by Frankie Love
She smiles; so do I. Remembering our first and only night at my house. God, it was a good one. “Chocolate?”
“Always.” I take her hand and lead her the long way to the Cherry On Top Ice Cream Parlor.
On our way, I stop at the fountain on the corner of Love and Hope. I pull her into my arms, setting my chin on top of her head.
“It’s so pretty at night,” she says. “All lit up.”
“You know the legend?”
“The legend?” she asks, pulling back and looking up at me.
I smile. “Yeah, the legend of the Cherry Falls Fountain.”
“Tell me,” she says, holding my hand. We face the fountain, side by side, and I try to remember the words.
“I was born and raised here, you know. And ever since I was a little boy I’d come here with my brothers, we’d try to collect the money in the fountain for candy bars but would get scolded by the mothers who saw us. They’d say we can’t steal other people’s wishes.”
“So what is the legend?”
I lace my fingers with hers, squeezing her hand and pointing to the plaque beside the fountain. I read out loud, “When you come to town, you’re sure to find, that hope and love are intertwined. When you pass the fountain, drop a coin right in. And your heart’s desire shall always win.”
She fishes in her pocket for a few coins and hands me one. We step closer, and I swallow, knowing my heart’s desire, without a doubt.
I wonder if Goldie knows hers.
We toss the coins in, and she inhales sharply.
“What is it?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I just really hope my heart’s desire wins.”
I take her hand. “Well, if your desire is a banana split with extra whipped cream and a cherry on top, you’re in luck, Goldilocks.”
She laughs, wrapping her arm around mine as we walk down the street toward the ice cream parlor. Inside, we place our order and find a table. When the waitress, Ruby Rivers, delivers our split with two spoons, Goldie thanks her.
“Of course.” Ruby smiles. “You’re Goldie, right?”
Goldie nods. “Yeah. What’s up?”
“I just heard what you’re doing at the Greyhound and I think it’s so cool. I’m a senior at CF High and my friends and I are all so excited to go to the play opening night. There’s hardly anything fun to do in a small town so this is like a big deal.”
Goldie beams. “I’m so happy to hear that. It should be fun. And Bela’s Bakery is making some pretty fancy desserts for the intermission.”
Ruby smiles. “Can’t wait.” She walks away and I pick up my spoon, tapping Goldie’s nose.
“Wow, look at you. You already have fans and you haven’t even graced the stage in Cherry Falls yet.”
“Right?” Goldie laughs and takes a bite. “I keep hearing things like that all over town though, it’s amazing.”
“What, that teenagers in Cherry Falls are dying for something to do besides go cow tipping?”
Goldie smiles. “Sure. Yes. I mean, in Syn City, I was in plays but it was never about the audience, never about the community. It was self-serving, all about a resume and a leg up, and the next level.”
“And you don’t want that?” I take another bite, wanting it to be true. Wanting Goldie to want to be here, wholeheartedly.
“No, I don’t. I’m not looking for the next big thing. I want to do what I love with a smile on my face.”
“I really like that about you.”
“When I moved here it was about following my bliss, what made me happy. And right now, I am happy. So happy.” She takes another bite of chocolate. “Sebastian doesn’t get it. He thinks L.A. is where it’s at.”
My jaw tightens. “So why is he still here?”
She frowns. “To help me out. We’re friends, and I was in a jam.”
“That’s all?” I can’t help but ask.
She rolls her eyes, sitting back in the chair. “You don’t trust me, do you?”
“I don’t trust him.”
“I’m not interested in him. I’m interested in you.”
“And what about him, what is he interested in? Because I know guys. And there is no monetary gain for Sebastian to be in this community theater show. He is here for you — plain and simple.”
“We were never even together.”
“Then why is he here?” I ask.
“To help me. To add another production to his resume. God, Grant, I don’t know!”
“He thinks he has a chance with you, Goldie.”
“He is moving to L.A. in a few months, Grant. He got some part in a movie.”
“And if he hadn’t?”
“We wouldn’t be together, Grant. I’m not interested in Sebastian. I wish you would believe me.”
“Does he know that? Because he made it clear what he wanted when we were at the bar.”
She’s annoyed now. “Just say what you mean.”
“I mean he is here for you.”
She pushes back from the table. “I want to go home.”
I stand, carrying the dish to the garbage can, then open the door for her. We walk to her house in silence, and I wish I could pull open the door and lead her inside.
“I’m really annoyed with you, Grant,” she whispers.
“I know.” I pull her close, for a hug. I know Goldie is not like every other girl. She needs to come to terms with her life without my help. “I’m here if you change your mind.”
“You’re not through with the idea of me?”
I shake my head. “No, Goldie Greyhound. Not even close.”
Chapter Twelve
Goldie
I want to fight with him — and with most men, it’s exactly what I would do. However, Grant Blake is not most other men. He isn’t a fighter. He’s a lover not hater, and as crazy as it sounds to say… I think he loves me.
Me.
Back at my apartment I take a long hot shower, closing my eyes — thinking of how the night went.
It wasn’t what I expected. I thought it’d be a few drinks with new friends, some laughs, then home… instead I was standing in front of a fountain making a wish.
And it wasn’t the wish I expected to be making at all.
I came to Cherry Falls to find my bliss — open a playhouse — and I do want that.
But there is something else I want more.
And it scares me.
To want someone — and have it not go as I planned. Because my life has not taken the course I anticipated. Every time I thought I was close to a win, I failed. My life has been laced with disappointments. With me not measuring up to enough. But maybe all this time I was using the wrong measuring stick.
When I’m with Grant I feel like I’m more than enough. When I am in Cherry Falls in general, I feel like I fit. Like I belong.
As the water runs cold in the shower, I come to a realization that has me bracing myself against the tiled wall. Was bringing Sebastian here my way of protecting myself from being rejected by Grant? Was bringing an ex back into my life a form of self-sabotage?
Tears sting my eyes as it hits me. That’s exactly what I’ve done.
Push away the good before I can get too attached.
Grant is the good.
I get out of the shower, my eyes stinging with the harsh truth, my body shivering from the cold water. I dry off, wrapping a towel around my body and wringing out my wet hair. Stepping from the bathroom into the hall that leads to my bedroom, I run straight into Sebastian.
“Oh, you’re back,” I say, wrapping the towel around me tighter.
“Yeah, was looking for you, but you really got away from me, didn’t you?”
I exhale, shaking my head. Wanting this day to be done, but also, wanting the truth. “Did you say something to Grant, about us?”
“Of course I did, Goldie.” He leans against the wall, blocking my path.
“What did you say? Exactly?”
“I told him the truth.” He smells like
tequila, and his eyes are bloodshot.
I widen my eyes. “Which is what?”
“That I came here for you. And you know it. That you want it. Me.” He smiles — that too perfect smile that never worked on me anyways. His balance isn’t stable. He is drunk as hell and I don’t like the way this feels. My skin crawls as I realize just how vulnerable I am in this moment. “We both know why you called me up and invited me here,” Sebastian says.
“That is not true,” I say, tears in my eyes, my chest tightening. “Get away from me, Seb. I mean it.”
“You’re such a tease. I know you want another shot. And you’re too proud to admit it. But baby, let me help you.” He steps closer — wrapping his arms around me and pinning me to the wall. “I’m taking what I came here for.”
“Like hell you are!” Grant shouts from the doorway. He let himself in, and he’s coming for Seb, a fight in his eyes. I shriek as he pulls Seb from me and pushes him against the wall. “Don’t you dare touch her.”
“Or what?” he snarls.
Grant doesn’t hesitate. He takes a swing, hitting him squarely in his nose, splattering blood.
“My nose!” Sebastian wails, stepping back, grabbing the wall for balance. “My modeling career is ruined if you did something permanent.”
“If the first one didn’t do it, this one will.” He punches Sebastian in his picture-perfect jaw.
Sebastian peels off the wall, shoving at Grant’s chest. Swinging for him with one fist but missing his face, connecting with Grant’s shoulder instead.
Grant isn’t the least bit fazed. He shoves Seb off. “Get your shit and go. Now.”
I’m shaking, taking it all in. One moment I felt like I’d invited the enemy into my home, and the next, the man next door saved me.
Tears fall down my cheeks as I watch Grant toss Sebastian’s things from the apartment, outside. “Go,” he shouts. “Get the hell away from Goldie.”
Sebastian yells back, but he doesn’t argue, a tee shirt pressed to his bloody nose. I hope it’s broken and I don’t even feel bad for thinking it.
Grant slams the door shut, locks it too, then turns to me, eyes blazing. He moves with intention, stalking closer, then cupping my face with both his hands. Strong, capable hands. Capable of holding me, and all my imperfections.
“Are you okay, songbird?” he asks.
I nod. “How did you know to come?”
Grant wipes the tears from my cheeks with his calloused thumbs. “I was on my porch, hating the idea of you being here alone, without me, and I saw him stumble down the sidewalk, shouting about making you pay, rambling in a drunken stupor about it being time. And I had a feeling. I knew, then and there, he was up to no good.”
“He scared me… you were right about him. And I was so stupid, so—”
Grant cuts me off. “You believed the best in him, Goldie, that he had a goddamn moral code. But he doesn’t. And that isn’t your fault.”
I wrap my hand around his, pressing myself to him as he holds me tight. “I should have listened to you. Should never have invited him here.”
“Stop,” Grant says, tilting my head up, our eyes meeting. I see him. God, I hope he sees me. “You did nothing wrong.”
“I was scared. Before, when we got together, I thought it was too good to be true, Grant. That you were too good to want me… and so I sabotaged us. Brought Seb here even though it would push you away.”
Grant gives me that half-smile that makes my knees weak and my belly flip-flop. “Too bad I’m a stubborn ass. Because Goldie, all this time I’ve been playing for keeps.”
I hold onto him. “Good, because Grant Blake, you got me.”
“Yeah?” he asks. “In that case, you’re coming home with me.”
I laugh. “What, you won’t stay the night in my place?”
Grant chuckles. “There’s no room for me amidst your hundred fur coats and five dozen pairs of glittery boots.”
“Fair enough.”
“But speaking of fur coats,” he says, picking one up off my couch. “Put this on, Goldilocks. Can’t carry you to my place in a towel.” I drop the towel, and put on the coat, Grant shaking his head as I do. “All my life,” he says. “I had no idea I needed a woman like you.”
“You need me?” I ask, his words hitting me in the heart.
He picks me up, kisses me slowly. “Yes, Goldie Greyhound, I do.”
Chapter Thirteen
Grant
I carry her home. Otis is snoozing on the couch and it’s dark, quiet in here, and I set down the woman who has my whole heart. “You’re frozen,” I say. Her hair is wet and her toes are bare and it’s freezing outside.
“Guess you’ll have to warm me up,” she whispers, letting the fur coat fall to the floor. She saunters off toward my bedroom and I follow. Hell, I’d follow this girl anywhere and I hope she knows it.
In my bedroom, I pull back the fluffy down comforter and tell her to get under the covers. “I can’t let you get a cold, not when you have a play to star in.”
She smiles, crawling into bed. Her ass in the air, her curves making me hard as fuck, and god, I want this woman. All of her. “The play is a mess,” she murmurs. “We don’t have a leading man.”
I tug off my shirt, my jeans. My cock is hard and rigid and god, I’m glad she is here. Wish we hadn’t just gone through that bullshit with her ex, but now we are here — together. I won’t let her go.
“How big is the role?” I ask, getting in bed with her. My hands running over her bare skin, warming her up.
“Big enough that the other guys who auditioned didn’t want it.” She closes her eyes, and sighs. “God, it feels so good when you touch me.”
Taking her cues, I begin to kiss her all over, her neck, her collarbone, her perfect tits. Massaging them, teasing her nipples with my teeth and making her laugh in delight. “You’re so fucking cute when you squirm, you know that?”
Her eyes open and meet mine. “You’re pretty sexy when you start throwing punches,” she says. Licking her lips, she rolls over, straddling me. “Thank you, Grant. For protecting me.”
“I can’t imagine something happening to you,” I tell her, kissing her softly. Her tits graze my chest and I run my hands over her ass, setting them on her curvy hips. “I’m falling for you, Goldie. So damn hard.”
“I’m falling for you too, Grant. Or I’ve already fallen. I just don’t want my heart to be broken… I want the real thing. Love that lasts. I’m scared.”
“I know,” I tell her, pulling her to my chest, wrapping my arms tight around her. “But that’s what falling in love is, trusting that the other person is going to catch you.”
She smiles, running her hand down my chest, stroking me gently. “I think you’re too big for me to catch.”
“You talking about my height or my cock?”
She giggles. “Both.” Sighing, she adds, “I know you don’t think I’m going to stick around after the play, but I am, Grant. Cherry Falls feels like home.”
“Good, because I want to make this work, you and me. We won’t know if we’ve got what it takes unless we try.”
She smiles, kissing me, her leg hooking over mine. “You want to be in a serious relationship with me?”
I chuckle, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. I want so much more than a serious relationship but I don’t want to scare this songbird away just yet. “Yes, I want a serious relationship with you. And I don’t want any other exes showing up at your house.”
“Deal,” she says. “And I will try to go to bed at a decent hour.”
“I don’t want you to change for me. We can make your erratic sleep schedule work. Somehow.”
She bites her bottom lip. “I have a better idea.” She gets on her knees, stroking me. “You can wear me out and then I’ll fall asleep when you do.”
I grin, shaking my head at this beauty of a woman who has somehow decided a mechanic like me is the guy she needs. I feel like one lucky son of a bitch. S
he lowers her head and begins to suck me off, and I run my hand over her ass, slapping her gently, easing her over my body so she can straddle me backwards. I pull her sweet ass to my mouth, and begin to lick her up and down, needing my girl to ride my face as she sucks me nice and good.
“Oh,” she whimpers as she bobs her head, her pussy dripping as I tease her sweet little cunt, as I circle my tongue over her clit until she’s panting. My cock aches and I know I’m close.
She lets out a deep moan as I press a finger into her sweet spot. “Oh, Grant, oh…” I don’t stop teasing her, opening her up with a second finger until she is dripping for me nice and good. Getting her ready for so much more. She comes against me, her hands on my thighs as she steadies herself, as the moans that escape her become the sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard. Which is saying something because when she sings it’s like honey. But this is something else. This is my girl coming against my mouth and damn, screw sounding sweet — her getting off is the hottest thing in the fucking world.
“I’m gonna come, Goldilocks,” I tell her and that makes her even more eager. She begins to suck me more deeply, and I groan, coming inside her mouth, ribbons of come, hot and creamy. She sucks me until there is nothing more to give.
I roll her onto her back, kissing her hard, deep. And she wraps her whole body around me, our hearts pounding hard, our desire palpable, real. Ours.
“Fuck, I’m more than falling, Goldie Greyhound.”
“Yeah?” she whispers as my cock hardens, finding her sweet hole. It’s so wet and ready. For me.
“Yeah. I love you.”
She smiles, tears in the corners of her eyes. “I love you too, Grant.”
Filling her up feels so damn good, and I hold her tight. I won’t let go. We make love the way I intended the moment I brought her home. We move as one and our laughter fades, turning to something deep, more intimate as I take her to the edge. To the place we both belong — our beginning.
After, she curls against me. I say, “I was thinking about your play. I could be your leading man.”
She turns, her smile serene. “You would do that for me?”