sunglasses.
Emma shook her head and laughed. “No! He offered me everything I thought I wanted, except…”
Nikolai squeezed her hands. “Except what?” he demanded, his voice rough with emotion.
“Except you. He wasn’t you. I can have everything I thought I wanted in life, and it won’t be enough. It won’t even scratch the surface because what I really want is you.”
He was reeling her into him. His hands skimmed her hips, pulling her against him. “So you’re not engaged?” he clarified.
She shook her head. “Nope.”
Ellery bent from the waist and exhaled sharply. “Thank freaking God!”
Emma pointed at her. “I’m going to finish this first, but then you’re going to tell me why you’re watching this like a live-action soap opera.”
Ellery flashed a guilty smile and gave a little curtsy. “Carry on.”
Emma turned back to Nikolai and continued. “I don’t want to be just friends. If you’re interested in a full confession, I doubt I ever did. From day one, you’ve fascinated me, and I couldn’t wait to spend time with you every single day.”
“Then what do you want?” Nikolai asked, tracing his fingertips over her tear-stained cheek.
She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. “I want to choose you every damn day. Even when it’s hard. Even if one of us wants to give up. I want to fight and win and love you. I want to do this every day for the rest of my life.” Emma brought her lips to his, sealing her words with a physical promise. His mouth heated under hers, stealing her breath and tasting the salt of her tears. She knew she was where she belonged.
He pulled back just the slightest bit, and she fought for her breath. “Say the words, Emma,” he demanded.
She brought her hands to his impossibly beautiful face. “I love you, Nikolai. I love the havoc you’re going to wreak on my life.”
“Our life,” he corrected.
“So, you still love me?” she worried her lower lip between her teeth. She needed the words from him.
“Emma, I have a confession to make.” His voice was low, serious. “It might change how you feel.”
She took a breath and then another one. She wasn’t running. Not this time. “Okay. What is it?”
“I took one look at you yelling at a vendor on the phone and went into free-fall. I was never going to let you friend zone me, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let you run away from me.”
“Sneaky bastard,” Emma murmured. “I love your diabolical nature.”
“And I love every damn thing about you, Emmaline.”
“Even my crazy?”
“Even your crazy,” he confirmed.
“Thanks for not giving up on me,” she said, raising up on her tip toes for another kiss.
“Thanks for not making me regret this next thing.”
“What next thing?” Emma asked, suddenly nervous again.
“Remember how you hate grand gestures that should have been joint decisions in the first place?”
“Oh, hell, Niko. What did you do?”
––—
The house that had teased at the back of her mind, the one sh
e’d seen herself making breakfast in, spending lazy mornings in, had a bright red sold sticker slapped over the for sale sign.
First came the bitter tinge of disappointment that someone else had had the guts to go after her dream. Then came the dawning of realization.
“You bought it? But we just made up!”
Niko pulled a key ring from his pocket and handed it over.
“Keys?”
“These are yours. I told you I would fight for you.”
“I broke up with you,” Emma gawked at him. “What was your plan?”
“I witnessed something amazing yesterday afternoon, something that I want to be a part of, something that you’re already a part of. So I decided that I’d buy your dream house here and torture you with my presence for the next year or so before I wore you down again. I’d show up at dinner every Saturday night, run into you at the gym, you know, the original plan.”
“You really do love me.”
“It’s about time that starts to sink in.”
She stared at the keys and back at the house. “I can’t believe you’d do this for me. The things I said to you—”
“And the things I said to you. Let’s just see if we can handle our disagreements a little more maturely in the future.”
“You don’t think they’ll all be that bad, do you?”
“Us? No. Of course not,” he said, giving her that devil’s smile and pulling her into his arms.
“You’re totally lying right now, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“Probably.”
“It’ll be an adventure,” he predicted.
“And not just in the bedroom,” she said with a wink.
Niko scooped her up and she laughed. “Let’s go check out our new home.”
“You’re supposed to do this to the bride,” Emma said, looping her arms around his neck.
He bounded up the front steps of the porch. “Oh, we’re getting married.”
“Is that your idea of a proposal?”
“What? Are you expecting a puppy?”
“I was at least expecting the question!”
He slid the key in the lock and pushed open the front door. “Why? So you can agonize over it for weeks on end torturing both of us when you know there’s only one answer? I think it’s easier to just tell you we’re getting married. Now, you can just get used to the idea.”
Emma slapped his chest. “Nikolai, getting married is a big decision,” she argued. “One that we both should be part of!”
The little yip of delight took her by surprise, and when she spotted the ball of yellow fur tumbling over giant feet toward them she gasped. “Oh, my God!”
“Yeah, well, so is getting a house and a dog,” Niko shrugged.
EPILOGUE
“Surprise!”
The shout took Emma by surprise and had her sweeping Baxter up in her arms before he could pee excitedly all over the brewery floor.
There were people and balloons everywhere. Her team from the brewery, her family, the Pierces, it looked like half the town was here crowding around the bar.
“What is going on?” Emma asked, handing Baxter over to Niko.
“Happy anniversary,” Julio announced with a debonair bow.
Cheryl looped her arm through Emma’s. “One year ago today, you stepped up to lead our team. And look what’s happened in that year.” Cheryl held up Emma’s left hand letting the emerald cut diamond catch the light.
The crowd hooted. Jax handed her a glass of champagne. Joey wielding a knife, stood guard over a sheet cake decorated like the brewery and its surrounding pastures. Emma’s father was holding Lydia cozied up on a barstool with Phoebe, Gia, and Eva. Carter and Beckett stood side-by-side discussing the proper application of beard balm while Summer chased the twins.
“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Jax said. The crowd quieted. “Not so very long ago, my brothers and I were running ourselves ragged trying to get and keep the doors of John Pierce Brews open. And then along came Emma Merill, who replaced the three of us with style, with class, and with abilities that far outweighed our own. You saved us Emma, and we’ll be eternally grateful to you. To Emma.” He raised his glass.
“To Emma,” the crowd echoed. Under Caleb’s watchful eyes, Joey attacked the cake with a knife and a lot of enthusiasm.
She felt the tears threaten to spill and blinked them back. She’d already gotten into a screaming match with her lover at work once. She drew the line at crying in front of her team. “Did you know about this?” Emma demanded, poking Niko in the chest.
“Baby, there are no secrets in Blue Moon.” The puppy wriggled around so he could lick Niko’s chin, and Emma’s heart exploded just a little bit.
She laughed, well aware that Niko was right. The public spectacle she’d made of herself last week at the farmers market was still the hot topic around town and had indeed been live-streamed in the Blue Moon gossip group on Facebook. The Beautification Committee had immediately claimed victory and offered Emma and Niko best wishes for their “long and happy life together.”
Summer and Phoebe bustled up and grabbed her arms. “Girl talk,” Summer said, winking at Niko. “Go find the boys and the beers,” she suggested.
They dragged her to the bar where Gia, Eva, and Ellery waited.
“So now that you’ve had all of five seconds to settle into your new future,” Summer began, “what have you two decided?”
Emma couldn’t stop the smile if she wanted to. It was the kind of happiness she’d never known that could come from just letting go. “Well, I spoke to your husbands, and they’ve agreed to let me work four days a week. So we’ll be dividing our time between here and the city. Niko’s planning to be more selective about his projects because he wants to free up more of his time to be here. So far, no definitive wedding plans, but we do know where we’re going for our honeymoon.”
“Where is that, dear?” Phoebe asked.
“Paris.”
Joey walked up with cake in hand when Summer and Gia squealed. She rolled her eyes and walked away.
“Don’t get yourselves all worked up. Nothing’s written in stone. We’re just going to enjoy ourselves for a while,” Emma cautioned.
“Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?” Eva demanded.
“It’s Blue Moon. There’s something in the water here. You might start noticing it soon,” Ellery said innocently.
“More like something in the Beautification Committee,” Emma said, poking a finger in Ellery’s shoulder. “Now can you explain how Mason showed up on my doorstep?” Emma demanded. “And why I think I saw him going into Righteous Subs yesterday?”
Ellery’s grin was contagious. “A brilliant, if perhaps dangerous, ploy to get you to finally realize what you really wanted in life.” She sighed with satisfaction. “It was my finest work yet.”
“How, Ellery? How did you get my ex-boyfriend to fly cross-country and ask me to marry him?”
“Well, I knew you were going to be a problem what with all the abandonment issues and the long-term habit of running away. So first, we decided to make it sticky here.”
“Sticky?”
“Yeah, make you love Blue Moon, love working and living here. Love being around your family. That was our subtle background work, which I’m guessing you didn’t even notice since it’s been going on the entire time you’ve lived here.”
“You mean Gordon and Anthony shoving Bruce’s real estate license down my throat was all part of the ploy?”
Ellery took a long sip of her diet soda through a pink curly straw. “It’s like I always say, we can’t keep pulling the same tricks. We have to evolve with the times. We saw the sparks flying between you two immediately and knew the hard part would be convincing both you and Niko separately that Blue Moon was the wonderful capital of the world. So we focused our efforts there.”
“So you didn’t think we were a terrible couple?” Emma pressed.
Ellery
rolled her eyes. “Are you crazy? One look at you guys, and everyone knew!”
“Where does Mason fit in to all of this?” Gia asked in fascination and horror.
“Well, I knew we were still going to run into some old habit issues with you. So I started messaging Mason on Facebook. Super nice guy, by the way.” A dimple appeared in Ellery’s cheek.
“I know. I dated him.”
“Anyway, once I discerned that he wasn’t an insane person, we kept chatting, and I let him kinda sorta think that we were a dating service you’d hired.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Mason being the super nice, sweet guy that he is was happy to help if it was necessary. So I kept him as an ace up my sleeve just in case you were extra tricky. Which you were!”
“Yeah, yeah. Extra tricky.”
“When I witnessed your catastrophic fight with Niko at the brewery, I knew it was time for the ace. So I messaged Mason, and it turns out he was visiting family in Buffalo of all places.”
“So you talked him into driving out here and proposing to me?”
“Like I said, super nice guy. He cares about your happiness, even though you dumped him. That says a lot about a man.”
“I can’t believe you convinced him to come here and take part in this ridiculous, over-the-top, insane scheme! No wonder why he looked so relieved when I told him no the next day. What would you have done if I had said yes?” Emma asked.
“Crapped my pants and then locked Mason in my basement, making his disappearance look like he abandoned you,” Ellery said with a thoughtful frown.
Emma blinked slowly. “You’re insane.”
Ellery shook her head. “I’m committed to love. There’s a huge difference.”
“Okay, I can tell when an argument is going to go nowhere. So I’ll just say thank you for whatever bizarre role you played in getting me out of my own way.”
Ellery leaned in and surprised Emma with a kiss on her cheek. “You’re very welcome. Now, about Mason. How big of a deal would it be if I asked him out?”
––—
Emma rested her head on Niko’s bare chest, admiring the engagement ring he’d chosen for her. She stretched languidly. “I don’t know about you, but I think we keep getting better and better together.”