Embracing Her Heart

by Melissa Foster

  They pressed their faces close together. Grace smiled for the camera, but Reed was too taken with her to look anywhere else. And when her green eyes met his, their mouths came together hungrily. Her lips were warm and sweet as he took the kiss deeper. The flash went off around them a few times, and then there was only the darkness, the curtain to the booth buffering them from the outside world as they made out like they had all those years ago, groping and kissing like they’d never get enough of each other. He lifted her up and she straddled his lap, holding his face between her soft hands like she never wanted to let him go—and man, he hoped she didn’t.

  “Come home with me, Grace,” he said between kisses.

  “Okay,” she said, and pressed her lips to his. “One more kiss.”

  By the time they stumbled out of the booth with their enormous bear, Reed’s body was on fire. They made out on the way to the truck, stopping every few minutes to maneuver around the bear. He tossed the stuffed animal behind the seats and they tumbled onto the front seat in a flurry of lasciviousness. His body pressed down over hers, and he pushed his hand beneath her blouse, filling his hand with her womanly curves. She moaned, breaking through his lust-addled brain.

  He ground out a curse. “Not here, Grace. I want you naked in my arms, and I don’t want to worry about who might see or hear us.”

  “Oh! Right!” she said, and then worry rose in her eyes. “Brindle saw us together. We’ll be the talk of the town tomorrow, if we’re not already.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” he said, laughing softly as he stepped out of the truck and helped her sit up. “I’m glad they saw us.” He went around to the driver’s side and hauled her across the seat until she was pressed tightly beside him. “Talking is one thing. Giving them a show is another. Let them talk all they want. Pretty soon nobody will remember a time when we weren’t together. Most of all, you.”

  They kissed at every light on the way to his place, and when they turned off the main road, Grace said, “Remember when we used to dream about owning that Victorian on the road where Sophie’s parents live?”

  “Mm-hm.” The nearer they got to his house, the clearer his thoughts became. He was pushing for no more hiding, and that meant being honest about everything. Including Alina. He hated the idea of bringing her up and hated even more having to admit to Grace that he’d almost married the wrong woman. But she trusted him, and he didn’t want to keep anything from her.

  “Sophie built a house there. She’s coming home for her baby shower next weekend, and—” She stopped talking when he turned down his and his new neighbor, Sophie’s, road. “Reed…?”

  He turned into his driveway, which was lined by tall oaks, and his pulse kicked up as the house came into view. He parked out front, the headlights illuminating the house.

  “You bought it? This is yours?” Her gaze sailed over the wide front porch that abutted the turret on the left, then drifted up to the two windows on the third floor.

  He cut the engine and stepped from the truck. “Fate’s got a strange way of making things work out. This Painted Lady came on the market at the right time. How could I not buy it? It’s a piece of history”—ours and its own—“and has all the hallmarks of the things I treasure. Check out the gingerbread trim, the wide porch, and octagonal tower. And the steep, multifaceted roof is true Victorian. Not to mention the memories I have of us ogling the place.” He glanced at Grace and caught her watching him with a wondrous expression. “Sorry. I get a little carried away.”

  “No, it’s nice to see you haven’t lost that romantic touch. You always got carried away about houses and things other kids paid no attention to. It was one of the things that I admired about you. You were different from everyone back then. I guess you still are.”

  As they headed for the front door, she said, “It’s gorgeous. It looks the same, only different. Better.”

  “I fixed up the siding, replaced the gingerbread around the peaks, had it painted. I fixed up the whole porch and was able to use most of the original pieces. Wait until you see the inside. It’s even better than we imagined.”

  “You painted it white, lavender, and pale green,” she said with a smile.

  “I was never very good with colors.” It wasn’t really true, but Grace had loved those colors, and when it came time to paint, he figured, why not? “You had a great eye for that.”

  “I’m sure I sound shell-shocked. I can’t believe you bought it.” She ran her hand up the railing as they ascended the steps.

  “I’ve still got a little work to do in the kitchen, and I need to paint the living room, but it’s getting there.”

  He pushed the door open, revealing high ceilings and archways leading into the living room and kitchen and restored carved woodwork along the lower half of the walls and stairs to their right. Grace smiled appreciatively as she took in the results of his hard work. She stepped into the living room, which opened to the dining room.

  “The kitchen’s around back, and there’s a great morning room that overlooks the creek.”

  “Wow. This is gorgeous.” She ran her fingers over the complex moldings and glanced up at the ornate chandelier and intricate medallion on the ceiling. “Did you do all of this work?”

  Pride rose inside him. “Yes.”

  “It’s really stunning. And what’s going on over there?” She pointed at the color samples he’d painted on the wall.

  “I couldn’t decide which colors would look best. Which do you like?”

  Her brow wrinkled in concentration, her head tilting to one side, then the other. “I really love this one.” She pointed to his favorite, pale seafoam green. “It ties in with the outside of the house. It’s vivid and somehow also soft, but it might be too much for the whole room. I’d probably go with something like this one.” She pointed to the next sample. “It reminds me of buttercream, and white trim would make it pop. It also goes with anything.” She looked around the room. “Not that you have anything to match it to. Where’s your furniture?”

  “I have the necessities, a mattress and dresser, a kitchen table. Until now I haven’t needed anything else. Other than when I showed the house to my aunt and uncle, you’re my first guest.”

  “With a house this special, don’t you want to show it off?”

  “Not really. I’m rehabbing it for myself, not so other people can gawk at it.”

  “Well, you’ve done an impressive job, and it brings back memories. It smells like the houses your uncle used to work on,” she said, lacing her fingers with his.

  That simple act of claiming him, letting him know she was still right there with him, brought a streak of happiness. “The houses we used to sneak into to make out? I have a faint memory of that smell you’re referring to, but mostly I remember your sweet scent knocking me off my feet.”

  “Reed,” she said with a bashful smile.

  “I can’t help it, Grace. I remember it all, the way we kissed, lying beneath the stars and never wanting our nights together to end. Texting until three in the morning when you’d fall asleep and leave me hanging more often than not.”

  She buried her face in his chest with a groan.

  “My girl needed her beauty sleep.”

  “Your girl needed to go to the same school as her boyfriend so she could have seen you every day without worrying about what anyone else thought.”

  “Rivalries were awful back then, weren’t they?” He remembered too many kids who had gotten into fights to prove their school was the best and girls who had been called horrible names because they dated guys from other schools. He never would have risked that happening to Grace. “It’s not that way now around here. Did you know that? Everyone gets along, regardless of which town they’re from.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I hear.”

  “I wanted to be with you every second. You had to know that, Grace.” Her gaze was soft and alluring, drawing him deeper into her. “And right now I want to carry you upstairs and make love to you
until nothing else exists.”

  “I like that plan,” she said softly.

  He knew what he had to do next might ruin this moment, but to keep Grace’s trust, he’d take that chance.

  Chapter Eight

  GRACE’S INSIDES WERE trembling. She couldn’t believe she was really standing in Reed’s house, agreeing to go upstairs and make love to him after all these years. But she felt so good when she was with him, she couldn’t imagine anything stopping her from taking the next step.

  Reed touched his lips to hers in a whisper of a kiss that left her wanting more. “Gracie, I want you more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. But I can’t look into your trusting eyes and have anything left unsaid between us. You asked about my life, and I want to know about yours. Let’s have a drink and talk.”

  She exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and realized she was terribly nervous. “A drink is probably a good idea.”

  She admired the ornate crown moldings and elegant, antique chandeliers as he led her through the dining room to a large kitchen with gorgeous marble countertops and gaping holes where the stove and dishwasher should be. A table for two sat beside glass doors overlooking the backyard. Even in the darkness she could see moonlight reflecting off the creek.

  He pulled a bottle of wine from a cabinet and untied a red ribbon from around the neck. “Compliments of Roy and Ella.”

  He grabbed two wineglasses from a cabinet, and poured them each a glass.

  “Here you go.” He handed her one and led her through the kitchen to another set of stairs.

  She followed him up to the master bedroom, where a single antique dresser sat against the far wall. A king-size mattress lay atop gorgeous hardwood floors by a wall of nearly floor-to-ceiling windows. Grace swallowed hard. Was that their talk? The few seconds in the kitchen? Her nerves kicked up again.

  “Come with me.” Reed led her through the bedroom and out a set of glass doors to a veranda. He flicked a switch, illuminating tiny white lights wrapped around iron railings, a U-shaped, deep-cushioned seating area with a few soft-looking blankets. A small round table for two sat in the corner by a fireplace.

  The view of the creek took Grace’s breath away. She imagined Reed spending most of his time out there. They’d had no place to go when they were dating, so they had spent a lot of time in secluded outdoor spots, like behind the theater, down by the creek, and in local parks. She realized now how little time she spent outside when she was in the city.

  “This is beautiful. I remember you used to say you wished you had a tree fort but you were too old for one. Is this your version of an adult tree fort?”

  “Something like that.” He reached for her hand and guided her to the couch.

  “Is this where you bring all your dates? To your bachelor pad, with romantic lights and a make-out couch?”

  He pulled off his boots, giving her a don’t be ridiculous look. “Hardly.”

  He slipped off the cushion, kneeling in front of her, and began taking off her boots, making her even more nervous.

  “I’ll clean these for you, as I promised. But right now let’s just be comfortable.”

  “I can clean them tomorrow.”

  He set her boots aside and nudged her legs open, kneeling between them, his arms circling her waist. He smiled, tugging at all the lonely pieces of herself she’d been starving for years.

  “I need to tell you something, Gracie, and it might hurt to hear it, but I don’t want any secrets between us.”

  “That’s not exactly the best line to get a woman into bed.”

  “I know, but you need to hear this. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you, and the weird thing is, I know it’s going to bug the hell out of you, but you should know, it doesn’t bother me.”

  “Reed, just spit it out, because you’re making me nervous.”

  “You asked about my life, and what I said on the Ferris wheel was true. With the exception of the business I started and sold, nothing I’ve done matters more than coming back together with you. After we broke up, I headed to Michigan. Roy’s brother, Joe, lives there. I went to college, and he hooked me up with a historical preservation company. I worked through school, which is where I met Thad, who eventually became my business partner. After college we made a name for ourselves in the industry, and within a couple years we were earning seven figures and things were going well. About two years ago I met a woman, Alina, and we dated for a while. She wanted to get married, and even though I knew something wasn’t right between us, I was considering it. Six months ago, I came back from a business meeting early and caught her in bed with Thad. Two months later Roy suffered his heart attack. I sold my half of the business to Thad, sold my house with all the furnishings, and came here.”

  Grace struggled to find her voice. “You were engaged six months ago?”

  “No. Almost engaged, if you can even call it that. Our relationship wasn’t what it should have been, so I never took that last step. Something was always missing.”

  She pushed to her feet, feeling gutted. “Not what it should have been? What does that even mean?” She was breathing hard, and somehow she still felt like she was choking. “How can you say you feel so much for me, when you were in love with another woman only six months ago?”

  Reed stood and closed the distance between them. “Grace, I wasn’t in love with her. I never felt for her what I felt for you, or what I feel for you now after only a few days of seeing you again.”

  “You were never engaged to me, so you must have felt more.” She turned away, staring out at the creek, trying to dodge the pain zinging through her.

  “Bullshit. I never even introduced her to my family, and in four months I’ve never once felt the need to talk about her to anyone. No one here even knows about her other than Roy and Ella. Doesn’t that tell you something? I have never felt more for anyone than I’ve felt for you. I spent a decade not feeling, Grace. Do you have any idea what that’s like? I gave up hope of ever finding what we had again. I gave up, Grace. I figured, I might not be all in with her, but she wanted to get married. I hoped that someday I’d get over whatever was holding me back, so I considered it. There was no ring, no proposal, no ‘I can’t live without you.’ Do you know why?”

  She crossed her arms, struggling to hold back tears she knew he didn’t deserve. Why did it hurt so much to know he’d almost married someone else?

  “Gracie, please look at me. I’m trying to be honest with you. We’ve never lied to each other, and I wasn’t about to start now.”

  She turned, and a tear broke free. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb, the love in his eyes boring into her chest.

  “I never said it to her because I never felt it. You weren’t as broken as I was. You must have had other relationships. Don’t tell me you never came close to settling down.”

  “I didn’t! I might have, if I’d met the right guy, but…” She blinked away tears, thinking of how few guys she’d actually gone out with and how disappointing they’d all turned out to be. “No one was right. No one was you, and I was so angry at you for that, because I was hurt that you left town after telling me you never would.”

  He reached for her. “But now you know why I left.”

  “I know,” she snapped, feeling foolish for crying. “And I don’t have any idea why I’m so upset, or why it hurts to know you almost married someone else, but it does.”

  “Because you still love me, Grace.” He wiped her tears and gathered her in his arms. “You still love me, the same way I still love you.”

  She tried to push the hurt aside, struggling with the truth of his statement.

  “I know that was hard for you to hear. It was just as hard for me to say, and not only because I knew it would upset you, but also because I didn’t trust my feelings enough to get out of that relationship long before it imploded. I’m not willing to make that same mistake again and live in the dark. You’re it for me, Grace. You always have be
en. This coming-clean business, and the ten years prior, were hard. But loving you has always been easy.”

  “We were never easy,” she reminded him. “We had to sneak around.”

  “That’s seeing you, not loving you. I’d have gone to any length to see you because I loved you.”

  Her heart climbed into her throat. “But we’re temporary again.”

  “We don’t have to be. A long-distance relationship can work if we want it to. I’ll never ask you to give up your dreams.”

  She thought about her busy life back in the city and how difficult it would be to maintain a full-time relationship when she was working long hours and weekends. Could they manage a long-distance relationship? Maybe that way they could actually enjoy the time they had together without the stress of either of them feeling second-rate to their careers on a daily basis. Hope bloomed inside her.

  “You never asked me to give up my dreams back then,” she said as realization dawned on her. “You never asked me to stay in Oak Falls. If anything, you pushed me toward college and New York.”

  “Because I loved you. I wanted you to be happy, and I knew you never would until you caught that rising star and rode it all the way to the moon. That’s who you are, Gracie. You were the girl with big dreams, and now you’re the woman who has achieved them. I’d never want to take that away from you. If the only way we can make this work is long-distance, I’ll take it. I’m not pushing you away this time. I’m asking to be part of your life, however we can fit it in.”

  His honesty, endless faith in her abilities, and his support touched her so deeply. She didn’t want to dissect their future or wonder if all the pieces of herself she felt shifting into place were real or only in her head. All she wanted as she went up on her toes and touched her lips to Reed’s was him.

  FOR THE FIRST time in years, Reed wasn’t thinking about the job he had to do or his next project. With Grace’s eagerness, he didn’t want to think at all. He claimed her mouth with fierce possessiveness, his hands traveling over her lush curves. She arched into him, and he clutched her ass, groaning with the inferno it ignited inside him. He took the kiss deeper, rougher, holding on to his control by a fraying thread.