Bluestone Song (25 page)

The YouTube video of their proposal had over
half a million hits, at least a thousand of those from Bluestone
Lake.

THE END

MJ Fredrick knows about chasing dreams.
Twelve years after she completed her first novel, she signed her
first publishing contract. Now she divides her days between
teaching elementary music and diving into her own writing,
traveling everywhere in her mind, from Belize to Honduras to Africa
to the past.

Other titles

Romantic suspense

Guarded Hearts

Midnight Sun

Don’t Look Back (2012 Epic finalist)

Breaking Daylight (2011 Epic winner)

Beneath the Surface

Hot Shot (2009 Epic winner)

Contemporary romance

Bluestone Homecoming

Three Days, Two Nights

Something to Talk About

Road Signs

Star Power

Bull by the Horns

Where There’s Smoke

Historical romance

Sunrise Over Texas

Paranormal romance

A Ghostly Charm

An excerpt from
Leaving
Bluestone

Coming soon!

“Hey.” Lily caught up to Quinn, ponytail
swinging, and nodded to the cooler. “Catch anything?”

“A couple of walleye.”

“Breakfast?”

He heard the hopeful tone in her voice and
looked over his shoulder at her. “Sure.”

“I’ll make the potatoes. You don’t put enough
salt on them.”

“Put salt on your own damn potatoes.” Why was
she wanting breakfast with him when she’d just gotten out of bed
with Adam?

She ignored him, like she always did. “You
were awesome last night, the way you took charge.”

“Shouldn’t you be saying that to Adam?”

She was silent a moment—unusual for her. “I
didn’t sleep with him. He spent the night to help me with Jonas. He
slept on the couch.”

He grunted.

“Are you jealous?” she demanded.

“What the hell for?” He headed up the steps
to the bar.

“Because the way you danced with me last
night—”

“You were the maid of honor. I was the best
man. I had to dance with you.”

“Seemed to me you liked it.”

“I used to like to dance.” What wasn’t to
like? Music, a woman’s soft body pressed against his, all
sweet-smelling, more often than not leading to sex. Maybe he needed
to get laid. Maybe that would ease his emotions around Lily, who
was always around, always beautiful even in her ratty sweatshirt
and cap. Maybe then he could sleep and stop thinking of
what-if.

“Why don’t you anymore?” She took his
invitation to walk through the door first and led the way to the
kitchen. “Oh, right, you don’t enjoy anything that has to do with
other people. Strange for a guy who owns a bar.”

“And you don’t know how to not be around
other people.”

As usual, she ignored him and pulled out a
filleting knife from the butcher block. Because she’d grown up on
the lake, she was faster and better at filleting than he was, so he
got out the pan and the potatoes. He started heating the first and
dicing the second.

“You like having me around, for no other
reason than you can bitch at me.”

“If you weren’t so goddamned cheerful all the
time, it wouldn’t be so tempting. Did you even sleep? I mean, you
had an infant in the house. When was the last time you took care of
an infant?”

“When I used to babysit when I was fourteen.
Which is why I kept Adam there, though he didn’t know any more than
I did. But the baby slept. More than you, from the looks of
things.”

He didn’t answer, just finished chopping the
potatoes.

“Somebody cleaned up in there last night,”
she said, nodding toward the dining room. They’d rushed out of here
so fast when Linda called, he hadn’t even thought to leave
directions for a clean-up. But aside from a few remaining bouquets
in vases on the tables—incongruous with the mounted fish and beer
signs on the log walls—no one would be able to tell there had been
a wedding reception here last night.

“I guess they’re off on their honeymoon.”

“Mm. Washington DC. The least romantic place
I can think of. But Trinity always wanted to go, and Leo used to be
based out of there, so he’ll show her around. I think they’re going
to a Nationals game, too.” When he didn’t say anything, she
continued. “Not like I can say anything. For my honeymoon, I want
to go to Yellowstone.”

“I’ll be sure to let Adam know.”

She snorted. “Not likely.”

“Why not? You’ve been spending a lot of time
together.”

“He’s fun, and all that, but he’s from—out
there.” She waved her hand over her head.

“Space?”

“Funny. No, I mean, he made his escape from
Bluestone and coming back here feels confining to him.”

And this place was her lifeblood. The knot in
his stomach loosened a bit, which was stupid. Why would he be glad
she wasn’t involved with someone who was leaving when the reason he
wouldn’t get involved with her was because he was leaving?
Eventually.