Let Love Be
Page 26
“Lucy!” he calls out, spilling his orgasm into me, his hips still thrusting rhythmically.
Afterward, we lie in front of the fire, a blanket draped over us as he’s spooned up behind me, gently stroking my hair. From the other side of the room, we hear the faint cheers of the crowd on the television as they count down to one.
“Happy New Year, love,” he whispers in my ear as the crowd on TV erupts into a loud roar of celebration. After pressing a soft kiss to the shell of my ear, I roll over to face him. Just as I snuggle into his warm chest, he reaches behind his head to grab something.
He places a small, red velvet ring box in between us and my heart beats a wild tempo in my chest. “Oh, my God.” My excitement rises as we both move, now sitting Indian-style facing one another.
He takes my hand in his as a sincere, yet lopsided and sexy grin pulls at the corners of his mouth. “Lucy, I love you, and there’s nothing in the world that would make me happier than being with you for the rest of our lives.” He picks up the small box and cracks it open before presenting it to me in the palm of his hand. “I’ve had this picked out for a long time now and I’ve wanted to ask you so many times, but you deserved to have me ask you today when you knew for certain that you had the rest of your life to give to me.”
Tears of happiness − no, scratch that − of complete and utter contentment fall from my eyes as he pulls the beautiful ring out of the box. Before fitting it on my finger, he stares up into my eyes. “Lucy, be my wife, please. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” I repeat as he slides the ring on my finger. I wrap my arms around his neck with enough might to strangle him if I really wanted to. Holding my hand out behind us, I stare in awe at the ring he picked out for me. He must mistake my silence for dissatisfaction, because as he pulls away from me, he makes the most ridiculous offer I’ve ever heard of.
“If you don’t like it, we can exchange it. I brought the girls with me…”
I use my lips to silence him. “You silly man you. Exchange it? Never in a million years. And that you thought enough to include Melanie and Maddy, means more to me than you’ll ever know. I just… I’m so in love with you − I just don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say, love. You already said the only word I needed to hear. All we have to do now is just be.”
And that’s exactly what we’ll do. We’ll spend our days being in love with each other, until we run out of love; something, I think is safe to say will never happen.
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When I started this series, I created Momma with the perfect “mother” image in mind − kind, caring, loving, understanding. Her story wasn’t initially clear in my head. I knew she had lost her husband and I knew she deserved love. I just didn’t know the in between stuff. Lucy (not Momma) started to come to life as I was writing Let Love Heal. She became more than a mom and I started to get really excited about her story. It was truly just some random strokes upon the keyboard that brought Lucy and Evan together − a momentary and fleeting decision that really brought this book to life.
Perhaps that’s the most amazing thing about writing: you never know what the story is until it writes itself.
And then, there’s Evan - oh, Lord. Where do I begin with Evan? He is perhaps the most true-to-life character I’ve ever written. I lost my uncle, Lt. David Halderman, on 9/11 and my father, also a Battalion Chief in the FDNY, spent the months following 9/11 sorting through the rubble at Ground Zero looking for his younger brother. Like Evan, my father also had to retire early because of the lung damage he sustained. For these and so many other reasons, Evan will always hold a very special place in my heart.
I have super amazing beta readers who help me so much. Pam Schaeffer, Jennifer Diaz, Jennifer Short - Benson, Michelle Stratton, S. Moose, Emily Minton and Kristy Bruno − thank you all so much for your feedback and for loving my characters as much as I do. An extra special thank you goes out to Nasha Lama and Ashely Griffieth for some of the most beautiful teasers I’ve ever seen.
Carey Heywood − I love your friggin’ face, wife! You are seriously my savior and often my voice of reason.
Michele Molitor − I wish there were words bigger than “I love you” to let you know how much you mean in my life. Thank you for writing the dedication line for this book and for just being you. I know you will always carry his heart with yours and I know you will always speak to him in the quiet hours of the sunrise.
Let Love Be would be a very rough version of the one you’ve just read without the wonderful talent of Becky Johnson and her team at Hot Tree Editing. Thank you for taking my words and cleaning them up. I promise you, I am not a Cyborg (though, that sounds an awful lot like what a Cyborg who doesn’t want to be revealed as a Cyborg would say). Hmmmm?
Toski and Sommer − I love you girls hard! This cover is, simply put, utterly gorgeous. Thank you for bringing Lucy and Evan to life.
Tami with Integrity Formatting − thank you for taking this very plain and simple Word document and making it so unbelievably pretty.
There are just too many bloggers to list, but please know that every time you share something of mine, post a review, or just recommend me to a reader, I fall in love with you a little bit more. Thank you also to my street team. You are so much more than a group of fans. In the months that we’ve had the group, you’ve all become my friends and for that, I’m hugely grateful.
To my husband − I cried so many tears writing Lucy’s story because, in short, it made me have to envision how I would feel if you were no longer a part of my life. I love you with everything that I have and I always will.
Let Love In (The Love Series #1)
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CPE10JY/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CPE10JY/
Let Love Stay (The Love Series #2)
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E5TQ0CY/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E5TQ0CY/
Let Love Heal (The Love Series #3)
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G4KOIFI/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00G4KOIFI/
Let Love Shine (The Love Series #3.5 ~ a novella)
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HNKFZGE/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HNKFZGE/
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