Accidental Love on Meadow Cove Lane (Island County Series Book 10)

by Karice Bolton

  “I love you too.” My brows furrowed in confusion.

  “You are my world.” His eyes stayed on mine. “You and Sammie.”

  When I spotted my brother, Josh and my parents, I knew something was about to happen.

  Sammi cut the white ribbon and Shane grabbed my hand. My heart gave a squeeze as I thought about how lucky I was to have such an amazing family.

  We’d all been through so much and yet here we were. We weren’t broken. We didn’t shatter to pieces from life’s adversity. We became stronger. Our family became one.

  Shane led me into the stable and a string quartet immediately began playing in the far corner and my mom started dabbing her eyes with tissue.

  I turned around to face Shane, but he’d gotten on his one knee, and my heart started pounding in my chest. Sammi sank to her knee next to him and they both looked at me.

  “Dakota, when I first met you I never could have imagined what life held for us all. But we didn’t let life break us down. I fell in love with you almost immediately. You’ve given me a run for my money, but damn it. We prevailed. You gave me reason and purpose again, Dakota. I couldn’t imagine my life without you.”

  I took in a shaky breath. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” He removed a ring box from his pocket. “Dakota, you are the glue that keeps this family together. You make me excited to wake up next to you each morning. You showed me what love is and what love can be if we just stop running.”

  Sammi took a jewelry box from her back pocket. “Dakota, you’ve always been there for me. You always kept my dad in line and you always made me feel loved. I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it. We couldn’t imagine our lives without you in them.” She opened her box and a charm bracelet sat inside just as Shane opened his ring box.

  “Dakota, will you marry us?” Shane’s eyes locked on mine, and all I could do was nod between tears.

  My mom squealed in the background, and my brother hushed her, which only made me chuckle as I found my voice. “Yes. Yes. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you guys.”

  Shane stood up, slipping the ring on my finger as Sammi buckled the charm bracelet around my wrist. Tears of happiness streamed down my cheeks as I looked at the two people I loved most in the world.

  “I’m so lucky to have you two.” Shane brought his lips down to mine and Sammie chuckled.

  “That’s my cue to exit.”

  I laughed as Shane’s kisses intensified and our friends and family cheered us on with every passing second. I blinked my eyes open and glanced at my ring finger.

  “Wow, Shane Parker,” I said between kisses. “You really outdid yourself with this ring.”

  His lips parted from mine. “I love you, Dakota. I always will.”

  I took in a deep breath and rested my forehead on his. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” I pressed my hand to his heart. “You made me realize I had one of these again.”

  “You’re full of heart,” Shane whispered. “Your heart is what made me fall in love with you.”

  “Thank you for reminding me what it feels like to love again.” I bit my lip and his eyes fell to my mouth.

  “I could say the same.”

  I smiled and closed my eyes as he brought his lips back down to mine, and I realized my life would never be the same again, and I wouldn’t want it to be.

  So much had happened these last several months that changed me, but change was good. It was necessary. For years, I’d spent my time trying to remain the same. I didn’t want anything in my life to shift. I avoided love so I wouldn’t feel the pain, but I learned that pain still existed, and all I was doing was running from what made us human.

  But the one thing I learned was that love wasn’t a four-letter word. It was what life was all about, and I had the perfect-for-me man to share the love with, and Sammi who was our light through all the darkness.

  I had a family, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. We didn’t let the darkness beat us. We used it strengthen us, to make our family stronger. We survived. We survived the darkness so we could truly appreciate the light and love we had.

  Thank you for reading Accidental Love. I hope you enjoyed the tenth book in the Island County Series! I’m having an absolute blast writing these stories, and I can’t wait to share the next one with you soon. Guess who finally gets her story? Tess!

  If you'd like to sign up for my newsletter about new releases, please click here!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from the Silver Ridge Series...

  Happy Truth About Love Excerpt

  Chapter One

  Autumn Tucker sat gripping the steering wheel as she stared at her inheritance. The home looked nothing like the photos her late uncle’s attorney had sent her.

  Nothing at all.

  If it had, she probably wouldn’t be sitting in front of the dilapidated mansion, cursing her impulsiveness.

  Instead, she’d left everything behind in Los Angeles—which, admittedly, wasn’t much—and moved to the small mountain town of Silver Ridge.

  Autumn sucked in a deep breath and glanced in the rearview mirror of her car. Ronald had just pulled up behind her with a moving truck full of her worldly possessions.

  He’d insisted on driving the rental truck up the coast for her. She hadn’t asked him to make the drive, and she’d secretly hoped he’d bail at the last minute. But only recently had she begun to notice that life rarely worked out how she hoped or planned.

  Ronald Morder was a nice guy, a few years her senior with dark brown eyes and sandy blond hair. In the world of men, he was extremely attractive with a California tan, bright white teeth, and a lean body from biking most places. He looked like everything she should want, even wearing his lavender polo and khakis.

  Besides, the dating app said they were perfectly matched, not that she understood why.

  He was a computer programmer by day, and by night . . . well, he was still a computer programmer, and that was about all she could get from him. She was pretty certain his idea of a hobby was learning new code, but now she could add driving moving trucks to his short list of activities.

  She still couldn’t figure out what in the world made him offer to help her move.

  They’d gone on several dates over the last few months, and she kept waiting for that spark.

  When the spark didn’t appear, she’d started hoping for an ember to glow, at the very least, but so far, she’d only been left with an ashy feeling toward him, and yet here he was by her side, helping her move out of state.

  Come to think of it, maybe he felt the same way about her.

  Maybe this was his way of ending it gently before it ever really began.

  She doubted it though. She was seldom that lucky.

  Ronald gave a quick wave, and she let out a sigh as he jumped out of the cab of the rental truck, looking extremely eager and ready to take on the world. Her stomach tensed at the thought of having to make small talk, but this was how the beginning of relationships always seemed to be. The encounters were a little clumsy and tricky to navigate until a rhythm set in.

  They were obviously still in that getting-to-know-you stage, and she wasn’t sure at what point it would ever turn into something with substance, but they could continue toward that goal.

  So what if the state of Oregon sat between them? People did long-distance relationships all the time.

  All the time.

  But did this even qualify as a relationship yet?

  She grabbed her purse off the passenger seat and climbed out of her red Fiat convertible, top up, and shut the door. Now wasn’t the time to worry about semantics. This move was her new beginning, and she needed to fully embrace the positives wherever they led.

  After all, the state of Washington was pulling out all the stops to welcome her. It was early evening, and the sky was sparkling blue without even a wispy cloud in sight. The brilliant green weeds in her new yard stretched for the sun with might
y determination. Contrary to what she’d heard about the soggy state of Washington, it seemed beautiful all the way up the coast and even more so once she got into the mountains.

  The jagged cliffs, rushing waterfalls, and brilliantly colored wildflowers along the highway leading to Silver Ridge seemed right out of a fairy tale, and the small bit of the town she saw didn’t disappoint either. It was just this little hiccup of a house that drilled a bit of fear into her decision to move here.

  “This place is something else,” Ronald said, sauntering over and giving the house a sideways glance before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. Even though a warm breeze caressed her skin, his lips felt like a cold, wet fish and a shiver shot up her spine.

  “Yes. It’s quite something.” She cleared her throat and looked up at the house with a glint of unexpected optimism in her eyes.

  Maybe the inside wasn’t as bad as the outside. She hoped the opposite was true for Ronald. Maybe his insides were as great as his outside. After all, he did drive over a thousand miles to get her here.

  Or maybe that was precisely the problem.

  He did drive over a thousand miles to get me here, she thought.

  “Not what you expected?” he asked warily, slicking his fingers through his hair.

  She folded her arms over her chest and hugged herself, letting out an exhausted sigh.

  “No. Not entirely.” She grimaced and shrugged. “But I’ve never shied away from a challenge before. This will be good for me. It’s time I finally set some roots down, and besides, this was meant to be.”

  “How do you figure?” His brows shot up in a quizzical expression.

  “For starters, I’m tired of LA. Not that I’ve been there much in recent years.” She looked up at the two-story Victorian home with the wraparound porch and wondered if she sounded as crazy as she felt when looking at the home. “But how often does a person inherit a bed-and-breakfast from an uncle they’ve never met? I can’t argue with fate.”

  As she stared at the house, the peeling yellow paint wasn’t her biggest concern. It was the porch’s slight lean and the wobbly-looking steps leading up to the front door that worried her the most. It didn’t help that the roof looked like it was missing more shingles than were nailed down, and the gutters were barely hanging on.

  There’d been a small cash inheritance that came along with the home, but she doubted it would cover much if the exterior was any indication of the interior.

  “We should go inside before you make your final decision to stay.” He draped his arm around her shoulders, and she stiffened, but he didn’t notice. “And if you decide to give this a shot, I can start moving your stuff inside so we can get it all in before I have to catch my flight out tomorrow.”

  She shook her head and untangled from his embrace. “I’ve got a couple of local guys I hired for tomorrow to unload. You’ve done far too much already. You need to relax and try to unwind from all the driving.”

  Disappointment zipped through his gaze and a pinch of guilt socked Autumn in the stomach. She was hot-wired to sense others’ emotions, even though she did her best at extinguishing her own.

  Her mother had always called it being emotionally intelligent, but she wasn’t sure she bought that theory. It seemed like more of an inconvenience the majority of the time, and it was a hindrance when navigating everyday life. The ability often landed her in situations like this one because she didn’t want to hurt people’s feelings.

  She glanced at Ronald, and her stomach twisted into a tight knot. He definitely seemed bummed, and it made her wonder what all he’d hoped to get out of this trip, considering they hadn’t even kissed.

  “I really don’t mind. I planned on helping unload the truck all night.” He bit his lip and the pang of guilt resurfaced.

  “You’re a saint for driving all this way.” She reached for his hand to give a friendly squeeze and instantly regretted it the moment he linked his fingers through hers.

  Before she had a chance to object, he pulled her into him and brought down an awkward kiss to her mouth. His lips parted, and her eyes immediately slammed shut.

  She wasn’t sure whether she closed her eyes to block out the kiss or to imagine it better. When he slid his arms down hers, she knew it was only getting worse.

  Here it was.

  Their first kiss.

  And every slobbery second of it made her grateful for the state of Oregon separating them. She silently reprimanded herself for being so cruel. Just because the connection hadn’t surfaced yet, didn’t mean it wasn’t on the horizon, and then she’d regret thinking thoughts like those.

  When his lips left hers, she took a step back and looked into his eyes. By all appearances, he should be a good kisser, and judging by the dopey look in his eyes, he was supremely pleased with how it turned out, which only made her feel worse.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the moment we first met.” What he just said should be igniting every single cell in her body.

  His words were romantic and sweet and absolutely everything she never wanted to hear from poor Ronald. She scolded herself for not pulling him into her and repeating, but she just couldn’t, and she really couldn’t fathom how the dating app had ever paired them together. Granted, she might have fibbed a little on some of the questions to make herself sound a little more stable and a little less unpredictable than reality, but still.

  “I . . . umm.” She wiped her mouth and glanced over his shoulder at a hanging sign she couldn’t make out. “Wow. Thank you. That was—”

  “You haven’t seen anything yet.” He cut her off and grinned before glancing at the house. He tipped his head as if that would make the place look better and nodded in complete satisfaction.

  It was safe to say he had more on his mind than a simple road trip.

  Autumn walked to the miniature trunk of her convertible and took out a small suitcase. “I should at least bring this inside before we go to dinner.”

  He turned to Autumn and his eyes focused on hers.

  “Seriously. Are you sure about this? It’s not too late to turn the truck around. You don’t have to save face around me. We can drive out of town and pretend this never happened. I’m sure a local realtor can put this up for sale and—”

  She laughed and had to admit the idea wasn’t completely horrible sounding, but this was her time for new beginnings.

  Since her parents’ deaths several years ago, Autumn had spent most of her time traveling the world. She’d made it her mission to fulfill her parents’ dreams, taking them on as her own and checking off every place they’d wanted to see when they retired.

  Only, they never made it.

  She drew in a silent, heavy sigh.

  “Nope. Staying here feels right.”

  “Then staying it is.” He nodded. “That’s why being a programmer is the perfect job. I can work from anywhere. We don’t have to let distance come between—”

  His words were drowned out by a large diesel pickup truck across the street, a few homes down. It sat idling for a few long seconds before a man jumped out of the passenger side and the truck drove away. She turned her attention back to Ronald as he was grabbing her suitcase from her.

  “I think at the very least, I should be the one to enter the premises first,” he continued. “Make sure there’s not a giant-size cockroach in there waiting to attack or something.” He brought his shoulders back, and she wasn’t sure if he was serious.

  “They have roaches here?”

  “Don’t they have them everywhere?” Ronald shrugged.

  “I don’t know.” Autumn pulled out an envelope with the key inside from her purse and handed it over. “I’ll be right behind you, prepared to swing at anything that comes our way,” she assured him.

  Autumn was certain he looked relieved at that bit of news, which only made her heart sink a little more.

  Secretly, she’d always dreamed of dating a truly capable man. One who could swing in and save the day, battle the co
ckroaches, spiders, ants, and anything else that came their way. She didn’t need him riding in on a white horse or anything, but she thought it would be nice if a guy knew how to change a tire, at the very least.

  Was that too much to ask?

  She glanced down the sidewalk to see the guy who’d climbed out of the truck bending over and pulling a few weeds in the yard. He was too far away to get a good look, but it appeared like he was wearing a cowboy hat, possibly even cowboy boots. Within an instant, she saw the man swinging and swatting at something, and she held in a chuckle.

  She brought her attention back to Ronald, who was triumphantly climbing the stairs. The sound of wood creaking and splitting made her stop in her tracks as she watched him lug her suitcase up the steps.

  Ronald reached for the lock and began to wiggle the handle.

  “Well, this isn’t very safe.” He turned around, holding the doorknob in his hand. “It might be a sign.”

  “Nah.” Autumn squashed the thought with her hand. “It’s just a sign that I need a locksmith. Nothing more.”

  “Why don’t you wait there while I figure this out and go inside?” His toothy grin didn’t hide his uneasiness, but she quickly accepted his offer.

  As he fumbled with the door, trying to figure out how to unlatch it, she walked over to the sign hidden by thorn bushes. She reached toward the wooden sign and gingerly moved the vines aside to reveal a worn name.

  The Blackberry Patch

  Bed and Breakfast

  A smile touched her lips as she let go of the thorny vines and admired the name of her new place. Judging by the thicket of vines entwined around the sign, the home was aptly named. Soon, small, juicy blackberries would be dangling from all the bushes, and she imagined herself making batches of jam for the guests. She looked up at Ronald as he stared at the knob in his hand and hoped she’d be able to get inside before it was dark. She didn’t want to step on his manhood, but as each second ticked by, she was less certain they’d actually be getting into the home anytime soon.