Rush

by Deborah Bladon

  “Do they have red velvet cupcakes in there?”

  Emma jumps in to answer that. “They do, Cadby. They have cream cheese frosting and small candies sprinkled on top.”

  “Be still my heart.” He grabs for the center of his chest. “Did I tell you that you’re prettier than the sun in the sky today?”

  It’s the yellow dress she’s wearing. She ducked out of the hotel early to shower and change back at my apartment.

  I’m wearing a pair of jeans, a blue button-down shirt, and a navy blue suit jacket. I want my nephew to see the best in me.

  I don’t have a road map to follow, so I’m taking a chance that when my grandpa sees Mickey that he’ll put two-and-two together.

  I tug on the handle to open the door. Emma steps in first with Cadby on her heel. I take the rear because I need an extra second to catch my breath.

  “Emma.” Delaney stretches her arms out in a greeting. “I’m so happy you came.”

  Emma steps into her embrace. I watch in awe as the woman I love hugs the woman that loved my brother.

  Apollo may have only known Delaney for a brief time but they made a child together. She created a living, breathing human being with the boy I grew up taking care of.

  “Delaney, this is Cadby Easton.” Emma steps aside to let my grandpa have his moment.

  “Dear?” His voice quivers as he approaches her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry we weren’t there for you.”

  Her arms reach for him too. She cradles his head next to hers. “You’re here now. That’s what matters.”

  I search the bakery for any sign of blond curls, but I come up empty.

  “Hey, Rush… I mean Case.” Delaney shakes her head. “I’m sorry about last week.”

  I move to embrace both her and my grandfather together. “Last week is the past. It’s time we all started living in the present, and you can call me whatever the hell you want.”

  She chuckles. “I’ll call you Case.”

  When I step back, my grandfather does the same.

  Delaney takes a breath. “There’s something I need to tell you, Mr. Easton.”

  “Cadby,” My grandpa smiles. “You’ll call me Cadby.”

  “Or great-grandpa,” I say quietly.

  His head turns slowly. “What are you saying? Emma is knocked up?”

  Emma bursts out laughing. “No. There is no way.”

  I shake my head as Delaney giggles. “I didn’t think that one through.”

  “Think what through?” His eyes narrow as he stares at me. “What’s going on, Rush?”

  “Let’s try this again,” I say.

  We both catch sight of a little boy with blonde hair as he rounds the counter and heads toward us.

  “Rush.” My grandfather reaches for me. “Do you see him?”

  “That’s Mickey,” I whisper as I hold tightly to his hand. “That’s our Pol’s little boy.”

  Mickey marches right past his mom until he’s standing in front of the two of us. “I’m Mickey Wilts, sirs. My mom told me you’re here to meet me. She said you loved my daddy very much.”

  My grandfather brushes his hand on Mickey’s shoulder. “He was my grandson.”

  “My daddy was your grandson?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you my Papa?” Mickey takes a step closer. “I always wanted a Papa.”

  “I’m your Papa.” My grandfather takes Mickey into an embrace. “And this is your uncle Case.”

  The smile I get when the kid’s eyes meet mine chases every ounce of pain I’ve felt away. “It’s good to meet you, Mickey.”

  His gaze darts back to his mom. “Is this real? I get an uncle and a Papa in the same day?”

  “It’s real,” she says through a sob. “This is your family.”

  Mickey reaches an arm out to pull me into a hug with my grandpa. “This is the best day of my whole life.”

  I look over at Emma. “It’s the best day of mine too.”

  Epilogue

  Three months later

  Emma

  “It’s a girl,” I announce to anyone within shouting distance. “Sandy is going to have a girl.”

  “That makes two little princesses on the way to add more beauty to this world.” Cadby wanders into the kitchen of our beach house wearing his three-piece tan colored suit.

  Sandy is as thrilled to learn that she’s having a girl as Bella was.

  I text out a quick reply to Sandy asking if she’s still planning on meeting us in New York two weeks from now to celebrate Case’s thirtieth birthday.

  That includes the entire Abbott, Owens, Easton, and Wilts crew.

  I moved in with Case after he crossed New York off my contract and wrote in San Francisco. I signed the contract immediately and started working at Cabbott Mobile a few weeks after.

  Delaney and Mickey were eager to come to California. Case has been taking Mickey out into the ocean with a life jacket and a tight grip on his hand.

  The first day we were all here together, we had a remembrance service for Apollo.

  There weren’t any tears. We played music and laughed, and Mickey tossed a baseball on the beach with his Papa.

  Delaney enrolled Mickey in school for the fall semester, and it’s going well. I tutor him a couple of times a week when I stop by the condo that Case rented for them. It’s not on the beach, but it does have a view of the ocean.

  Case held on to the Manhattan apartment. It’s where we stay whenever we head east. He bought the apartment for Apollo, so he said that it only seemed fitting that his brother’s son has a chance to stay there and experience Lester and the view. That will happen when Delaney takes her son back to see his family in Manhattan.

  Case rejected the offer from Pam and Rod, but they didn’t seem to mind. They purchased another unit in the building.

  We shared an elevator ride with them when we were in Manhattan a few weeks ago for the Letter Leap launch party. Once we got off on the twelfth floor, Case joked about how I thought he had slept with them right after we met.

  We laughed until we fell into bed together. The laughter stopped when he crawled between my legs.

  “How’s your brother?” Cadby asks with a wink. “I heard that he’s got a couple of babies on the way himself.”

  Jane’s pregnant with twins and Drake is terrified.

  Case and I have worked things out with him. Our relationship may never be the same, but it’s all out on the table now.

  Drake has a life to live in London, and I have one next to the man I adore.

  Speaking of him…

  “Where’s Rush?” I ask his grandfather.

  “He’s on the water.” He points to the beachfront that sits right outside our door. “Why don’t you go and find him?”

  It’s near dusk now.

  I put in a full day at the office, before I came home to a perfect dinner of pizza, a bottle of red wine and a box of cupcakes baked by Delaney.

  She found a job at a bakery only a mile from here. Cadby watches over Mickey after school. It gives them time together that they both treasure. A Sweet Bluebells location in San Francisco is in the works, but it’ll take time to sort through everything to make that a reality.

  I smooth my hands over the lapel of Cadby’s suit jacket. “You’re dressed to the nines tonight. Do you have a date?”

  “You do.” He motions to the door. “Go see my grandson.”

  “I’m on my way.” I reach over to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I love you.”

  “I love you, sweet girl.” He tousles my hair. “I’m going to steal one of those Bright Bagels to toast for breakfast and then I’m going home. You go find that boy of yours.”

  I laugh as I watch him dip his hand inside one of the bag of bagels that were delivered this morning. “That bag is for you.”

  “All for me?” He winks.

  Nodding, I start toward the door. “Your grandson knows how much you love them.”

  “I know how much he loves you,” he cal
ls after me.

  ***

  “Rush?”

  I expected him to be out on the ocean on his surfboard, but he’s gazing at the water. He’s dressed in jeans and a white button-down shirt.

  When he turns to face me, I smile.

  “You shaved?”

  He runs a hand over his smooth chin. “Do you like it?”

  I race toward him, my bare feet kissing the sand with each step I take. “I love it. I love you.”

  “I love you, Emma. Do you know how much?”

  I stretch my arms out to my sides. “This much?”

  “No.” He shakes his head before he drops to one knee. “This much.”

  I grip the skirt of the white sundress I’m wearing to keep my hands from shaking. “Oh my God.”

  A ring box sits in the palm of his hand. “Marry me, Emma. Let’s make it official. We’ll have kids. I want us to love each as much as we can forever.”

  I gasp when he pops open the box. The beautiful ring is set with an emerald in the center with small diamonds surrounding it. “This was my grandma’s ring. Cadby gave it to me the day after we came home from New York.”

  “Really?”

  “He said it belonged to you, and it was my job to get it on your finger.”

  I hold out my left hand. “It’s beautiful.”

  “You’re saying yes to marrying me?” He inches the gold band up my ring finger. “Tell me you’ll marry me, Emma.”

  “I’m saying yes.” I gaze down at the ring. “It’s perfect.”

  He moves to stand. Taking me in his arms, he presses his lips to mine for a deep, lush kiss. “I’m the luckiest man ever.”

  “Did she say yes?”

  We both laugh as we hear Cadby call out the question.

  “She said yes,” Case yells back.

  “I knew she would. Goodnight,” Cadby responds before we hear his whistling fading into the distance.

  Case’s voice lowers to an almost whisper. “You gave me my life back. I’ll do whatever I can to bring you happiness every day.”

  “Let’s start now, Rush.” I grab his hand and point to our beautiful home on the beach. “I’ll race you to the bedroom.”

  “I’ll do you one better.” He laughs before he scoops me up into his arms like a bride. “I want you to save your energy for when we get inside.”

  I kiss him softly. “You’re my everything, Cason Abbott.”

  “You’re my dream come true.” He presses his lips to my neck. “I’ll make every day better than the last.”

  I know he will. He already has.

  THANK YOU

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  Thank you, for everything.

  Preview of CATCH

  I found something that belongs to Keats Morgan, the notorious bad boy sports agent. So I do the right thing.

  I return it.

  You’d think the man would be happy to have it back.

  He’s not.

  Instead, he proceeds to fire his assistant right in front of me.

  He looks to me to step in as a replacement, but I want nothing to do with the jerk.

  Keats is gorgeous and charming as hell. It’s his arrogant attitude that makes me turn around and almost walk out the door.

  The problem? I desperately need a job. Any job.

  And Keats is offering me an incredible one.

  I agree to his terms before I realize there’s a catch, and it’s a big one.

  Chapter 1

  Maren

  “Dudley’s daddy can’t keep it in his pants.” I flick a wrist toward my laptop screen. “I have another five DMs from women this morning.”

  “You have even more responses to your post on the Manhattan Lost and Found Dog group?” My roommate, Arietta Voss, comes marching into the dining room to get a better look.

  I glance up and take in her outfit for the day. For a twenty-two-year-old petite blonde with gray eyes, Arietta looks nothing like you would expect her to.

  The frumpy navy blue skirt wrapped around her waist hits her legs mid-calf. It’s not half as bad as the lime green blouse she’s buttoned up to her neck.

  “You must still be beating the men off with a stick, Arietta.”

  She lets out a laugh. “I am trying to be professional, Maren.”

  “You’re never going to get that sexy beast of a boss of yours in bed if you keep dressing like that.”

  Her eyes widen behind her dark-colored, rectangular eyeglasses. “Mr. Calvetti is still in Italy, and besides, I would never sleep with someone I hate.”

  “You hate him as much as I hate my vibrator,” I quip.

  With a shake of her head, she crosses our apartment to pull a bottle of orange juice from the fridge.

  Technically, it’s my apartment. If we’re getting down to actual specifics, it belongs to my father. He bought this three thousand foot dream on the twentieth floor of a high rise in Tribeca as a gift for me.

  It’s not a standard gift, though. There are terms, and I’m already in violation of one of them.

  I lost my job yesterday.

  I need to stay gainfully employed to keep this lavish roof over my head.

  Keeping it over Arietta’s head is important to me too. We met at a vintage jewelry store a year ago. Arietta mentioned that she was looking for a place to live, and even though she’s six years younger than I am, I invited her to move in.

  We’re as close as sisters now.

  After pouring herself a glass of juice, she bends down to stroke her hand over Dudley’s head. “How are you today, sweetheart?”

  Arietta has been calling him that since I found him wandering the street last night without a collar.

  A whole host of responses to my posting on the Manhattan Lost and Found Dog group have clued me into his name.

  They also directed me toward his irresponsible owner.

  Keats Morgan.

  Mr. Morgan is a twenty-nine-year-old sports agent. His client list is impressive, but that’s not why he’s so popular in Manhattan.

  Every reply to my posting about the lost dog has come from a woman.

  Twenty-three women have messaged me to say that they met Dudley when they spent the night with Keats.

  I push my curly red hair back behind my ears. “I sent Keats a DM on Instagram, but I got nothing back. When I called his office just now, the woman who answered the phone put me on hold and then hung up on me.”

  “I’d get fired if I tried that trick.” Arietta bites her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive. I can ask at work if there are any available positions.”

  Arietta works as an assistant at a wealth management firm. My background is in public relations. “You’re an angel, Arietta, but I’m going to put out some feelers today.”

  I’ll do that very quietly, so my dad doesn’t get wind of my employment status.

  “If you know the address to Mr. Morgan’s office, I can drop the dog off on my way to work.”

  Keats Morgan is all kinds of gorgeous, and I haven’t been on a date in two months. I could use a glimpse of something tall, green-eyed, and handsome today.

  “I’ll get dressed and head over to his office.” I point at the cute dog sitting on the floor watching us. “Say your goodbyes to Dudley because he’s about to be reunited with the man who can’t keep him on a leash.”

  Coming soon!

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Deborah Bladon has never read a romance hero she didn't like. Her love for romance novels began when she was old enough to board the bus, library card in hand to check out the newest Harlequin paperbacks. She's a Canadian by heart, and by passport, but you can often spot her in New York City sipping a latte and looking for inspiration for her next story. Manhattan is definitely her second home.

  She cherishes her family and believes that each day is a gift for writing, for reading, and for loving.