Summer's Desire

by Olivia Lynde

  He ended the kiss and watched her with eyes that had turned electric blue with desire. "Go grab your stuff, Sunny. I already talked to your boss, and you're good to go."

  "Really? I can leave early with you?" She was so excited she could barely stop herself from skipping around like a three-year-old.

  He smiled, seeming even happier at her exaggerated enthusiasm. "We have our reservation in half-an-hour, so we should get going."

  "Reservation? You're taking me somewhere fancy, then?"

  He gave her a quick kiss on the nose, then a less quick one on the mouth. "The fanciest."

  * * *

  After such a long time during which a date for a movie and fast-food dinner had been a rare treat for them, the classy five-star restaurant that Seth took her to was a culture shock for Summer. Not to mention, their reservation was for one of the private rooms! Where a bottle of obviously out-of-this-world expensive champagne was already waiting for them on ice! Turning the pages of her elaborately embossed menu that didn't even show prices, Summer felt impossibly gauche because all she could think was, Oh my God, just how much does all of this cost? And will we have enough money left for this month's rent?

  Her and Seth's hands were lying entwined on the table, and Seth started to stroke her skin very softly, making a current of awareness run through her. Then, proving once again that he really could read her thoughts much too often (not that it would have been particularly hard in this instance), he said gently, "Sunny, we'll never have to worry about money again."

  His wonderful touch, his deep voice, the indescribably warm and loving expression on his face: all of that, even regardless of his actual words, made her relax completely. In all their years together, Seth had never given her any reason to doubt him. She trusted him utterly and completely.

  She smiled. "Will you tell me about your meeting?"

  They ordered their food and sipped champagne, which was out-of-this-world delicious, and then the waiter came with their food and left them alone again. Meanwhile Seth summarized the meeting he'd gone to earlier—and where he'd signed a contract with the Detroit Lions.

  Summer knew that he'd taken that contract mainly for her. Because she still had two full years left until she got her degree, and she was leery about moving from the area and transferring to a different college. She would've done it, of course—there was no way she'd accept a long-distance relationship with Seth—but as it turned out, they wouldn't have to move far.

  During his time playing college football, Seth had established himself as a football wunderkind, so now that he was finally eligible for the NFL draft this year, his prospects were excellent. But then, even before the NFL draft was to take place, the Detroit Lions—who had the first overall pick in the draft this year—contacted him and said that they wanted him. He said yes.

  "The contract's for five years, Sunny," he was now explaining to her, full of enthusiasm, "and it's worth 62 million. 45 million guaranteed."

  "What? You hadn't told me that!"

  He smiled. "Negotiations weren't final yet. Besides, I wanted to surprise you."

  She stared at him in wonder. "You did, Seth." Wow. Just wow. Then she narrowed her eyes. "You're still on track for graduating before going pro, yes?"

  His lips twitched in humor. "Yes, ma'am, I am. Right on schedule this summer." He leaned in and scattered tiny, affectionate kisses all across her face. She laughed in delight.

  "And Sunny," he told her with a huge smile, "we can pay off your student loans now, and you can start the School of Education next year. Baby, you'll quit waitressing now, won't you? Please, Sunny, for me?"

  Her eyes were glittering wetly and she feared she'd burst into emotional tears any second now, but at his request for her to quit her job, she started laughing instead. From the start he'd hated her waitressing with a veritable passion, so of course that his first order of priority, now that they had money at last, was to put an end to her waitressing gig.

  "Seth, I'll be very glad to give up waitressing," she assured him with a grin. Then, sobering again: "Thank you for helping me with my dream to become a teacher."

  When she applied to college two years ago, he'd told her she should think about going into a singing program because her voice was just too wonderful to waste. She'd replied truthfully that she would never feel comfortable singing for an audience; she'd only ever wanted to sing for her parents and now for him. She didn't have any ambitions for becoming a great singer, that just wasn't her.

  So she'd chosen the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts instead, with hopes of starting a Teacher Education program her Junior year. Eventually, she wanted to be an elementary grade teacher and work with very young children. And now Seth was handing her the opportunity to fulfill her dream.

  "Sunny, all I want is for you to be happy." Then he slowly rose from his chair and knelt down beside hers. She looked down at him, heart beating way too fast, eyes gone wide with hope and awe. Was he...?

  "I've wanted to do this for a very long time," he told her gravely. "But I couldn't, because I had nothing to offer you. But now I can give you the world."

  "I don't want the world," she whispered with tears in her eyes. "I just want you."

  "You have me, Sunny. You always have." He took out a little black box out of his pocket, opened it, and she inhaled audibly.

  Inside the box lay an exquisite ring with a heart-shaped diamond surrounded by a cluster of smaller, delicate diamonds. Astounded, overwhelmed, ecstatically happy, she moved her gaze from the beautiful ring to Seth's infinitely more beautiful face, and connected with deep blue eyes that were more dazzling than any precious stone.

  "I've loved you since you were five years old," he told her, and his quiet, solemn voice wrapped itself around the chords of her soul and made them quiver.

  "I loved you when you were a child. I loved you through the five endless years I lived without you, even though I felt hurt and betrayed. I loved you when you finally came back to me and I made you mine forever. I've loved you in the three years since, and each day I fell in love with you all over again.

  "I love you now, Sunny, and I always will, through all the years of our hopefully very long lives together. You're everything to me. So will you please marry me?"

  Crying in earnest now, utterly overcome with joy and love, she fell down to her knees beside him and kissed him fiercely and choked out, "Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes! I love you, I love you, I love you..."

  And then he was sliding the ring onto her finger and they were kissing again, and no further words were needed.

  * * *

  She was late.

  Seth shifted his weight to his other foot, and underneath the monkey suit he was wearing, he felt yet another cold drop of sweat run down his spine. What the hell was up with that anyway? Monkey suit or not, month of July or not, it was way too early in the morning to be feeling this damn hot. Which could only mean—Jesus Christ, he was even worse than he'd thought!

  It was all her fault, of course. He could do patient and he could do unflappable with the best of them. Hell, he could face a 6'5'', 270-pound rushing linebacker without even blinking. His Wolverine mates had taken to calling him Ice because, whether they were kicking ass or were deep in shit on the football field, he always kept his cool.

  Yeah, and how's that cool working out for you now, Ice?

  Well, fuck cool. This was Sunny he was waiting for, and when did he ever manage to be cool regarding her? He'd have better luck catching leprechauns. He snorted.

  But truth was, she changed everything he thought he knew about himself, challenged all his assumptions, turned him inside out. She always had, right from the start.

  And today he'd make sure she was his permanently, so she could keep doing all those things to him forever.

  He smiled in anticipation, then he checked his hand watch again and started scowling instead. Then he wiped the scowl off his face too, before Jacob started ribbing him again because "honestly b
uddy, I doubt there's ever been anyone more eager to get himself hitched to the old ball and chain". Yeah, fucking hilarious, his best man.

  Besides, that weird Ms. Walker was staring at him again from her seat in the front row, and he had this eerie sense that she could see right through him. He didn't need that shit right now either.

  He and Sunny had agreed on a simple ceremony: officiated by a minister on the patio of their new house, with just their closest friends in attendance. Now Ms. Walker—he wouldn't exactly call her a close friend, but Sunny had wanted her here, and he'd agreed because he owed Ms. Walker. He owed her big-time for protecting his Sunny as best she could during the years when he didn't, and he owed her for making it possible for him and Sunny to stay together after Rockford without having to go on the run.

  But hell, he was going to suffocate in his damn suit if he had to wait much longer!

  And then his nineteen-year-old bride stepped out of the house, and Seth forgot about the guests and the suit and everything that wasn't her. For a long moment, he even forgot to breathe.

  She was a vision in white walking up the aisle toward him, her beautiful face shining with happiness and her dark eyes luminous with love. For him. Jesus Christ, how did he ever get so lucky?

  It was fourteen years ago, to the day, that he'd seen her for the first time. Then just as now, she shone so radiantly he couldn't help thinking that the sun had come down from the sky, like he was witnessing his own personal miracle. She'd owned his soul from the first moment they looked into each other's eyes—and he knew that would never change.

  And after all these years, the sight of her still made his heart still in wonder.

  At last, she reached him at the end of the aisle. She was smiling at him and he knew he was smiling back like an idiot fool, but hell, let everyone think what they wanted, he didn't care. All he cared about was her, that she be happy. He'd spend the rest of his life giving her reasons to smile just like she was doing now.

  He reached for her hand and she laced her fingers through his; and then, as one, they turned toward the minister to speak their vows.

  THE END

  Dear Reader,

  I've loved Summer and Seth from the first moment they came to me—she so damaged, he so angry, both so lost and so deeply in need of each other—and even though I was terrified I wouldn't be able to do it properly, I simply had to try and tell their story.

  Thank you for picking up my book. I've put so much of myself into writing this story, and I hope that you enjoyed getting to know Summer and Seth as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

  I will be working next on "Winter's Dream", which is a stand-alone book although it does share some of the themes found in "Summer's Desire". You can visit me online at www.olivialynde.com for more information about my future projects. On my website, you'll also find fun tidbits and extra scenes from "Summer's Desire".

  I'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to email me anytime at olivia.lynde@gmail.com.

  Olivia

  About the Author

  Olivia Lynde has been in love with books for as long as she can remember. She is a Computer scientist by profession and, in between developing computer software and reading too many novels, she is now pursuing her dream of writing her own stories.