WATERCOLOR WISHES: Love Along Hwy 30A, Book Four

by Chambers, Melissa

  “It wasn’t a trick question.”

  Dane’s head jerked up at the sound of Marigold’s voice. She stood there on the beach below, holding her shoes, wearing his hoodie over the top of one of her little flowy skirts, looking like a mirage in the desert.

  He pocketed his phone with a shaky hand. “What are you doing here?”

  “Well, I never did return this hoodie.”

  He blinked, still not able to believe his own eyes. “I thought you were in Savannah, or somewhere else?”

  “I was, but it didn’t stick, so I came back. Can we talk a minute?” she asked.

  He glanced toward the living room where Ethan, Ashe, Ginger, and Mark were chatting, holding wine glasses but not drinking them. “Um, stay there. I’ll be right down.”

  He went back inside, scratching his head. He wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to ruin the celebration, but he needed to go talk to Marigold. He picked up the glass they’d poured for him and held it up. “Ethan, do you want to do the honors?”

  Ethan held up his glass. “To our biggest contract yet, and to not fucking it up.”

  “Here, here!” Ashe said, holding up his glass. They all clinked glasses and drank up.

  Dane set his glass down. “Um, Marigold is outside, on the beach.”

  “What?” Ethan asked, his voice rising.

  “Would you all mind finishing this drink without me? I won’t be long. If I haven’t finished by the time you all are done with your champagne, go on and I’ll meet you there.”

  “Invite her,” Ashe said. “I haven’t seen her in forever.”

  “I’ll be back,” he said. When he stepped out the rear doors of the lobby and down the stairs to the beach, the closer he got to her, the harder his heart pounded.

  She held a pair of short boots in front of her with both of her hands, fidgeting with them like a crutch. “Hey,” she said, her smile uncertain.

  “Hey.” He pocketed his hands, not sure what this vibe was. As much as he wanted to throw his arms around her, he had no idea why she was there. He didn’t want to assume anything, and he couldn’t help but want to protect his injured heart.

  “Congratulations. I heard you won the hotel bid.”

  “Well, once your family pulled out, it certainly made it easier.”

  “You totally deserve it.”

  Despite the cool night breeze, warmth crept into his cheeks.

  “How are the boys?” she asked.

  “Good,” he said.

  “Good. That’s really good. Are they here?” she asked, glancing up at his balcony.

  “No, actually, they’re not. But they will be this weekend. Erin and I have an agreement in place. I have them every other weekend now.”

  As her eyes went wide, his stomach sank. He’d had to put it on the line. If she was here to reconcile things between them, she had to know where he stood. If that was a deal-breaker, then he’d have to live with that.

  “Wow, that’s…wow,” she said.

  He nodded, confirming his position. He knew people on the outside thought he was nuts for taking on the responsibility of someone else’s children, but this is what he needed to do, not only for them, but for himself. Walking away or calling the police or some stranger to come pick them up when Erin dumped them off wasn’t an option for him no matter how tough he thought he could be.

  She let out a huge breath, puffing it through her lips like she was blowing out a candle. She lifted the back of her hand to her forehead like she was wiping off sweat, but it was too cool of a night for that. “I’m working at Seaside Sweets now, with Cassidy.”

  It was his turn for wide eyes. “Oh. Wow. That’s great.” He couldn’t believe he’d driven by her place of work a thousand times these past few weeks and never even knew it.

  “She’s doing some traveling, and I’m going to run her shop for January and February.”

  “Nice. That’s great that you can keep it going for her,” he said, still wondering what her long-term plans were. “Will she still need you in March?”

  “I’m not sure, but I may have another gig then anyway. Desiree and I are looking to start a business together.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asked.

  “An art gallery, eventually. It may be messier than that at first. We may use Seaside Sweets for a few shows. We’d transform it, of course, but Cassidy’s totally fine with it all. We’re still in the early planning stages, but we definitely want to work together. She wants to paint more, and I love selling her art. She has some artist friends who want in as well.”

  “That’s great,” he said, his heart warming at the idea of her doing what she loved.

  She waved him off. “Anyway, I’m living with Cassidy for now. She’s asked me to stay at least through February so someone can watch her house while she’s gone. I told her she was nuts for not renting it out during that time, but she doesn’t want to deal with renters…or she’s just being extremely kind and providing a homeless friend with a home.”

  He nodded, his heartbeat increasing as he wondered exactly what she was doing here, what she was trying to say.

  She stared down at the ground, running her foot back and forth through the sand. She met his gaze, causing his stomach to flip. He swallowed hard, and she tossed her boots into the sand. Clenching both fists, she held them to her chest tightly. “I miss you like mad, Dane. I know I said I needed to get my life together but I’m doing that.” She shook her hands slightly as she stared at him, seeming to be summoning courage for something. She bit her lip, and then let it go. “You are the guy that I never knew could exist for me. No man has been able to crack my code the way you have both when we’re on a hayride screaming at vampires and zombies, or when we’re in bed, or on a desk for that matter.” She waggled her eyebrows, and it was all he could do to keep from shutting her up with a kiss right then.

  She grasped his shoulders, sliding her hands down to his biceps. “To get to my point, you’re my person, Dane. You’re the guy I’ve been waiting for all these years. You’re kind, thoughtful, considerate, and more of a man than any man I’ve ever known. For all those reasons and so many more, I love you with all of my heart.” She stared at him with those big, beautiful eyes, just about making his knees buckle. “I want to be with you. I want to do this with you.”

  As much as he wanted to cave, they had more to discuss. “The agreement I have with Erin, it’s legit. It was drawn up by a lawyer and all that good stuff. I’m going to have the boys every other weekend.”

  “I know. I heard you. I think that’s great.” She took his hands. “Dane, the fact that you are the kind of man that would agree to, or probably initiate something like that…” She trailed off, looking at him for confirmation. He shrugged and nodded concession. She let the tension drop from her posture, and then squeezed his hands. “That is one of the reasons why I’ve fallen for you.”

  His throat threatened to close from the hope of her words. “I don’t know what the next few years are going to look like. We’ve got this agreement, but it’s just paper, and she knows I’ll never sue her or do anything to upset the boys. She could take them anywhere at any time. I have no legal claim to them, not really.”

  She nodded, wiping her eye with the back of her hand. He didn’t realize she’d been welling up. That made him want to bring her in for a hug, but they had to work through this.

  “I know. I’ve thought about all this kind of thing. I mean, I didn’t know about this official agreement, but I’ve already been thinking about her dropping them off with you and if we were together, how I’d fall in love with them and then they’d get snatched away, or how I’d be all excited that we were planning a trip to New Orleans for the weekend, and she’d drop in and ruin it all, and a million other scenarios. But in not one of those scenarios was I sorry to have hung onto the best man I’ve ever known.”

  He shook his head, because she seemed so sincere, and it was just ludicrous.

  She stepped away from him, her ho
peful expression dropping. “What?”

  “No, I just think that’s crazy. You’re making me out to be some kind of saint and God knows, Marigold. I’m far from that.”

  She stood there, head dropped to the side, sizing him up. “I don’t think you’re a saint, but I do think you make really good boyfriend material.”

  He couldn’t help a smile. “God, woman. You have no idea how fucking in love with you I am.” The grin that spread across her face was enough to make him hand over his life savings, the deed to his condo, and every ounce of his heart.

  She made a motion with her hand. “See, would a saint drop the F-bomb when professing his love?”

  He brought her in close to him. “You’re sure you want to do this with me?”

  “You have no idea how fucking sure I am.”

  He slid his arms around the small of her back, knowing that he’d do everything in his power to make her way too happy to ever want to leave him.

  “You do know I’m never returning this hoodie, right?” she asked.

  “It’s all yours, babe. And so am I.”

  She grinned again, and he slid his hands over ass, lifting her up onto him. Hiking herself up, she wrapped her legs around him in response and went in for a kiss, causing his whole body to light up. He’d never let her go again.

  Applause erupted from above, and they broke away to look up and find Ethan, Ashe, Ginger, and Mark clapping and whooping from his balcony. Marigold hopped down. “Uh, how long have they been standing there?”

  Ashe cupped his hands over his mouth. “Just enjoying the show. Don’t worry, we didn’t hear you.”

  Marigold gave a skeptical nod.

  “Fuck off, all of you,” Dane shouted.

  Ginger waved. “Hi, Marigold. I’m Dane and Ethan’s assistant. This is my boyfriend Mark. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Marigold waved back with a smile. “Nice to meet you, too. Congratulations on the bid win.”

  Ginger did a circular hand motion with a bow.

  “Come to dinner with us,” Ethan shouted.

  “No, I couldn’t intrude,” Marigold said, looking a little guilty.

  “I already changed the reservation to six earlier today,” Ginger said.

  Dane frowned, looking between Ginger and Ethan, and then back to Marigold. “Did they have something to do with you being here tonight?”

  Marigold exchanged a look with someone on the balcony. “I have my spies.”

  Dane met Ashe’s gaze. “I thought you said you hadn’t seen her in forever.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Ashe said, waving him off. “I lied.”

  “Come on,” Ethan said. “They’re gonna give away our table.”

  “Do you want to come to dinner with us?” Dane asked.

  “Well,” Marigold said, lifting up his hoodie to reveal a nice, black blouse with ruffles and stuff. “I was hoping that’s how this night would end.”

  “Man,” Dane said, glancing at his people on the balcony and then putting his gaze back on her. “Am I that predictable?”

  “Yes,” they all said in unison.

  He took her hand and pulled her close to him, snaking his arm around her back. “You all go on. We’ll meet you there in a bit. We’ve got to…”

  Ethan waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. We know what you’ve got to do. Come on when you’re done.”

  “Or we can bring you dinner in a couple of hours,” Ashe said.

  Ethan turned to him with a finger pointed. “No, they’re coming out to celebrate. This is too important of a night for us.”

  “We’ll be ten minutes behind you,” Marigold said, grabbing his ass.

  “Make that twenty,” Dane said.

  The Next Chapter…

  Cassidy couldn’t believe how fast January and February went by. As much as she enjoyed her time with her friends in Jamaica, she was so glad to be home, and the people inside that bar were the reason why.

  She closed the door to her car and hopped out, making her way across the street to the Bohemian Guppy where her friends had gathered to welcome her home. But honestly, they used any old excuse they could find to get together.

  “Cassidy!” Her niece Seanna jumped up from a table full of their friends and ran over to the door, throwing her arms open to pull her in for a hug. Cassidy inhaled the scent of Seanna’s hair, having missed the fire out of her. Not having had children of her own, Seanna was the closest thing to a daughter Cassidy would ever know. She didn’t think it would be possible to love a person more than she loved Seanna, so the pang to have her own child rarely reared its head.

  “I missed you,” Cassidy said, holding on a hair longer than she should have.

  Seanna pulled away, studying her. “That’s not a tear I see forming there, is it?”

  Cassidy waved her off, shaking her head.

  Seanna gave her a wide smile. “I didn’t think so.”

  Cassidy held up a hand in greeting to their table full of friends who were yelling for her and waving her over. Marigold jumped up and headed their way. “Hey, before you come sit, I want to make an introduction.”

  Marigold steered her in the direction of the bar, pointing at a young guy behind it with shaggy, brown, or maybe sort of auburn-ish hair. “This is Jesse,” Marigold said. “This is his place. He’s the one I told you about who’s looking to add a cookie to his menu.”

  Jesse set two beer bottles on a server’s tray and then met Cassidy’s gaze. She’d seen this guy around. Too handsome for his own good. She held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Someone at the bar got Marigold’s attention and she drifted away.

  “Seaside Sweets, right?” Jesse asked.

  “That’s my place,” Cassidy said.

  “You make cookies?”

  “Among many other things, sure.”

  His eyebrow went up. “Wanna talk business sometime?”

  “Anytime you like.”

  “Marigold says you’ve been off refurbishing schools in Jamaica.”

  Cassidy didn’t like to spread the word about exactly what she did when she traveled, but she supposed she hadn’t told Marigold not to say anything about it. She gave an indifferent shrug.

  “Pretty impressive,” he said.

  “It’s really not. I do it with friends and we get into plenty of trouble.”

  He bit his lip with a hint of a smile. “I’ll bet you do.”

  Jesus Christ, was that an actual flutter in her stomach? How ridiculous. The last time she fell for a handsome bartender’s flirtation the American Pie movies were still popular.

  She pulled her wallet out of her bag. “Do you care if I grab a drink from you here? Looks like they got started without me.”

  “Sure if you’ll put your wallet away.”

  She slid it back into her purse. There was a time in her life when she’d insisted on paying for her own drinks so she wouldn’t feel obligated to anyone for anything. But she’d lived enough life to know a drink never obligated a woman to do anything but enjoy it. “Thanks. I’ll take a draft beer. I’m not picky.”

  “No preference?”

  “Not really.”

  He pulled a cup from a stack and poured her a beer. He stuck an extra cup underneath it before he handed it to her. “So your hand doesn’t get too cold.”

  She couldn’t help a smile. “A gentleman in a bar. You’re a rare breed.”

  “A cookie baker with a body like yours…even a rarer breed.”

  She glanced around the bar at all the girls about half her age. “Do these lines ever work on these young women?”

  He leaned on the bar, his tattooed forearms on display. “You tell me.”

  It’d been a hot minute since Cassidy had fallen for the charms of a handsome guy…and certainly never one his age. She usually dated older men. The idea of her in bed with a tattooed twenty-something bartender was laughable. He was flattering her—his duty as a bartender and a business owner. For a second, she thought about taking him up o
n his offer just to watch him fumble for a retraction.

  She spotted two young women a couple of tables away, both of whom were glancing at him. In their defense, he was something to glance at. She nodded at them. “Stick to women your own age.”

  “I’d really rather stick to you.”

  She took her cup and held it up. “Thanks for the beer.”

  “Anytime. Can I get you anything else?”

  Oh, how tempting this guy’s smile was. For the briefest of moments, a scene of the two of them rolling around on a blanket on the beach, legs and bodies entwined, flashed through her imagination, heating her body through to the core. She blinked herself awake. “I think I’m all set.”

  He flexed his muscled arm as he gripped the lip of the bar. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.” He held her gaze, suggesting a world of satisfaction she hadn’t experienced in decades. Damn, the idea of taking him up on that offer was becoming more tempting by the moment.

  To stay informed of all Melissa’s new releases, bonus content, and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter here or at melissachambers.com (Don’t worry, I don’t inundate!).

  If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Your words are so valuable to authors, and even a really short review is very much appreciated!

  It’s finally time for Cassidy’s happily ever after!

  Grayton Beach Dreams, coming soon!

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to Kristen Kovach for beta reading for me and helping me enhance the story in so many ways. And thank you for always making me feel like a rock star writer! You have no idea how much I value your continued encouragement!

  Thank you so much to Sandy Kovach for your beta read. You really helped me see this story from a different perspective, and your feedback was extremely important in helping me with characterization and description. I hope I can call on you again soon!