Summer's Desire (52 page)

Strong, muscular
arms wrapped around her from behind, and at the familiar touch, her body and
mind relaxed at last. Already smiling, she turned in Seth's arms and looked up
at him. His blue eyes were bright, happy.

She smiled
bigger. "You came in through the back?"

"I wanted
to surprise you."

"It went
well, Seth?"

"It went
well, Sunny."

And then he was
kissing her—the kind of kiss that he never, ever gave her in public. Except
that he was obviously kissing her like that now, open and wet and deep. She
leaned closer into him and thought her heart would burst from the excitement
that just his wicked mouth and lips and tongue could arouse in her. They were
nearing their three-year-anniversary, and still the attraction between them,
which had burned so excruciatingly, overwhelmingly hot from the first, wouldn't
settle into more bearable boundaries. Summer was starting to think that it
never would. If anything, their passion for each other seemed to intensify even
further each time they touched and made love.

He ended the
kiss and watched her with eyes that had turned electric blue with desire.
"Go grab your stuff, Sunny. I already talked to your boss, and you're good
to go."

"Really? I
can leave early with you?" She was so excited she could barely stop herself
from skipping around like a three-year-old.

He smiled,
seeming even happier at her exaggerated enthusiasm. "We have our
reservation in half-an-hour, so we should get going."

"Reservation?
You're taking me somewhere fancy, then?"

He gave her a
quick kiss on the nose, then a less quick one on the mouth. "The
fanciest."

*
* *

After such a
long time during which a date for a movie and fast-food dinner had been a rare
treat for them, the classy five-star restaurant that Seth took her to was a
culture shock for Summer. Not to mention, their reservation was for one of the
private rooms! Where a bottle of obviously out-of-this-world expensive champagne
was already waiting for them on ice! Turning the pages of her elaborately
embossed menu that didn't even show prices, Summer felt impossibly gauche
because all she could think was,
Oh my God, just how much does all of this cost?
And will we have enough money left for this month's rent?

Her and Seth's
hands were lying entwined on the table, and Seth started to stroke her skin
very softly, making a current of awareness run through her. Then, proving once
again that he really could read her thoughts much too often (not that it would
have been particularly hard in this instance), he said gently, "Sunny, we'll
never have to worry about money again."

His wonderful
touch, his deep voice, the indescribably warm and loving expression on his
face: all of that, even regardless of his actual words, made her relax
completely. In all their years together, Seth had never given her any reason to
doubt him. She trusted him utterly and completely.

She smiled.
"Will you tell me about your meeting?"

They ordered
their food and sipped champagne, which was out-of-this-world delicious, and
then the waiter came with their food and left them alone again. Meanwhile Seth
summarized the meeting he'd gone to earlier—and where he'd signed a contract
with the Detroit Lions.

Summer knew that
he'd taken that contract mainly for her. Because she still had two full years
left until she got her degree, and she was leery about moving from the area and
transferring to a different college. She would've done it, of course—there was
no way she'd accept a long-distance relationship with Seth—but as it turned
out, they wouldn't have to move far.

During his time
playing college football, Seth had established himself as a football
wunderkind, so now that he was finally eligible for the NFL draft this year,
his prospects were excellent. But then, even before the NFL draft was to take
place, the Detroit Lions—who had the first overall pick in the draft this year—contacted
him and said that they wanted
him
. He said yes.

"The
contract's for five years, Sunny," he was now explaining to her, full of
enthusiasm, "and it's worth 62 million. 45 million guaranteed."

"What? You
hadn't told me that!"

He smiled.
"Negotiations weren't final yet. Besides, I wanted to surprise you."

She stared at
him in wonder. "You did, Seth." Wow. Just wow. Then she narrowed her
eyes. "You're still on track for graduating before going pro, yes?"

His lips
twitched in humor. "Yes, ma'am, I am. Right on schedule this summer."
He leaned in and scattered tiny, affectionate kisses all across her face. She
laughed in delight.

"And
Sunny," he told her with a huge smile, "we can pay off your student
loans now, and you can start the School of Education next year. Baby, you'll
quit waitressing now, won't you? Please, Sunny, for me?"

Her eyes were glittering
wetly and she feared she'd burst into emotional tears any second now, but at
his request for her to quit her job, she started laughing instead. From the
start he'd hated her waitressing with a veritable passion, so of course that his
first order of priority, now that they had money at last, was to put an end to
her waitressing gig.

"Seth, I'll
be very glad to give up waitressing," she assured him with a grin. Then,
sobering again: "Thank you for helping me with my dream to become a teacher."

When she applied
to college two years ago, he'd told her she should think about going into a
singing program because her voice was just too wonderful to waste. She'd replied
truthfully that she would never feel comfortable singing for an audience; she'd
only ever wanted to sing for her parents and now for him. She didn't have any
ambitions for becoming a great singer, that just wasn't her.

So she'd chosen
the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts instead, with hopes of
starting a Teacher Education program her Junior year. Eventually, she wanted to
be an elementary grade teacher and work with very young children. And now Seth
was handing her the opportunity to fulfill her dream.

"Sunny, all
I want is for you to be happy." Then he slowly rose from his chair and
knelt down beside hers. She looked down at him, heart beating way too fast,
eyes gone wide with hope and awe. Was he...?

"I've
wanted to do this for a very long time," he told her gravely. "But I
couldn't, because I had nothing to offer you. But now I can give you the
world."

"I don't want the world," she
whispered with tears in her eyes. "I just want you."

"You have me, Sunny. You always
have." He took out a little black box out of his pocket, opened it, and
she inhaled audibly.

Inside the box lay an exquisite ring
with a heart-shaped diamond surrounded by a cluster of smaller, delicate
diamonds. Astounded, overwhelmed, ecstatically happy, she moved her gaze from
the beautiful ring to Seth's infinitely more beautiful face, and connected with
deep blue eyes that were more dazzling than any precious stone.

"I've loved you since you were five
years old," he told her, and his quiet, solemn voice wrapped itself around
the chords of her soul and made them quiver.

"I loved you when you were a child.
I loved you through the five endless years I lived without you, even though I
felt hurt and betrayed. I loved you when you finally came back to me and I made
you mine forever. I've loved you in the three years since, and each day I fell
in love with you all over again.

"I love you now, Sunny, and I
always will, through all the years of our hopefully very long lives together.
You're everything to me. So will you please marry me?"

Crying in earnest now, utterly overcome
with joy and love, she fell down to her knees beside him and kissed him
fiercely and choked out, "Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes! I love you,
I love you, I love you..."

And then he was sliding the ring onto
her finger and they were kissing again, and no further words were needed.

* * *

She was late.

Seth shifted his weight to his other
foot, and underneath the monkey suit he was wearing, he felt yet another cold
drop of sweat run down his spine. What the hell was up with that anyway? Monkey
suit or not, month of July or not, it was way too early in the morning to be
feeling this damn hot. Which could only mean—Jesus Christ, he was even worse
than he'd thought!

It was all her fault, of course. He
could do patient and he could do unflappable with the best of them. Hell, he
could face a 6'5'', 270-pound rushing linebacker without even blinking. His
Wolverine mates had taken to calling him Ice because, whether they were kicking
ass or were deep in shit on the football field, he always kept his cool.

Yeah, and how's that cool working out
for you now, Ice?

Well, fuck cool. This was Sunny he was
waiting for, and when did he ever manage to be cool regarding her? He'd have
better luck catching leprechauns. He snorted.

But truth was, she changed everything he
thought he knew about himself, challenged all his assumptions, turned him
inside out. She always had, right from the start.

And today he'd make sure she was his permanently,
so she could keep doing all those things to him forever.

He smiled in anticipation, then he
checked his hand watch again and started scowling instead. Then he wiped the
scowl off his face too, before Jacob started ribbing him again because "honestly
buddy, I doubt there's ever been anyone more eager to get himself hitched to the
old ball and chain". Yeah, fucking hilarious, his best man.

Besides, that weird Ms. Walker was
staring at him again from her seat in the front row, and he had this eerie
sense that she could see right through him. He didn't need that shit right now
either.

He and Sunny had agreed on a simple ceremony:
officiated by a minister on the patio of their new house, with just their
closest friends in attendance. Now Ms. Walker—he wouldn't exactly call her a
close friend, but Sunny had wanted her here, and he'd agreed because he owed
Ms. Walker. He owed her big-time for protecting his Sunny as best she could during
the years when he didn't, and he owed her for making it possible for him and
Sunny to stay together after Rockford without having to go on the run.

But hell, he was going to suffocate in
his damn suit if he had to wait much longer!

And then his nineteen-year-old bride
stepped out of the house, and Seth forgot about the guests and the suit and
everything that wasn't her. For a long moment, he even forgot to breathe.

She was a vision in white walking up the
aisle toward him, her beautiful face shining with happiness and her dark eyes
luminous with love. For him. Jesus Christ, how did
he
ever get so lucky?

It was fourteen years ago, to the day, that
he'd seen her for the first time. Then just as now, she shone so radiantly he
couldn't help thinking that the sun had come down from the sky, like he was
witnessing his own personal miracle. She'd owned his soul from the first moment
they looked into each other's eyes—and he knew that would never change.

And after all these years, the sight of
her still made his heart still in wonder.

At last, she reached him at the end of
the aisle. She was smiling at him and he knew he was smiling back like an idiot
fool, but hell, let everyone think what they wanted, he didn't care. All he
cared about was her, that she be happy. He'd spend the rest of his life giving
her reasons to smile just like she was doing now.

He reached for her hand and she laced
her fingers through his; and then, as one, they turned toward the minister to
speak their vows.

THE END

Dear Reader,

I've loved Summer and Seth from the
first moment they came to me—she so damaged, he so angry, both so lost and so
deeply in need of each other—and even though I was terrified I wouldn't be able
to do it properly, I simply
had
to try and tell their story.

Thank you for picking up my book. I've
put so much of myself into writing this story, and I hope that you enjoyed
getting to know Summer and Seth as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

I will be working next on "Winter's
Dream", which is a stand-alone book although it does share some of the
themes found in "Summer's Desire". You can visit me online at
www.olivialynde.com
for more information about my
future projects. On my website, you'll also find fun tidbits and
extra scenes from "Summer's
Desire".

I'd
love to hear from you, so please feel free to email me anytime at
[email protected]
.

Olivia

About the
Author

Olivia Lynde has been in love with books
for as long as she can remember. She is a Computer scientist by profession and,
in between developing computer software and reading too many novels, she is now
pursuing her dream of writing her own stories.