by Jessie Evans
Without another word, he spread her thighs wide, positioned himself at her entrance, and drove inside with one long, liquid thrust, holding her gaze as he filled her completely, leaving no place left for Lula to hide.
“I love you.” Tears stung her eyes as she wrapped her legs around his waist and urged him deeper still. There was no point in trying to conceal the truth; he was going to see everything in her eyes. He was going to see every year she’d spent wishing things had been different, lamenting the fact that they hadn’t lived the life they were meant to live.
But maybe now they could, maybe it wasn’t too late.
“There was never anyone else in my heart, Lu.” Carter withdrew until only the tip of him was inside her, before driving slowly back in, love and desire flickering across his handsome features as he filled her. “Never has been, never will be. It’s always been you. Always.”
“Always,” she echoed, moaning as he circled his hips, nudging at the bundle of nerves at the top of her, increasing the urgency building low in her body. She arched into him as his tempo quickened, matching him thrust for thrust, breath coming faster and her features twisting as she neared the edge.
But she didn’t duck her head or try to hide as her orgasm overtook her, shooting through her body like lightning, so fierce and sweet it was almost too much to take. She held Carter’s gaze, and as they tumbled over together, she swore she could see straight into his soul.
This was more than sex, more than even making love. This was communion, intimacy so intense that there was no space between them, no boundaries, no room for lies or half-truths or anything but naked feeling. And at that moment, there was no doubt in Lula’s mind that Carter meant every word he’d said since he came back into her life. He loved her, treasured her, and all he wanted was to spend the rest of their lives making up for lost time.
“Yes,” she whispered as he stilled inside of her, his breath warm on her neck as she smoothed her hands up and down his back. “Yes.”
“Yes,” Carter sighed, not seeming to need clarification about what they were both agreeing to. But he must have seen to the heart of her, too. He must know that she was done fighting this thing.
She was done with fear and doubt. From here on out, all she wanted was love and Carter—as much of both as she could get.
CHAPTER NINE
Carter
For the next thirty-six hours, Carter and Lula were inseparable. Lula hung a “closed to prepare for the sidewalk sale” sign on the door, and they locked themselves away in her apartment.
They made love on the kitchen counter, in the shower, on the sofa, and on the rug in front of the Christmas tree—with Lula on top, riding Carter with slow, sensual strokes as the lights flickered across her pale skin, making her look like something not of this world. She was more than simply beautiful, she was enchanting, and in the moment before he came apart, Carter prayed that this would last forever. He never wanted to make love to another woman. He never wanted to share his life with anyone but this perfectly complicated, funny, creative, kind, and sexy person who made him feel like he’d come home after all his years of wandering.
And when they were finally too tired to do more than lie heavy in each other’s arms, Lula fetched tea and cookies from downstairs, and they spent the evening in bed watching old movies, cuddling close until they fell asleep to Christmas carols and the warm glow of the Yule Log station.
Carter woke up the morning of December twenty-fourth holding everything he would ever need in his arms. Lula’s cheek was warm on his chest and her long, graceful arm was wrapped around his ribs, holding on tight, even in her sleep. She felt like a miracle, like all the dreams he’d been holding close for the past few years coming true, and he couldn’t wait to get started on forever.
As soon as he could sneak away, he was going to go pick out a ring and hopefully, by the end of the evening, it would be sitting on Lula’s ring finger.
They could take as much time as Lula needed to set a date and plan the wedding—years if she needed them. He was willing to wait however long it took for her to be sure she was ready, but he wanted her to know where he stood. He wanted Lula to have a symbol of his commitment to her, and he was prepared to put the last of his dwindling savings where his heart was.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, smiling down at her when she made a sleepy sound and stretched. “How’d you sleep?”
“Wonderfully, perfectly,” she said, looking up at him with a grin. “I had the most amazing dreams. We were camping in the desert, and the sky was full of stars, and it felt like there was no one on earth but you and me.”
“Was I kissing you in this dream?” he asked, turning his head to press a kiss to her bare shoulder as his hand crept beneath the tank top she’d worn to bed with her flannel pajama pants.
Lula arched into his touch with a happy sigh. “You were. Just like that.” She moaned as his fingertips found her nipple and began to tease it in circles. “That feels amazing, but I have to open the shop in half an hour. I can’t stay closed up again today.”
“That’s why quickies were invented, L.J.,” Carter said as he disappeared under the covers, not coming up for air until Lula was naked and begging for more.
“Yes,” she cried out, her arms locking around his neck as he drove to the end of her.
He groaned as her tight, slick heat surrounded him. She felt so good, so perfect, and every time they made love was better than the last. “I love you,” he murmured into her hair as he rocked in and out, pausing at the end of each thrust to circle his hips, making her breath come faster. Moments later she shattered, calling his name as her body pulsed around him, sending him over the edge seconds behind her.
“So good,” she panted, arms wrapping around his ribs and holding tight. “Don’t ever leave. Stay here forever.”
“Yes ma’am,” he drawled. “Though we might get some funny looks if we go down to serve customers naked and tangled up.”
Lula giggled. “True.” She kissed him on the cheek before patting his bare ass. “I’ve got to jump in the shower, but feel free to go back to sleep and come down whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m getting up, too,” Carter said. “I’m going job hunting. Sawyer thinks he might have an opening on the ghost town reconstruction crew. Going to start there and then swing by the hardware store and talk to Bear. He said the community bulletin board is still a good place to look for handyman work.”
“I can’t believe this is really happening,” Lula said with a stunned smile. “I can’t believe you’re here to stay.”
“Believe it, baby,” Carter said, hoping the ring he was going to splurge on today would make it clear that he meant business. “You’re going to have to kick me out of town wearing spurs if you want to get rid of me.”
“Not a chance, cowboy.” With one last kiss, Lula was out of bed and on the move, bustling around the apartment while he dressed and made coffee.
Just getting ready for the day together was a mini-miracle to him. He treasured every moment, from the sound of Lula’s heels clicking on the hardwood as she walked back and forth in the bedroom, to the smell of her perfume as she hugged him goodbye and told him she’d have lunch ready when he came home.
Every moment with her was a balm that soothed the ragged places in his soul. He was happier than he’d been in years and the future was only going to get brighter.
He passed the day in a haze, every “Merry Christmas” he heard, as he walked down the street, an affirmation that the hard times were behind him. It felt like the entire world was celebrating his redemption. It might be a chilly, overcast December day with snow in the forecast for the first time in years, but to Carter the world was filled with light, love, and hope.
By ten a.m., he’d landed a job on Sawyer’s reconstruction crew and was scheduled to start work on January second. By eleven, he’d scored a part time gig assembling storage sheds for Bear’s hardware store that would keep him fed and sheltered until his f
ull-time work started. And by noon, he was the proud owner of a quarter-carat diamond engagement ring.
It was small, with a few flaws visible in the stone when you looked through a magnifying glass, but it was set in a graceful white gold band that would look perfect on Lula’s slim finger. It wasn’t flashy, but it was a symbol of the love he felt and the commitment he wanted to make.
When he and Lula were young, Carter had thought he needed a bulging bank account to be worthy of her, but after years of loneliness he knew the greatest gift anyone could give was to love another person with all of their heart.
Around one o’clock, he and Lula shared lunch, toasting his new jobs over spiked eggnog, and he spent the rest of the afternoon helping her get ready for the annual sidewalk sale. He set up tables, toted boxes full of Lula’s holiday dolls, and helped decorate, every task a pleasure because he was spending time with his favorite person.
Come nightfall, when the Christmas lights on Main Street sparkled to life and the holiday carnival in the square filled the air with music and laughter, Carter was certain the only thing that could make this day more perfect was a “yes” from Lula tonight. He was nervous, but determined, and focused on memorizing every detail of the evening—from the emerald green dress that made Lula’s eyes shine to the way she smiled as she helped little girls pick out the perfect doll.
When the phone call came from Shane, his former partner, at seven thirty, Carter almost didn’t pick up. But there was a lull in customer traffic, and Lula had stepped inside to grab a scarf and another batch of holiday cookies. So Carter answered, figuring he owed his old friend a Merry Christmas.
“You’d better believe it’s a Merry Christmas,” Shane replied, excitement in his voice. “Are you sitting down, brother?”
“I am,” Carter said, wondering what this was all about. “But I’m working a holiday booth, so I might have to let you go in a few. What’s up?”
“You know that shipment from Morocco we thought was lost or stolen years ago?” Shane asked, continuing before Carter could reply. “Well, a receiving center in Chatsworth burned down yesterday. In the basement, they found some stuff the fire hadn’t touched. Our crate was there, buried beneath a bunch of undeliverable mail.”
“What?” Carter shook his head as his pulse picked up. “You’re kidding me. And the rocks are still there?”
“All the meteorites are still there. Every single one,” Shane said. “I got the call an hour ago and booked a flight to London to pick up the crate in person. No way we’re trusting the royal mail again.”
Carter cursed, too stunned to do anything else.
“That’s what I said.” Shane laughed. “And get this—prices are up from six years ago! Specimens like ours are selling for ten times the going rate of gold per gram. I booked an appointment with Sotheby’s on Tuesday. They said they’d be interested in curating an auction so we don’t even have to tote these babies out of England. So get your butt on a plane, man, and get ready to fly home a millionaire!”
Carter’s mind reeled. A millionaire. After all the bad luck and failed excursions, he’d finally hit pay dirt. He’d be able to give Lula all the things he’d dreamt of when they were younger and replace her starter ring with something heftier in just a few weeks.
“I’m on the next plane out,” Carter said, a grin splitting his face. He got the information on where Shane was staying so he could book a room at the same hotel. Then he hung up, grabbed the cash box from the table, and hurried into the tea shop to share the good news with Lula.
Inside, the lights were on and a mug of tea sat steaming on the counter, but there was no sign of Lula, and the shop was strangely quiet.
“Lula? Where are you?” Carter shouted, still grinning. “I’ve got amazing news, babe!” He waited in silence before calling for Lula again. “L.J., where are you, woman?”
He hurried up the stairs, thinking Lula might have decided to change into something warmer, but the apartment was empty. Back downstairs, he checked the kitchen and the main room before heading back out front. But there was no sign of her. His smile faded and his heart beat faster as anxiety leaked into his bloodstream.
Carter hurried back inside, moving through the curtained partition into the stockroom. There he saw the back door open and Lula’s truck missing from its parking place behind the shop.
He wanted to believe she’d simply made a run to the store, but his gut told him this was more serious than Lula running out on a quick errand and forgetting to close the door. When he stepped out back and saw the Christmas gnome shattered on the concrete, his fears were confirmed.
Carter had no idea what had gone wrong. He only knew he had to find Lula and make everything right again. It didn’t matter if he was on the verge of becoming a millionaire. All the money in the world wasn’t worth losing their second chance.
CHAPTER TEN
Lula
I’ll be on the next plane out. I’ll be on the next plane out. Carter’s words drummed through her head, making Lula feel like her skull was about to split in two as she steered down the back alley and emerged onto the Old Town Highway. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to get away from Carter.
Away from his lies and his deception and those soft brown eyes that had looked at her like she was all he would ever need, only to turn around and prove she was nothing compared to the latest adventure on the horizon.
Lula pulled in a strangled breath and swiped the tears from her cheeks.
She should have known better. It didn’t matter how real and right every moment with him had felt. She should have guarded her heart and held strong until she was sure he’d really changed. Instead, she’d fallen even harder than she had the first time, and now she felt like the ground had disappeared beneath her feet. She was free-falling through her misery without even her work to keep her sane.
It didn’t matter that the Christmas Eve holiday dolls were one of her biggest money-makers of the entire year. She couldn’t stay at the shop for another moment. She couldn’t look Carter in his lying eyes while he pretended to be committed to a life with her, all while planning his next getaway.
“Bastard,” she sobbed as the traffic signal turned red. She pulled to a stop with a sniff, trying not to fall completely apart until she was out of town.
The sidewalks were filled with people out shopping and celebrating, and she didn’t want anyone to see her in tears. As soon as Carter left town, she’d be the laughingstock of Lonesome Point all over again. She didn’t want to make a scene on top of it.
She held her chin up, ready to keep a stiff upper lip until it was her turn to pull through the intersection. But no sooner had the vehicle stilled than the truck’s engine suddenly sputtered and died. Lula blinked in confusion and tried to start the engine again, but there was no response, not even a crank or grind. Her truck had simply died, going from perfect working condition to dead as a doornail in two seconds flat.
With a barely suppressed growl of frustration, Lula hopped out, intending to flag down someone to help her push the truck to the side of the road.
But then she heard Carter’s familiar voice, calling her name from behind her. Before she could rethink the wisdom of the decision, Lula was dashing down the sidewalk in her high-heeled Mary Janes, shouldering her way through the crowd and heading right on Baxter Street.
Baxter connected to the alley behind the shops on the west side of the highway. A vague plan was forming in Lula’s head—one that involved creeping in the back door to Mia’s shop and hiding in the stockroom until she’d lost Carter—but she barely made it halfway down the street when her path was blocked by a line of holiday floats. The parade didn’t start for an hour, but the floats were already swarming with people stringing lights and putting on last minute touches. People who turned to stare as Lula came running toward them, heels clacking on the pavement, with Carter not far behind, shouting for her to stop.
With a whimper, Lula dodged to the left, into th
e abandoned parking lot of a darkened, two-story office building. Her toes were screaming and her ankles were twinging, but she pushed herself to run faster. She couldn’t face Carter, not now, when all her romantic dreams were so recently dead and her heart was smashed to pieces, like the gnome she’d hurled to the concrete as she fled her shop. She had to keep ahead of him, just long enough to find a place to hide.
She rounded the corner of the office building and hurried back toward the sidewalk, intending to cross the street and get lost in the chaos of the carnival. But then she saw the fenced-in Dumpsters to her right and aimed her body toward them, slipping through the gate and closing it with seconds to spare as Carter called out again behind her.
“Lula, please wait! I need to talk to you!”
Lula fought to keep quiet, holding her breath, as his footsteps sounded on the concrete outside, afraid he would hear her ragged exhalations. But the sound of his footfalls continued past her hiding place and moved off toward the street. After a few silent moments, Lula released her breath with a whoosh, sagging against the fence as she turned to survey her surroundings.
What she saw made her scream, a wild yelp of surprise that leapt from her mouth before she could contain it.
There, less than five feet away, stood a row of Christmas gnomes, lined up as if they had been caught mid-escape from the Dumpsters. Before Lula could imagine where they’d come from—or calculate the odds of coming face to face with antique gnomes from the same collection as the one she’d so recently smashed—the gate screeched open behind her.
“There you are,” Carter said, breathing heavily. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? I heard you scream.”
“Go away,” Lula said, dividing her attention between Carter and the gnomes, some crazy part of her insisting the vintage ceramics weren’t to be trusted.