He laughed. ‘I don’t have the choice, darling,’ he teased. ‘I’m not interested in anyone else. I don’t want to be. I want this to work with you. You inspire me to be more.’
‘I’m not some perfect creature.’ She shook her head.
‘No one is. But you kill yourself trying to be perfect and you don’t have to. You don’t have to get the top grade. You don’t have to be the best bartender in town. You don’t have to excel at everything. You can fail at everything and I’ll love you anyway. Do you understand that? I’ll love you no matter what.’
Her eyes filled as she felt the intensity of his words, the full emotion behind them. And finally she did understand that.
‘You’re wonderful and human, and you make mistakes like I do, but you pick yourself up and you fight on,’ he said. ‘You face your failures and you get it together.’
‘I don’t fight on,’ she cried. ‘I gave up on you, on us, before we’d hardly started. I was so scared. I didn’t want to change my priorities only to find out what we had wasn’t anything more than a bit of fun.’
‘It’s a whole lot of fun.’ He smiled. ‘And you don’t have to change your priorities. We can have so much more fun together if you’ll take a chance on me.’
He stood before her, his expression open, no protective façade in place, just pure honesty and an offer she could never, ever refuse.
Now she saw behind his mask to the genuine, loving man he was. While he could act all cocky, come up with the most outrageous statements as if he fully believed he was God’s gift to the female of the species, beneath that bravado was a guy as insecure as any other normal person. Despite that silver spoon, that money, all that success … there was still someone who doubted that another person could love him for just being him. But that was the part of him she loved the most.
‘I need nothing but you,’ she answered simply.
And he needed someone who didn’t give a damn about anything he had, or his image. A person who cared only about him. The essence of him. The good-humoured, gorgeous, arrogant guy.
Happily that someone was her.
She wrapped her arms around him and lifted her face for another kiss. Offering her heart. It was a long time before he drew back and sighed. She felt the elation in every inch of him, but also the tension.
‘You need to go back and finish your shift,’ he groaned. ‘New Year’s Eve is the biggest night of the year.’
‘It is.’ She nodded. ‘Will you wait for me?’
‘Always.’
‘We’ll go on a two-hour rotation,’ he said firmly the next morning after they’d had breakfast. ‘Two hours’ solid study, two hours’ solid sex.’
‘That’s finding balance?’ she asked incredulously.
‘I think so.’ He nodded in all seriousness. ‘Round the clock.’
She giggled. ‘Yeah, that’s really achieving balance.’
‘No point in trying to fight our natures, now, is there? Might as well roll with it.’ He winked. ‘Right now I’m on case names and caffeine duty. And then massage services.’
‘Massage services?’
‘Inside and out.’ He lifted his brows lasciviously.
Deep inside her, muscles shifted, ready.
He laughed, reading her thoughts. ‘Later, babe. You’ve got facts to memorise.’
How was she supposed to concentrate when she knew what was coming? She was insanely excited already. ‘I think you should feel me up first.’
‘No. Work now, reward later.’ He put himself on the far side of the desk and refused to look at her.
She sighed and sat up in her seat, pulling her pages of notes closer. ‘Better be a good reward,’ she grumbled beneath her breath.
‘Mya, darling,’ he drawled from his desk. ‘You know it’s going to be out of this world.’
And it was.
TWO YEARS LATER
YOU know you want this.
Mya smothered a giggle at the photo she’d just been sent on her phone. Brad, buck naked and bold with a party hat magically positioned in a very strategic place. She quickly closed the message and acted as if she were paying complete attention to the orientation speech for new recruits at the multinational law firm she’d signed with. But her phone vibrated again.
Tonight. Our place. Come as soon as you can.
As soon as the spiels and slideshows were over—as interesting as they were—she escaped. She walked through the city, the warm summer air delightful on her back. Her first week had gone well, long hours, of course, and that competitive component. She relished it. She loved coming home too. Especially to Brad in playboy mode.
‘Brad?’ She closed the front door and called down the cool empty hallway.
‘In the garden,’ came his distant shout.
She walked through the house, her footsteps ringing loud. The rest of the house unnaturally silent—until she stepped out onto the back deck.
‘SURPRISE!’
There were five hundred people in the backyard.
Mya put out a hand and it was immediately gripped. Lauren laughed as she squeezed her hand to bring her back from the light-headed faint feeling.
‘Oh, wow!’ Mya couldn’t move. Certainly couldn’t think of anything to say.
‘Breathe, woman, you need some colour back.’
It was already back. Mya felt the blush burning over every bit of her body. OMG, there was a huge surprise party. Here. For her.
Dazed, she glanced around.
Her family were there—her mother beaming, her father standing by the barbecue helping Stella turn the steaks. They were in a new home only about ten minutes away. Brad had insisted he help them as soon as they’d got together that New Year’s Eve two years ago. It had made such a difference to her parents.
Jonny and Drew were there from the bar. Some of her cousins were there, also beaming. Many of Lauren’s men. Brad’s buddies. Some of her law school mates, a whole mishmash of people from her life. And they were all smiling, all celebrating, and they’d managed to keep this whole thing secret from her?
But there was only the one person she really wanted to see this second. And that was the tall hunk coming towards her through the crowd with a glass of champagne.
‘You did all this?’ she asked as he stepped unnecessarily close to hand the drink to her.
‘You know what a good party planner I am.’ He bent to whisper in her ear and steal a kiss at the same time. ‘But don’t be disappointed—we’ll have our own private party a little later.’
She giggled. As if she could ever be disappointed! And she knew that they’d have their own time tonight. Everyone else would leave, but Brad would always be there for her.
She sipped her champagne and stepped forward with a smile, Brad alongside her.
She’d dropped the café work and many of the shifts at the bar, working only during the weekends so she saved the weeknights for the two of them. The nights she did work, Brad came down to the bar and kept her company. His gang of mates had been more than happy for it to become their regular. And she’d gone back full-time at university to finish her degree—with a promise to pay Brad back sometime for all the free rent. He didn’t bother arguing or answering that one, just rolled his eyes.
She’d had four job offers before her final exams. She didn’t win the gold medal for top law graduate of the year, but she did take out the prize for top family law student. She’d thrown that in with all the contract and company law courses so she could understand what Brad was going on about in the evenings. He’d been right, he was a brilliant coach—firm, but he had a super-fun reward system going.
Yeah, she had the best prize already. She didn’t think she could be happier.
She loved the party. There was no catwalk this time, no ‘wall of fame’ either. It was all friends and family and laughter.
His parents were there too. Mya chatted with them. They all worked the façade to a degree but Brad had become a lot more open about talking with them—
quite blunt in some of his views. Mya backed him up. They were his parents, and if he could make that effort, so could she.
‘I’m so proud of you.’ She leaned back against him several hours later as they stood at the door and watched the last guests leave.
His laugh rumbled in his chest. ‘That’s my line.’
‘I mean it.’ She turned to face him, pressing her breasts against his strength. ‘You’re the most generous man I know.’
He laughed even harder. ‘You have rose-tinted glasses.’
Her smile blossomed too. ‘You grow the roses for me.’
He brushed his lips against hers and took a step backwards into the hall to close the door.
‘I have a graduation present for you.’ His breathing quickened.
‘I haven’t graduated yet.’
‘Mere technicality.’ He gifted her a teasingly light kiss. ‘I was going to give it to you when they were all here because I figured you couldn’t refuse it in front of everyone. But then I thought that wasn’t fair.’ He put his hand in his jeans pocket and pulled out a box.
Her heart stopped. ‘Brad—’
‘Two years we’ve been together,’ he interrupted mock crossly. ‘Don’t you think it’s time you made an honest man of me?’ He opened the box.
She went hot and cold and hot again in a nanosecond.
His hands gripped her shoulders as if he knew she’d gone light-headed. ‘You can’t take advantage of me so long. Taking what you want, when you want it. Demanding all those pictures of me and treating me like some kind of sex object.’
‘And you’re not?’
He shook his head, his eyes dancing. ‘No, I need solid commitment from you. I want a public declaration. I want this rock flashing on your finger to show those pups at that law firm that you’re taken. And I want a family.’
‘Oh, you do?’ Her sass answer was totally undermined by her breathless gasp.
‘Yes.’
She took a moment to inhale a few times. ‘Got anything else to add to this list of demands?’
‘Speed,’ he snapped. ‘I want the big wedding as soon as possible. And one hell of a honeymoon. In fact—’ he drew breath ‘—I’ve already started planning it.’
‘The family?’ Her voice rose. She was still getting to grips with that idea. She’d thought he never wanted kids.
‘No, that part can wait ‘til after you’re crowned biggest fee earner at the firm and you’ve taken me on a round-the-world trip.’ His reply was tinged with laughter.
She didn’t care about being the biggest fee earner. She cared about her parents and him and everybody staying well and happy. So happy. ‘So it’s the honeymoon you’re planning?’
‘No, the wedding. I’ve decided on the flowers already.’ He winked.
She giggled. ‘Well, we know party planning is your niche. You should jack in the law practice and just do parties.’
‘Now, that wouldn’t be fair on my clients.’
‘No.’ She sobered and placed her palm on the side of his face in the gentlest caress. ‘They need you.’ He’d worked so hard mediating with Gage’s parents and the stepmother—finally hammering out a solution that had made that sombre-eyed boy so happy. She leaned closer. ‘I need you too. More than I can ever tell you.’
‘Same here.’ He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her right into his heat. ‘So that’s a yes to my proposal, then?’
She rested her head on his chest. Her big, strong playboy loved her no matter what, supported her no matter what, and together they could build it all. ‘Yes.’
‘It’s going to be one hell of a party, Mya,’ he whispered.
Yes. One that would last the rest of their lives.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Natalie Anderson 2013
eISBN: 978-1-472-00213-6
Table of Contents
Praise
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Copyright
Blame it on the Bikini Page 16