Granted Wishes (The Granted Series Book 1) (14 page)

THE NEXT
TWO WEEKS FLY BY
. It’s now one week until Christmas and Gracelynn has yet to hear back from Ben and Cassie. She’s upset they haven’t gotten in touch with her, but figures they must be busy or just want her to enjoy some alone time. She decides to call them and ends up leaving a message again. She decides that since Gio spends most his time working, she needs to do something other than sitting at the cabin and decides to go into town.

In the last few weeks, they’ve been together practically every moment. She’s gotten used to his charming, witty and sexy sense of humor. He makes her smile like no one else ever has, and he makes her forget Angelo—as bad as that sounds. But the trip has brought her a friend, a true friend and she loves every moment she gets with Gio and the strength and support he gives her.

She decides to go see Anne, get a cup of coffee and surprise Gio with a tree that they could decorate tonight.

Driving through the town of New Hope is amazing. All the stores have decorations up and everyone she passes tells her Merry Christmas. She loves the town and the way it makes her feel alive, and in the Christmas spirit. Just then she hears the song “Angel,” which inspires her for the holidays.

She drives to Anne’s store and enters. Once inside, she’s shocked to see Anne talking to Mallory. “So he tells me that I’m on a leave of absence after all I did for him?” Mallory states in a huff. She looks up at Gracelynn and points at her. “It’s because of this floozy. She’s the new girl in town, puts out to your grandson and then gets him to treat me poorly.” She glares at Gracelynn. “I’ll get you back for this. I promise you that.” With those words, she leaves the store without waiting for a response.

“I don’t know what her problem is, but I haven’t done anything wrong to that woman,” Gracelynn says. “It’s obvious that she wants Gio, but he doesn’t want her. Some people should learn when to just let go and move on.”

Anne laughs. “I agree. I’m not a big fan of her. What can I help you with today?”

“I came to see if you have my special present for me and also if you need any help here in the shop. I heard a song on the radio and I can’t get it out of my head and it reminded me to help others.”

Anne grins mischievously. “Why yes, my dear, it just came in. I can’t wait to see what you’ve made for my grandson. He’s truly a joy to be around these last few weeks and I know it has everything to do with you.” Gracelynn blushes. “He’s made me the happiest I’ve been in a long time. He’s become a great friend.”

Anne clasps her hands together and her eyes crinkle with happiness. “Oh I know, dear! Anyone can see how you feel about my Gio when you two look at one another. The past is the past. I know you both lost your spouses; but it takes courage to move from the grave and into the light. I can’t wait until you both realize what you have in front of your eyes and reach the light.” She leaves Gracelynn standing there speechless and comes back to her with her present.

“I’m looking for some Christmas decorations for Gio’s cabin. I see so many in your shop. What would you recommend?” Gracelynn glances around Anne’s shop loving the tinsel, the garland, wreaths, snowmen, presents, trees, stockings and the like. All make her homesick and she asks without thinking, “Would you be interested in coming over for dinner tonight and helping us decorate?”

Anne smiles at Gracelynn and gives her a hug. Gracelynn enjoys the warmth of Anne’s hug.

“I could give you a bunch of my items. I don’t do big Christmas trees anymore. I just do the little fake ones that sit on a stand I’ll get them all out and then have Kat carry them for me. What time would you like us there?”

“How about six? This way we can have dinner and relax.” She hopes Anne says yes. She hasn’t been this excited about Christmas and family in a long time.

“You got it,” Anne replies as she continues to work around her little shop.

The rest of the day, she decides to help Anne. She cleans and does a few other small jobs before running to get a coffee from Kat. She tells her about dinner and the tree decorating and Kat accepts her invitation, excited about tonight as well.

As Gracelynn is about to head over to the tree farm Kat told her about, her phone rings. It’s Gio. “Hey, doll. How are you?”

“I went to see Anne and Kat. I was just off to do something real quick and then head back to the cabin. Oh, and I asked them to come over for dinner tonight. I hope that’s okay with you.” She hopes it’ll be all right that she offered them to come over without his knowledge, but she figures that since they’re family she shouldn’t have to worry too much about that.

“Oh yes, that’s fine,” he replies. “I got out of the office early. I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back.”

“Great. I’ll see you soon, Mr. Mysterious.”

“See you soon, doll.”

She swoons. She ends the call, realizing she’s is falling for this wonderful, charming man. He’s protective, sexy and seductive, but never goes over the top with anything, which is good since they’ve only known each other for a few short weeks.

She gets to the tree farm, thrilled with the amount of trees. She glances around the farm until she finds the perfect one. She gets a young man to help her load the tree on top of her roof and help secure it. She smiles, eager to return to the cabin, her heart singing, and looking forward to see Gio’s reaction and wait for his family to help create a magical evening.

* * *

Gio is distraught Gracelynn isn’t home. He wanted to take her outdoors and do something special with her. The last few weeks he’s been busy and preoccupied with work, so he hasn’t seen Gracelynn as often as he’d like.

He hunts through the house to find some Christmas decorations and to get out the few he’s hidden specifically for Gracelynn. He smiles when he finds some Christmas decorations he’d forgotten about in his attic.

He’s looking forward to this holiday. He looks around the house, knowing this is good for him as well as for Gracelynn and his family. He hasn’t remembered a Christmas this exciting in a long time and he’s thrilled to hear his grandmother has a gift for him. He hopes Grandma will bring the gift tonight. He can’t wait until Christmas Eve to give Gracelynn something that he hopes she’ll love and show her that he wants her to stay a part of his life.

And then it hits him… he needs to do something big, bold and amazing for Gracelynn. That might convince her to stay. Then he walks away to find the perfect lights for this magical Christmas.

GRACELYNN DRIVES
UP TO THE CABIN
and notices that Gio has made it look picturesque. She stops in the driveway and gasps. The outside is completely lit up, with lights up the walkway, out to the pond and with angel figurines trumpeting in the yard. It’s the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen. It’s like looking in a magazine. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. She doesn’t realize that he’s standing next to her car until he opens the door.

“Wow, Gio. I don’t know what to say.” She’s overwhelmed by everything Gio has done.

“Got us a tree, huh?” He smirks, nodding at the tree haphazardly attached to Gracelynn’s car.

She chuckles, noticing his reaction. “Uh, yes, I did. I hope it’s okay. I was going to surprise you with it; but it looks like you have outdone yourself, Mr. Irresistible.”

“Why thank you. I did it with you in mind. You got me in the Christmas spirit and I wanted to surprise you.” He reaches out and pulls a strand of her loose hair, tucks it behind her ear and then holds onto her ear and whispers, “You’ve brought so much joy back into my life as well as Kat’s and my grandmother’s too.” Since she doesn’t say anything, he tips up her chin and looks into her beautiful eyes, asking if he can kiss her. She nods and allows him to hold onto her lower back and pull her in for an all-time earth-shattering kiss. With the lights, his warm lips and then the warmth of his body, makes her groan with excitement. She kisses him back with all the passion she has. The next thing she knows is that he grips her around the waist and has her pushed up against her car.

“Do you know how bad I want you? Do you know what you do to me?” He kisses her slowly and with fierce passion. Just then they hear a pop and the lights go out in the cabin. They both look up in disbelief and let go of one another.

“Wow,” he stammers. “I’m sorry for taking advantage of you like that, Gracelynn. I don’t know what came over me.” He looks at the ground and then tries to fix himself discreetly.

“I should help you get this tree off the car and then figure out what happened with the lights,” he quickly states and hurries to get everything off the car, like he was struck with a lightning bolt and can’t get away from her fast enough.

She wonders what in God’s name happened. Maybe the lights going out were a sign that she was moving too fast with Giovanni. Who knows? Anything is possible in this town. It seems this town is in tune with everything to do with her and Gio, like it’s all part of some romantic movie.

She’s in disbelief and leans back against the car, wondering what’s taking Gio so long and decides to just sit in the car and wait. Not like she could do anything else in the dark, right? She starts reminiscing the days of her and Angelo’s first Christmas. She was so happy then. She’s happy here in New Hope as well, especially with the new friends she has made. She sees kindness and goodness every day, especially thanks to Anne.

She knows that Anne lost her husband and still talks openly about him. That’s the attitude she needs to have. She needs to move on, but never forget, just like Anne has done.

Gio struggles with the tree in the doorway and she yells out her car window at him. “Were you going to ask for help, or just do everything by your lonesome self?” she says half-sarcastically, hoping he’ll respond back to her. He doesn’t answer and just keeps on struggling with the tree. She decides to let him figure it out himself, if he’s going to be so childlike. She glances at her watch, shocked to notice it’s five pm. She has one hour until Anne and Kat arrive and hope Mr. Moody will be out of his funk then.

The radio plays sappy Christmas love songs and makes her miserable. She looks up and notices the lights have come back on in the house. She decides she needs to find out what made him leave her outside without returning for her.

She leaves her car and enters the cabin, awed right away. The house is transformed into something that looks like it came straight out of a magazine. There’s garland, lights, candles, angels, holly berries and more. Even Holly is decked out with a gorgeous bandanna around her neck.

She walks into the living room and inhales again. Gio has decorated the space with all the items she said she wanted. Ranging from candles, ornaments in boxes on the floor and red garland to the white lights hanging from the two pillars. She looks around again, noticing four giant candles on the mantle, two red and two white and the most gorgeous hand-painted nativity scene she’s ever seen.

“Gio?! I don’t understand what happened outside.” She hopes he hears her from somewhere in the house, and that he’s not upset because of the kiss they shared.

“The house looks stunning. I’ve never seen a place look as beautiful as the cabin looks right now. And I’ve never had anyone do what you’ve done for me in the last few weeks. I don’t regret that kiss we shared outside,” she says loudly as she approaches the fireplace to look at the nativity scene.

Still no response. She walks into the home office, hoping Gio will be there, but he isn’t. But she does find a note on the desk that reads:

Dear Gracelynn,

I over-reacted. I’m giving you some space because I feel like I overstepped my boundaries. I enjoy your company; I love your beauty and warmth. I hope you can forgive me and let us go back to how things were before. I don’t want you to leave. Please don’t. I hope you’ll enjoy tonight and the holiday with me and my family. Yours, Gio

She clenches the note to her chest and as she turns around she sees Gio standing in the doorway, looking sexy. He’s wearing a green button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, dark, washed jeans and sexy loafers. His hair is perfectly done and he looks like he has just stepped out of a GQ add. His beauty knows no end. She licks her lips like she can’t get enough of him and wishes he’d ravish her more often, and maybe even take her near the fireplace without regrets or fears.

“You keep thinking like that and I promise you I’ll do all those naughty things to you that you wish I would,” he says with a delicious smirk on his perfect mouth.

“And how do you know what I was thinking? I’m still mad at you and would never think of doing anything else with you considering how you left me outside in the cold,” she says as she lifts her hands under her breasts, aware of the effect that usually has on him.

He stares at her face, then her chest and ogles a little longer than necessary making her squirm. She enjoys his eyes ravaging her.

“How do I know? I know it by your lips, your body language and you using your
gals
to get at me.” He licks his lips and gets directly in front of her without touching her, but close enough to make her wish he’d touch her, instead of teasing her.

“You want me just as badly as I want you. You know you do. You know this feeling is mutual and so much more.” He stops and produces a single flower to her for making her feel this mad. He’s just too good to be true.

“I was hoping this flower would make up for my stupidity outside.” He looks down at his feet and continues. “I’m not used to this. I’m not used to relationships. I haven’t done it in a long time and I didn’t want to rush you. I’ve come to care so much about you in these last few weeks that I didn’t want to scare you off.”

“Oh my goodness. You didn’t do that at all. I loved it. I loved every minute of it and don’t regret it at all.” She sniffs the flower and smiles and reaches up to kiss him on the lips, soft at first, but then she deepens the kiss; their kiss is full of promise and longing.

“You don’t know how badly I wanted to hear you say that,” he says as he practically drags her to the edge of the desk and steps between her legs. “You’re so sweet,” he says while he kisses her. “And you taste so good.” Another kiss. “I want you to be mine.” He kisses her again. He holds her head as she tries to move away from him.

“Please look at me. I don’t want to rush this. I want us to know one another and take our time despite all our passionate kisses.” She looks at him skeptically as he continues. “It may shock you that a man would actually like to court a woman in this day and age, but I do. I want to get to know you before sleeping with you. Call me old-fashioned, but I want to do right by you and give you everything you deserve.”

She leans up and hugs his body. She can’t believe that this man would like to be in her life too. What is it about this man that wants her to accept this crazy idea of being with him? Who would’ve thought someone like him would want to court her? He’s so out of her league. How could he really want her?

“Don’t do that. I can see you’re wondering why, am I correct?”

She nods, wondering how he’s able to read her like a book. He looks deep into her eyes and as she looks back in his eyes; she sees true devotion. He looks like he’d do anything and everything for her, like he said he would.

“I don’t think I’m good enough for you. Did you look at yourself in the mirror? You look like a GQ model and I well, I don’t.” She just laid out her insecurities on the table and hopes he doesn’t think she’s crazy for her insecurities.

“You’re beautiful. Breathtakingly so. I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman in my life. You take the breath right out of me, every time I see you.” She smiles and reaches out to touch him again and puts her head on his chest.

“Oh, and you’re welcome for the decorations. Did you like them? I put them up for you.” He gently takes off her hat and combs his fingers though her hair.

She sighs, feeling his fingers run through her hair and lets out a soft moan. The doorbell rings.

“That would be Grandma and Kat. I hope you’ve forgiven me and we can have a fabulous evening with my family and then we can talk later?” He looks worried she might leave.

“You’re forgiven, of course. Just don’t do that again. It’s also healthier for us to talk about our feelings than running from them. And I don’t like being left outside or alone in the dark.” She smiles and kisses him on the cheek. They leave the library holding hands to answer the door.