by Terra Kelly
He patted my thigh. “It’s good to see you both together again.”
Dad and I had this close relationship and it was fun teasing him. “We do need to find a new place to live though.”
“You’re moving in with him?”
I leaned my elbows on my thighs. “Is it too soon? Am I making a bad decision?”
He stood up and walked over to the work bench. “He has only been back three months.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Dad, I don’t plan to ever let him go again.”
He smiled. “That’s all I needed to hear.” He stepped closer to me and tugged me up to my feet. “Listen, Liam is a good man. He strayed from the path but he’s back.”
“Does that mean you approve?” I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Yup, but I’m not following any office hours.” He tickled my side.
I stepped away and swatted at his chest. “You better not serve us dinner in bed though.” We both were laughing when Liam stepped into the shop. I grabbed his hand and dragged him up the stairs. “Night, Daddy.”
“Night, Baby.”
“This is going to be really awkward isn’t it?” He took off his shoes and walked over to the couch.
“Maybe, but there is no way I’m doing this.” I circled my hand in between us. “In my parents’ house.”
For the last week, I realized having Liam back in my life was the best thing that could’ve ever happened. I loved my family and I love Appleton Farm. When Liam left, I felt empty. For the last four years there was something missing but I didn’t realize what it was at first. Then Liam started helping Levi and took up some of the heavy lifting. When I saw him on the tractor I knew at that moment the piece that was missing the last four years was him.
Maybe we did need to separate to see we really did belong together.
“Levi and Jesse keep talking about this property where they plan to build a house.” Liam pulled me closer.
“Yeah, do you think we can steal a little of the land and build a pretty house, too?”
“Maybe.” He kissed my nose.
I straddled his legs and rested my forearms on his shoulders. “Liam, I do love you.”
“Yeah, how much?”
“More than all the apples in the world.”
“Wow, that’s a lot.” He moved his nose back and forth against mine. “You know how much I love you?”
“Not as much as me.”
“Wrong.” He touched his index finger on the tip of my nose. “I love you more than all the stars in the galaxy.”
I leaned forward and kissed him. “I’m really glad you found your way back to me.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long.”
“Well, you’re here now and I don’t plan to ever let you go again.”
“Promise?”
“With all my heart.”
Epilogue
Liam
Six months later…
“Have you thought about offering a savory recipe?” I walked into the kitchen. “Maybe a special menu a couple times a month.”
Jesse was helping Autumn plate some donuts for a photo. “Savory? Here?” Jesse sounded a bit thrown off by that suggestion. “Any ideas for a recipe that includes apples?”
I leaned against the counter next to them. “Apple and pumpkin ravioli popped in my mind the other day.” They both stopped what they were doing and looked up at me. “What? Is that a bad idea?”
Autumn grabbed my wrist. “Honey, that’s an amazing idea.”
“Yeah, you think?” I couldn’t stop staring at her. I felt like the luckiest man lately. It took us a few months to work through everything but we were edging on a year back together.
“The table is not sturdy enough for sex,” Jesse said chuckling, and walked to the other side of the room.
“Jesse,” Autumn yelled. She had this shocked look and then her face fell. “Wait, how do you know that?” She stepped back from the table and lifted her hands. “Please don’t tell–”
“No, dear sister we did not try it out.” He walked back over and placed the palm of his hand on the top of the table. “See.” Then he shook it back and forth. “It’s not stable.”
I glanced at Autumn and over at Jesse. “I’m finding it hard to not have a visual right now.”
This family was everything to me. My father had finally come around to talking to me but the relationship was still on shaky grounds. He couldn’t understand why his son didn’t want to get a good career and make good money. I tried to make him understand it wasn’t about money for me. All I wanted was to be happy and Autumn was the center of my happiness.
“Can we double back to the apple and pumpkin ravioli conversation.” Autumn stepped closer to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “You have me thinking now.”
I brushed my fingers down the side of her face and tucked loose strands of hair behind her ears. “Uh oh, thinking. Should we be worried?” Her sea green eyes were mesmerizing. If I could, I would sit and watch her all day. I knew now what I almost lost. I still had regrets missing out on even the four years with her, but I was slowly trying to let that go. Autumn loved to live in the moment and let the past shit go. Another thing I loved about this amazing woman.
“Funny.” She poked at my sides and slapped her hands on my chest. “No, hear me out.”
“I’m hearing you out. Tell me.”
“During the off season we could have an event with live music and a special menu.”
“But it’s the off season, so how would you keep the apples for the recipe?” I knew my way around a kitchen but I really had no clue what I was doing. Thankfully two chefs lived on the farm.
“Jumping in on the conversation,” Jesse said and rested his hands on the counter. “We prep several pounds of apples and freeze them. They would be diced, portioned, and ready to add to each recipe.”
“Oh, I love this.” Autumn squeezed my hand and stepped away. “What an amazing way to create buzz around the farm and find new customers during the off season.”
“So that was a good suggestion?” I glanced between Jesse and Autumn who were just standing staring off into space.
Autumn shook her head and grabbed my hand. “Come on, I need to make notes on my computer.”
“Wait.” Jesse grabbed her wrist. “Don’t forget, Ryan and Eric will be helping this season.”
“Oh, that’s even better.” She pulled me toward the back door. “When do they arrive?”
“End of September. They want to see how we run all the Halloween festivities.”
“Brilliant.” She waved to her brother and tugged me along outside.
“Do I know Ryan and Eric?” I wrapped my arm around her waist and brought her closer to me. “Should I be jealous?”
“Ew, no, they’re my cousins from Michigan.” She dropped her head to my chest and let out a heavy sigh. “The Appleton Farm has a few extensions. That’s the other one. They’re up in Freeland, Michigan.”
“Wow, why did I not know that?”
“I don’t know.” She smiled up at me. The way she looked at me, I had this sudden desire to have her alone and in our bed. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me for dinner.”
I bent my head down closer to her ear. “Because all I can think about at this very moment is throwing you on the bed and fucking you until you beg for more. Then I plan to give you more and more.”
“Liam, don’t tease me.” She fanned her hand in front of her face.
“Baby, I’m not teasing. I’m dead serious.” I winked and continued toward the loft.
“Hopefully my dad is gone for the afternoon.”
“I don’t care. I’ll turn the radio up and devour every inch of you.” I nipped at her earlobe and whispered, “Especially your sweet pussy.”
“There she is.” A voice said from behind us.
We were wrapped up in each other’s arms. I held her close and spun to face the person. “Ryan,” Autumn said and jumped out my arms and into his. “Oh my shit, Jesse said you were coming but not for a few more weeks.”
“Yeah, we decided to get our asses down here a little earlier.” Ryan stepped back and tucked his hands in his jeans pockets.
“Ryan, this my boyfriend, Liam.” She wrapped her body back up into my arms. “Liam, this is my cousin from Michigan.”
I held my hand out. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too, man.” He nodded. “Let’s all catch up later. I need to go help Eric unpack the truck.”
“I’m so excited you’re here to help this season.” Autumn rested her head against my chest. “Dad wants to do a corn maze and hayrides this year.”
“We’re excited, too.” He waved and walked over to where a double-wide pickup truck with a travel trailer was parked.
“Okay, that’s going to be so helpful,” Autumn said and wrapped her arms tighter around my body.
“That’s great, but we need to take care of a pressing issue.” I started to move quickly toward the loft trying to avoid any more interruptions.
“Do you need sex that bad?” She squeezed my ass and stepped out of my hold to run toward the stairs that lead up to the loft.
“I need you that bad.” I corrected and tickled her sides as I chased her up the steps.
“You need to control these needs, Mister.” She opened the door and stumbled.
I reached forward and grabbed around her waist to prevent her from falling. Her back was to my front. I pulled her close and placed my mouth next to her ear. “It’s not my fault you’re so irresistible.”
“As delicious as a crisp, sweet apple?” She continued to walk forward snuggled up against my body.
“So sweet,” I pushed her onto the bed and she quickly rolled onto her back.
No words were exchanged for several minutes as we undressed each other. When my jeans and boxers were thrown to the side I fell onto the mattress and rolled to the side. “I love you so damn much.”
“Yeah.” She reached down in between us and wrapped her hand perfectly around my cock. “How much?”
“Enough, that if you don’t fuck me right now I may wither away to nothing.”
She burst out laughing. “Dramatic much?” Then she threw her leg over my body to straddle me. “We’d better take care of that problem immediately.”
“We’d better,” I said and tightened my fingers around her hips.
My whole body felt tense. Then she helped to guide my cock exactly where it should go. I started to slowly push in and out, then I increased my pace. Something came over me and my mouth took over before I had a chance to think. “Marry me, Autumn. Have beautiful babies with me and love me forever.”
“Are you sure you want all that?” She winked and continued to move in and out.
“Every last amazing moment.” I loved how she made me feel. When we would finish, I craved it all over again seconds later. “Especially the babies.”
She arched her back and took me deeper. “Yes,” she screamed and raked her nails down the center of my chest. “Yes. A thousand times, yes.” I knew I was getting closer to a release. Then Autumn increased her speed and I knew she was close, too. “Oh fuck, Liam.” She cried out and didn’t stop.
“Autumn,” I screamed. “Fuck.”
Finally, she collapsed onto my chest. “Does that mean I get my Willow and Ash?”
“Who is that?”
“Our future babies.”
“You’ve settled on the names?”
“Yes.” She sat up and laced her fingers with mine. “Liam, I’ll marry you, have all your babies, and love you for eternity.”
“Are you sure, because eternity is a long time.”
“You’re the only one I want to be with; you’ll always be my apple delight.”
Autumn and Liam were always meant to be, it just took a few years to find their way back to each other. Now it’s time to meet Ryan Appleton. I have a feeling you’re going to love Ryan and Gracie’s story. You can preorder The Apple of My Eye here.
A note from the author
Liam had a lot of explaining to do. Leaving Autumn the way he did was intense. Thankfully love always has a way of bringing two people together who deserve forever happiness.
Want to see where they are six years later? Grab the bonus epilogue here.
The stay at Appleton Farm is not over yet. We need more cider donuts and fried apple pies.
Man Card Book Eleven, The Apple of My Eye will share Ryan and Gracie’s forbidden romance. In this short story, we meet the Appleton cousins who live in Michigan.
If you love fun, easy to read romantic comedies, then the Man Card series is sure to make you laugh out loud.
Preorder The Apple of My Eye here.
Sending love, Terra
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About the Author
Terra loves walking her dog, snuggling with her cat, and relaxing with her amazing hubby. A steamy romance book is never far from her grasp, and 2:00 a.m. seems to be the sweet spot to finally put a book down and sleep. She laughs loudly, smiles often, is a bit of a klutz, and tries to always find the positive in everything.
After a few years writing steamy fun, Terra had an urge to write romantic suspense. You can find her grittier stories under T.M. Kelly.
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Also by Terra Kelly
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on her website click here.
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Want Romantic Suspense?
FIGHT IT OUT SERIES
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Check out other books by T.M. Kelly
on her website click here.
Acknowledgments
These stories are really making me fall in love with apples all over again. In my food blog a few years ago, I made an apple cake that was packed full of diced apples. As I share each story with you, I have this sudden desire to recreate all the apple desserts that made me smile. Maybe I will someday. For now, let’s give thanks to a few people.
Thank you to my angel, my forever apple delight.
Thank you to my uncle and cousins for sharing more about the apple farm to make my book stronger. My uncle said he had to be included in the book, so the dad, Zinger is for my awesome uncle (that’s his nickname).
Thank you The Word Fairy for making the book amazing with your wonderful editing. I appreciate you so much!
Thank you Becky for being on this Man Card journey with me. I really appreciate you.
Thank you to my amazing ARC team. You have all shared so many amazing reviews that show your love for the Man Card series. I love how much you adore the sexy Man Card men just as much as I do. You are truly my rockstars!
Thank you to my fans and readers. Your support makes this adventure so much better.
Thank you to my friends and family for all your support and love.
Copyright 2019 Terra Kelly
Her Apple Delight
(Man Card Book 10)
Kindle Edition
AISN: B07VFZ2BQC
Cover Art by Balto Creative Media, LLC.
&n
bsp; All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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