Boyfriend for Hire (37 page)

His fingers itched to touch her, to feel her silky hair slip between each digit. He wanted to cup the back of her head and kiss her. Instead he looked out across the water and focused on the train running around the carousel.

“You don’t owe me an apology. A promise is a promise, and I blew it. It won’t happen again.”

She stuck out her hand. “Friends again?”

He took her hand, turned it over, and studied it. They were soft, yet strong, manicured, yet nicked from hard work. “I don’t want to be friends—well, not just friends. Wait, please, and hear me out.”

“Okay, I’m listening,” she said, her voice filled with caution. She didn’t try to pull her hand away so he took that as a good sign.

“Before I met you, I was a player. Bouncing from one good-time relationship to another, never letting any of the women I dated get close, and if they tried, I ended it. I didn’t know what I wanted, except to have fun. I knew what I didn’t want, and that was to end up like my parents.” He laughed at the irony. “You know they’re back together, as in living together and getting married again?”

“That’s wonderful, Dave. They’re nice people, they deserve to be happy.”

“Yeah, they do. The thing is, I do want what they have. I want to find a woman I’ll love no matter what life throws at me, and I want her to feel the same way. You accused me of needing to be everyone’s hero and that you didn’t need me anymore. What if I need you? You saved me, Tawny. I was lost before you. Since we met, I haven’t wanted to be with any other woman but you. I haven’t been with another woman since long before we decided to scratch that itch.”

“Dave, I saw you with Jody.”

“You saw me find a quiet place to talk with a friend. Her teenage son is having some difficulties in school. She’s recently divorced and he’s having a rough time dealing. She thought maybe I could talk with him, as I’d gone through the same thing at his age. I’ve known Jody for a couple of years. She’s like a sister to me.”

She dropped her gaze to her hand still in his. “Looks like I owe you another apology. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

He lifted her chin with their joined hands as he didn’t want to let go, afraid she’d run or disappear on him. “I don’t want your apology. Don’t need it. There’s more.”

He dropped to one knee.

Tawny looked around and then back at him. “What are you doing? Get up. You’re going to get your tux dirty. And why are you wearing a tux?”

“Shh, woman. Give me a minute.” He smiled, took a deep breath, and let it out. The box lay across his bended knee. He wasn’t sure how this was going to work. He needed to give her the box, but he didn’t want to let go either. “I need to ask you something and then I’m going to hand you this box. Don’t answer me until after you’ve looked inside and read the note. Okay?”

“Sure.” She scratched at her neck with her free hand, a sure sign she was nervous. Good, so was he.

“Tawny Maria-Isabella Torres, you’re everything I want and need in a partner. You’re smart and funny. You keep me grounded and keep my focus where it belongs. With you, everything just fits and, well, you’re not too hard on the eyes either.” He smirked as she swatted him with her free hand. “You take my breath away. I don’t want to spend another day without you in my life. I love you. Will you marry me?” He handed her the box as she gasped and her mouth hung open.

With shaky hands she took the box and pried the lid off. Her tear-filled gaze met his and he cursed himself. She’d told him she wasn’t a traditionalist and he’d given her red roses. Now she probably thought he didn’t know her at all. She lifted the card out and set the box on the railing. First she pulled out the card and read it, eyes going wide as she looked down at him. Then she turned the envelope over and the ring slid out into her palm.

“Oh,” she whispered. “My grandmother’s ring. How did you get it?”

“Your father handed it to me after I asked your parents for their blessing and sat on pins and needles while they did this freaky, cool mind-meld thing.”

“Yeah, they do that a lot.”

“You can answer the question now, you know.” His leg cramped and the pins and needles from earlier now ran through his thigh. “Read the card and answer the question, Tawny. Forget the list, go with your heart, darling.”

She held the card up: “Say yes.” She handed him the ring, and the shy smile lit up the night sky for him.

Dave slid the ring onto her finger and pulled himself up with the help of the railing. He cupped her face between his hands. “I love you.”

“Well, it’s only fair, as I love you too.”

Then he kissed her.

Epilogue

O
n a beautiful October day, as the sun shone overhead and the birds sang their annoyingly sweet song, Tawny watched her best friend and the sister-of-her-heart walk down the aisle to the man who loved her. Standing next to the groom was the man who loved Tawny and to whom she would be walking down the aisle come spring.

Dave insisted either they got married now or in the spring for two reasons: He was afraid if they waited any longer her mother would change her mind and start pushing Ivan the Sexy Sexist back on her, and two, he wanted to marry her under the gazebo, overlooking the lake where she’d said yes.

Tawny decided she could live with his demands; after all, he put up with hers. So there they stood, watching their best friends tie the knot and counting down the seconds until the ceremony was over and they could find a few minutes alone. Cherry’s grandparents sat in the first row, with Grams handing Gramps tissue after tissue as the old softy cried his eyes out. Tawny’s parents sat next to the Ryans, her mom beaming with pride and her dad doing his usual scowl. He’d deemed both men good enough to marry his girls, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

On the groom’s side in the honored front row sat Brody’s mom and Dave’s parents (themselves newlyweds again). Both women cried and smiled. Brody glared at the bridesmaid, Denise, his former fiancée, who had become a close friend to both Cherry and Tawny.

Oh well, what was a wedding without a little drama on the side.

The good Father Pat rambled on and on, as priests tend to do, until finally—hallelujah—he came to those magical words.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

Jason and Cherry kissed and kissed and kissed, much to the audience’s delight.

“Okay, you two, break it up and get a room. My hand’s getting a cramp from holding these bouquets,” Tawny teased, but her eyes were on her own guy.

“Spoilsport. You just want to sneak off with the best man.” Cherry took her bouquet back and whispered in her ear.

The new husband and wife walked back down the aisle, and Tawny and Dave came together to follow suit.

“You sure you want to wait until spring? Just think of the fun we’ll have on our wedding night,” Dave said.

“Which means we have six months to practice and get it right,” she shot back and then ducked into an alcove. “Uh-oh. Brody doesn’t look happy at all.”

“He was floored when Jason told him Denise was part of the wedding party. He’ll get over it. Besides, once the pictures are done, they can ignore each other the rest of the day.” Dave backed her up farther into the hidey-hole and kissed her.

She pushed him back. “Come on, we have pictures to take and cupcakes to eat.”

“Farber, hold up?”

They turned in unison to greet Tawny’s second-to-oldest brother, Dante. She flung herself into his arms and hugged him hard before pulling back to take a good look at him.

“We didn’t think you’d make it,” she said.

“Plane got delayed, but I wouldn’t miss my little sister’s wedding. Speaking of,” he turned to Dave, “I hear you’ve got my parents’ blessing to marry Tawny.”

“She’s making me wait until spring,” Dave said, while pulling Tawny back to his side.

“Yeah, well, just because they said okay doesn’t mean you have my blessing.”

“Dante, cut the crap. He doesn’t need your permission.”

“Yes, he does.” Dante looked impressive and intimidating in his Navy dress blues, but Dave didn’t back down.

“Dante, we were friends way back in the day, and I’m hoping we still can be. But with or without your permission, I’m marrying your sister, and there’s not a thing you can do short of killing me to stop me.”

Dante didn’t say a word, he just stared at Dave. After several long minutes, a smile broke out across his face. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Welcome to the family, Dave.” He pulled her fiancé in for some complicated man-hug, complete with back slaps and all.

Tawny shook her head at the guys and led them out to join the rest of the party so they could do their duties. They danced, laughed, toasted, and ate cake. The day drew to an end, and Grams called all the single ladies to the middle of the dance floor. Cherry got up onstage with the band and asked the group if they were ready. Silly question with a good handful of former
Finding Mr. Right
contestants in attendance. Tawny looked around for Denise, but couldn’t find her.

The bouquet went high, hit the ceiling, and landed smack in the middle of Tawny’s hand.

Then Jason jumped on the stage. The bandleader handed him a chair, and Cherry took her throne. Gramps and Scott Farber corralled all the single guys onto the dance floor, where Dave was already elbowing guys out of the way. Jason took his time sliding the garter down Cherry’s leg. The lovebirds really did need to get the show on the road and make their escape, or the limo driver would have yet another story to tell. Jason didn’t even bother with the pretense; he stood and shot the garter straight into Dave’s waiting hand.

Dave met Tawny at the edge of the floor. “I think this is a sign. What do you say? Want to take a chance on a guy like me?”

“I might,” she teased. “Hey, where’s Brody? I haven’t seen him in a while, and Denise disappeared too.”

“With those two, they’re either trying to kill each other or have already fallen into bed together.” Dave backed Tawny up out of the way of the crowd. “Speaking of beds, how about we get out of here and go practice for our wedding night?”

“Men!” Tawny poked him in the ribs. “All you think about is sex. Is that why you want to marry me? So you can have sex anytime you want?”

“Nah, I’m marrying you so I can do this anytime I want.” He sank his hands into her hair and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe. “I love you, Tawny.”

“I love you more.”

Don’t miss the next book in the West Side Romance series

Fiancé for Keeps

Available in April 2016!

Chapter One

“I
’ve got good news and bad news for you, kid.” Dr. Denise Saunders looked down into the hopeful eyes of her twelve year old patient, Johnny. “The good—you’re going to live. The bad—you may still die yet. Give your mom another scare like today and she just might kill you herself. Justifiably so.”

“I almost had it,” a small voice murmured as Johnny looked up through ridiculously long lashes at her and his mom.

“Almost had it?” His mom squeaked. “You’re lucky you didn’t break your neck. I still don’t understand what in the world you were thinking.”

Denise slid the x-ray into place and turned on the light to show her patient and his mom. “See this dark line here, running across the white? That shows you have a simple fracture of the radius—a broken arm. This is good, because we don’t have to operate, but you will have to wear a cast for about six weeks while it heals.” She turned to Johnny’s mom, a woman about her own height of five-six, with dark brown hair and eyes well beyond her years. “Thankfully, kids heal pretty fast and he should have no long term effects.”

The thanks Mrs. Ford extended didn’t reach her eyes.

“So listen up, Blaze,” she teased, referencing the last name of the superhero the boy had tried to emulate. “If you promise me you won’t try any more super stunts, especially without supervision and protection, I won’t dress your cast in Hello Kitty wrap. Deal?”

“They make it look so easy,” Johnny grumbled, slinking down in the sterile bed.

Denise reached out and ruffled his hair. “Of course they do, silly. Johnny Blaze signed a pact with the devil and the Human Torch was mutated. Plus, they have the magic of Hollywood behind them.”

“Johnny, honey, what are you talking about?” His mom asked.

“Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four,” Denise and Johnny answered together.

“Are you kidding me? You could have been killed. You’re never watching those movies again,” his mom choked out.

Denise gave Johnny a sympathetic smile before turning to his mom. “Mrs. Ford, this is going to take a couple of minutes and we need to wait for my nurse, Jenna, to gather up the supplies. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea? We have a break station just outside the room.”

Normally Denise would have passed off this task—of wrapping Johnny’s arm—to an intern with a nurse’s assistance, but things were quiet in the ER (as they had been for the past couple of weeks), so she could afford to take the luxury of talking to her patient’s mom and seeing this through to the end. It was a nice change of pace.

Mrs. Ford cast a long, frustrated look at her son and stood up. “I’d love some, thanks.”

Denise led her outside the room and to the little causeway that allowed staff to zip from one side of the ER to the other, getting patients ice, water, Jell-O, and the occasional snack to hold them over on long shifts.

“Do you have kids, Dr. Saunders?”

Denise shook her head and ignored the tick-tock of her internal clock reminding her that birthday number thirty-three would soon be here.

“It’s a challenge, especially as a single parent. Still, I wouldn’t trade one moment of motherhood. Well, maybe I’d skip a few, like when he gets these wild ideas he can be a superhero.”

Denise pointed to the coffee and tea carafes and told Mrs. Ford to help herself, and pulled a bottle of water out from the mini-fridge for herself.

“Do you mind me asking, what does his dad do for a living?”

“John Sr. was in the Navy. They said he was a hero when he gave his life to save what appeared to be an innocent family. The woman and children were decoys and John shouldn’t have been in the sandbox to begin with. He joined the Navy, not the Army or Marines. He belonged on a submarine. Safe. Away from land mines and suicide bombers.” Mrs. Ford looked to Johnny’s room before exhaling a deep sigh and turning back to Denise. “That was two years ago.”