He reached for a curling lock of hair in her ponytail. “It was being loaded onto a Salvation Army truck. You have to admit, it’s better looking than the tweedy monster that was here before.”
A grin twitched at the corner of her mouth. He leaned over to press a kiss there. She turned to him, capturing his lips with hers, drawing away with a smile and a glance at the print on the wall.
“That’s exactly where I imagined it.”
“You’re exactly where I imagined you,” he countered.
Sofia looked out the window that faced the darkened sign at the Landing. “That’s good, because right now I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“That’s what I wanted to show you.” Silas pulled open the drawer underneath the patch of kitchen counter where he kept his laptop and pulled out an envelope full of papers. “You’ll always have somewhere. If you want it.”
He slid the envelope across the counter.
He watched realization and disbelief dawn on her face as she read. She blinked, half-smiling. “You?”
“I couldn’t bear to toss that poor abandoned stuffed panda out on the street.” He crossed to her, holding her hands over the paperwork. “It’s all yours if you want it back.”
~~~
The contracts were ready to be signed, turning the business and the property back to her. He’d saved it. Arrogant, high-handed, marvelous man.
Sofia grabbed the pen that lay near the drawer. Hastily she scrawled a line of text, then two long slashes. She signed the contract and initialed her changes before handing everything back to him.
She watched him read, watched his face light up.
“This is really what you want?” he asked. “A full partnership? You and me?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No. I want a lot more than that. I want the apartment to be a home again, full of laughter and my mother’s recipes. I want to save you from brown laminate counters and an old man’s cast off sofa. I want you to take me fishing on my father’s boat.” She cast an eye at Houdini, who sprawled on the battered leather chair. “I even want your damned cat.”
She took the contracts and tossed them on the coffee table. “I want a life with you. In Hampton. A full partnership and all that comes after.”
Silas’s eyes filled. He blinked to clear them, but his voice was hoarse. “You even want my cat.” He touched his lips to her hand, to her forehead, and finally her mouth. “I love you.”
She glanced at the print she’d given him, thought of her own place in Hampton Beach’s long history and just how close she had come to losing it, how close she’d come to walking away from Silas. She brought her gaze to rest on Silas’s face, on the answering shine in his eyes.
“I love you, too.”
<<<>>>
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Self-described shenaniganist and unabashed romantic, Cameron writes from the Metro Boston area, where she lives with her husband, son, and two poorly behaved dogs.
In the eighth grade, she wrote her first romance novel on an antique typewriter, using a stack of pink paper. Detours between that draft and her publishing goals have included a BA in Music, a professional culinary education, and twelve years in the child-wrangling industry.
Cameron blogs at
www.camerondgarriepy.com
and is a managing editor at
www.writeonedge.com.
www.facebook.com/camerondgarriepy
www.twitter.com/camerongarriepy
www.amazon.com/author/camerondgarriepy
Bannerwing Books is an independent publishing imprint based in Central Massachusetts.
www.bannerwingbooks.com
Buck's Landing (A New England Seacoast Romance) Page 14