“And so you got to number one and it stuck.”
“God must have felt sorry for me.”
“Or you’re a fantastic writer.”
“With a killer editor.”
“That too.”
“Have you read any of my books?” he asked.
I shook my head. “But I’m going to, and I bet you read mine, too.”
“I actually loaded them onto my e-reader just last night.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Of course. I figured if you didn’t forgive me, I’d emulate the good guys in your novels and hook you that way.”
I didn’t tell him how I’d changed my current work in progress and modeled Nate after him. “There’s a lot a man can learn in a rom-com.”
“I can’t disagree. I’ve seen chick flicks.”
I laughed. “You have?”
“My mother is all about the Hallmark movie channel. Every time I got to the farm, I get suckered into watching one. I kind of like the Christmas ones.” He shot me a straight-lipped look. “Don’t share that with anyone. It’ll ruin my rep.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, but we are so watching Hallmark movies together now.”
He squeezed my hand again. “Baby, I’ll do whatever you want.”
My heart melted.
* * *
Lou had my room all ready when we arrived. We spent that night snuggled on the swing hanging on the front side of The Inn, laughing, chatting, kissing, and touching each other in ways, and in places intimate and sensual. I’d sailed into complete and utter Heaven with Daniel, and had no desire to turn back.
We spent the night in our individual rooms—though I couldn’t call what I’d done sleeping. I’d spent the night tossing and turning, pacing my room even, wishing Daniel would knock on my door, and contemplating knocking on his. Neither happened, and while my head knew that was best, my body desired so much more.
The next morning while I wrote with a renewed sense of romance and a tummy full of cookies—a sinfully delicious early morning treat—Daniel dressed in his Daniel Spenser attire and headed back to the city to meet with the movie production company.
He helped me up from my chair on the porch. “I’ll be back before ten, eleven at the latest. Should I see if you’re awake?”
“Yes, please. I want to hear all about it, and see you, of course.”
His eyes scanned the length of my body. My green sweater hugged me in all the right places, and I’d dressed in my favorite pair of Silver Jeans, the faded ones that shaped to my hips and backside and fit like a well-worn glove. Chad always said those jeans couldn’t be any tighter and couldn’t show my sexy shape any better. I used that to my advantage.
“Wow.”
“Wow?” I asked.
“You look…you look, well…hot.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, leaned in and kissed me. “I might be back earlier. Don’t take that outfit off.” He shook his head. “I’d better go before I say or do something ungentlemanly.”
I wanted to beg him to stay and do just that. “Ooh, that’s great dialogue for my book.”
He laughed and broke our physical contact. “On that note, I’ll make sure to speak properly and definitely more carefully from now on.”
He kissed my forehead. “Thank you for coming back with me, Zoe.”
“Thank you for delivering my luggage.”
I watched him get in his car and drive away and went back to writing Charisma and Nate’s happy ending.
I wrote non-stop, first on the porch, and then as the day progressed and the sun began its descent into the horizon, in the front room, seated in a cozy, comfy oversized chair. Lou brought me never-ending refills of coffee, even spiking one of the refills with a drop or two of liquor. It teased my taste buds and upped my writing speed.
At just after eight o’clock, the front door opened, and my heart leaped. “You’re early. I expected you’d call on your way back.”
“Zoe.”
I recognized that voice immediately, and my heart dropped into my stomach. I froze, afraid to turn around, but afraid to stay still, too. Where was Lou? Stan? Why hadn’t they come to the door when the bell dinged as it opened? I wanted to scream for them, bury myself deep into the cushions of the chair so he couldn’t see me.
His footsteps echoed into the front room. “Zoe.”
I kept my eyes glued to my laptop screen.
“I can stand here all night waiting. I didn’t drive this far to not talk to you.”
I made eye contact. “Chad. Why are you here?”
“I needed to see you. I have to talk to you.”
I shook my head. “No, its…no—how did you know where to find me?”
“Hector told me.”
“Hector? How did he—” Daniel. Daniel must have told Hector.
I straightened my shoulders and jutted out my chin. “You need to leave. I don’t need to hear anything you have to say.”
He bent down, his face almost level with mine, his hands on my legs. “I left Shannon. I don’t know what I was thinking. I miss you. I love you. I never stopped loving you.”
I flinched from his touch and wished I could throw my laptop in his face and run, no sprint away from him. “Don’t touch me. You don’t have that privilege anymore.”
He jerked his hands back. “I’m sorry. You’re mad, I understand, but we…can I just—”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I laughed loud and hard, for at least twenty seconds, but I’d have sworn it lasted hours. “You can’t be serious.” I stared at his face, and he didn’t move. “Oh my God, you are serious. I…I can’t believe this.” I set my computer on the table to my left and stood. “This is so not happening.” I pointed to the door. “Really, you need to leave. I…I don’t…” I tilted my head. “You didn’t book a room here, did you?”
He blinked.
“Dear God, you did. What were you thinking, that I’d be happy to see you? That I’d want to jump into your arms all forgiving and loving?” I wanted to go all soap opera-like on him and slap him across the face, only with my fist, and harder. “Do you really think that low of me?”
I shoved him aside and moved toward the front door. When I opened it and the bell rang, Stan meandered into the foyer from the back of The Inn. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a guest.” His mouth fell open when he saw the steam leaving my ears.
Lou came up behind her husband. “Is this Mr. Hart? Why I’ve got your room all set, and a fresh batch of cookies are cooling on the—” She saw my expression and her mouth dropped like Stan’s.
“Lou, Stan, this is Chad Hart, my ex-boyfriend.”
Chad held out his hand, but neither took it. Instead, they gave him a once over with their eyes drawn into tight slits. Lou approached me and placed her hand on her heart.
“Oh dear, I didn’t know. You have to know I wouldn’t have booked his room if I’d…if he’d…I didn’t know.”
I rubbed her arm. “Of course you didn’t know. How could you? It’s okay, Lou. Chad isn’t staying anyway.” I glared at him. “Are you?”
He picked up the bag he’d dropped in the foyer. “Actually, I am. Zoe and I have a lot to discuss, so I’ll be here for a day or two, at least.”
“Looks like we’re fixin’ to get ourselves a tornado inside The Inn,” Stan said. “Best be getting ready for the clean up.” He scooted away.
Lou waved a hand. “Don’t mind Stan. Conflict scares him, the old coot.” She plopped into the oversized, comfy chair I sat in earlier. “Me? My meemaw always said,” she conjured up a strong southern twang. “’There ain’t nothin’ like watchin’ a scorned woman open up a can a whoop ass on the one that done her wrong.’”
I didn’t hold back my laugh.
“Zoe, just let me explain.”
I glanced at Lou. She got up and walked out, saying, “My meemaw didn’t have manners like mine, that’s for sure.” She assured me she’d be close by if I needed her.
“There�
��s nothing to explain, Chad. Please. You can’t be here. I don’t…I don’t want you here. I don’t want you. Not anymore.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I can. I do.”
“Please, I…if you’ll just listen to me. An hour, that’s all I need, and if you don’t change your mind by then, I’ll leave.”
All Daniel needed was five minutes. Chad needed the rest of his life, and that wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t love him. I loved Daniel.
I loved Daniel.
The realization hit me right in my heart, and I knew nothing Chad felt or said mattered. So, I listened.
“It wasn’t pity sex. It never was.” We’d left The Inn and walked along the path near the creek. Lou had given us each a lantern, and the stars lit up the sky bright enough that we didn’t really need them, either. “Shannon, she caught me at a weak moment. I had all that crap happening with work, my new boss was on me constantly, and she just, I don’t know…she just hit me at the right moment. I was weak. And then it spiraled out of control. She started texting and calling and stopping over, and one thing led to another. and the next thing I knew, she was talking love, and I don’t know how it happened, but she convinced me I loved her and not you.”
I took a breath for him. “Wow, Chad. That’s a lot of blame you’re shoving off on your girlfriend. If I know Shannon, and well, she was my best friend for a long, long time, so I do think I know her pretty well, she’s not going to like you throwing her under the bus like this.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m accountable for my behavior, but I didn’t come on to her.”
I checked the time on my phone. Nine o’clock. Daniel would be back soon. What would I tell him? I rubbed my arms. “It’s cold, and I’m tired, and I have got to get my book finished. We need to head back, and you need to leave. Really, Chad, we’re over.”
Something in the pit of my stomach lurched when he faced me and I saw the sadness, the desperation in his eyes. He rested his hands on my hips. “I love you,” he said. “Zoe, I know you still love me. Love doesn’t just stop.”
“Zoe?” Daniel approached from off the path. He dug his feet into the ground and flinched when he held his lantern up, getting a full view of Chad leaning in to kiss me.
I flinched and pushed back from Chad. “Daniel. You’re home.”
I rushed toward him, but he backed away, his body stiff as a board.
“Obviously I’ve interrupted something. Chad, I assume.”
Chad held his shoulders back and bowed like a peacock on the defense, or moving in on a female to get laid. “You’re Daniel Spenser.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
His eyes shifted to me and then back to Daniel. “I’ve read all his books. Is this who…is he the one?”
Daniel shook his head and glared at me. “We’re just friends. She’s—Zoe’s not with me.”
What?
“Daniel, what’re you—”
“Nice meeting you Chad, and thanks for reading my books.” He glanced at me. “Zoe.” He turned and headed back to The Inn.
I just stood there, dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to do, how to react, what to say.
Chad wrapped his arm around my waist. “Zoe, let’s go back, have a glass of wine, sit on the front porch in that swing, or maybe up on the deck on the second floor. Looks romantic. I have so much to tell you.”
I pulled away from him. “No, Chad. No. This isn’t happening.” I dragged my hand over my mouth. “I…I have to go.” I took off in a sprint toward The Inn.
Daniel tossed his suitcase into his trunk as I approached him, breathless and ready to die from the sprint.
“Daniel, wait. Please.”
He ignored me and kept his back to me, his hands piddling around in the trunk at the front of the Ferrari.
“Please, it’s not what you think. Come on, you owe me the chance to explain.”
He leaned into the trunk and swore. When he turned around, I winced. His eyes burrowed into me, and his lips formed a flat line. “You’re right. I at least owe you an explanation. You’ve got five minutes.”
How ironic. It was my turn to be on the clock. “Five minutes. Right. I don’t even need that long.”
He scowled.
“He just showed up, and I knew if I didn’t talk to him, he wouldn’t leave. I told him it’s over, and it is. I don’t want to be with him. I want to be with you.” I moved toward him, but he held me back by sticking out his hand.
“How did he find you? What’d you do, give him your agenda?”
“Hector told him. You told Hector, didn’t you?”
His stoic expression faltered, and I knew I’d nailed it.
“I wouldn’t tell him where I was. You have to know that. I haven’t even talked to him since things ended. Daniel, please. You have to know how I feel about you. I came back here with you, to be with you, because you matter to me.”
His expression softened, but he didn’t say anything.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Chad walked up behind me. Had I not heard him, Daniel blanched, and I would have figured it out. “Zoe, we’re not finished. Please.”
I’d fallen into the perfect rom-com climax, two men, one woman, and a semi-truck full of drama.
I hated every second of it.
“Yes, Chad, we are finished. We were finished the day you screwed Shannon. I don’t care that you’re sorry. It’s over.”
He reached out to me, but I backed away. “Zoe, I told you, I’m sorry. It’s over with Shannon. I love you.”
Bile filled my throat, and I had a sudden urge to toss my cookies. “I don’t love you, Chad.”
“You can’t mean that.”
I dropped my head, and then noticed Daniel watching me. I looked into his eyes, but spoke to Chad. “I do mean that, Chad. I don’t love you. I love Daniel.”
Chad sucked in a breath, and Daniel…Daniel’s eyes lit up, little pools of blue heaven smiling at me.
I rushed to him. “It’s true. I love you, Daniel Spenser. I think I’ve loved you from the moment you gave me a hard time.”
He pulled me to him. “I didn’t give you a hard time. It’s called flirting.”
I laughed, and he kissed me, a deep, long, passionate kiss, and I forgot Chad was there.
“Zoe,” Chad said.
Daniel broke off the kiss and breathed in deeply. “Baby, can you grab my bag and bring it back in? I’ve checked out, so it looks like I’ll have to stay with you tonight.” His mouth spread into a half moon that reached from one ear to the other.
“I’ll get our room ready.” I forced my lips onto his, and then I took his bag without saying a word to Chad.
Inside the house I caught Lou and Stan snooping. “This is going to get good,” I told them. “I don’t know what Daniel’s going to say to Chad, but I can’t wait to watch it.”
“Me neither,” Lou said. “It’s like watching J.R. on Dallas.”
I giggled.
We couldn’t hear what the two men said, but whatever Daniel did say, Chad didn’t argue. He nodded and then headed inside.
We flew into the front room and acted like we didn’t know he was coming.
Chad walked over to Stan. “I won’t be staying after all. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, and please, charge my card for the night. It’s the least I can do.”
Stan nodded, but didn’t speak, though Lou did. “Probably best you move on. We won’t charge you. We didn’t turn away any guests, and the room was already prepared, so let’s not worry about it.”
Chad nodded. “Thank you.” He walked over to me. “If you ever change your mind…”
I sighed. “Go back to Shannon. I know she loves you.”
He nodded. “Goodbye, Zoe.”
“Goodbye, Chad.”
He walked out of The Inn and out of my life again just as Daniel came inside. I fell into his arms, kissing his face, and telling him how glad I was to be with hi
m.
Stan shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Um, I think I hear something in the kitchen. Lou, you got the oven on?”
“I think I do. Let’s skedaddle and leave these two lovebirds to themselves.”
Daniel and I laughed, but didn’t let go of each other. He held my face in his hands, gently kissed my lips, and then leaned his head into mine. “I love you, too, Zoe.”
Epilogue
Two months later, we returned to The Inn for our wedding. I’d invited Shannon and told her she could even bring Chad, but apparently they’d broken up for good. She wanted to work on our friendship, and I’d agreed, as long as we took it slow. Daniel said he’d support whatever I did.
Lou and Stan had a wonderful surprise waiting for us when we arrived back at The Inn two days before the wedding. Ben, the singer, and his pregnant wife, Carly were there, and Bret, or Ben, if he wasn’t a personal friend, planned to sing before and after the ceremony. He and Daniel worked out the details, but neither would tell me what song they’d chosen.
Carly assisted Lou with the wedding details, and she and I bonded well. She even invited me to her baby shower.
The wedding went off without a hitch, just like the wedding in that rom-com I struggled to finish. Oh, and it hit the bestseller list, topping Daniel’s. We’d already been in discussions for the movie rights with the production company working on his movie.
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The Inn at Laurel Creek Zoe & Daniel's Story
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UNBREAKABLE BONDS
AN ANGELA PANTHER MYSTERY
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