She could keep snapshots of him in her mind of the moments they’d had together, frozen in time, until they faded.
Or, she could woman up, put on her big girl panties, and grab what she finally realized she wanted with both hands.
***
Nell sauntered into Ben’s theater on San Juan Island, thinking it was good they hadn’t tried to hold the debut of Adrian’s collection at the Island’s tiny art gallery. In the lobby, at least fifty people milled about, wineglasses in hand, admiring Un Refugio, his sculpture of Agata’s hands. At the other side of the lobby, the wall hanging of Zoe resting on Alex’s shoulder drew just as much attention.
She smoothed her hands down the teal dress that hugged her curves, adjusted the deep slit that showed off her legs. The neckline curved slightly but modestly, to balance the dramatic back that left her skin bare until nearly her waist. Add in heels that kept her legs going on forever, as well as smoky, dramatic eyes and soft rose lips, and she hoped the result would strike Adrian speechless.
Adopting a confident and sexy hip sway to mask the nervousness that churned in her stomach, she made her way through the crowd, waving to the people she knew but not stopping to talk. She thought she might throw up if she opened her mouth.
When a waiter offered her a glass of wine, she grabbed at it like a drowning woman and downed it in two quick gulps.
Inside the theater itself, she stopped short. Adrian’s work glowed under the many lights on the stage, pieces scattered artfully to allow attendees to move easily from one to the next. Everything around her fell away at the sight of what she thought of as her sculpture—because it was her—right in the middle of the stage, spotlighted as the centerpiece of the collection. Very few people would recognize it as her, because he’d softened the lines of her profile, almost blurred it to give the sense of movement, her neck arching up in in a blatantly sexual pose. Just looking at it made her mouth dry up and a pulse begin to throb between her legs.
She didn’t see Adrian anywhere.
Nell wound her way through the crowd, noticing Ben chatting up a couple who had their checkbook in hand. She grinned, knowing that not only was Adrian donating a portion of the proceeds of his sales to the children’s theater program, but also attendees were being asked to make a donation. From the star struck looks of most people around him, Ben was having no trouble raking it in.
Amy and Hannah stood near the stage, chatting with Marcelo, who had his arm draped around Emma. Amy spotted her and waved, and both she and Hannah give her a thumbs up, mouthed, “Good luck.” Nell continued to make her way down the aisle. When a hand landed on her shoulder, she turned and came face to face with Paul.
“I hear you’re collecting,” he said, handing her over fifty dollars.
She took it, blew out a breath.
“I’m going for broke.”
“That’s the Nell I know and love.” He gave her a warm hug, then shoved her towards the stage.
Jan and Brooke intercepted her next. Nell shook her head before her mom could speak, opening her arms and drawing her in, then hugging Brooke in turn.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she told them both.
“No, we’re sorry we butted in. You’re an adult, and you get to make your own choices.”
Brooke eyed her up and down, raised her eyebrows.
“Please tell me your choice is to go after the sexy man of the hour.”
Jan elbowed her, but Nell just laughed and kissed Brooke on the cheek.
“Stick around, and you’ll find out.”
Ryan and Zane blew kisses from near the bar set up at the foot of the stage, but before she could respond, she froze.
Adrian stepped onto the stage.
A fitted black dress shirt hugged his chest, thin gray stripes picking up the light of the stage. He wore tailored dark gray slacks, with shoes she guessed Marcelo had picked out for him, as they were deep purple with gray laces. His glossy black hair was tied at the nape of his neck, and his dark eyes scanned the crowd, zeroed in on her. Nell nearly swallowed her tongue at the heat in his gaze, the longing.
As if in slow motion, she walked up the stairs to the stage, aware of his eyes on her the entire time. She drew in all the bravado she could muster, added a little seductive swagger to her hips.
“Great show,” she said, stopping in front of him.
“It’s good to see you, Nell,” he said quietly.
Her heart ached, and she searched his face, noting a few lines of strain, shadows under his eyes. Was she too late? She pointed to the wireless mic in his hand.
“I was hoping I might take that for a moment, before you say a few words. I had an idea that might get people donating to the theater fundraiser. Marcelo said you wouldn’t mind.”
He frowned a little, and she could see faint disappointment in his eyes as he took in that she hadn’t sought him out, that she just wanted to use the mic. Nell took that as a good sign.
“Of course.” He handed it over.
Nell’s heart felt like it was about to hammer right out of her chest onto the stage and start dancing show tunes. She clicked on the mic, looked up. Christ, there were a lot of people here. She locked eyes with Paul, who grinned and mouthed, “Do it.”
“Excuse me. If I could have your attention, please.” Nell repeated this a few times until the chatter died down and all the freaking eyes in the entire place were on her. Kick ass, she told herself.
“Thank you. I’m Nell Stewart, owner of Nell’s airline, which flew many of you here tonight. Before Adrian says a few words, I’d like to make one final plea for the children’s theater. By now, Mr. Movie Star over there—” she waved at Ben, who smiled, and gave her a little bow, “—has probably already cornered you and talked your ear off about what an amazing place this is for children to learn how to act, dance, sing, and be the one place where they can belong no matter what, blah blah blah.”
She paused at the laughs.
“But, seriously, folks, we’re so grateful that Ben took on this project. He really is making a difference in the lives of our kids. You know you can write a check to help out. But, where’s the fun in that? Let’s make this a little more interesting. Let’s make this a friendly wager. A bet, if you will. Adrian, a little help, please.”
Nell handed him her mic, then dug into her purse to pull out the wads of cash. She took the mic back with her free hand.
“Some background for those of you that don’t know me. I’m what they call a free spirit. Ain’t no man going to tie me down when there’s things to do and places to see. Am I right, ladies?”
She smiled at the handful of enthusiastic cheers, noting out of the corner of her eye that Adrian’s whole body had gone still, his head swiveled to face her. She turned and met his gaze, then, hamming it up, deliberately looked him up and down.
“Now, Adrian here, our resident artist, well, you can imagine that in true artistic fashion, he’s enjoyed sampling the many beauties the world has to offer. And, they enjoyed sampling him, because, whoo boy.” She fanned herself. Hannah let out a wolf whistle.
“So, I’ve got a rule. No on-Island flings. But, I broke it for Adrian. Because, well. Do I need to spell it out?”
More laughter, mostly from the women in the room.
“It turns out that our dear, dear friends decided to have some fun at our expense. A wager. Some people,” she held up a chunk of the cash, waved it. “Bet that I would break poor Adrian’s heart. Crush it to smithereens under my sex-kitten heels. Hold this, darling.” She handed it to Adrian, didn’t meet his eyes.
“Other people—okay, one person.” She waved a single twenty. “Bet that Adrian would break my heart. Yes, the people you hear laughing are the ones that know me well.”
She handed the twenty to Adrian, met and held his eyes.
“Adrian here bet a whopping fifty that we’d have a satisfying relationship and part as friends.” She handed him the fifty.
“There’s the pot, ladies and ge
nts. $170. Except, this bet isn’t fair. Because I haven’t had a chance to bet. Seems only fair that I should get to do so. It’s my life, after all. Right?”
The audience, loosened up from the wine and beer, yelled out a resounding “Yes!”
“Thing is, I know the outcome, and you don’t. So, here’s the deal. You all get to bet. Some of you know me. Many of you know Adrian. You get to choose. Paul, here—wave to the people, Paul. He’ll take your bet if you join the many that think I broke Adrian’s heart.”
A few people laughed, a bit uneasily this time.
“It’s okay, right, Adrian?”
His gaze steady, he took the mic from her. “Of course. I’m pretty interested to find out how this all turns out. It’s my life, after all.”
Nell smiled as he turned her words back on her.
“It’s for a good cause. Bet away.”
Nell took the mic back, her hand shaking a little. “And Hannah here, wave, Hannah. She’ll take your money if you think Adrian broke my heart. And, Ben, he’ll take your bet if you think Adrian is right, that we parted as friends. Bet as much or as little as you like. We’re going to count up alllll this money that you’ve just bet. I’ll match it—so I’m going to put more in the pot than anyone else. That seems only fair, since after all, I do know who won. And, the real winner here is the children’s theater, because I’m changing the bet—the children’s theater is the recipient of our friendly wager tonight.”
She blew out a breath, watched as people held up their cash and waited for Paul, Hannah and Ben to collect. The minutes ticked by, and she ignored Adrian because she was afraid if she looked at him, she’d lose her nerve. When Adrian nudged her, she nearly jumped out of her skin, then gave a weak smile.
“This might take a few minutes.” He handed her a glass of wine, which she took gratefully. When she met his eyes, instead of feeling worse, she felt everything shift and loosen inside, a calm wash over her. “You really know how to crash a party. This is by far the most entertaining opening I’ve ever had.”
He spoke lightly, but she noticed his knuckles were white on the cash he still held.
Nell scanned the audience, smiled when she saw Agata handing over what looked like a hundred dollar bill with specific instructions to Ben.
“Hmm. Your mom seems to be taking your bet.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes, studied her. “No. She’s talking too much. Probably betting on you.”
Nell laughed, watched as her friends finished collecting the cash. Amy, Tom, Marcelo and Emma helped count, and in a few minutes, Paul clambered up on stage, three envelopes stuffed with cash. Nell handed him the mic and finished her wine, then handed it to one of the roving waiters.
“All right, the results are in.” Paul waited for the chatter to die down. He held up one envelope. “We’ve got $300 in votes that say Adrian broke Nell’s heart. Generous folks, but foolish ones. You can guess who I bet on.”
He gave the envelope to Adrian. “We’ve got $500 in votes that Nell left Adrian ruined for other women.” He handed the envelope to Adrian. “We’ve got just $50 in votes that they parted as mutual friends. Wow, people in this room have been unlucky in love, it seems.” When the chuckles died down, he held up a hundred dollar bill. “Finally, we have one lone person who realized there’s another option—they instructed us to place this bet on whatever Nell decides.”
Nell turned to find Agata in the crowd. The older woman nodded and smiled, and Nell blinked back tears.
“So, Nell, that leaves you on the hook for $1,120. Hope you brought your checkbook.” Paul passed her back the mic, gave her arm a quick rub, then headed off stage.
“The moment of truth.” Nell paused. “Here’s the thing. I’ve never been much for rules. Since this is all going to charity, I hope you don’t mind if I cheat a little. There’s another option that I’d like to put on the table. And, I’m going to go all in. Because the truth is—and oh, god, I’m going to sound like such an ass here if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m right—we broke each other’s hearts.”
She turned, met Adrian’s eyes. Silence settled over the theater. No clinking glasses, no rustling, no whispers.
“And, we didn’t part as friends. So, unless I bet on something else, we all lose the bet. Do I have that right, Adrian?”
Nell held her breath, let it out when Adrian took a step closer to her, nodded.
“I’ll bet all my $1,120 on door number 4. We fall in love. One of us is a complete moron and runs screaming into the night, because she can’t handle it. That’s me, if you aren’t keeping up.” Soft laughter came from the audience, but she didn’t take her eyes off Adrian. He set the money down on the stage and reached out to take her free hand.
“When I come to my senses, I realize that you’re the only man who can handle me. That there’s things to do and places to go, and I want to do them and see them with you. That you make me laugh. You piss me off. And, you hold me when I cry. You’re the light when it’s dark. The calm when it’s stormy. And the lightning when it’s too goddamn boring.”
She drank in the smile that lit Adrian’s face and felt all the pieces falling into place, a weight lifting from her shoulders and her heart.
“I bet that you somehow haven’t gotten tired of my sorry ass and my scaredy-cat heart and that you love me right back. I bet that you can trust in that love, especially since I’m making a complete idiot of myself in front of every single person that we know. Someone very wise recently told me that love is the biggest gamble of all. So.” Nell took a deep breath, grinned like a fool at Adrian. “I love you, Adrian. I bet that we live happily ever after.”
Adrian stared into her eyes for a long moment, while Nell’s heart pounded. Then, he held out his hand for the mic. Silence reigned over the theater.
He paused.
“I’d like to change my bet. I should have known my mama would know best. I bet on door number four. I bet on us.”
As the theater erupted into cheers, he set the mic down, swept her into his arms and kissed her. Nell let go of the heartache, the stress, the worry and let the joy fill her up to the brim, snuggling into his warm, hard body. Here, at last, was home.
“I love you, too, Nell,” he murmured into her ear as the audience continued to cheer and clap.
“Pretty sure I love you more,” she said, laughing at him. “You only bet $50 on us? I put in over $1,000.”
“It’s not a contest.” Adrian tipped his forehead to hers.
Nell draped her arms around his neck, already looking forward to waking up next to him the next morning, and the morning after that.
“Want to bet?”
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Love in the Air. If you enjoyed reading it, please take a moment to leave a review—it really helps us independent authors out.
Stay tuned for Lopez Island Series #3. This time, it’s Paul’s turn. He just might get the white picket fence happy ever after he’s been looking for—but not quite how he expected.
Oh, and say hi sometime, why don’t you? You can find me on Facebook, Twitter or at www.writerjamiem.com.
-Jamie
About the Author
Jamie Matthews wrote her first story at age 8 and has been hooked ever since. By day, she works in communications. Once home, she chases her two little boys around and steals the hours after they go to bed to write.
Jamie calls beautiful Pacific Northwest home and loves spending time with family. She bakes way too many cookies and cupcakes and spends her summers camping in the great Pacific Northwest.
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Love in the Air: Lopez Island Series #2 Page 30