The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,140
you marry me? Invade my space and change my life?”
It wasn’t sudden at all. It was ten years of late-night conversations, walking together in the streets of the town, sharing themselves. They might have only kissed for the first time a week ago, but they’d fallen in love, deeply, truly, a lot longer ago than that.
“Yes,” she said. “I will.”
“Good. Hey, do you know about the tradition of carving your name in the bathroom of my bar?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes. I have heard about that.”
“I think it’s high time my own name was put in there, don’t you think?”
“Laz!”
“What? People are already going to talk. So let’s really give them something to talk about, Jordan.”
And then she smiled. Really smiled. That smile that only he ever saw. That spark in Jordan that she kept buried deep, and didn’t show the world, but only a very few people who were lucky enough.
And he was lucky enough.
“You have yourself a deal.”
EPILOGUE
IT WAS THE funniest thing, when Jordan moved in with Laz—for real—she started sleeping.
She worked out a schedule where her mornings weren’t as early, he adjusted his so it wasn’t as late.
Laz liked sharing his life. That was the biggest surprise of all. He liked sharing his meals, his space, his wood shop. Jordan decided to learn to knit, and she got a chair that she put out there, and she sat while he worked. They often didn’t talk at all, they were just together.
Most of all, they learned to talk, and trust. Each other, and themselves.
He was the Laz Jordan loved, not the boy who had felt unloved by his parents. And she was the Jordan he loved. Not a daughter of addicts. Not a woman who had to keep herself on a tight leash for fear she might do something wrong.
Just Jordan. Just the love of his life.
Just everything.
He used to be in the business of giving out advice. But now, his biggest business was just to love her. Every day, with all of his heart.
Forever.
* * *
Tired of being Nashville’s most eligible bachelor, Luke Sutherland needs a fake date to the wedding of the year, and his ex lover, Cassandra Taylor, needs a favor. But as they masquerade as a couple, one hot kiss makes things all too real...
Read on for a sneak peek of Fake Engagement, Nashville Style by USA TODAY bestselling author Jules Bennett.
Fake Engagement, Nashville Style
by Jules Bennett
One
“You’ve got another visitor.”
Luke glanced up from his computer at the desk where he’d been hiding for most of the evening. “Tell her I’m busy,” Luke told his bodyguard.
Normally he loved being out with his customers at his rooftop bar, The Cheshire, but not since that damn magazine article had thrust him into the spotlight.
Meet Luke Sutherland: Tennessee’s Most Eligible Bachelor
That term, along with a photo of him in a pair of jeans with his dress shirt completely unbuttoned, had attracted every woman in the state—and some men, too—like some type of magnet.
Jake stepped farther into the room. “Uh, sir. It’s Cassandra Taylor.”
Cassandra Taylor?
That was a name he hadn’t heard in years, but one he’d certainly thought of often enough.
All of that long black hair that he used to glide through his fingers and over his body. Her sweet smile that turned him on before she could even say a word. And the way he’d confided in her... He’d loved her once—she’d been his best friend.
Unfortunately, marriage hadn’t been in the cards for him, not even to his best friend. Their paths had been destined for different directions and he’d let her go.
It had been the right choice.
So what was she doing back now after all this time? Surely she hadn’t seen the article and now thought they had another chance at being together? That shot had been ruined when she’d left town nearly eight years ago with barely a goodbye. Oh, his brothers had blamed him at the time, and perhaps a portion of the blame did fall on his shoulders—he hadn’t gone after her. But she hadn’t stuck around to see if things could be worked out, either.
They’d both let go, and there was no going back after that.
“Tell her I’m busy, then,” he repeated, almost wishing the uninvited guest had been a stranger.
Jake, his bodyguard and a top bouncer who had been with Luke since the opening of his first bar, knew full well the impact Cassandra had had on Luke’s life. Luke continued to stare across his desk, but Jake didn’t move.