He gave a solemn nod. “I do. I’ve fallen in love with you, Nik, and I know how bad you want a family, but there are plenty of examples in this room that prove without love to back it up, family is nothing more than a word. Standing here with you, I realized that as much as I wished to keep quiet, we can’t do this if you don’t feel the same way.”
She dropped her gaze down to the paper in her hand, a smile trembling on her lips. “You’re right.”
His hands loosened on her arms and fell to his sides. She looked up to see his expression filled with despair. When he shifted backward, she stepped forward and fisted her fingers in his suit lapel to keep him right where he was.
“I do want a family, Sam, but Ella’s not the only reason I agreed to marry you.”
“She’s not?”
His eyes lit with a spark of hope. He rested his hands on her hips, and even through the material, his touch sent fissions of awareness coursing through her.
“No, she’s not. What the hell do you think last night was about?” Color tinted his cheeks and she felt an answering heat in her own face. She moved closer to flatten her other palm on his chest. “Think about it. After Joe, do you really think I’d marry someone I don’t love?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “I guess not.”
“You guess?” she echoed with a grin. “Oh, hell no.”
They both laughed at the memory of that line, but then the minister cleared his throat. Nikki sobered. She cast the clergyman an apologetic look, and turned back to the man in front of her.
“I love you, Sam. The chemistry has been there since the beginning, so I did all this hoping someday you would grow to love me, too.”
“Someday is already here.”
The smile that curved his mouth made everything in her world right. “Maybe we should get married,” she suggested with a grin.
Instead of agreeing, he made a noncommittal sound and moved back from her, his expression full of indecision. A frown drew her brows together as he suddenly dropped to one knee in front of her.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I should’ve done last week.”
Excited murmurs came from their guests, but she only had eyes for Sam as he took her hands in his.
“Nicole Rowan, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. Will you marry me?”
Now, that was a proposal, unlike when she’d just announced they’d get married. She hadn’t realized how much it meant to her until her eyes misted over as she smiled down at him.
“This is better than the most romantic proposal I could’ve ever imagined.”
His eyebrows rose a notch. “Is that a yes?”
She laughed as she urged him to his feet. “Yes.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her amidst cheers and whistles from her family, until a moment later Eric’s voice intruded. “Um...you’re supposed to kiss the bride after you say the I Do’s.”
Nikki laughed as she eased back in Sam’s arms.
“You think that matters to the guy who first proposes at the altar?” Derek quipped.
Laughter sounded from all around as Nikki and Sam stepped back in front of the bemused minister so he could marry them—’til death do they part.
“Now you may kiss the bride.”
As Sam leaned in for the kiss, the moment their lips met, his brand new wife laughed in his face. He gave her a mock glare.
“You said this wasn’t going to become a habit.”
She wound her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his as her laugh subsided to a grin. “I was just thinking how backward we did all this. First the baby, then the wedding, then the proposal.”
“Technically, I did propose before the wedding.”
“I’ll give you that.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And reward you for it later.”
Her sensual promise added a level of heat to their kiss that, in his opinion, didn’t last nearly long enough. Then again, they had years ahead of them to practice.
~ The End ~
About Stacey Joy Netzel
I fell in love with books at a young age, so for me the graduation to writing them was natural. An avid reader and fan of movies with a happily ever after, I am thrilled to call myself a full-time writer after 20 years as a travel agent. I write romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and the occasional paranormal short story.
I live in my native Wisconsin with my husband and three children, a couple horses and some barn cats. In my limited free time I enjoy gardening, canning, and visiting my parents in Northeastern Wisconsin (Up North) at the family cabin on the lake.
~~~
Follow online:
Amazon Author Page: Stacey Joy Netzel
Website and Blog: http://www.StaceyJoyNetzel.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/StaceyJoyNetzel
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Hearing from readers is a special thing for any writer, so feel free to contact me at any of the above locations.
Thank you for reading!
If you loved Autumn Wish, here’s how you can help support Stacey Joy Netzel’s work:
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~~~
Stacey Joy Netzel’s Other Titles:
Welcome to Redemption Series
(USA Today Bestselling series with Donna Marie Rogers)
A Fair to Remember, book 2
Grounds for Change, book 4
The Heart of the Matter, book 6
Hold On To Me, book 8
~
Italy Intrigue Series
Lost In Italy
2012 *WINNER* Write Touch Readers’ Award
Run To Rome
~
Romancing Wisconsin Series
Mistletoe Mischief *
Mistletoe Magic *
Mistletoe Match-up *
* 2010 WINNER Write Touch Readers’ Award
Romancing Wisconsin Volume I Holiday Boxed Set
includes 3 Mistletoe stories and an exclusive bonus story
Autumn Wish
~
More Than A Kiss
~
Chasin’ Mason
~
Stacey Joy Netzel Novella Collection
(stories also available individually)
Dragonfly Dreams
If Tombstones Could Talk
Ditched Again
~
Stacey Joy Netzel Paranormal Collection
(stories also available individually)
If Tombstones Could Talk
Beneath Still Waters (Part One)
Rising Above (Still Waters Part Two)
~
Colorado Trust Series
Trust In The Lawe
Shattered Trust
Shadowed Trust
~*~
Recommended Reads
For more heartwarming, small town romance, be sure to check out the USA Today bestselling series, Welcome to Redemption, also set in Northeast Wisconsin, written by myself and my co-author, Donna Marie Rogers.
Grab the first two FREE on us!
A Fair of the Heart
by Donna Marie Rogers
A Fair to Remember
by Stacey Joy Netzel
Recommended Reads
If you enjoy romantic suspense, check out my Italy Intrigue series.
Lost in Italy
by Stacey Joy Netzel
The best laid plans…
Halli Sanders spent two years planning the trip of a lifetime to Italy. Her itinerary did not include being stranded by her siblings, kidnapped by a sexy
American movie star, dodging bullets, or fleeing criminals in a car chase around Lake Como. And that’s just in the first three hours.
…often go awry.
Trent Tomlin put his movie career on hold to investigate his brother’s murder-ruled-suicide at his Italian villa. He’s closing in on the suspects when an American tourist unwittingly films the murder of the retired cop helping him. The killers will stop at nothing to get the evidence—including holding Halli’s family as collateral.
Life’s a little different unscripted.
Thrust into the role of real-life hero, Trent finds himself falling for the Plain Jane whose beauty blossoms with every challenge they face. But how can he keep the evidence from the murderers to get justice for his brother and friend without betraying Halli and her family?
Run to Rome
by Stacey Joy Netzel
Love him and leave him.
Nine months ago, undercover detective, Ispettore Evalina Gallo, protected her heart the only way she knew how, never expecting to see her savior-turned-one-night-stand again. When he returns to Italia—now a person of interest in an investigation of a local organized crime family—her personal connection to the rugged American gets her assigned to the case.
A second chance to make things right.
With his mother’s pleas ringing in his ears, Ben Sanders plans to retrieve a stolen bible his father shipped to Italy thirteen years ago, and then get out as fast as he can. But with the arrival of the beautiful detective, he suspects his mother’s desire to right past wrongs might not be the whole truth.
Destiny will not be denied.
Now, less than twenty-four hours after entering the country, he’s getting shot at—again. In a race from Milan to Rome to find the precious book before anyone else, time is ticking for the one-time lovers. Attraction burns hotter than molten lava, but amid secrets and half-truths, they must learn to trust each other if they have any hope of a future together.
Autumn Wish
Copyright © 2013 by Stacey Joy Netzel
ISBN: 9781939143204
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Website and Blog: http://www.StaceyJoyNetzel.com
Cover Art: Laura Morrigan
Digital Formatting: Author E.M.S.
Editor: Stacy D. Holmes
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
About the Author
Other Titles
Recommended Reads – Welcome to Redemption series
Recommended Reads – Italy Intrigue series series
Copyright
Autumn Wish Page 17