Until the Stars Fall (Just the Way You Are Book 1)

by Abigail Kade

  It took a few days to get everything sorted and moved. After we had all gotten the hard work done, the family got back together at the main house to have an impromptu family dinner. James made a low-country boil with shrimp, corn on the cob, red skinned potatoes, and spicy sausage. Remy, Rhett, and I set out the picnic tables in the yard and spread newspaper over the table tops. When everything was cooked, Remy and I picked up the massive pot and dumped it out on the table top, and we all dug in. And damn could James cook! Everything was spicy, more warm than hot, and tasted so fresh. I had never had food so good. The shrimp had come straight from the bay, and the potatoes and corn had come from a local farm. Even the sausage had been made by a local company. I suddenly realized most of the food I had eaten since moving here had been locally sourced and fresh. I had found that living in the temperate climate on the coast, the growing season was year round, and the results were spectacular.

  “Aunt Helen, I was wondering something.”

  “What’s that, sweetheart?”

  “What was it you were saying to Dalton’s partner when they were taking Parker to jail?”

  Helen looked at me and smirked. “Well, I was hoping no one would ask, but since you did. I was asking him if I could have a private word with Parker before he took him away. He said no, and I kept trying, well until that toolbox Parker slammed his nose into something hard again. I was secretly happy that it had happened, but truth be told I had wished I was the one who broke it. But I got my revenge didn’t I?” Her chuckle was much more evil than an elegant gray-haired lady should have been able to carry off. She made it work though.

  “Oh, yes, sister, that was a fine game of kick-balls you had going on there.” Lillian snickered her horse laugh, and all the rest of us joined in at the memory.

  “Well, Lill, you didn’t do so bad either. I think you got him in the ribs.”

  I looked around and was glad to see Ladd laughing along with everyone else. He seemed to be coming back to himself more each day. I knew it would be a while yet, but I was happy to be here for him while he got his feet under him again.

  After dinner, I had helped clean everything up and move the table back to the porch. As I looked around, I noticed Ladd had disappeared. When I didn’t find him in the house or the yard, I began to panic, until I caught movement on the boat launch. Looking closely, I saw Ladd sitting on one of the lounge chairs placed on the upper sun deck of the pier. I overheard a conversation between the twins and James when I walked up to them.

  “So what has you smiling all day today, Uncle James? You keep checking your phone, and every time you do, you smile like a cat who ate the canary.” Rhett was poking James in the ribs while James was once again checking his phone. While he was distracted by Rhett’s annoyance, Remy reached in and stole James’s phone to see what James had been looking at so intently.

  “Oh, Fuck, who is this, Uncle James? Jesus, he’s beautiful.”

  “Remy, I swear to God you better give me my phone back.”

  Remy read one of the messages from the screen out loud as he ran around the yard, staying a few steps in front of James.

  Ethan: Hey, Jay, I got a new eyeliner and lip gloss today, what do you think?

  Then Remy held the phone up above his head so we could all see the picture. The man on the screen was stunning. He had high cheekbones, a sharp nose, thick dark, maybe black, hair pulled back into a top knot and smooth olive skin. But his eyes were utterly stunning. The color was the lightest green I’d ever seen, almost colorless, but surrounded by the dark outline of the eyeliner, they almost glowed. And his lips were just as pretty. They were glossed with a pale pink and made the fuller lower lip look like it was caught in a permanent pout. He was one of the prettiest men I’d ever seen.

  “Shit, Remy, give me my phone back! If I don’t answer in a minute, Ethan’ll get worried. He knows I always answer as soon as I see a text. He’s a little insecure, and if I don’t answer back, he’ll start to second-guess himself. I don’t want him to feel bad.” Remy gave James the phone back, and as James typed his response, Remy and Rhett communicated in their silent twin-speak eyebrows raised and questions hanging in the air. I looked over to the water and decided I would leave them to their mystery. I wanted Ladd.

  I said my goodbyes to everyone and followed the shoreline to the dock and climbed the stairs to the sun deck. Ladd was curled up on one of the lounge chairs—legs bent, chin resting on his raised knees, and hands lightly clasped around his shins staring out at the sunset over the calm water. The clouds looked like they had been painted in the most vibrant colors in the spectrum, wild pinks, burning oranges, fiery reds. I made my way over to Ladd, wedging myself behind him and he willingly nestled himself between my spread legs lying on my chest, snuggling back into my warm embrace.

  “Mmmm, thank you, Conn, I was getting chilly out here. You’re like a real live electric blanket.” He wiggled deeper into my hold, rubbing his delicious backside against my growing cock.

  I gave him a playful squeeze. “Quit that and be good, babe, I didn’t come out here to molest you while your family can still see us from the back porch.”

  Ladd turned around and saw his uncle and brothers on the back porch talking and laughing. They did have the perfect view of us on the dock. “Oh, all right, but you’ve been warned. I miss you. I have missed you these last few days.” He gave a heavy sigh, “I know I’ve been a mess. I want to thank you for standing by me.” He placed his hands over mine clasped together over his belly, giving my hands a tight grip. “I don’t know what I would have done without you being there as my rock. You don’t know how I thank the powers that be every day that I have you.”

  He was quiet after that. I had a feeling that he had more to say, so I remained silent, holding him and keeping the cold and wind at bay. We watched the sun set below the far horizon, and the vibrant colors slowly went from warm to cool with violets and purples, eventually turning into the clear blue and navy of the night sky. The cold air had the sky glowing with stars, and with no artificial lights near or on the water, the stars shone brightly above us.

  “There’s Orion,” Ladd pointed up to the sky, and I could make out the constellation. “That was the first constellation I learned to find. Uncle James would bring me out here at night when I first moved here, and we would talk, or not, depending on my mood. But he would always show me the stars and pictures in the sky. I had told him not long after I moved here, that I had always liked the night sky, especially falling stars. I saw my first one when I was about ten. It was a time when Mom was okay for a day or two, and she saw it, too. She had told me to make a wish when I saw one, and it would come true. I had made a wish on that one that we could have a real family. I never gave up hope, and I knew when I came here, that it had finally come true.”

  I held Ladd even tighter. He had been through so much in his life. He deserved every good thing in this world for not only surviving but thriving even with anxiety nipping at his heels every day.

  “I admire you so much, Ladd. You survived such a hard young life and raised your brothers on top of it. You could have faltered or blamed the world and never thrived, but you took your future into your hands and became a wonderful, successful man.”

  “I’m not that great, Conn. I’m a mess of anxiety and weird behavior traits that even annoy me most days. I have survived, and I’m proud of Remy and Rhett’s accomplishments, but I’m just me, quirks, awkwardness and all.” He ducked his head. I wouldn’t let him get away with thinking so little of himself though. I pulled one of my hands away and grasped his chin to turn his head around to meet my gaze.

  “Don’t you dare say anything derogatory about yourself, Ladd Eldridge. There is nothing at all wrong or weird about you. Yes, you’re a little quirky, but that’s part of what attracted me to you in the first place.”

  He scrunched up his eyebrows in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m absolutely serious. I would never lie to you, Ladd, especia
lly about this. The more I got to know you, the more I liked everything about you. You’re beautiful and unique and talented as hell. You’re one of a kind, and I wanted to make you all mine because I knew I’d never be able to find anyone like you ever again. You teased me about wishing on a star,” I tickled his ribs and his giggle was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. “You forgot to tell me that you do it, too. I did wish on a falling star that night. I wished for a man all my own who wanted me, wanted my support, my protection, and wanted a family. When I met you, I was attracted to your looks. As I got to know you, I fell for you, all of you. You let me hold you, support you and you let me protect you without giving up your own power. You protect and support me, too. After the fire, I realized that’s exactly what I had been wishing for. I wanted to be a protector, but I found I needed someone, you, to be there and protect me, too. As much as I wish that fire had never happened, it did show me that we’re equal in everything in this relationship. I have physical strength, but you have strengths, too. We complement each other perfectly.” I leaned down and gave his pretty pink lips a light kiss. “So don’t ever think lightly of yourself, Ladd, because I love you just the way you are.”

  “I love you, too, Connor. So much. I did wish on a star that night, you’re right. I wished for someone to love me just the way I am. I wished for you. I don’t even know what to do with all of the feelings you bring out in me. But I do know I’m going to need a long time to work through them all.”

  “A long time, huh? How long are we talking, days, weeks, months?”

  “Nope,” he replied with a popping sound. “I’m thinking it’ll take me years, maybe even decades to work through all of my feelings for you, Mr. McDaniel.”

  “Oh, so do I need to pencil you in my calendar for the next twenty or thirty years?”

  “That’s a start. We’ll revisit the schedule once we get to thirty years and see where we go from there.” He smacked a wet smooch onto my scruffy jaw, then gave me a cheeky grin and turned back around to snuggle into my embrace again.

  I couldn’t have removed my smile from my face even if I wanted to. My cheeks were stinging with the cold of the night air, but I felt warm to my bones. Ladd was mine. Operation Get Ladd had been a resounding success.

  Chapter Eighteen

  We had survived Thanksgiving in Atlanta with Connor’s family. It was much more formal than I had expected. Connor seemed so laid back and easy going that I hadn’t expected a full five-course meal for Thanksgiving dinner complete with servers and more forks than I had really ever seen in one place setting. I had to fall back on lessons learned from Aunt Helen, and her words echoed in my mind. When in doubt start from the outside and work your way in. If that doesn’t work, look around carefully and see what everyone else is doing. I did what she had drilled into me and didn’t embarrass myself. I had been close when I reached for the spoon above my plate for the soup until I noticed everyone else using the soup spoon placed to the right of the plate and various knives. Maeve had been a hoot, and even if it had been a formal dinner, the chatter and love they had for each other made the whole evening a treat. Before we knew it, the trip to Atlanta was over, and we were back in Fairpoint ready to put the finishing touches on the pub. I had gone behind Connor’s back and given instructions to the painters for a little surprise to be finished on our return, and I was sick with nerves that I had overstepped.

  Connor had been going crazy because he hadn’t found a name he liked for the pub yet. He’d had a few ideas but never been able to love one for more than a minute before he found something wrong with it. I thought I had found a solution, but I wasn’t sure if he would hate it, and me, for taking such liberties with his baby.

  We weren’t back in town but a few hours before Connor wanted to ride over and see the progress. Everything was done now, except the final furniture placement and stocking of the bar and kitchen. I had texted some requests for Aunt Helen to take care of a few things for the big reveal. As we finally stepped up to the front doors, I couldn’t be sure if this would be a fantastic evening, or the last time Connor spoke to me. It seemed fifty-fifty at this point.

  The huge double doors onto the street opened, and we walked into the entrance. This was one of the biggest changes we’d made to the space. We’d thought it would be a good idea to put a separate entrance area for the apartments so the residents wouldn’t have to walk through a pub to get to their homes. To that end, the huge grand entryway had been walled off partially, and a separate half glass security door was added with a keypad for residents to gain access to the staircase and entryway. Through the door, you could still see the gorgeous curved staircase and second-floor landing with its fully restored wrought iron rails and banisters, and the stunning chandelier we’d chosen to light the space. To the right was now the entryway to the pub, which we entered, and upon seeing the far wall for the first time, Connor stopped and stared.

  The new bar had been installed to the left on the wall adjacent to the entryway with gorgeous dark woods and sparkling mirror backed glass shelves to showcase the top shelf liquors and whiskeys that Connor planned to offer. The bar stools were covered in a rich navy suede fabric that complimented the rich tones of the wood in the bar and the even darker tones of the plank tile floors. But the showstopper of the room was what held Connor motionless now.

  Connor and I had talked multiple times about our love of the stars. One of our favorite things to do was sit outside on one of the lounge chairs on the dock and talk as we cuddled and watched the sunset and the stars come out over the still waters of the Bay. I’d even told Connor about my wish. As silly as I felt about the whole thing, I felt I knew what would be a perfect name for his pub. What had cemented it, was one of Remy’s metal sculptures I’d seen a few weeks ago. He’d shared a few of his works in progress with me, but one had held my attention. It was a big wall hanging, measuring about six feet across and five feet tall. The whole thing was made up of swirls of metal in silver, gold, copper and black tones, reminiscent of swirls of paint in a Van Gogh night sky. The swirls danced and moved making it feel like water flowing in the sky, but the centerpiece was a huge falling star cutting through the eddying stream of metallic colors, the body and tail of the star sweeping behind in bright brass and highlighted in navy blue. As soon as I had seen it, I knew it was perfect, so I’d asked Remy to sell it to me. He’d refused but had given it to me instead. He didn’t give me shit for it either, proving once again that Remy really did have a sweet side, even if it was hidden by his bullshit attitude most of the time.

  Now, the sculpture was hanging on the rich navy blue wall of Connor’s pub looking like it had always been there in the elegant and inviting space. And evidently, it had rendered Connor speechless.

  “Well, what do you think?” I couldn’t take the silence anymore as Connor just stared at the sculpture, studying every dip, roll, and wave in agonizingly slow detail.

  “What is this, Ladd? I don’t remember ever talking about something like this when we went over the final details before we left town.”

  I couldn’t read his reaction, his voice sounded unusually neutral, but I was getting more and more concerned. “Um, it’s a surprise. Ta Da!” I half-heartedly laughed, but he didn’t laugh with me, still studying the piece that I was afraid had been one step too far. Finally, he looked at me and still he was completely neutral.

  “That’s one of Remy’s pieces isn’t it?”

  Oh, shit, I had fucked up. “Uh, yeah, it is, actually. I saw it a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for this wall.” I had taken this leap of faith, and no matter how bad the landing was looking right about now, I just needed to come clean about it all and see what happened. “I know you were struggling to come up with a name for the pub and when I saw this, I had an idea. I thought you could call it The Falling Star. After everything we shared with each other recently, I thought it sounded like a perfect fit.”

  Silence.

  Connor took me in with a serious
gaze for a few moments and time seemed to drag on for hours. I hoped beyond hope I hadn’t made a huge mistake messing around with his greatest dream.

  “Ladd, I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I can afford one of Remy’s pieces. Where did you get the money for it in the budget?”

  I was scared, but I was also a little hurt at what seemed like a rejection. “Well, if you don’t like it, I can call him and tell him to come back and get it.” I reached for my phone in my pocket and walked back toward the front doors. “I commissioned him to make a sign for the front of the building, too. I’ll just call him and tell him the deal is off. I think he already had a buyer lined up for this piece before he gave it to us, so maybe he can get some money for it now instead of being out all of his time and effort.” I was trying so hard not to be wounded that my gesture had gone so wrong, but I should have known better than to do something this significant without the actual owner’s approval. It was a hard lesson to learn. I made it to the front door before Connor caught up to me and clasped a hand on my shoulder.

  “Ladd, where are you going? Don’t leave. I didn’t say I don’t like it. I just wanted to know how much it was going to set me back.” I turned, and he was finally showing some emotion. He was grinning ear to ear and kept swiveling his head around from me to the wall like he was worried the sculpture would disappear if he didn’t keep an eye on it.

  “You mean you like it? You’re not upset or hate it?” I prayed to all that was holy that he really didn’t mind.

  “Babe, of course, I don’t hate it, it’s perfect. There’s no way I would have thought of that on my own. The work of art on that wall is beyond anything I could have ever imagined. And you did it. The name is perfect, too.” Connor pulled me in for a slow, soft kiss, then whispered to me as he held me close. “You’re perfect, and The Falling Star is going to be perfect because of you. Thank you, my Laddy, for helping me make my dream come true.” We stayed like that, quietly holding each other in the middle of the room until my stomach rumbled with hunger, making Connor chuckle his deep rumble of a laugh.