Suspended (42 page)

“You want to get—”

He silenced her with a kiss. When she melted into him, he
finally let the last of his doubts go. Under the bright light of a winter sun,
surrounded by ice and snow, he held on to his own bit of sunshine.

One Year Later

“Mom, I don’t have time to go find the wreath. I’ve got to
make three beds and still have to go to the store for you before Shane gets
back.”

“It’s Valentine’s Day, Kendall Marie. I want that lovebirds
wreath up for the Wilsons. It’s their honeymoon.”

“Fine.”

“Don’t sass me.”

Kendall swallowed a snarl. Her mother was making over the
whole house into a frigging retreat for this couple. Why the hell should they
care about a damn wreath?

She stalked across the porch and down the stairs. Thanks to
a few warm days, a lot of the snow had disappeared, leaving a muddy trail
between the B and B and the barn.

Stomping her feet at the threshold—heaven forbid she bring
mud into Shane’s domain—she reached for the switch. Shane didn’t usually shut
off the lights.

In the middle of the workshop was a huge mahogany
four-poster bed. It had to be Shane’s handiwork. The headboard was exquisite.
Slatted in the simple Shaker style she loved, it was embellished with a simple
carved notch under the flowing lines. The footboard matched it with a more
detailed design on the front panel that looked vaguely familiar.

She slid her hand along one of the four posts built into
heavy bases giving the bed a grounded look. It was solid and masculine with the
most subtle of feminine curves.

It was pure Shane design.

The king-size mattress was a lake of pale gold. She smoothed
her hands over the expensive sateen sheets pulled back in invitation. A red-and-gold
brocade duvet was folded down at the foot of the bed.

He must have been taking pictures for his Web site.

“Like it?”

She turned at Shane’s voice. He came up beside her, swiping
his hand down her braid. “It’s gorgeous. I never saw you working on this one.
When did you finish it up?”

“Last night.”

“I don’t think it will be on your Web site long. It’s too
gorgeous not to get snapped up.”

“It’s not for sale.”

She frowned. “Was it a commissioned piece?” Everything inside
her wanted to slide into it and drag him in with her.

“Nope. I thought we should have something nice for the new
house.”

“For the…”

“I know we’ve had some setbacks in getting the plans for our
house settled, but I think you might want to look a little closer at the
pillows.”

“The pillows?” She turned back to the bed and noticed there
was a tube along the pillows. She’d thought it was a bolster, a decorative
pillow. She rounded the bed and took the tube. “No.”

He smiled, leaning his hip on the bed. “Open it up.”

Kendall pried the lid off the end of the tube. Her heart
stopped. A roll of paper inside with a perfectly amazing blue tint stared back
at her. She shook it out on the bed and unrolled it. “We’re good to go?”

“Finally got the loan to finalize yesterday. Kain
overnighted the plans—” He grunted as she vaulted into his arms.

“We get to start on the house?”

He laughed. “We get to start on the house.”

“Holy crap.” She wrapped her arms and legs around him. “This
is the best Valentine’s Day present ever!”

“And first anniversary present. I think it’s paper, right?
For the gift?”

Tears pricked as she buried her head in his neck. She
peppered his neck with kisses, then his jawline and pushed back the hair he’d
let grow out. “God, I love you.”

“I love you too, Kendall Justice. I’d hoped to have you in
the new house by our first anniversary, but at least I could do this.”

“Our anniversary isn’t until the twenty-eighth.”

He snorted. “Kain’s crew is good, but they’re not that
good.”

She shook her head. “I mean as an anniversary gift.”

“Oh, well, that’s the blueprints. I couldn’t wait. Besides,
it’s only your first gift. The bed is for Valentine’s Day.”

“I wholeheartedly approve.” She kissed him softly, drawing
out the humming passion that was never far away. “So how are you supposed to
top the bed next year?”

He scraped his teeth down her throat and tumbled her onto
the sheets. “I’ll think of something.”

Suspended

Taryn Elliott is a multi-published contemporary romance
author from upstate New York. She got the writing bug by entertaining her best
friend with wild stories about rock stars over the phone for hours and hours a
night. Thanks to a very supportive creative writing teacher she learned how to
get those crazy stories into order and onto the page.

Since then she’s found that she still loves those rock
stars, but now her heroes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes—okay, so
they’re usually over six feet with broad shoulders and mouth-watering abs. She loves
to write funny, emotional, and snarky heroines and find the perfect (for them)
sexy hero that will love them unconditionally.

When she’s not writing you’ll find her obsessing about
television shows on twitter or cuddled up with her faithful dog and her bloated
ereader—sometimes both at the same time. Don’t be shy, she’s very friendly and
loves social media. She’ll chat about anything from music, to television, to
books and always about the hot men that inspire her to write.

Find out more about Taryn at
http://tarynelliott.com/
.

• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter Twenty
  
• Epilogue
  
• Loose Id Titles by Taryn Elliott
  
• Taryn Elliott