Playing for Hearts (46 page)
“I didn't say I wasn't happy.” His jaw twitched. “I said it wasn't you who made all the women stop chasing me. I did that.”
“God. You are a conceited ass â ”
“They stopped throwing themselves at me because I fell in love with you.” He pressed her hands to his chest and held them there. “In my heart, I was taken the moment you came home with me. When you are around, all I can see is you. I went to bed thinking about you, and woke up anxious to be with you. Nothing else exists. The women, they know I'll never see anything in them because you are my everything.”
Okay. That was perfect.
“I am?” she mouthed.
He leaned forward and put his lips to her ear. “You are, sweetcheeks,” he whispered.
“Oh my God.” She pulled her hands out of his grasp and dived into his arms. “I fell in love with you too. I wanted to tell you, but I thought you only hired me to do a job. Then I didn't think I deserved you, because I whored myself out to you and you were not the player I thought you were.”
“It was never a job. The first time I saw you, I wanted you.” He tilted her face. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said.
He kissed her. There were no words to describe what they said with their lips. Her confession topped with finally having her mouth on him again was soul shattering and thorough. Deep and hypnotic. It was better than anything she'd ever dreamed.
His mouth was the perfect mold for her lips. His tongue tangled with hers. He held her still, wanting her to accept him, and she did without any question.
There was nothing but him and her. And the feelings they finally let out into the open.
Nothing compared to their kiss. Nothing. Not her independence or her broken dreams. Not his pushy ways or his career or even all the women he came into contact with on a daily basis. Not any of the hurdles she knew they'd need to jump would keep her from Dominic again.
When he lifted his head a fraction of an inch, he placed his forehead against hers. She breathed deep, feeling the tingles on her sensitized lips after the kiss and knew he felt it too.
Finally, he spoke. “Diana, will you â ”
A loud roar of cars grew close to the house, followed by slamming doors, pulling them apart. She gaped at Dom before jumping into action.
“Run!” She grabbed his sleeve and pulled.
He caught her around the waist. “Diana, it's okay.”
“No, it's not. This is Cottage Grove. Being a hockey player won't get you out of being charged with trespassing and damaging someone else's property.” She kicked out when he lifted her off the ground. “I don't want to go to jail.”
The front door banged open. She stilled in Dominic's arms as footsteps pounded over the wooden floor growing closer.
Shauna skidded to a stop in the kitchen. “I'm so sorry, Diana. Don't be mad. It's Grayson's fault. He wouldn't tell me what was going on, but I overheard him talking to Dominic at the tennis center and I couldn't let â ”
Grayson appeared behind Shauna and covered her mouth with his hand. “Sorry, you two. She slipped away from me.”
Diana sagged in relief and smiled at Shauna. Everything about tonight made more sense now that Dominic had confessed his love to her. “It's okay.”
Shauna squealed behind Grayson's hand and gave her two thumbs up. Diana laughed, leaning into Dominic. God, she loved her friends. Their friends.
“We'll be going now,” Grayson mumbled, picking Shauna up and packing her out of the house.
When the door closed, Diana turned to Dominic. “We really do need to leave. The house isn't for sale anymore. Someone bought it before I could put an offer down.”
“Just a moment.” He took a deep breath. “I can't spend another day without you. I know we have a lot to figure out, but the possibilities of spending the rest of my life with you and figuring all this out as we go makes me feel alive.” He paused, and sucked more air into his chest. “Diana, will you marry me?”
She covered her mouth. Moisture blurred her vision.
“Sweetcheeks ⦠?”
She nodded. Tears leaked through her eyelashes and spilled down her cheeks as she answered him.
Dominic laughed. “I have no idea what you said. You'll have to move your hand off your mouth.”
She removed her hand and jumped into his arms. Against his neck, she chanted, “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”
He carried her as he kissed her all over her face. Her butt hit a flat surface and she pulled back, seeing he'd put her on the counter by the sink. She ran her hands over his gorgeous face, unable to believe he loved her as much as she loved him.
She grinned, shimmying on the old, dusty counter. “We're getting married.”
“I've been busy the last several days, and haven't had time to buy you a ring,” he said, taking off his tool belt.
She shook her head. “It doesn't matter. We have time.”
“That's not good enough for my girl.” He dug in his back pocket. “So I thought maybe this would make it easier to wait until we can both go in together and pick out a ring.”
She tilted her head and took the piece of paper from him. “What is it?”
“Read it,” he said.
She unfolded the paper, rubbed her eyes, and bent her head forward. After reading the first line, she gasped.
“I couldn't let your dream slip away,” he whispered. “You've worked too hard. The Ferriday house is yours. Free and clear. On one condition ⦠”
She pressed the paper to her chest. “What?”
“You give my jersey back to me that you stole.” He kissed her hard. “Then you wear it every night in my bed.”
She wrapped herself around him and planted her head in his neck. Life, at that moment, was perfect. She put her lips to his ear and whispered, “You've got deal, big guy. I love you.”
Top Selling Romance Author, Debra Kayn, lives with her family in the beautiful coastal mountains of Oregon on a hobby farm. She enjoys riding motorcycles, gardening, playing tennis, and fishing. A huge animal lover, she always has a dog under her desk when she writes and chickens standing at the front door looking for a treat. She's famous in her family for teaching a 270 pound hog named Harley to jog with her every morning.
Her love of family ties and laughter makes her a natural to write heartwarming contemporary stories to the delight of her readers. Oh, let's cut to the chase. She loves to write about
REAL MEN
and the
WOMEN
who love them.
When Debra was nineteen years old, a man kissed her without introducing himself. When they finally came up for air, the first words out of his mouth were ⦠will you have my babies? Considering Debra's weakness for a sexy, badass man who is strong enough to survive her attitude, she said yes. A quick wedding at the House of Amour and four babies later, she's living her own romance book.
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Book 3 in the Playing for Hearts Series
Debra Kayn
Avon, Massachusetts
This edition published by
Crimson Romance
an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
10151 Carver Road, Suite 200
Blue Ash, Ohio 45242
Copyright © 2013 by Debra Kayn
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 10: 1-4405-6651-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-6651-6
eISBN 10: 1-4405-6652-6
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-6652-3
Cover art © 123rf.com and istockphoto.com/technotr
Wheels â I love you, baby.
Acknowledgments
As I release the third book in the
Playing For Keeps
series, I want to take a moment to thank Crimson Romance for taking a chance on a five book series. There've been many hands who've touched this series, including Jennifer Lawler, Jess Verdi, Julie Sturgeon, Tara Gelsomino, and the cover artists who brought the sexy heroes to life with their talents. You all have made the experience of working with you a joy!
Dana hitched up her dress, dodged the groups of people milling around in the lobby of the Timber Lodge, and ran for the long hallway. A crowd had gathered in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of the US men's downhill skiers, but what they'd gotten instead was a front row seat to the most humiliating moment of Dana's life. Positive the laughter in the room was at her expense, she only wanted to escape.
Escape from the embarrassment of wearing a wedding dress with no groom, no wedding, and no idea what she was going to do now.
A figure stepped in front of her exit. She bumped into a man's unmovable chest. Stumbling to the side, she gazed up into a pair of dark eyes. Her barricade stared at her intently, while holding her arms to keep her from falling.
“S-sorry,” she mumbled, pulling away from him as he attempted to keep her there.
She spotted an open door, ran, and slipped into the empty banquet room. She gazed at the vases filled with pastel pink flowers atop the tables, the unlit candles, and the ivory colored lace draped over every flat surface. Everything perfectly decorated for a quaint reception. The guests who were coming had quietly slipped away after her fiancé, Jace Kendall, announced he'd changed his mind about getting married, because he wasn't in love with her anymore.
She removed the diamond necklace from the jewelry box that Jace had thrust into her hands, to soften the fact he'd dumped her on her wedding day, before he'd hightailed his way out the door. “I'm going to annihilate him.”
She tossed the box to the floor, dug her phone out of the clutch purse she'd bought specifically for her wedding day â while dropping the jewelry inside â and rang her father. “Daddy. I've got an emergency and need you to do something for me.”
“What's going on? You sound upset,” her dad said. “Weren't you scheduled to get married right now?”
A knock sounded on the outer door. She raised her gaze, ignored the rude person interrupting her, and continued. “Jace walked out on me, said he didn't love me the way a man loves a woman and ⦠” she sniffed, “I want you to fire him. Kick him out of his office, and make sure someone else takes over his job.”
“He's one of my best employees,” her father said. “You'll get past this setback.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and opened them again at the accusation in her dad's voice. “But, Daddy.
He
left
me
.”
The door opened and a man decked out in skiwear entered. He stood staring at her, and she glared while continuing to talk on the phone. “No, I don't want you to fly here from Italy.” She paused to listen. “No, I don't want you to fly me away to Barbados. I want to get
married
. I want to become Mrs. Somebody today. That's what's supposed to happen. At twenty-five years old, I'm supposed to get married. At twenty-eight, I'm having my first baby. It's my life schedule, Daddy. You know how I've planned all the important events in my life. Jace ruined everything.”