Love Me: The Complete Series (31 page)

“Abby, I just want to ask you a very easy question.”

She held up a finger to stop him and shook her head. “No! I don’t even know you. I mean we weren’t even … okay, maybe I do know you
that
way … but not this way.”

He grabbed her face with both hands and she stopped talking when he leaned in and pressed his forehead to hers. “Not
that
question, babe. Neither one of us is ready for that yet. Abs, you said you always wanted to do this with someone that you cared about.”

Her face burned. “Eventually most people want to…”

“Would you kisscam me?”

Huh, what? Kisscam? Not …
“Oh. Uh, you did all this just for—the kisscam?” She looked up and saw the two of them on every camera in the stadium. Yikes. She had dirt in her hair and plastered to her neck. And white chalk from the baseline!

Carter shook his head. “I didn’t.” He waved at the people down the first base line, which included his family, the exes, Caroline, and a few strangers. “They did. Well, actually
we
did
.
They had to beat it into my head about the flowers and then I made them pay for it by showing up here. I told them I got the message, but I wasn’t going to believe it unless you did.”

“Believe what?”

“That being the center of attention with flowers—or cameras—or the media can be good if there’s love and affection behind it. No matter what the situation. You really should read your blog someday. Caroline has really done a number on both of us. So, all these people are tired of waiting to find out.”

She blinked because her eyes had stayed open and were dry. “Find out what?”

“If you’re going to kiss me so we can get this game started.”

Holy shit.
He had done all this just to get her out here for something that she’d mentioned in passing. And the flowers. They were splayed around her like spilled cards. A carpet of color and scents. She slid her hands up his shirt and wrapped the collar tight in her fingers. Then she yanked him in. Yep. She kissed him on the kisscam in front of the world. The roar of the crowd around them was nothing compared to the thunder of her heart thumping.

When they finally separated, she sighed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t Jackson and I answered your messages.”

“I’m not.”

She let her weight sink into him. That was good. Maybe she wasn’t sorry, either. But … there was still one more thing—

“Oh, and Abs, Caroline told me about your
other
identity.”

Her eyes popped up. “So you know I’m ‘She Hearts Dogs.’ You’re not mad?”

“I was at first, then I realized something. That was the
real
us. The way things
should have happened
if meddling friends and family hadn’t gotten involved. See, no matter how hard we fight this thing, you and I will just keep getting thrown together until we stick.”

Her insides heated. “You think so?” He wanted them to stick?

She liked the sound of that.

Eight months, one week, and two days later …

Carter scooted his barstool to the table and held up a hand to the bartender to order a beer. Jackson and Roger sat opposite and two other newbies from the office flanked him. “Sorry I’m late, guys. What’s the score?” They’d all agreed to watch the game at the sports bar by the office, since time was short.

“Five to three, good guys.” Jackson drew from his glass. “What took you so long?”

“I had to make a pit stop. Check this out.” Carter pulled the box from his pocket and set it on the table. The entire group did a double-take.

“Whoa,” Roger said. “Is that what I think it is?”

Carter popped the lid open to display the diamond nestled in the white silk lining. “Yep, sure is. What d’ya think?” He grinned.

Jackson leaned forward. “So, she’s seriously the model you want to buy, bro? You sure about that, mister short-term lease? I mean, she’s nice and all, but that’s … big.”

Carter punched him in the arm, enjoying the pain as his friend attempted to rub it away. “You’re one to talk. You’re biting the bullet in what … two weeks?”

Jackson relaxed back. “Good point. Still, you guys have only been together a year. What’s the rush?”

“It’s almost two years if you count all the time we were dodging each other because of you, asshole.”

Jackson held up his hands. “Hey, I had nothing to do with that … uh … okay, well, maybe a little, but not with Abby. That was all your mess. So, what makes you think she’ll say yes?”

The scent caught his attention before her voice, but he knew Abby was behind him when Roger blurted out a curse and looked past his shoulder.

“What makes you think she won’t?” she said.

Carter whirled in his chair.

Abby dropped both hands to her hips and challenged Jackson. “Hmmm?”

Dammit, this wasn’t right.
Jackson.
He furrowed his brow and growled at the man across from him. “Dammit, Jackson—do you have to screw up
everything
for me?”

Carter wrapped his arms around and drew Abby into a kiss so long his friends turned to the game and Roger muttered, “Get a room.”

When they broke free, her eyes had water puddled in them and they glittered like stars. He put his forehead to hers. “So, um, this wasn’t exactly what I had planned. Pretend you didn’t see that.”

She untangled an arm from his chest and pulled the box from the table then slipped the ring into place. “We promised each other honesty, remember? Pretending would be a lie. Besides, I honestly want to wear it and—the answer is yes.”

“I’m sorry. I meant to ask you at dinner later with candles and wine. And flowers. I love you, Abs. As in foreverness.”

She giggled and pulled him back in for a kiss. “I love you as in foreverness too.”

He gave Jackson another scolding glare, though it was lost on the man as he lifted his drink to toast them.

Carter snorted. “Remind me to make your life as miserable as you’ve made mine someday.”

Amanda approached in her perfectly starched business suit and Jackson pulled her in tight. “You’ll get your chance in two weeks, best man.”

“Huh, what? I thought Roger was the best man.” Best man? In Jackson and Amanda’s wedding? It was ironic if he stopped to think.

“I wasn’t sure you’d want it so I asked him first—but you know I’d never really want anyone else. Sorry, Roger.”

Roger nodded and stuck a finger in the air. “You guys all make me sick anyway.” Still, he winked at Abby.

Was Carter ready to write off all that happened? He wasn’t sure. Then Abby gave him that damned smile that killed him during the seventh inning stretch. Yeah, he guessed so.

“Okay, I’ll be your damn best man, but you need to know—paybacks are hell.”

A little about me … I grew up on a farm near a small town called Peculiar, which is just south of Kansas City. I’m a graduate of Oklahoma State University with additional post-graduate studies at OSU and University of Wyoming in Casper. I married my college sweetheart while still an undergraduate, and we have three kids.

I’ve had a long and prosperous career in technology and still actively work as a technology consultant. A few years ago, I chose to go back to my first love of writing and have enjoyed every word. I hope you will too.

Avon, Massachusetts

Copyright © 2014 by Shelley K. Wall.
All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by

Crimson Romance

an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.

10151 Carver Road, Suite 200

Blue Ash, OH 45242. U.S.A.

www.crimsonromance.com

ISBN 10: 1-4405-8399-4

ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-8399-5

eISBN 10: 1-4405-8400-1

eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-8400-8

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.

Cover art © 123RF/Ljupco Smokovski

Amanda Gillespie wasn’t about to let the bile in her stomach keep her from showing up at the damn outdoor adventure club meeting. It was just nerves. She could do this.
Had
to do this, since she’d stupidly, irresponsibly taken her friend Darlene’s bet that she wouldn’t. Now five hundred bucks hung in the balance.

She smoothed her skirt and shoved through the door of the beautiful eighty-story Darshwin Tower, wishing she’d gone home to change clothes after work. But that would have made her late to the meeting, and there was no way in hell Darlene was going to give her peace if that happened.

Darlene Fitch was a bulldog both in reputation and stature. Though small, her mind was a flytrap of details that made her one of the best criminal attorneys in the state of Texas. Amanda strived to be half as good. Darlene had a ten-year start on her, so maybe in time she’d get there. The woman was also faultlessly protective of her friends—not in a motherly way, but in an in-your-face, don’t-fuck-with-my-friend way.

Why Darlene had turned Amanda into a pet project was a mystery.

“You’re such a workaholic pansy. Just enjoy yourself—have fun for a change,” Darlene had tossed at her after they’d finished eating lunch over legal briefs a week earlier.

“I am
not.
I have fun.”

“Really? Prove it. When’s the last time you did anything that didn’t have a roof and an air conditioner involved? Or traded those heels for a pair of sneakers, for that matter?”

Amanda sighed. “Okay, so maybe I prefer to be clean and … and I have allergies.”

Darlene rolled her eyes. “Oh, brother. To what? A good time? Amanda Gillespie, we’re going to get your blood pumping if it kills us. Or maybe just you. I’m too young to die. Besides, how are you ever going to date someone who doesn’t have their nose in legal briefs if you don’t leave the office?”

“Maybe I like briefs.”

Darlene giggled. “I like briefs too—or boxers—or nothing at all. They’re all good. Listen, we all know you can kick ass as a lawyer but can you do it outside in the fresh air? I highly doubt it. I think you’re a born and bred book-addicted
nerd
.”

That was the challenge that took her over the top. Competitiveness was bred deep in the Gillespie family and challenges of any sort rarely went unanswered. That was what happened when you grew up in a household with two older brothers. Everything was a contest. Amanda took the bait, and agreed to Darlene’s bet proposal: Whoever did better on two out of the three challenges would win. Now she was regretting it.

Amanda clip-clopped on high heels toward the elevator bank and her cell phone rang. She glanced at the display, then snapped it to her ear. “What? You’re checking up on me? I’m at the elevator, Give me five minutes.”