Authors: Lisa Crane
Not His Type (29 page)
Brooke buckled
the strappy black sandals on her feet and sat on her bed with the last two
gifts. She opened the red envelope marked with a bold eleven. She read the
note, her voice just above a whisper,
In case you hadn’t noticed, I stepped
up the timetable a bit. It’s not exactly pipers piping, but there’s a little
Christmas concert I think you’ll enjoy, if you’ll be my guest. Just walk
outside and you’ll see what’s next. Oh, and don’t open the last envelope yet.
You’ll know when it’s time.
On slightly
unsteady legs, Brooke walked to her front door and opened it. While she’d
gotten dressed, a long, sleek limousine had appeared in her driveway. A
uniformed driver waited beside the car. He smiled and gave Brooke a tiny bow.
“If you please,
Miss Valentine,” he said, opening the back door for her.
“Who – um, who’s
behind all this, do you know?”
The man simply
smiled and gestured to the back seat. Brooke knew she was taking a chance, but
for some reason, she felt compelled to get into that limo and follow this to
its end. She slid into the soft leather seat, the green envelope in her hand.
The driver got behind the wheel and drove away from Brooke’s house.
Sitting in the
back seat of the limousine, Brooke felt like a celebrity. She’d never
experienced anything like this, and she could only hope it ended as well as it
had progressed throughout the afternoon. She’d had fun, she had to admit, but
she was still dying to know who was behind this elaborate adventure.
When the
limousine slowed to a stop, Brooke looked around. A park? This was where the
adventure ended? And a
dark
park, at that! The driver got out and
opened the back door. Brooke looked at him uncertainly.
“Are you sure…?”
she began.
“Yes, Miss
Valentine,” he said smiling. He offered a hand and helped her out. He then
pointed to a barely visible gazebo. “You’re supposed to go there. Just follow
the path. You’ll be fine.”
“Are you – will
you still be here?”
“Yes, Miss, but
you won’t need me.”
Brooke took a
few slow steps toward the shadowy gazebo. She stopped and looked back at the
driver. He smiled, then snapped his fingers.
“Oh!” he said.
“You’ll need this!”
He handed Brooke
a small object. She looked at it, recognizing the small sort of light used by
ushers in theaters. She used the light to make her way to the darkened
gazebo. When she reached the gazebo she turned in a slow circle. Nothing.
She didn’t see a single thing to indicate she should be here. After a moment,
a thought occurred to her.
Chapter
38
“The card, you
idiot!” she murmured to herself. She was surprised to see her fingers were
shaking as she opened the envelope; it had nothing to do with the chilly evening.
Brooke opened the card and read silently,
The only drumming you’ll hear
tonight is the beating of my heart. When I see your smile, when I hear your
laughter, the way you toss your hair back, everything about you sets my heart
to pounding madly.
Brooke became aware that music had begun playing softly,
swelling a little as she read. She couldn’t tell from where the sound came.
She continued reading,
I’m sorry it took me so long to realize you are the
only Christmas gift I’ll ever need.
“Hello?” Brooke
called hesitantly.
Suddenly the
gazebo was ablaze with thousands of tiny white lights. In the shadows, Brooke
spotted the source of the music, a string quartet seated on folding chairs.
Three men appeared; two carried a small round table, the third carried two more
chairs. As soon as the table was set up, two waiters appeared; they quickly
laid the table for two. Two more waiters appeared; each one set a domed tray
at each place. One of them gestured gallantly and pulled a chair out for
Brooke, who sat, still bemused.
Brooke’s heart
was pounding. A tiny part of her thought she might know who was behind the
gifts. The bigger part of her, however, was afraid to hope. She looked around,
still trying to find the sender of all the gifts. From the shadows, a figure
emerged. Brooke’s eyes widened.
Travis Cooper
stood before her in a tuxedo that could only have been made for him. His blue
eyes gleamed with an intense heat that threatened to ignite Brooke’s very
being. Slowly, she rose. Travis stopped when he stood before her.
“Travis, what –“
she began.
“Wait, Brooke,”
he interrupted her. He placed a gentle finger against her lips. “Hear me
out. Please. Then decide if you’ll accept the last gift.” He took a deep
breath. “I messed up, Brooke. I let my stupid pride blind me to what was
right in front of me, and I’m sorry. You overheard me tell Will that you
aren’t my type, but that wasn’t exactly the truth. The truth is, the women
I’ve always dated, women like Lorna and your so-called friend, Blair, aren’t
the right women for me.
You
are exactly my type, Brooke. It’s taken me
a while, but I realize, I love you.” Brooke gasped; Travis ignored the little
sound and continued. “Brooke, the past few weeks without you have been the
longest, most miserable days of my life! I missed everything about you! I
missed your smile, your laugh, the way you blush sometimes…I’ve missed your
kiss, Brooke. I’ve missed
you
.”
“Oh, Travis,”
Brooke sighed. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”
“Stop,” he said,
placing his finger against her lips again. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Travis heard his voice crack; he cleared his throat and went on. “It was all
me and my stupid pride and arrogance. I was so busy convincing myself I was
doing a good deed, taking care of the little sister next door, I was fighting
my attraction to you. When I realized I’d fallen very hard for you, and
especially for Jazz’s little trick, I was…well, I was embarrassed that everyone
else but me seemed to know I was in love with you.”
“You – you love
me?” Brooke echoed, stunned.
“I do, my little
Bunny-girl,” Travis said, smiling down at her. He slipped a hand in the pocket
of his jacket and withdrew another small, black velvet box. “I have one last
gift for you, Brooke. And if you’ll have it, you’ll make me the happiest man
in the world.”
“What else could
you possibly give me, Travis?” Brooke whispered with a nervous little laugh.
Slowly, with
fingers that shook as badly as Brooke’s, Travis opened the little box and said,
“My heart.”
Brooke gasped
again. The box contained a ring, and on that ring was a diamond in the shape
of a heart; Brooke had minimal knowledge of diamonds, but to her it looked
enormous. She stared at the diamond ring for a moment before raising wide
violet eyes to Travis.
“Travis, what is
– is that a – Travis!”
“Marry me,
Cupcake,” he whispered.
The blue flame
burned in his eyes as he gazed down at her. Brooke gazed at him, her eyes
searching his, looking for answers.
“Are you sure?”
she asked.
“Brooke, I’ve
never been more certain of anything in my life!” he said adamantly. “I love
you. If you won’t say yes tonight, I’ll just keep asking until you do! I’ll
ask you every day for the rest of my life, until you agree to marry me.”
“Yes,” Brooke
whispered, tears sparkling on her lashes.
“Yes!” Travis
shouted. He pulled Brooke into his arms and spun her around in a circle. “She
said yes!”
Suddenly, the
gazebo was filled with people. Jazz and Riley were there to congratulate
Travis and Brooke, along with Rafa and Meghan. Nick Rodgers gave Brooke a
brief hug. Even the limo driver was there, smiling at Brooke, tipping his cap
to her. Then just as suddenly, they were gone again, leaving only Travis and
Brooke; the string quartet had moved a bit further away and continued to play
quietly. A few infrared heaters had appeared and now warmed the atmosphere in
the gazebo.
Travis seated
Brooke at the small table, then sat across from her. The covered plates were
forgotten as he reached across the table and picked up Brooke’s hand. He slid
the diamond ring onto her left hand, his eyes locked with hers. Brooke was
still in shock.
“Travis,” she
said quietly. “What made you realize…?”
“That I’m madly,
undeniably, eternally in love with you?” he finished for her. She nodded,
blushing. Travis smiled and reached in his pocket. “I nearly forgot. I do
have one more thing.” Travis pulled the scarf from his pocket; he rose and
looped it around Brooke’s neck. “When you gave my scarf back, it didn’t smell
like anything. I was hoping it would smell like you, and when it didn’t, it
was like I was hit by a freight train. I knew what I’d be missing if I
couldn’t get you back.”
Brooke leaned
back against Travis’ broad chest and looked up at the tall Christmas tree; he
wrapped his arms around her waist and she sighed. She turned in his arms to
face him and he lowered his mouth to hers. When he raised his head, they were
both breathless and Brooke sighed again.
“You’d better
stop that,” she said with a throaty laugh. “Our guests will be here soon.”
“I suppose it
wouldn’t be very good manners to leave them out on the front porch while we…?”
“No, my handsome
husband, it would not!” Brooke giggled and pushed away from Travis. “I need
to go check on a few things in the kitchen. Would you build a fire in here,
Trav? Oh, and in the fireplace on the patio, too – I think people will go out
there if there’s a fire to warm things up.”
“I thought I
was
warming things up!” Travis said, pulling Brooke back into his arms. He smiled
down at her. “One more kiss and I’ll let you go.”
“One more kiss
and you won’t have to, Travis!” she laughed again.
Brooke kissed
him and started to pull away again, but Travis stopped her. His blue eyes
burned as he gazed down at her, all the love in his heart shining through his
eyes. He kissed her again, his mouth moving across hers, his tongue teasing
hers.
“I thought last
Christmas was the best,” he said, his voice husky with love and desire. “But I
was wrong.”
“Oh?” Brooke
looked up at him, her head tilted slightly.
“Yes. This
Christmas, I
know
you’re mine. No doubts, no worries, no surprises at
all. I love knowing I’ll wake up to you every morning and that your face is
the last thing I’ll see every night.” He smiled. “You surprised me when you
crashed your bike in front of my house. You surprised me when you turned out
to be the woman of my dreams. You surprised me when you said yes even after I
messed up so royally. Now I know you’re mine forever. So yeah, no more doubts
and worries, and no more surprises.”
Brooke gave him
an enigmatic little smile, thinking of one special gift she had to give Travis
this year. She unconsciously pressed a hand to her flat belly and smiled up at
him.
“Oh, I might
have one surprise in store for you this year, my love,” she said. “Just
maybe.”
“I don’t think
so, Bunny-girl!” Travis laughed, going to answer the knock at the front door.
“And if you think that cool new GPS under the tree is going to surprise me,
think again.”
“Would a
mini-muffin surprise you?”
Travis looked
over his shoulder as he reached for the door. He cocked his head curiously at
her.
“A mini-muffin?”
“Well, yeah,”
Brooke answered, shrugging a little. “That makes sense, doesn’t it? If I’m
your Cupcake, wouldn’t my baby be your mini-muffin?”
“Your b-baby?”
Travis stuttered. “You – we – a baby? When? How? No, wait, I know how!
When?”
“Next August,”
Brooke answered, laughing at his sudden lack of composure.
Ignoring the
repeated knocking at the door, Travis swept Brooke into his arms and twirled
her in a circle, much as he had almost a year ago. He clutched her to his
chest and held her there in the protective warmth of his arms.
“I take it back,
Brooke,” he whispered to her. “Surprises are just fine with me.”
