Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (34 page)

Kimber

Kimber stood in front of her closet Saturday morning, wondering why it was taking her so long to figure out what to wear to nothing more than a meeting for coffee.  But she had hopes that if things went well enough with Paul, he would ask her out to lunch.  She was still wary of the attraction that they shared, but it had made her so happy when he called her that she knew she had to give their maybe relationship a chance.

She finally decided on a light blue skirt set with a matching cardigan.  She felt a little overdressed for coffee as she stood in front of the mirror, since she normally wore jeans and t-shirts, but she didn’t think she’d ever seen Paul in jeans.  She tried to ignore the fact that her cheeks were already flushed, and almost laughed when she pondered who blushed more when they were together, her or Paul.

She could see the back of his blonde head through the window of the coffee shop as soon as she got out of her car, and her heart started to beat even faster.  Her palms grew sweaty.  She wiped them on her skirt before she opened the door.  He turned when the door opened.  When he saw her his face lit up.  A blush rose to his cheeks again, and she felt hers redden as well.  She swallowed hard before she approached him, wondering if she was going to be able to control her hormones until they were able to get to know each other well enough to figure out if they really fit together as well as they seemed to. 

He rose from the table and pulled out a chair for her.  “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

A waitress approached their table.  Kimber gave the pretty young girl her order.  They sat in silence until the girl had returned with their coffee.

“So, have you figured out what you’re going to do about your job?”

Paul sighed.  “Not exactly.  I always thought that I knew exactly what I wanted.  I guess that maybe it just happens to change along the way sometimes.”

“It definitely can.  I never wanted to get married.  My parents have been married and divorced so many times that it’s not even funny.  They always seemed miserable no matter who they were married to though.  I wasn’t sure why they kept trying.  Do you feel like you shouldn’t have taken the job?  Do you feel like you could have saved your marriage if you hadn’t?”

He shook his head.  “Even though I do sometimes feel like maybe I should have thought more about how it would affect the rest of my life before I accepted this position, I don’t think that my marriage could have been saved.  Sierra and I always fought so much.  We were just too different.  I loved her so much that I thought we would always work it out in the beginning, but it started to be more and more apparent as time went on that we weren’t going to be able to compromise on the things that were important to us, even if they had changed somewhat along the way.”

“I know how it feels to fool yourself.  I try not to think about how often I had to fool myself when I was with Luke.”  She sighed.  “I know he loved me, but he always loved Sierra more.  I guess maybe they make a better couple than we ever did.  It just feels shitty to have been caught up in the whole thing.  Though I guess that if that whole mess wouldn’t have happened we wouldn’t have met.”

Paul almost looked stunned for a minute, and his cheeks turned bright red again.  “Right.  I am glad I met you Kimber.”

It was so easy to talk to Paul about anything and everything, especially since it seemed more and more that they did have a lot in common.  They spent two hours in the coffee shop talking.  Kimber was relieved when Paul asked her out to lunch afterwards.  She didn’t want to leave his side, but she hadn’t wanted to make the first move again, unsure of how her doing so would make him feel.

Paul

Paul was afraid that his courage would fail him before they left the coffee shop, but he wanted so badly to spend more time with Kimber that he sucked it up and asked her out to lunch.  They ate at the same sandwich shop where they had run into each other previously.  The conversation was just as easy as it had been in the coffee shop, and Paul found himself disappointed when he had to leave Kimber early that evening.  He wanted to kiss her when they parted in the parking lot, but he felt a need to take things slow.  She gave him a bit of a funny look when he shook her hand and promised to call her, but he was hopeful that she liked spending time with him as much as he enjoyed spending time with her.

Monday, he tried to talk to his boss about cutting his hours at least somewhat, but it didn’t go over well.  He was reminded of the importance of his position, and told that maybe they could talk about cutting his hours when things slowed down.  He felt like he was being put off, and wondered again whether he should have so readily accepted the position.  He was able to secure a date with Kimber over the weekend.  He looked forward to their time together more and more as the days passed, wondering when his job would again bring him as much happiness as his personal life.

Kimber

Kimber was excited to see Paul again.  They had been speaking on the phone almost every night and by the time they were together again, she couldn’t wait to see him.  They had dinner at a nice restaurant and then went to see a romantic comedy that left her all too aware of his closeness.  He kissed her goodnight, though it was quick.  She wanted to pull him to her for a kiss that left him with no question as to how much she enjoyed being with him, but she had a feeling that it was important to him to take things slow. 

She wanted him to meet her kids and was excited to meet his son, but she felt that they definitely needed to take things slow where the children were concerned.  It was confusing enough as it was for her kids with Sierra and Nathan suddenly being in their lives.  She wasn’t sure how easy it was going to be to explain to her children that she was dating Nathan’s father, especially Alexis, since she was eight and able to understand what was going on more easily than the boys who were three and four.

They had discussed the fact that they were dating with their exes.  Paul had said that Sierra had laughed and told him that she expected an invitation to their wedding, but Luke had seemed less than thrilled with the idea of her seeing Paul.  Kimber didn’t let it get to her though, because she was happy with Paul, even though sometimes it felt as if their newfound relationship was progressing at a painfully slow rate.

Paul was so smart and sweet and so damned good looking that she found herself so aroused just by being around him that she couldn’t imagine their second bout of love making being any less amazing than the first time had been.  She was thinking so much about getting him into bed that she thought she was going to go crazy until he was comfortable enough to make love to her again.

But she managed to keep her hormones in check.  The fact that things with her bookstore weren’t going as well as she thought they should have been helped to keep her mind off of Paul at least somewhat.  She was thrilled when he offered to help her with promotions and advertising.  She wasn’t sure when he would be able to find the time with everything else that was going on in his life, but she was grateful for the offer all the same.

Paul

Paul had offered to help Kimber with the advertising for her bookstore because it seemed like a natural thing for him to do, having experience in advertising.  He knew that the store was important to her, and he liked the fact that she was able to run her own business and care for her children at the same time and do both exceptionally well.  He hadn’t yet met her children, but Sierra had mentioned to him that Kimber was a wonderful mother, and had given her okay to have Nathan meet the other woman.  He thought that the fact that he had told Sierra that he thought he understood some of her job’s importance to her at least a little better now had helped.  He knew that it was a big step for Sierra, and he knew that Nathan would love Kimber.  He also realized that he was all too close to loving Kimber himself.

The thought scared him, but she was so smart, so kind, and so beautiful that it was hard not to admit how hard and fast he was falling for her.  His hormones were still driving him crazy and he was ever aware of the fact that their relationship would eventually progress to the love making stage.  That scared him too.  He was afraid he would disappoint her. 

The demands for his job hadn’t changed.  As the weeks passed, Paul began to be afraid that if he kept up the hours he was working, he was going to end up disappointing everyone.  He still spoke with Kimber on the phone every night, and he had been able to work on some ideas to get her online bookstore more into the public eye.  But he felt as if he weren’t able to give his ideas enough time and worried that they wouldn’t be up to his usual standards.  He’d had to cancel a visit with Nathan and a date with Kimber twice in two weeks.  Sierra had been angry with him when he’d had to cancel the visit.  Her sharp tongue and quick temper had reminded him yet again that Luke was more a part of his son’s life than he was.

The thought didn’t sit well with him at all and he made both his ex-wife and himself a promise that he wouldn’t cancel another visit.

Kimber

Kimber was disappointed when Paul had to cancel two of their planned dates, but she knew that he was struggling to find a balance in his life.  She knew all too well how hard that could be, and she was trying to be as supportive of him as she could.  She wanted him to know that she was there for him.  She realized just how much she wanted to be there for him on the night he told her he’d had to cancel a visit with his son.

He had sounded close to tears and she’d wanted to go him, because she knew that she would have been able to comfort him much more in person than she had over the phone.  But she knew that if she had gone to him, they probably would have ended up in bed together.  She knew that it wasn’t yet time to add that complication to their relationship, even with as much as her body was screaming at her that it would gladly take the complication.

Weeks passed before they were able to schedule a time for her to meet Nathan.  Luke was wary about letting his children meet Paul, even though they knew that their mother had a boyfriend and that he was Nathan’s father.  Alexis had gotten a puzzled look on her face when Kimber had explained to her that she was dating the father of Sierra’s son, but then she had shrugged and told her mother that she was sure she would like Nathan’s father.

Kimber certainly hoped so.  Paul was very different from Luke, but she was sure that once he and her children got used to each they would get along just fine, especially when her meeting with Nathan went well.  The adorable little boy liked her almost immediately, and she briefly wondered what it would be like to carry a child that belonged to Paul.

Paul

Paul was glad that Nathan liked Kimber.  His son liked Kimber so much that he was a little jealous at first though it faded quickly.  Watching his beloved son with his girlfriend led his thoughts to wander to what life would be like if she were Nathan’s stepmother.  He tried not to think about the fact that Sierra would be the stepmother of Kimber’s children all too soon since Kimber had told him that Luke had said he was going to propose to Sierra, but he found that the thought was a lot less painful than he had figured it would be.  Paul was looking forward to his future with Kimber, and he didn’t feel as if he had a right to want any less than happiness for his ex-wife.

He was worried that his meeting with Kimber’s children wouldn’t go as well as Kimber’s had been with Nathan, but he found that his worries were for nothing.  They decided to take the kids to a pizza place that had games on a weekend that Paul had Nathan.  Since the kids already knew each other, they were comfortable, and Paul soon found that he was enjoying himself almost as much as the kids were.

Kimber’s kids were well behaved, and he noticed that Nathan followed eight year old Alexis’s lead just as naturally as her little brother did.  It filled with him pride to look at the children together.  They looked like a family, and Paul was hopeful that the progression to them being family wouldn’t be a hard one.

Luke

Luke had wanted to propose to Sierra since the day he had showed up on her doorstep, but life always seemed to be getting in the way.  He had bought the ring two days after seeing her again, but it had been hidden in the back of his underwear drawer since then.  He wasn’t sure if choosing the weekend that Paul was meeting his children to propose to Sierra was a good idea, but he knew that he didn’t want to wait anymore either.  He wasn’t thrilled that Paul was meeting his children and would be a part of their lives, but for some strange reason Kimber seemed to be happy with Paul, and Luke knew that he had no right to deny Kimber happiness.

He tucked the ring into his coat that night before he headed to Sierra’s house, hoping that he would get a chance to hide it under the couch when she wasn’t looking.  He wanted the night to be special for Sierra.

Sierra

Sierra thought that Luke was acting a little strangely that night, but she figured that it could be the fact that Paul was meeting his children that had caused her man’s off mood.  All thoughts were blown out of her mind when he took her hand and knelt in front of her though.

He pulled a ring box out from under the edge of the couch.  “Will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife Sierra?”

She didn’t get a chance to answer him.  He slipped the ring on her finger and then stood, picking her up off of the couch and heading towards the stairs.  She let him undress both her and himself, then gave him an amused smile.

“I want to make love to my beautiful fiancé.”

Sierra raised an eyebrow.  “Don’t you think that you should let me say yes first?”

Luke chuckled.  “If you tell me no this time Sie, I won’t ask again.  Then we’ll have to live in sin for the rest of our lives.  I don’t think Paul would like that.”

Sierra rolled her eyes.  “Paul is going to be proposing to Kimber before we know it.  He doesn’t bother with anything he’s not serious about.  He probably won’t even have sex with her until after she’s said yes.”

“Will you say yes so that I can make love to you?”

Sierra laughed.  “You’re so silly Luke.  Of course I’ll marry you.  Can I move out of this big stupid house now?”

Luke smiled.  “Yes beautiful.  You can move out of this big stupid house and into my big stupid house tomorrow if you want to.”

“Your house is more reasonably sized than this one at least.”

“Uh huh.  Though we could turn the basement into another bedroom or two if need be.”

He winked at her. 

“How about we just practice some of what it takes to make a baby for now.”

Luke kissed her.  “Practice makes perfect right.”

“That it does.”

They were soon involved in the bliss that was their lovemaking.  If Sierra had had doubts that they could make things work before, they all left her head that night.  She was happy with Luke and looking forward to marrying him already, unlike the dread she had felt before she had married Paul.  She loved Luke’s kids and they loved her.  Nathan adored Kimber and was doing well having Alexis and Halden around.  She thought that even if Paul did eventually end up marrying Kimber they would end up with two very content mixed families.