Back Where She Belongs - By Dawn Atkins Page 0,107
As long as the sheets are as advertised?”
“If they’re not, I’ll make them so.”
“Then I’m in,” she said, sexy and teasing, but serious, too.
“Me, too. All in.” He pulled her close. “What do you think of the new Wharton?”
“New or old, if you’re in it, it’s fine by me.”
“I love you. I can’t lose you.” He touched her cheek, the contact warming her to her toes. “You’re first in my heart. Whatever I have to do to prove it to you, I’ll do.”
“You already have. You’ve been there for me from the beginning, with a hand at my back, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on. You’ve been there for me in all the ways that count.”
“I always wanted to be, Tara.”
“I was afraid if I let myself love you, I’d go back to how I was—lost and insecure and a failure. But I’m not like that anymore. I am better. And I do know how to love. You helped me to see that.”
“Good. Because it’s true.”
“I’m not an easy person. I know that.”
“Easy’s overrated. I need you to keep me on my toes, keep me thinking, challenge me.”
“Tickle your brain?”
“And other parts.” He gave her that look.
She shivered.
“You helped me see that it was time to leave Ryland Engineering. Hell, you practically saved the company.” He paused. “You saved me.” The look in his eyes and the rough emotion in his voice told her how much he loved her. “I was so lonely and I didn’t even know it.”
“Me, too. Until I saw you again and felt like I fit, like I was known...and loved.” Tara swallowed over the lump in her throat. “Let’s face it, I’m never going to love Wharton, but you’re here and my family’s here, and that’s enough for me.”
“Don’t forget the empanadas.”
“How could I? We’ll have to go to Tucson for those, though. Turns out Ruthie’s taking that food truck opportunity.”
“I’ll convince her to leave us the recipe. I’m town manager, after all.”
She laughed, then she got serious. “I’ll be away a lot, you know. Travel can hurt relationships.”
“But you’ll always come home to me. If our love can last ten years, it can last a few hundred miles...or a few thousand.”
“Sometimes the first love is the best love.”
“Who knew?” He leaned in and kissed her, and her entire being rose to meet him. Tara breathed him in. Dylan. Home.
In the background, Duster lumbered toward the bedroom. He knew where they were headed before they did.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Spirit of Christmas by Liz Talley!
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CHAPTER ONE
MARY PAIGE GENTRY stepped into an icy puddle of water as she exited the taxi with not only one high-heeled shoe, but both of them.
“Darn, darn, darn!” she said, trying to turn back to the driver without stepping into the cold water again. The cabbie raised bushy eyebrows and she tossed him a glare. “I assume you didn’t see that puddle when you pulled up?”
He shrugged.
“Yeah, right,” Mary Paige muttered, blowing out a breath that ruffled her bangs. “Just wait for me, okay?”
She didn’t hang around for his response because, after the day she’d had, something had to go in her favor. She slammed the door and leaped to the curb, managing to clear the puddle she’d previously waded through. Having the cab wait for her would cost a small fortune, but she was way late to her uncle’s infamous Christmas kickoff bash, thanks to her boss, Ivan the Terrible.
The frigid water seeped into the toes of her shoes as she walked toward the iron-barred glass door of the convenience store anchoring a corner in Fat City. Stupid, stupid! If she hadn’t let vanity rule, she’d be plodding around in her cute fleur-de-lis rubber boots with warm tootsies. But because the strappy high-heel, pseudo–Mary Janes had called her name that morning, she would risk frostbite for the remainder of the evening.
Flashing neon signs hung garishly on the front of the store, bright cousins to the various cigarette ads, and from somewhere to her left, music bled