Constant Surprises (Wrong Numbers Series) (15 page)

Steven chuckled softy
as he crept into the bathroom. He immediately wanted to stroke himself. He
couldn’t help it and resisted the urge—barely. There in front of him was her
gorgeous soapy wet body. He licked his own lips at what a vision she was. He
yearned to suck on her full breasts with light brown nipples. She was a real
woman with nice thick hips, thighs that curved and shaped an appealingly
voluptuous ass. She continued washing herself as the water caressed her body.
He was enthralled with how the rivulets ran over her curves.

How can anything so
exciting…so beautiful…be so wrong?
He would move
mountains to have Amie. Somehow, someway he was going to have a night of carnal
pleasure with her. He knew he would be risking everything for such pleasure,
but didn’t care. In the end it would be worth it. His only fear was one night
would never be enough.

* * * *

God, the water felt
good against her body. Dealing with Susan and putting that hold on her had
taken more out of her than she thought. She couldn’t wait till Roy got home and
gave her a rub down. She turned the showerhead to a single steady stream of water
and stood underneath it letting it hit her shoulders. She continued washing
herself with her bath sponge.

She didn’t understand
why she was so hesitant about saying yes to his marriage proposal or even just
moving back here. Roy is her other half there was no doubt. So why can’t she
say yes? Why wasn’t she happy about it? Herington had changed. She had changed.
Roy had changed. Susan hadn’t changed.
I would love to see her face when she
finds out I am marrying ‘her’ man.

If I say yes, she
corrected herself.
Sigh.
What am I afraid of?
The plan always was
to someday settle down in Herington. Atlanta was where she envisioned raising a
family and she wanted her kids to know her parents. What if today was someday?

Reluctantly she turned
off the water. She couldn’t leave Steven sitting out there all by himself for
much longer.
Just why was Steven here?
Even though she didn’t need a
babysitter, she should be a good hostess. If she stuck around that was
something Roy would have to get used to—she was not the same girl who left ten
years ago. She was now a strong independent woman perfectly capable of taking
care of herself. She lived in the most populous city in the county. Atlanta is
even bigger than New York City!
 

Hey, maybe that is
where I should open a second restaurant—New York. Then I would have really made
the big time. Slow down, girl, you are really starting to think crazy thoughts
now.

Amie took a deep
breath. Then she took another. Then one more. She missed Herington she truly
did. No matter how hard she had it here as a child, it was still the place she
considered home. She grabbed a T-shirt and pair of sweat pants without much
thought and quickly got dressed.

* * * *

 
Steven sat down on the couch for a moment and
rubbed his face. What had just happened? My God, I’m going to hell, he thought.
He heard the water stop. A few minutes later, she came into the living room
wearing a white shirt and sweat pants. She sat down next to him and braided
sections of her hair.

She sauntered to the
kitchen, reached for two glasses, filled them with tap water and then brought
them back to Steven. “You should know, Roy wants me to move back here with him,
probably even get married.”

“Well, hell, that’s
great news! Are you going to do it?”

“I’m going to think
about it. He gave me that option. I have a lot of things I have to figure out,”
Amie said.

“How much longer before
they come back?” Steven asked.

Grabbing the remote,
she checked the time. “Not much longer, why?”

The phone rang before
he could answer. He quickly grabbed the phone from her and answered. “Hello?”

“Hey, bro, are you guys
okay?” asked Roy.

“We’re fine, just
playing keep away,” Steven said. Amie was trying her best to grab the phone.
Steven was laughing at her antics. “Your woman is crazy by the way; she thinks
she can get the phone from me.”

Roy laughed.

“What are they doing?”
Steven heard Sandy ask Roy.

“Playing phone keep
away…listen, you two, we are on our way back home. We should be there soon.”

“Fine. Dang it, Amie,
that’s my shoulder you hit.” Amie laughed. He kept holding the receiver away
from her until she finally snatched the phone. “Hello, baby, is that you? Your
brother is being mean to me.” Steven pulled her onto his lap and smacking her
ass so loud she shouted, “And he just whooped me! Your brother just smacked my
ass.”

“And if you don’t stop,
I’ll have him do it to you again, young lady. I’ll see you soon. Love you,
baby.”

“Love you too, bye,”
Amie said.

Steven started to smack
her ass again. “
Ow
!
 
What was that for?”

Then he smacked her
again even harder.

“
Ohhhhh
.”

 
All Steven could do was watch her body. How
beautiful it looked shaking right in front of him as if she was coming. What
did he do to make her feel that way? She liked being smacked?

Before he could
question her, he heard the truck pulling up and they quickly separated. Steven
opened the door and said his goodbyes to Amie. She nodded while he walked away.
Roy came inside and sat down next to her. She cuddled into him. They fit
together perfectly. “How are you feeling, darling?”

“Rather tired, it’s
been a long and crazy evening.” Amie smiled straddling Roy and resting her
hands behind his neck.

“That it has,
sweetheart. I think we better get ready for bed. I have to get up early. Sandy
and I have to head on back to the inn to help with decorating. You can just
stay here or go visit or whatever you want to do. I’ll call you on your cell
when I head on back home.” Pulling her up, they walked to the bedroom and sat
back down on the bed.

“Do you mind rubbing my
shoulder? I think while I was giving Susan that hold, I hurt my shoulder.”

“Come here, darling,
let me know if I am hurting you.” Turning her around he started to knead her
shoulder. At first it hurt her and she winced, but soon it started to feel much
better.

“That feels so good,
baby, don’t stop,” Amie said. Her eyes remained closed, enjoying the massage.

“Sounds like my baby is
getting into my touch,” Roy said.

“You just don’t know,
baby. How can we remedy this?”

Pulling her back into
his arms and laying her beside him in bed. “I think I can figure something
out.”

Chapter Nine

Amie’s hands moved
along the bed to where Roy had been sleeping. She was surprised to find it
empty. Then she remembered he had to leave early to do prep for the reunion.
Looking over at the clock, her body said it was too early to be getting up, but
her mind insisted she get up and start her day.

After showering and
grabbing a cup of coffee, she decided to call Becky. She knew by this time,
they would have been opened for breakfast. “Hello, thank you for calling the
Cobalt Blue Café would you like to make a reservation for this evening?” asked
the young lady.

“Hello this is Amie. Is
Becky around?”

“Oh hi, Amie, this is
Nancy, let me get her for you. Please hold.” Soon music came on. As much as she
enjoyed her carefully chosen music, she was thankful she didn’t have to wait
too long.

“Hey, girl, how are
you? Are you enjoying your vacation?” Becky asked.

Amie sat in a rocking
chair on the front porch. “Oh, I had a run in with an old enemy the other night
and almost choked the life out of her, the man I had been wanting for years
when I lived here wants me to move back and marry him and for the first time in
my life, Becky, I am an emotional wreck.” Running her fingers through her hair
she could only imagine the look on Becky’s face.

“Wow, that’s…that’s
like…wow. He wants to marry you? He really opened his mouth and told you that
he wanted to marry you, Amie?”

“That he did. But he
told me that I can think about it. He knows I have the restaurant among other
things in Atlanta I have to think about before I do something this drastic.”

There was a pause on
Becky’s end then she began to talk, “I never told you this, Amie, but before I
had started working here, I was involved with a guy name Phillip. We saw each
other at the local farmer’s market every day for two weeks. He was working
there unloading fruits and vegetables. Very handsome man he was, a redhead with
tons of freckles. You know how I am about those hot headed Irish men.” She
giggled.

“We started dating. It
was wonderful. Every single day was special and our love for each other was
unreal, Amie. One day he told me that he wanted me to be the one. He wanted me
to marry him and move back to Ireland with him. I wanted to marry him, but
moving all the way to Ireland? Leaving my family and friends?

“I told him that I
couldn’t do it even though I loved him so much. I couldn’t bear leaving home. He
pleaded with me and even after thinking about it…I told him no. I think I got
scared of what I thought would happen and ended up losing the best man I had
ever loved. I’ve not heard a word from him since he left that day. I regret it
every day.

“Amie, if you have the
chance of a lifetime to be with the one who makes you complete, who makes your
whole body want to melt, then by all means, girl, go for it. It isn’t like you
can’t take care of business from Kansas. You can branch out…have a place there
where you live. You will never have this chance again, Amie, don’t fuck it up.”

“Why didn’t you tell me
all this, Becky?”

“I don’t know, I guess
the timing wasn’t right until now. I know we’ve been friends since you first
opened this place and I’ve been with you through thick and thin but as far as
this—you’ve got to go with your heart.”

Becky was right, she
had to go with her heart and her heart longed to be with Roy. “I’ll talk with
you on Monday when I get back, I think I’ll go and scout some places around here.”

* * * *

“Do you think she’ll
like it, Sandy?” Roy asked.

Sandy quietly examined
the engagement ring he had picked out for Amie. She started to cry a bit and
wiped her tears. “I think she’ll love it and if she doesn’t, I’ll whoop some
sense into her and make her like it.”

Roy looked at the
stunning one and a half carat round solitaire diamond ring and thought about
how beautiful it would be on her long delicate finger. He almost felt himself
tear up a bit. He had wanted this for so long, and now he was going to make it
happen. He was aware he said she could think about, but they could be engaged
while she thought about it. Maybe he should even consider moving to Atlanta. It
really wasn’t fair of him to ask her to give up her life and dreams for his.
Right now, he just wanted her to know how serious he was about his proposal. It
was the real deal, not just because of the wonderful week they had spent
together.

“If it doesn’t fit her
right, you can always come back in and we can resize it for her. Either way
Amie is going to love it, Roy,” Miriam Cross, jewelry store owner and classmate
of Roy’s, reassured him.

“Great, I’ll take it,”
Roy said.

Sandy smiled and
embraced him.

* * * *

Amie headed over to her
parents’ house, unable to keep her news a secret. Her mother was the perfect
person to share it with first. “Oh my God, my baby is staying home!” she
shouted hugging Amie tight.

 
“Now, I don’t want you telling anybody else,
especially Roy. I want to surprise him, but I do want your help with something…I
need the paper. Do you know if there are any commercial buildings around here
that are vacant and good enough for a restaurant?”

Abby got the newspaper
and flipped to the real estate section. “Do you remember Maggie Lipton, Paul
Lipton’s mother? She’s an agent. I will give her a call and ask her about some
places.”

“That would be great.
Call her, and I’ll call some of these places here in the paper,” Amie said
grabbing her cell phone.

After about an hour of
calls and not getting anywhere, Abby came out to the porch with a piece of
paper and her purse. “Come on, we are meeting Maggie at this place and I think
you are going to love it.”

“Where is it at?”

“It’s in the square. It
used to be some old warehouse,” Abby said.

When they got to the
destination, they parked the car across the street and walked over to Mrs.
Lipton who wore a blue sweater and jeans and a bright smile on her face. “My
goodness, Amie, you look wonderful.”