Favorite Places (A TroubleMaker Novel, #2) (24 page)

A ripple of goose bumps skidded over her flesh. “Chase,
what are you saying?” She couldn’t take it any longer. She had to know if he
loved her; she needed to hear him say it.

“I’m saying you make me want to believe in
happily-ever-afters, and all that other bullshit.” He released her and dropped
down on one knee. “And I brought you here today for two reasons.” He reached
inside his pocket. “First,” he lifted the ring she’d left at his apartment, and
Jessina almost fell apart all over again, but this time from stuttering
happiness, “I thought, if I told you that I am completely in love with you, and
if I properly asked you—”

“Oh! I—” she choked as a tear welled in her eye,
anticipating his intentions. 

“Let me finish.” He grabbed her shaking hand. “As I was
saying, if I properly asked you to marry me, then maybe you’d agree to be my
wife for real.” He stood up and slipped the ring on her finger.

Tears blurred her vision, and he brushed them away,
kissing her tenderly on the cheek.

“And second,” he palmed her face and looked into her
eyes, “I thought if you said yes, then maybe your beloved Aunt Lulu would finally
be in one of your favorite places.”

  “Oh Chase, yes! Yes!” A tear of joy landed on her
cheek. “No matter what happened between us, I was going to be yours forever.
And, yes, Mr. Lennox, Aunt Lulu is definitely in one of my favorite places.”
Jessina smiled, glancing up at the sky. Knowing her favorite aunt was probably
watching over her, she gave her a wink, and then looked back at her very real
husband. “She is now in my most favorite place.”

Jessina glanced around, knowing Aunt Lulu was all around
them. The shimmering ring caught her eye. She looked at it, and Chase took her
hand into his.

“It’s real, Jessina.” She looked back up, and found
affection shimmering in his bright blue eyes. “It’s always been real. The day I
put it on your finger was the same day your lawyer told me the truth about
Lance.” His expression turned remorseful, and she gently squeezed his hand.
“Sweetheart, I should have trusted you, but I was afraid that if I did, then
I’d have to admit that I was in love with you. And that scared the hell out of
me. I’m sorry. I was a coward and took the easy way out. But I don’t want to be
that scared, hard man anymore. Especially if it means I can’t have you.” He
rubbed his thumb over the diamond. “You became my wife the moment I put this on
your finger.” He smiled, and the pieces of her broken heart started to meld
back together. “But from the moment I met you, somehow you found your way deep
in my heart, and you stayed there.” He leaned forward and pressed a gentle,
loving kiss to her lips. “I never want you to leave me again. I hope you can
find it in your beautiful heart to forgive me.”

“It was not my forgiveness you needed.” She touched his
handsome, contrite face. “You needed to forgive the past and everyone who hurt
you. I knew once you did that, then you would let yourself love again.”

“I can forgive anything…anything but letting you go. I’d
never forgive myself for that. I need you. I love you.” He drew her close for
another savoring kiss. “Please, baby. You gotta stop torturing me. Let me hear
you say it from those pretty pink lips.” He gazed tenderly into her eyes.
“Jess, do you love me?”

Beheld by that intense yet guarded gaze, Jessina wrapped
her arms around him and recited the words she hadn’t been able to shake since
he’d said them to her while they were out to dinner with the Caplins. “I am
completely, and will forever be, in love with my husband. I love you, Chase.”

Relief washed from him for the first time, revealing a
younger, more carefree Chase. “That’s my good girl.” He drew a warm finger down
the side of her cheek and smiled that award-winning smile. The very one that
had stolen her heart. “You know I love it when you say my name.” He kissed her
again. “Now, let’s grab that troublemaker. It’s high time I take my beautiful
wife on a proper honeymoon.”

“Okay, but I must warn you that there’s somewhere I need
to be this Saturday.”

“Of course there is…Mrs. Lennox. Well, you can be anywhere
you need to be on Saturday, just know that I will be there with you.”

Chase’s right eye twitched, his jaw clenched, and his left
hand balled into a fist. Since being with Jess, of all the new emotions he’d
experienced, jealousy had proven to be the hardest one to deal with.  The guy
who currently had Chase’s wife in his arms, twirling her in a circle and making
her laugh, had to be a relative. After all, they were at her cousin Sissy’s
wedding. So Chase tried to convince himself that he had to be a relative too.

“Who’s that with Dusty?” Jess asked when the guy lowered
her back onto her feet.

The guy glanced over his shoulder, his hands still
lingering around her waist…still irritating the hell out of Chase. “Oh, that’s
Colden James. He’s the best man. He’s escorting our little cousin to Sissy,
who’s held up in the back room waiting for the ceremony to start. There’s
something going on between those two, but Dusty wouldn’t fess up. I can tell
you,” he looked back at Jess with a rascally grin, “he threatened to throw
Dusty over his shoulder and carry her out of here if she didn’t agree to talk
to him.”

Our cousin... The guy had just confirmed that he was
indeed a relative. Jess’s eyes widened as the guy released her from his hold,
and Chase’s fisted hand relaxed a bit.

When the couple in question disappeared through the
doorway, Jess turned to Chase. She smiled, and as always, it made his heart
swell. She reached out and touched his arm. “Lucky, I’d like you to meet my
husband, Chase.” Jess’s loving eyes took hold of him, and Chase couldn’t look
away.

“Hey, nice to meet you.” Lucky’s hand came into Chase’s
peripheral vision. Not wanting to be rude, Chase pulled himself from his wife’s
gaze to properly greet the guy.

“You too.” He shook his hand. “Lucky? Oh, I remember.
You own the tattoo shop, right?”

“Yeah, I’m the tattoo guy.” He offered another grin.

“Hey,” Jess intervened, “have you talked to Fallon at
all?”

Lucky turned to her. “No. Not since we all got together
at Aunt Lulu’s. Why?”

“Shelby is looking for him. She’s been trying to settle
Aunt Lulu’s estate and Fallon…” She turned to Chase, “Fallon is Lucky’s twin
brother,” she explained, and then looked back to her cousin. “He’s got some
kind of paperwork that she needs.”

“I don’t know where he is. I got a cell number, but he
never answers my calls.” Lucky turned to Chase. “His wife died a few years
back, and my brother took it real hard, as any man would. He’s isolated himself
from everyone.”

“I can have my P.I. look into his whereabouts,” Chase
suggested.

Jess snorted. “Your P.I.? He couldn’t even get the
information about me right. What makes you think—?”

“You!” Lucky laughed. “Wait. Seriously?” He sobered up
and glanced at both of them. “Why would you investigate Jessie? Really man,
like, what’d you find out, that she cheated on her fifth grade test, or
something?”

“I never cheated on any test.” Jess shot Lucky a
chastising look. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“James Hobart had the correct information, Jess. I just
misinterpreted it,” Chase said, still feeling guilty.

“I know. It’s in the past.” She smiled tenderly. “But,
yes. It would be helpful if you could have your P.I. look into Fallon’s
whereabouts.”

“It’s all settled then,” Lucky said. “Jessie can give
you my number, and I’ll give your guy whatever I have on Fallon.” He leaned in
and kissed Jess on the cheek. “I gotta shove off, though. Seeing as the best
man is obsessed with having a word with our little cousin, Dusty, I’ve been
designated to pick up the groom.”

Jess watched her cousin walk away, and then turned back
to Chase. For the past week, a permanent twinkle of love had shone in those
beautiful amber eyes, and he loved seeing it. She was his, and he was forever
hers.

“Thanks for offering to help with Fallon.”

He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t you
know by now that I’d do anything for you?”

She looked up at him. “Yes, but that’s not why I love
you, Chase.”

“I know.” He smiled down at her. “You want me for my
grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.” His arms tightened around her.

“Nope.” She shook her head. “That’s not it either.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Then why?”

“It’s because you’ve successfully shown me, multiple
times and in so many ways, that no man can, or ever will, compare to you, Mr.
Lennox.”

“You’re damn right, and don’t you forget it.”

“Well,” she placed her hand on his chest, over his
heart, right where she belonged, “you had better not let me.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” He kissed her. “I have years to remind
you.”

“Yes. You most certainly do, and I’m going to enjoy every
single one of them…”

Lucky
Numbers

A TroubleMaker Novel

Book 3

by

Kelly Gendron

Coming 2014

One locked safe, a troublemaking tattoo, and two
determined people… add up to unlocked secrets and a love that just won’t stop.

Luke
“Lucky” O’Conner is a committed bachelor. His motto…“Nobody’s ever getting this
Lucky.” So when Kaley Harlow walks into his tattoo shop and somehow leaves with
the only record of the numbers to his new safe tattooed on her sexy little hip,
Lucky’s motto is threatened. If he wants to see those numbers again, he has to
get close. Closer than he’s ever gotten to any woman. And he has three weeks to
do it.

 Kaley
Harlow, a happily washed-up former child star, is out to ruin her reputation.
She’s through with people looking at her like she’s still that innocent little
girl in pigtails. Not to mention, her agent has just signed her up for a movie
contract. But, really, all Kaley wants is to start a new life and finally go to
college.

When
Lucky happens into Kaley’s life for the second time, the hot, tattooed badass
is exactly what she needs to sabotage her image. But this badass has a secret,
one that could ruin more than just Kaley’s reputation…

Broken Fences

A TroubleMaker Novel

Book one

October 2013

From Siren Publishing:

Fatal Promise

From Red Sage Publishing:

The Forbidden Claim

The Risqué Target

Satisfying the Curse

There
are so many great authors and books out there to pick from, and if this is the
first book that you’ve read by me, or the second, or third… from the bottom of
my heart, I’d like to thank you for giving me and my book a chance. I love to
write, and I’m so grateful that what I love to do is something that I am able
to share with others! ~ Kelly Gendron