by Codi Gary
And he did. Thoroughly.
Chapter Seven
Valentine’s Day
RYAN WALKED THROUGH the door of her house with a smile. She was slowly wearing Gracie down about what happened with Eric after he carried her out of the auction. Gracie still protested that nothing happened except a good ear blistering from her to him, but Ryan and Gemma had their doubts. However, it was a lot more fun making Gracie uncomfortable for a change.
Ryan stopped just inside the door. Little red arrows were taped on the floor about a foot apart, leading into the kitchen. A smile tugged at her mouth as she followed them to the fridge. Red cut-out letters on the freezer door commanded, OPEN ME. She pulled the handle, and inside sat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked. She laughed out loud, seeing the scrap of paper next to the ice cream, pulled it open and read:
Hello Sweetheart,
Go to the DVD player and press Play.
She kept the note in her hand as she walked to the living room and saw the TV was on DVD mode. She bent down to press Play and already had a feeling about what he’d put inside.
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams stood drenched on the wooden dock, yelling at each other. It was her favorite scene. Suddenly the screen went black and words were streaming across the blackness.
Come to the bedroom for one last surprise.
Ryan could barely contain her excitement as her shoes tapped across the wood floor. She pushed open the door to her bedroom and gasped, dropping the note.
The whole room was filled with flowers, in vases and pots, and petals were scattered across the floor and bed. Ryan’s eyes caught a last note amidst the red and pink petals and walked forward to pick it up.
Turn around.
She turned to see Gregg coming through the door in a button-down white shirt and the Valentine’s tie she’d left on his desk this morning. It was light pink with a big red heart in the middle that lit up like a strobe light. She had found it at Spencer’s gifts and thought it was hilarious.
Gregg came forward, but instead of embracing her like she thought he would, he kneeled in front of her. She held her breath as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little black box. He popped it open with a snap and a lovely three-stone diamond ring glittered up at her.
She looked into his nervous face with wide eyes as he said, “Ryan. I love you. I love you for your snarky comments and your playful teasing. I love you for the way you bite your lip when you’re nervous and the way your eyes flash when you’re angry. I love your beauty and your strength, and I want to give you all of me for the rest of our lives. I promise in turn to be the best husband I can be for you, if you let me. I want you to give me every part of you to love, all your insecurities and your doubts, and I will spend the rest of our lives kissing them away until all you see is the wonderful woman that I love. Please make me the happiest man alive.”
Ryan’s eyes filled with tears. “You are asking me to marry you, right?”
He gave her a funny smile, “Was that not obvious?”
She reached out her and took the tiny box from him, holding it in her palm. She stared down at the beautiful ring and pulled it out, then held it out to the equally beautiful man on his knees before her. “Will you put it on me?”
He took the ring and slipped it onto her ring finger slowly. It fit perfectly, and her tears spilled over with abandon. She smiled through them and chided, “You still have to ask the question.”
He shook his head, his smile never faltering. “Ryan Marie Ashton, will you please put me out of my misery and marry me?”
“You know, you could be a little—”
He stood up and pulled her tightly against him, cutting off her teasing. He kissed every piece of exposed flesh he could find, finally settling his mouth over hers. She kissed him back for all she was worth, and they were both breathing heavily when he pulled back enough to ask, “Can’t you just say yes?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice hushed. “Yes I want to marry you. I love you.”
He kissed her again. “I love you. Do you like the ring?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “I adore it.”
He smiled widely and squeezed her affectionately. “So did I ruin your hatred of Valentine’s Day?”
She laughed huskily. “Not fully. It took me almost twenty years for my hatred to fester. I figure it’s going to take at least twenty more years to counter act all that loathing.”
“Twenty years of Valentine’s Days? I suppose I could do that.”
Can’t get enough of Codi’s Rock Canyon romances?
Keep reading for an excerpt from
Return of the Bad Girl
Now available from Avon Impulse
Plus, read on for a sneak peek from
Bad For Me
Coming spring 2015
An Excerpt from
Return of the Bad Girl
When Caroline Willis learns that her perfect apartment has been double-booked—to a dangerously hot bad boy—her bad-girl reputation comes out in full force. But as close quarters begin to ignite the sizzling chemistry between them, she’s left wondering: Bad boy plus bad girl equals nothing but trouble . . . right?
“I FEEL LIKE you keep looking for something more to me, but what you know about me is it. There’s no deep down, no mistaking my true character. I am bad news.”
Gabe waited, listening for the tap of her retreating feet or the slam of the door, but only silence met his ears and then the soft sound of shoes on the cement floor—only they got closer to him instead of farther away.
Fingers trailed feather-light touches over his lower back. “This scar on your back? Is that from the accident?”
Her caress made his skin tingle as he shook his head. “I was knocked down by one of my mother’s boyfriends and landed on a glass table.”
“What about here?” Caroline’s hand had moved to his right shoulder.
“It was a tattoo I had removed. In prison, you’re safer if you belong, so—”
“I understand,” she said, cutting him off.
Had she heard the pain in his voice, or did she really understand? He turned around before she could point out any more scars. “What are you doing?”
She looked him in the eye and touched the side of his neck, where his tattoo began and spread all the way down, past his shoulder and over his chest. “You say you’re damaged. That you’re bad news and won’t ever change.”
“Yeah?”
To his surprise, she dropped her hand to his and brought it up to her collarbone, where his finger felt a rough, puckered line.
“This is a knife wound—just a scratch, really—that I got from a man who used to come see me dance at the strip club. He was constantly asking me out, and I always let him down easy. But one night, after I’d had a shitty day, I told him I would never go out with an old, ugly fuck like him. He was waiting by my car when I got off work.”
His rage blazed at this phantom from her past. “What happened?”
“I pulled a move I’d learned from one of the bouncers. Even though he still cut me, I was able to pick up a handful of gravel and throw it in his face. I made it to the front door of the club, and he took off. They arrested him on assault charges, and it turned out he had an outstanding warrant. I never saw him again.”
Caroline pulled him closer, lifting her arm for him to see a jagged scar along her forearm. “This was from a broken beer bottle I got sliced with when a woman came into my bar in San Antonio, looking for her husband. She didn’t take it well when she found out he had a girlfriend on the side, and when I stepped in to stop her from attacking him, she sliced me.”
He couldn’t stop his hand from sliding up over her soft skin until it rested on the back of her neck, his fingers pressing into her flesh until she tilted her chin up to meet his gaze.
“What’s your point with all the show-and-tell, Caroline?”
She reached out and smoothed his chest with her hand. “I don’t care how damaged you are, because I am just as
broken, maybe more so.”
Her words tore at him, twisting him up inside as his other hand cupped the back of her head. “You don’t want to go here with me, princess. I’m only going to break your heart.”
The laugh that passed those beautiful lips was bitter and sad. “Trust me, my heart was shattered long before I ever met you.”
Gabe wanted her, wanted to believe that he could find comfort in her body without the complications that would inevitably come, but he’d seen her heart firsthand. She had one. It might be wrapped up in a mile-thick layer of cowhide, but a part of Caroline Willis was still open to new emotions. New love.
And he wasn’t.
But he wanted to kiss her anyway.
He dropped his head until his lips hovered above hers, and he watched as they parted, the closer he came. Her hot breath teased his mouth, and he couldn’t stop while she was warm and willing. He might not get another chance to taste her, and while a better man would have walked away, he wasn’t that guy.
A Sneak Peek of
Bad For Me
Trust doesn’t come easily. At least, not for Callie Jacobsen. After five years in Rock Canyon, she’s really just started to get settled into her new life as a radio show host. And then she meets Everett Silverton, a small-town hero with his own demons—and a voice that could melt butter. Callie knows firsthand the heartbreak that can come from trusting the wrong man, but she just can’t seem to get Everett out of her mind.
DAVE HELD UP his finger and Callie picked up line one. “You’re on the Kat, what can I play for ya?”
“I was thinking a little Blake Sheldon, actually,” a deep voice said. The caller’s smile was evident, even over the phone.
Rhett.
Turning off the RECORD button, she tried to ignore the giddy butterflies fluttering through her stomach. “You’re late.”
“You noticed.”
“Well, you’ve been almost OCD about the time you call for months, so it’s a little hard not to.” Callie bit her lip to keep from smiling.
“Well, as a matter of fact, I overslept this morning. Can I just say I’m flattered? Were you counting down the minutes?”
Callie’s face burned, and even though he couldn’t see her, she rubbed her cheeks with one hand. “Actually, it’s just because you’re the only person who calls in with any taste.”
“Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should,” she said, turning around in her chair so she couldn’t see Dave and her tech, Sam, making kissy faces at her. “Now, what Blake song do you want to hear?”
“Uh oh, did I get you in trouble with the boss?”
“No, I just . . . there are a lot of calls coming in, so I can’t talk for long.”
“I understand,” he said, and there was a pause on the line before he cleared his throat. “Maybe we could talk more later? Off air?”
Callie’s heart pounded. Was he asking for her number?
Real names and numbers made it real. What if he was dangerous? What if she gave him her number and he tracked her down—
“I’m going to take it from your silence that I’ve freaked you out,” he said, breaking through her panicked thoughts. “I’ll let you get back to work.”
He hung up before she could say anything. Without his trademark farewell.
Way to go, you paranoid freak.
Though really, Callie didn’t think she was paranoid; she was cautious. Having your fiancé turn into a complete stranger—a violent stranger—six months before your wedding could do that to a person. Thinking of Tristan was painful, and she tried to push him from her mind. Tried to forget their past together. If she didn’t, the nightmares might start up again—and the urge to drink herself into a stupor along with them.
Just then, Dalton came walking in with Ratchet. The minute he let him off the leash, the large dog lumbered over and laid his head in Callie’s lap, as if sensing her dark thoughts. Stroking his dense fur, she murmured softly to him until he sat and eventually flopped to the ground.
“Callie, you’ve got callers holding,” Dave said over the intercom.
Pressing the button, she took the next call, but her thoughts were still on Rhett. Was she ready to let someone in and trust again?
She really wasn’t sure.
About the Author
An obsessive bookworm, CODI GARY likes to write sexy small-town contemporary romances with humor, grand gestures, and blush-worthy moments. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading her favorite authors, squealing over her must-watch shows, and playing with her children. She lives in Idaho with her family.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Also by Codi Gary
Return of the Bad Girl
Bad Girls Don’t Marry Marines
Good Girls Don’t Date Rock Stars
Things Good Girls Don’t Do
Copyright
“The Trouble With Sexy” originally appeared in the anthology Kiss Me, published in 2013 by Avon Impulse, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from Return of the Bad Girl copyright © 2014 by Codi Gary.
Excerpt from Bad For Me copyright © 2015 by Codi Gary.
THE TROUBLE WITH SEXY. Copyright © 2013 by Codi Gary. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2015 ISBN: 9780062379658
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