The Promise of Paradise (24 page)

“Lucas gave me
directions. Here.” Jen passed her a crumpled slip of paper.

“Whatever happened to
GPS?”

“Stop grumbling,”
Jen laughed as they turned down a narrow street lined with bungalows.

“What was Lucas doing
up here, anyway?” Seemed like kind of a far commute from central
Connecticut.

“Helping a friend do
some renovations.” Jen jabbed a finger at the paper. “Now read,
would ya?”

“Fine.” Ash recited
directions until they dead-ended in front of a small, white
ranch-style house at the end of a cul-de-sac. The house had a wider,
greener lawn than some of the others on the block, and low flowering
bushes lined the walk leading up to the front door.

Ash frowned. “What's
Eddie doing here? He told me he was working late.”

Jen shrugged and pulled
up to the curb. “You ready?”

Her stomach rumbled. “I
guess." Teaching a morning Constitutional Law class at the
junior college, followed by a busy lunch crowd at the restaurant, had
left her starving. A barbeque to celebrate whatever construction
project Lucas had just finished sounded like the perfect way to end a
long week. “How's your brother doing, anyway?” she asked as she
climbed from the car. “Got a girlfriend yet?”

Jen checked her makeup
in the rear view mirror. “Nah. Goes on a date here and there, but
you know him. Mr. Strong and Silent isn't exactly gonna jump into
another serious relationship. He's waitin' for the right one to come
along, that's all.” She glanced at Ash. “Not everyone gets as
lucky as you and Eddie.”

“I know.” She
twisted her fingers in her lap.
Still takes my breath away, every
time I see him.
She glanced at the front porch, where he leaned
against a porch column beside Lucas, talking and laughing. Broad
shoulders and slim hips that knew her hands and fit against her own
bare skin just right...

“Come on.” Jen
climbed from the car, and Ash followed, heat spiraling from her
cheeks to her toes. Didn't look like there were a lot of people here
for the party, but maybe most of the guests were arriving later.
Maybe she could sneak Eddie away for a few minutes, find a dark
corner and wind herself around him until her fatigue went away and
she tingled from his touch. Jen stopped her before they got to the
walk. “Hang on.” She swept Ash's hair from her forehead and
inspected her for a long moment.

“What the hell are
you doing?”

“Okay, you'll pass.”

"Pass what?”

“Good call on that
dress. It actually makes you look like you have some curves.”

Ash glanced down at the
red mini-dress she'd bought in the spring. A little skimpy for her
taste, but – “Eddie likes this one.”

“I'll bet he does.”
Jen steered her up the walk. “Now go.”

“Wait, what are you –
” But when Ash turned around, Jen's torso was bent over the trunk
among a half-dozen bags and boxes.

“Be right there,”
she called.

Ash shrugged. Whatever.
“Hi handsome,” she said to Eddie as she neared the porch. Lucas
had disappeared somewhere, probably around back if she had to guess,
from the aroma of grilled meat wafting out to them. Fresh red paint
on the front door and impatiens lining the windows gave the house an
inviting air. A Cape-style with dormers, it sat low to the ground,
cozy and warm, like something she'd choose for herself one day. “Cute
place. Did you help too?” She didn't recalled Eddie mentioning it,
but they'd both been so busy this last month that it might have
slipped by her.

“I helped a little,
yeah.” He ran a hand over the porch railing. “You like it?

“It's nice. Very
cute. Did Frank close the shop early today?”

Eddie rubbed the back
of his neck. “Ah, yeah.” Hair damp from the shower, shirt a
little wrinkled, he smelled as delicious as always, and for a second
Ash thought about suggesting they find a bedroom to christen rather
than pull up picnic chairs. Damn, he turned her hot in a hurry. She
reached for him, but rather than fold her into his arms, he stepped
back.

“What's wrong?”

His face reddened.
“Nothin'. Just – ah. Close your eyes for a minute, will ya?”

“Close my – ” She
stopped. Jen's knowing look. Eddie being here in the middle of the
afternoon. Her pulse sped up as she closed her eyes, lids trembling
against the sunlight.

“Okay.”

When she opened her
eyes again, Eddie rested before her, one knee to the ground and a box
in his hand. Ash started to cry.

“Told you a long time
ago that you changed my life.” His voice broke on the opening
words. He opened the box, and a gorgeous diamond surrounded by two
sapphires sparkled in the afternoon light. “It's always been you,
Ash. Always.”

She cried harder.
Somewhere behind her she thought she heard voices, but she didn't
trust her legs to turn around.

“You are my best
friend. My soul mate. You are my world, my light, everything good
that's ever happened to me. Please say you'll marry me.”

She couldn't speak.
I
came to Paradise to escape. Who knew I'd end up finding everything
I'd ever wanted?
She nodded, not trusting her voice.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes,” she managed
to say as he slid the ring onto her finger. “Oh, Eddie, yes.
Forever, a thousand times, yes.”

“It's about time,”
Jen said from behind her. She skipped over and grabbed Ash's hand.
“Damn. Must have cost a fortune, Lover Boy.” She planted a kiss
on Eddie's cheek. “Congrats.”

Ash stared at her hand
in wonder, but for a moment only, as other familiar faces joined them
in the front yard. “Dad?” And her mother too, and both her
sisters. “You – ” She turned back to Eddie. “You invited them
all here?” There was Frank and his wife, and a couple of waitresses
from the restaurant, and Shelia and Teagan, her fellow professors
from the college. “All of them?”

“Yeah. Good thing you
said yes. Woulda been a shitty party if you hadn't.” This time,
finally, he pulled her in for a kiss, one hand in her hair and the
other tight around her waist.

On her tiptoes she
leaned into him. Their kiss deepened, and her hands moved to his
face, to the stubble of his beard she loved so much. “I'm crazy
about you,” she whispered against him.

He ran one hand over
her hair, his expression tender as his thumb rested on her lower lip.
“Any chance I can convince you to sneak away for a quickie before
the party starts?”

She laughed.
You
read my mind.
“I don't know if the host would be thrilled with
that.” She glanced at the front door. “Though I wouldn't mind
taking a tour of the house. What do you say we ask?”

Eddie let her go long
enough to pull a key from his pocket. “He says yes.”

Ash looked at the key,
attached to a fob that read “Frank's Imports.” She'd seen that
fob before – or one like it, anyway. Her brows drew together. “I
don't...” Realization spread over her. She looked from Eddie to
Lucas and back again. “Please tell me you are not the ‘friend’
that Lucas came up here to help.”

Lucas grinned from
under his baseball cap and held up both palms. “Guilty.”

“Eddie!” Her jaw
dropped. “This is
your
house?”

“Actually, it's our
house, now that you said yes.” He twisted the key in the door. “And
I'm pretty sure the party can wait until we take ourselves a tour of
it.”

* * *

Much later, after the
last guests had driven away and the grill was cold and she'd hugged
Jen goodbye and promised to call as soon as the dress search began,
Ash followed Eddie into the back bedroom, the master, the only one
with furniture and the only one that needed it tonight, as far as she
was concerned.

“To the future,” he
whispered. “And to my beautiful wife.”

Not yet,
she
almost corrected him, but it didn't matter because in soul she
already was. Linked to him, loving him, she'd known too from that
first day that he was her One, the single person she'd been seeking.
Every day, every minute of the rest of her life, wouldn't be long
enough to spend with him.

By degrees he pulled
the neckline of her dress away from her skin, replacing each inch
with his mouth. Teasing. Wet. She arched into his touch, bottom lip
caught in her teeth. One hand caught her nipple, running the thumb
over and over until it hardened and she cried out in want. With
gentle hands he lowered her to the bed, and in the next moment Eddie
slipped off her dress entirely and tossed it aside. He pulled his own
shirt over his head and dropped it onto the floor. His shorts
followed. Then, in slow degrees, his hands returned to her skin. He
grinned, his dimple popping under those sky-blue eyes, but he didn't
say anything. His fingers moved to her belly, to her legs, to the
smooth, warm, desperately wet apex that ached for his touch.

“Eddie...” She
reached for him, legs and arms and tongues entwined, and then it was
like always, coming without even feeling him inside her yet, rolling
on that wave until another one came after it and finally she pulled
him into her because if she didn't she would die, it was as simple as
that.

Completion. Utter
completion,
she thought a while later as they lay together in
silence. “I love you.”

“Oh, Ash. Times a
thousand. Times a million.” He rolled up and rested on one elbow.
“I'm the luckiest guy in the world. To get to spend every day with
you, to come home every night to you...” Tears stood in his eyes.
“You saved me.”

Wasn't it amazing, she
thought as she wound her fingers through his, how two people could
save each other? Could love each other, complete each other, catch
each other when they fell and steady each other against the storms of
the world around them?

Eddie lifted her
fingers to his lips. Her ring glittered in the half-light. “I'll go
to the moon and back to make you happy. Fill up every ocean. I
promise, I'll tell the world a hundred times a day how lucky I am
that I get to be loved by you.”

Ash closed her eyes,
emotion turning into a tight little ball at the back of her throat.
No words. Just love. How amazing.

“Me too,” she
agreed. “Every day. I promise.”

Want to find out if Lucas discovers his true love? Read
Beacon of
Love
coming in May 2013!

* * *

Beacon
of Love

Excerpt

“Wise ass.” Sophie
backed into the street before Lucas could grab her. “I’ll see you
later!” she called. “I think Lon said something about meeting
tomorrow morning and--hey!” She squawked off the last word as Lucas
lifted her off the ground and onto his shoulder.

As if she was a bag of
flour.

Or a damsel in
distress.

Or his damn cavewoman.

About a hundred
thoughts raced through her mind, and it took all she had to keep them
from coming out in biting words.

“Why do you have to
be so stubborn?” Lucas asked as he carried Sophie back to his
truck, parked in front of the bar. He wasn’t panting, not out of
breath in the least, as if she weighed close to nothing. “If
anything happened to you, Lon would kill me.” With one hand he
opened the passenger side door. Only then did he lower her to a seat
inside the truck. His hands slid down her arms and settled her hips
into place.

Oh yum.
All her scathing
thoughts of thirty seconds earlier vanished. She shifted on the
leather. There was room for him on this side of the cab, she was
almost positive. If not, she’d make room. In about two seconds...

Available
from
www.lyricalpress.com
in May 2013

Allie Boniface is a
small-town girl at heart who's traveled around the world and still
finds that the magic and the mystery of small towns make them the
best places to fall in love and find adventure. From the New England
coast to Rocky Mountain hotels to tiny European bars, she's found
more character and plot inspirations than she could ever count.
Currently, she's lucky enough to live in New York's beautiful Hudson
Valley with her own romance hero, her husband who can fix, build,
drive, and grill anything and is the epitome of the strong and silent
type.

When she isn't writing love stories,
Allie is a full-time high school English teacher who enjoys helping
her teenagers negotiate the ups and downs of writing along with the
ups and downs of life (because, really, she's still trying to do the
same thing!). And while she'll continue to travel far and wide, Allie
knows there's really nothing like coming back to the place where the
people who have known you welcome you home with open arms.

You can keep up with
all of Allie's news and new releases on Facebook, Twitter, or at
www.allieboniface.com
.