by Dani Collins
“I understand, I do,” he insisted, hugging her. “I will give you time, Skye.”
“But I used to think, Mom, just go for a ride with Dad. It would make him so happy.” She pulled back and smoothed a hand along Chase’s square jaw and lightly kissed his gorgeous lips. “I want to make you happy, Chase. So much. I want to keep trying if you do.”
His hand came behind her head and he pressed his lips to her forehead, throat working a hard swallow before her eyes as he said, “You’ll come with me when I go? Help me find a place to live and make it a home. That’s what you’re saying?”
“I will.”
He whooped and tackled her onto the mattress.
Chapter Ten
‡
Thirteen months later
Skye was almost dancing out of her skin, she was so excited when she let Terry and his partner, Abe, into their apartment. Chase weighed her down with his arm across her shoulders, a little reminder to stick to plan that she appreciated, but she was bursting.
Terry kissed her and immediately started investigating the floor plan of the penthouse while Abe shook hands with Chase.
“Congratulations. I hate you for winning. I was betting on the other guys, but that last game! Dear God, man, I thought it was going to be a shutout,” Abe said.
“I gave it my best shot,” Chase drawled, rolling his pitching shoulder, ever modest.
“I like what you’ve done here,” Terry remarked, sending a nod at the oversized photo above the fireplace. He always maintained that photos of couples should never be more than five by seven and never, ever displayed so prominently.
This one was mounted in an exceptionally tacky border as a bit of a joke, blurry because it was blown up from a screen cap of a video, but the shocked excitement on both their faces made up for it. The final game of the World Series had just finished and a sportscaster had asked Chase the famous question, “What are you going to do now?”
As Skye had run into his arms, he’d shouted, “I’m getting married!”
Iced champagne had been poured all over their kiss and the entire thing had made the rounds on the internet for days.
“That was a wedding gift from Shazandra, one of the other wives.” Shazandra had become one of Skye’s closest friends and Skye sometimes thought that if she hadn’t risked everything to stick it out with Chase, she would have lost out on more than just his love. She wouldn’t have the sisterly relationships with women she hadn’t expected to appreciate so much or the cool new career she’d started for herself as a virtual assistant. It allowed her to make her own hours so she had vacation time pretty much whenever she wanted it, well beyond just summer and Christmas.
“Might look better in the den,” Terry mused.
Which is where she’d had it until she’d heard he was going to be in town. Oh, she was giddy with how amazing her life was these days.
Terry picked up Chase’s winning ball, signed by the entire team, encased in its plexiglass box. “This, too,” he decided.
“I invited you to dinner, not to redecorate,” she protested, beginning to quiver with excitement, exchanging looks with Chase who was laughing at her as much as with her. “But speaking of dens and redecorating, you had a question for Terry, didn’t you?” she prompted Chase, so obvious it was pathetic.
“Right.” He played along because he was an exceptionally good sport. “We’re headed back to Marietta next week and I’m going to need to repaint the den at the house. What did you have on there? Oil or latex?”
Terry gave Skye his weariest look. “You think you’re funny, but you’re not.”
“What?” she insisted, barely holding onto a straight face as she delivered her oh-so-carefully plotted line. “You always agreed that when it was time, we’d turn the den into a nursery. If you really want to repaint it for us—”
Terry dropped the ball so it thumped onto the carpet by his feet. His eyes grew misty and he opened his arms to her.
She ran into them and hugged him tight, waiting for the lift and spin.
“I thought you’d pick me up and twirl me around,” she complained when he only hugged her with aching gentleness.
“I don’t want to break you,” he said, voice moved. He kissed her cheek. “I’m so happy for you, Skye. So happy.” His grin was as wide as hers.
“I knew you would be. And I am super happy, Ter. Thanks for divorcing me.”
“Anytime, kid,” he joked, both of them working to hold back tears as they laughed.
Later, snuggled in bed with her husband, she sighed blissfully and said, “I feel like I won the World Series.”
“This is better, trust me,” Chase said, molding her breasts and flat belly, all still tingling with orgasm, to his relaxing body. “And winning the World Series is pretty freaking great, so that tells you how incredible this is.”
She reached to pull his mother’s wedding ring to the front of its chain around her neck so it was more comfortable, then checked with her thumb that her own rings were straight. A hum of contentment escaped her and she cuddled closer to Chase’s heat, nuzzling her lips into the crisp hair on his chest.
“Chase?”
“Mmm?” He was half-asleep.
“I’m glad we’re going back to Marietta, but I like being here, too. I don’t care where we live, so long as I’m with you.”
“That’s good, ‘cause I’m probably gonna be traded to Florida next month.”
“Serious—Oh, you!”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he insisted, laughing and trying to stop her from pinching his stomach.
It was two months and it was Washington, but she didn’t mind. Marietta was their real home and it was always there, waiting for them.
The End
Don’t miss Dani Collins’ new story available now!
Blame the Mistletoe
Liz Flowers has never enjoyed Christmas, but this one is shaping up to be the worst by far. She let her ex take her daughter to Mexico while she stays behind in a strange town, sitting her former mother-in-law’s high strung little dog. It’s an opportunity to meet new people, but this California girl doesn’t have much in common with the ranchers in small town Marietta.
Blake Canon perks up with male interest when he sees a new face at his friend’s Christmas cocktail party. His son is away and a light affair would take his mind off his financial troubles. Then he realizes he knows Liz. She was once married to the brother of his ex-wife.
Their children might be cousins, but Blake and Liz do the kissing—under the mistletoe. It’s the beginning of a new view of Christmas for Liz, but when their children arrive home unexpectedly, and family secrets are revealed, Liz isn’t sure she’ll stay in Marietta for Christmas after all.
The Montana Born Homecoming Series
If you enjoyed Hometown Hero, you’ll love the other Homecoming series novellas!
Sing Me Back Home by Eve Gaddy
Finding Home by Roxanne Snopek
The Long Way Home by Kathleen O’Brien
Home For Good by Terri Reed
About the Author
After twenty-five years of writing and submitting, Dani Collins won the 2013 Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best First In Series from Romantic Times Book Reviews. Known mostly for her emotional, passionate Harlequin Presents, she has also published a hilarious romantic comedy, an epic medieval fantasy romance, and a pair of extremely erotic erotic romances. Dani writes anything, so long as it’s romance.
Keep up with Dani on these links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads and Join Dani’s Newsletter to be notified when a new book comes out.
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