Entice (39 page)

***

It was 3:50 p.m. As Josh stood in front of the fountain he had once visited with Shelly many months ago, he started to feel nervous.

What if she doesn’t show? What if this has all been for nothing?

He took a deep breath and looked up to the clear blue sky above him. Stuffing his shaking hands into his jeans pockets, he closed his eyes and reminded himself,
She said she loves me, and her eyes meant it. I saw it.

Once he had calmed himself the best he could, he opened his eyes and found himself staring at the white steeple of the Catholic cathedral, St. John the Baptist, where Shelly had told him she had been baptized. Reminding himself of everything he had put into this moment over the last several months, Josh was determined that nothing would deter him—nothing except for her failure to show.

***

Shelly found herself running through Lafayette Square at 3:57 p.m.

The stupid traffic had held her up a little longer than she had expected. As she rounded the final bend in the path leading to
her
fountain, she slowed down to a walk and took in the perfect scene before her.

Standing with his back to her was a man now so familiar she would be able to pick him out of a crowded stadium, and beside that strong figure sat a dog. They were both silent in their stillness, and as Shelly moved closer, she swore everything in the entire universe disappeared.

She had almost reached them when he turned, and she finally locked eyes with Josh.

Shelly stopped where she was, waiting to see what he was going to do, but Josh didn’t do anything at first. He merely looked her over from head to toe, and when his eyes came back to hers, he smiled slowly. She could have sworn she felt that smile reach inside of her and hug her heart.

***

Josh wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but as Shelly stood in front of him, dressed in a billowy blue blouse and simple faded jeans, he knew that this was his Georgia who had shown up.

In a move that was so simple and yet so incredibly important, he lifted a hand and held it out to her. He took a deep breath and waited to see what she would do.

He watched the woman he had fallen so deeply in love with step forward and take his hand without even a moment of hesitation. She gazed up at him as he squeezed her hand, tugging  her forward. When Shelly put a hand up on his chest to steady herself, he swore she must have been able to feel his heart beating at a hundred miles an hour.

“You came,” he whispered down to her.

He watched as those incredible eyes of hers smiled at him, and her mouth tipped up at the corners to match.

“Nothing could have stopped me,” she answered.

Josh finally let go of the breath he had been holding in, and he shook his head. He reached up with his free hand and stroked it down the back of her head over her silky blonde hair to cup the nape of her neck, bringing her closer. Then, he leaned down and did what he’d wanted to do all week. He kissed her.

***

Shelly sighed as she felt his lips finally brush against her own.

He was so gentle in his persuasion for her to open to him. He had no need to worry though. Shelly was ready to give herself over to him, body and soul. And, if he wanted anything else, he could have that, too.

As he lifted his lips from hers, he leaned his forehead against hers, and their noses brushed as he closed his eyes. He still had a hand on her neck, and the other one was holding hers. She could feel his heart thundering beneath her palm.

“Josh?” she questioned softly. When she got no response, she moved and kissed his cheek. “Josh?”

He blinked as though he was pulling himself out of some kind of daze, and then he smiled at her.

“Stop it,” she told him.

“Stop what?”

He watched her move back, leaning down to pat Mutley’s head. When she straightened, she bit her bottom lip and gave a nervous laugh.

“Looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” he asked as he stepped closer again. Before she could answer, he raised a finger and laid it across her lips gently. “Like I love you?”

Is that a question I’m supposed to answer?

Apparently not because then he continued.

“Because I do. Love you, that is. I have never loved someone as much as I love you, Shelly.”

Shelly felt her heart starting that strong gallop inside her chest, but she tried to remain steady as he reached up and cupped her face in his palms.

“I love the Shelly that made an outrageous deal with me one night in a club. I love the Shelly that brought me here to this very spot and showed me that she has a soft side that is so damn appealing I would never be able to look anywhere else ever again. I love the Shelly that was confused and angry and who kicked me out of her life because she was honest. She didn’t hold onto me and make me stay only to stray elsewhere.” He stopped, kissed her nose, and leaned down, whispering, “But, you know what, Georgia? I couldn’t leave
you
behind.”

Shelly looked up at Josh with tears shimmering in her eyes.

What a stupid woman I’ve been! Why did I wait so long to discover what kind of man he is?

As she was about to talk, she stopped as he stepped back, leaning down on one knee. Shelly felt her eyes widening and her mouth parting as she watched with something close to absolute wonder when he reached out and took her hand in his.

***

Josh stared up at Shelly from down on his knee.

He had thought about this moment for months. He had gone over and over in his head exactly what he wanted to say to her. As he knelt at her feet, looking up at her shocked face, he felt a slight shiver of anxiety run down his spine.

Josh watched as she shifted her eyes to Mutley, who thankfully was sitting on his haunches like an obedient dog, and then they came back to rest on his.

Well,
Josh thought
, it’s now or never.

“Over the past ten months, I have met and fallen in love with three different women.” He paused and watched as Shelly took a deep breath and swallowed. “A man-eater, who is gutsy, bold, and so scary she
almost
made me walk away. A professional, who is so smart and sophisticated that her brains and sheer knowledge of certain things in life leave me breathless and in awe.”

Shelly finally smiled down at him then, squeezing his hand. The shock had left her face, and he could see a tear sliding down her cheek.

Thatis definitely a good sign
, Josh decided.

“Lastly Georgia. I met and fell in love with a sweet hometown girl, who has a terrible brave face and who sings the worst rendition of Shania Twain’s songs I’ve ever heard. Yet, she still managed to make me fall madly in love with her.”

Josh kept his eyes on hers as he dug into his jeans pocket with his free hand, pulling out a small box. Looking up at her, he let go of her hand, unsnapped the black velvet, and then looked once again at the most beautiful face he had ever seen.

“Georgia, will you marry me?”

***

Shelly was finally rendered speechless.

There was Josh, down on one knee with his big beast of a dog beside him, asking her to marry him.

As he waited patiently for her answer, Shelly kept running over all the important things she wanted to tell him. Like how much she had missed him when he had left Saturday night. Or how hard it had been to see him with his ex-girlfriend all those months ago. Or how the thought of him leaving her life when he’d moved away had ripped her heart out.

However, as she gazed down at the man before her, holding out his hand with a little black box, none of that was important.

All Shelly could do was whisper. “Yes.”

She watched as that sexy smile, that was all Delicious Daniels, spread across his lips, and those warm brown eyes lit up. Then, he stood, and she reached out to wrap her arms around his neck.

He gripped her around the waist and hauled her up against his body, kissing her mouth with a sweet desperation born of fear and finally ending with sweet joy of the outcome he had wished for so hard.

When Josh finally put her on her feet, he looked down at her and asked, “Yes?”

Shelly laughed and nodded before saying softly, “Yes, yes, yes!”

Then, as she moved in close to kiss him, the huge bells in the church behind them tolled loudly.

Both of them looked over their shoulders as the church doors opened, and a wedding party spilled outside into the street, making their way across to the park.

Shelly felt Josh reach out and take her hand, pulling it up to his lips where he kissed the knuckles and slid the beautiful diamond onto her finger.

“I want that to be us. Whenever you’re ready, I want to bring you back here and marry you in that church.”

Shelly turned to look up at him and asked, “Why here? Why not Chicago?” She paused, and then rushed on, “You are moving back to Chicago, aren’t you?”

Josh leaned in, kissing her softly. “I plan to be wherever you are, so I can go to sleep with you at night, and—”

“Wake up with me in the morning?” she finished.

Pecking her on the lips, he nodded. “Yes, and wake up with you in the mornings.” He paused, and then told her, “This is who you are to me, Georgia. You’re the girl in the faded jeans, who grew up in a small Southern town. The one who dreams under a tree. That’s
my
Georgia, my little slice of heaven, and I want to marry you in the church you grew up in.”

Shelly shook her head, “I don’t need to dream anymore, and anyway, the property has been sold.”

She watched as a huge grin spread across Josh’s lips.

“Don’t be too quick to throw it all away. Some dreams are meant to last.”

As Shelly quirked a brow at him, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“I’ve been building a dream.”

***

Josh watched as Shelly took a step back.

She tilted her head. “I don’t understand.”

Reaching out, Josh took her hand in his and whistled for Mutley, who trotted up along beside him.

“Come with me. Trust me, and I’ll explain it along the way.”

Epilogue

Dreams are funny things. They shift and morph the more you grow
, Shelly thought as Josh’s truck rumbled to a stop in front of the padlocked gate.

On their way over here, he told her all about
his
dreams and what he’d been doing for the last few months.

Quite honestly, Shelly was left speechless.

She watched as he got out of the truck, walking around the front to unlock the gate. The man had bought her property.

Well, of course, it wasn’t hers, but he had put money down and bought the place she ran to for comfort and solace.

As he moved back to the driver’s side, climbing up into the truck, he gave her an almost shy grin.

“You okay?” he asked.

Shelly nodded before asking, “All this time, you’ve been here? That’s what you’re telling me?”

“Yeah.” He paused. He put the truck in gear, and it lurched forward. “I wanted to get away from Chicago. It’s never been for me. It’s too cold, and when we came down here…” He looked over to her. Shelly smiled at him as he continued softly, “Well, when we came here, I fell in love.” Reaching across the seat, he took her hand and touched the ring he’d just placed on her finger. “I fell in love with Savannah, with this property that has a river running down the back of it, and a beautiful big oak tree where I made love to my fiancée.”

Shelly took his hand that was on hers and brought it to her lips. She kissed his big knuckles, and then raised it to her cheek.

“So, then what?” she asked a little breathlessly.

As the truck took the final bend in the road, she looked out the windshield to see a small foundation and the start of walls and a roof being erected right behind the large oak. Shelly gasped and looked at Josh, who had stopped the truck and fully turned to her.

“So then, I started to build. I had no clue at first what I wanted to do. All I knew was I wanted to make something beautiful here—
for you
. I wanted you to be able to come back and visit your family, and if you wanted to, come down and stay by the river.”

Josh grinned and jumped out of the truck, making his way around to her side. He opened the door, and she got out, taking his hand when he extended it. They made their way over to the beginning of what looked to be a small-sized cottage, and then they stopped.

“It started as a hammock under this tree.” Josh turned to her and took her hands in his. “In fact, it started as a kiss under this tree. A kiss from a sweet girl called Georgia
,
wearing nothing but a cowboy hat. But then, my dream changed. Every time we talked, Shelly,
every time
I saw you and touched you, this grew in my head. I was building us a dream.”

He pulled her in close, and Shelly could feel the tears sliding down her cheeks.

All of this is just too good to be true.

The man, the house, the place she felt most at home, and yes, even the damn dog.

“I know you live in Chicago. I know our lives are there,” he told her as he kissed her nose. “But I want us to be able to come here whenever we want. Lay down on a blanket in the afternoon sun and make love. Unwind and dream together.”

Shelly looked up at the sweetest, sexiest man she had ever met and wondered how on earth she had ever let a day go by, let alone months and weeks, where he wasn’t close enough to touch.

Reaching up to wrap her arms around Josh’s neck, Shelly smiled into his warm eyes and asked, “But what do you dream for when you have everything you already want?”

She watched as his sexy smile widened across those delicious lips.

He conceded, “Good point.”

Standing up on tiptoes, Shelly kissed those lips softly and whispered in the best Southern accent she could dig up, “Oh, what a shame, sugah. Now, it just looks like you’ll have more time to unwind and make love to me in the afternoon sun.”

Clutching her in tight, Josh kissed her lips with a lot more force than she had. He whispered, “Oh now, that is a shame, Georgia. When do you think we can begin?”