Bonfire Beach (11 page)

The flame smoked, then caught, racing down the stick to the center of the pile. Zane smiled at the crackle of fire and pulled Felicity with him as he lit the other tinder sticks around the base, one by one, then stood back to watch it smolder into life.

“It’ll take a while to really get going,” Zane explained, looking for the right words to say what he felt. He’d never been speechless in his life, but words were harder when the feeling behind them was real.

“Zane.” Felicity stopped there, just his name, and he didn’t know what that meant. Maybe she didn’t understand yet what all of this meant.

“You didn’t want a disco ball or fireworks, so I built a bonfire on the beach instead,” he said, watching the valiant flames struggle to catch and grow. He didn’t want to look at her, in case she had actually gotten it but thought all of this, his last ditch effort to show her his heart, was unbearably lame.

“I wanted candlelight, you wanted a disco ball—so your compromise was crystal chandeliers followed by a bonfire on the beach?”

Her voice sounded strange. He couldn’t read the tone. “You wanted jazz and I wanted rock stars,” Zane clarified doggedly, still staring at the struggling fire.

“So you gave me rock stars singing jazz,” Felicity finished. “On the beach. Oh, Zane!”

When he finally mustered up the courage to glance down at her, an entire constellation of stars shone from her eyes. Cheeks flushed pink, sleek fancy braid torn to pieces by the wind, eyes shining and chest heaving, Felicity had never looked more beautiful to him than she did in that moment. Because she got it. And she didn’t think it was lame.

All of that made it easy for Zane to say, “You wanted romance. And I wanted to give it to you. Because you deserve it, and because I love you.”

Twin tears made silvery tracks down her cheeks, but Felicity was laughing, too, as she threw her arms around his neck and all but climbed him like a ladder. “I love you, too! I was going to tell you as soon as I saw you today, but then you wouldn’t even look at me at the wedding, and I thought—…”

Zane clutched her to him greedily, hands molding her beloved curves and lifting the wonderful, wriggling weight of her in his arms. Felicity wound her legs around his waist and buried her face in his neck while he told her, “I couldn’t look at you. I knew if I did, I’d knock down the bride and her elderly mother to get to you.”

She gave a watery gurgle. “I’m glad you restrained yourself. And I’m so glad I left this party in your hands. It’s like something out of a dream.”

Nuzzling the hair at her temple and glorying in the clasp of her thighs and the strong arms twining around his shoulders, Zane smiled. “I thought you don’t believe in dreams.”

Drawing back to meet his gaze, Felicity said, “You make me feel brave enough to believe anything. But in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined the party as a perfect blend of you and me. I love it.”

Zane had to kiss her for that. He delved into the deep sweetness of her mouth, almost lightheaded with relief that this incredible woman was able to read the love letter he’d crafted especially for her. A love letter written not in words on a page, but in the notes of a love song and the flicker of firelight.

They kissed under the stars, suspended between the infinity of the night sky and the vastness of the ocean, and for the first time since Zane was a child, he wasn’t afraid of forever. Not with Felicity in his arms.

Don’t miss the other heartwarming novellas in Lily Everett’s romantic e-original trilogies!

THE BILLIONAIRE BACHELORS

THE BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS

Get even more romance with Lily Everett’s full-length Sanctuary Island series!

Available
February 2014

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lily Everett
grew up in a small town in Virginia reading
Misty of Chincoteague
and
Black Beauty
, taking riding lessons, and longing for a horse of her own. Sadly, her parents gave her a college education instead—but she never forgot what the world looked like from the back of a horse. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, where she writes full-time. Find out more at
lilyeverett.com
.