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little. “And if I say no?”
“You won’t.”
“But what if I do?”
He blew out an exasperated breath. “I’ll ask again. And again. And I’ll keep asking until you say yes.”
The odds of a normal, traditional proposal seemed to hover somewhere in the million-to-one range. “Well, then, I guess I don’t have much of a choice. I guess I have to say yes.”
He rose to his feet and pulled her to him, not so roughly this time, and kissed her again. This time it lasted longer, felt…sweeter. Tender, even. His hands cupped her face, lips brushing lazily back and forth across hers. She heard him sigh, felt him shudder with satisfaction.
The kiss trailed off slowly, his lips lingering above hers. And when she opened her eyes to look at him, he was smiling that lazy, happy smile.
“This could be complicated,” she warned him.
He only shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Our mothers—”
“—will adjust,” he finished for her. He glanced over her shoulder, down the hall. “Have you got a bedroom in this place?”
“I want kids,” she warned him.
“Great.” He lowered his head, nibbled the curve of her neck. A new round of shivers exploded across her skin.
“I’m serious, Dillon.”
“Fine with me.” He licked the shell of her ear, nipped at it with his teeth. Desire ignited in the pit of her belly and burned its way through her arms and legs and into her head.
“I want at least two,” she told him, her voice coming out breathy and soft. “And I want to do it soon, before I’m too old.”
“Good idea.” He walked her backward down the hall, his hands gentle yet determined as they circled her waist, easing her T-shirt up. “In fact, I think we should start trying right now.”
Apparently she wasn’t moving quickly enough, because he lifted her right off her feet and carried her the rest of the way.
He found the bedroom on the first try and shouldered his way through the door, then he all but tossed her on the bed and dropped down beside her. Instead of ravaging her, the way she expected, he just looked down at her and smiled.
“This is going to be good.” He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose. “This is going to be really good.”
“Yes,” she agreed, “it is.” They really had come full circle, and wound up exactly where they were supposed to be. She wasn’t going to try to fool herself into thinking it would be easy. They were still both stubborn as hell. But this time, at least, they had maturity on their side.
“You know we’re going to have to work at this,” she said, and he nodded solemnly.
“I know.”
“We’re going to have to keep the lines of communication open or we’ll end up just like we were ten years ago.”
“I understand that.”
“You can’t just—”
He silenced her with a kiss. A long, slow, mind-melting deep one.
When it was over, she felt hot and fuzzy-headed. “What was I saying?”
“Ivy, you don’t have to worry. We’ll do what we have to do. Whatever it takes.” His eyes searched her face, filled with love and affection and respect. “I let you go twice, darlin’. That’s a mistake I won’t be making again.”
Coming soon from Series Press—from half the author team who brought us the bestselling self-help book The Modern Woman’s Guide to Divorce (And the Joy of Staying Single), Not All Men Are Pigs or What Was I Thinking?
If you enjoyed the eBook you just read, then you’ll love what we have for you next month! More passionate, sexy stories from Harlequin Blaze, Silhouette Desire and Harlequin Presents. Look for new titles at your favorite eRetailer on the first of the month!
Amanda Berry
After an exciting life as an accountant, AMANDA BERRY returned to writing when her husband swept the family off to England to live for a year. Now she’s hooked, and since returning to the States spends her days concocting spicy contemporary romances while her cats try in vain to pry her hands off the keyboard. Amanda moved from the Midwest to the Southeast coast with her husband, two children, two cats and a Beagle-Jack Russell mix. For more about Amanda and her books, please visit www.amanda-berry.com
To my husband and children, Thank you for helping me follow my dream.
“How’s the bride?” Penny Montgomery stepped into the church dressing room, where her best friend since childhood, Maggie Brown, was getting ready to walk down the aisle. This church, one of five in the small town of Tawnee Valley, was the one Maggie’s mother had dragged Maggie and Penny to when they were growing up.
“Nervous. Excited. Trying to remember to breathe.” Maggie hadn’t stopped smiling. Her gown was lovely and simple. Classically A-lined styled with no train. Her light hair was pulled up in a loose knot with tendrils left to play around her neck. She looked stunning and had the truest heart of anyone Penny had ever known.
“You look beautiful,” Penny said. “Your mother would have loved to see you like this.”
Maggie nodded. Tears sparkled in her eyes but they didn’t fall. For years, Penny and Maggie had been each other’s rock. Now Maggie had found her dream man and was forming a family. Penny had Maggie and that was enough family for her.
“Mom would be happy.”
A lump formed in Penny’s throat and she coughed to clear it. “Brady wanted me to give you this.”
She held out the little gift-wrapped box.
“Thank you, Penny.” Maggie held on to Penny’s hand. “I mean it. For everything. For being with me when everything was so hard and for nudging me in the right direction when I needed a shove.”
“What are best friends for?” Careful of her long slip dress, Penny stepped back and sat on the antique couch. The pale gold silk gown slid against her skin.
She ran a finger over the worn velvet of the couch. If it were refinished it might fetch a nice price in What Goes Around Comes Around, her antiques store, but it suited the old chapel the way it was. Years of wear from weddings to funerals to christenings had made this couch unique. The story behind antiques always made them more valuable in Penny’s eyes.
“Well,” Penny prompted, needing to lighten the mood. “Open the gift. I bet it’s a ring. Probably the kind that vibrates. You know, the kind that goes on his—”
“Penny!” Maggie was too serious for her own good sometimes. Penny just smiled and shrugged. She hoped that she helped to corrupt her friend just a little.
“Just because that would be something you’d like for a gift...” Maggie took off the ribbon and opened the box. She drew out two diamond drop earrings. “Oh, my.”
“Looks like someone is making up