Authors: Thayer King
Winning Dawn (13 page)
“It’s a special recipe I’ve been working on.” He winked at her. “They’re part of my ploy to get you to forget about Reggie and fall in love with me.”
Her fork froze in mid-air. Why would he want her to fall in love with him? Did he love her, too? She was afraid to ask. So she latched onto the other part of his statement. “What makes you think that I still care about Reggie?”
He drew patterns in the syrup with is fork. His jaw tightened. “The time I saw him at your old place, I overheard a portion of your conversation with him. You said that you’d always love him.”
She frowned, thinking back. Her eyes widened. “You didn’t hear the whole thing! I said, ‘In a way, in some miniscule corner of my heart, I will always love you.’ I was joking! And you cancelled our date because of it!”
He winced. “I guess I should have asked for an explanation.”
“You should have. The least you could have done was show up for our date. A date that you badgered me for days to get!”
“Well, while we’re clearing the air about my past mistakes, I have a tiny confession to make.”
“Go on.”
“Paige—”
“If you tell me you slept with that skank—”
“No! Talk about jumping to conclusions.” He took a deep breath. “I only brought Paige to the Thanksgiving dinner because I thought you’d be there with Reggie. I didn’t want to show up looking like a pathetic loser if you did. And I confess, I wanted you to be jealous.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “Evan Tanner, that is the most duplicitous, underhanded—”
He held up a hand. “Before you get too worked up, I promise I will not resort to such games in our future. It’s not like me.” He paused. “Will you forgive me?”
The answer to that one was easy. His confessions had just given her hope. “Yes.” But she didn’t want to make it too easy on him. “If you keep making me pancakes like these.”
Chapter 18
The night before Christmas, Dawn sat before their Christmas tree, a giant tree Evan had picked out, and wrapped her gifts. She’d wrapped Evan’s previously while he was in his office tinkering with his own software creation. Evan joined her with two cups of hot chocolate in one hand and a flat, rectangular box in the other. He put the warm drinks on the coffee table and sat beside her. “This is for you,” he said, presenting her with the gift.
She smiled and playfully shook the box before stacking it with the others.
He picked it back up. “No, I want you to open it now.”
“But it’s not Christmas yet.”
“Please.”
She grinned. “I love it when you beg.” He gave a mock growl. She laughed and tore off the pretty green and red wrapping paper. Inside the box were two tickets. She covered her mouth and gasped. “Plane tickets to Hawaii,” she whispered. She blinked at the dates on the tickets. “These are for next year.”
“Yes. As you know, we had to rush our wedding.” He paused to rub her belly. “I purchased the tickets for next year so that we’d have plenty of time to plan your dream wedding in Hawaii.”
“Wedding in Hawaii,” she repeated, her eyes filling with tears. Next year. He didn’t intend to leave her. “Oh, God, you want to marry me again?”
“Of course, I do.”
She dropped the tickets, tired of being afraid of what she would hear. “Evan, damn it, do you love me?”
He blinked. “Yes, damn it.”
“Well, damn it, I love you, too.” She flung herself at him and they both ended up sprawled on the floor with her on top. She kissed him until she was breathless. Finally, she had the courage to ask, “Who was the blonde at your house that day?”
His lip curled in distaste. “That was Syl. She came to invite me to her wedding.”
“Oh.” She levered herself off him a bit and took a deep breath. “You didn’t ask me to marry you to make her jealous? That would be taking things too far.”
His brow wrinkled. “Of course not! I don’t care about Syl. I haven’t for years.”
“But you used to think of her as perfect. I overheard Lucas saying that you thought she was a cool drink of water.”
He scoffed. “I called her a perfect glass of water.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A cool drink of water is what you are. Syl is a perfect glass of water—cold, transparent and tasteless.”
“Oh.”
He grinned. “So I’m not the only one in this family who eavesdrops, eh?”
She groaned. “And what do I have to do to earn your forgiveness?”
“Tell me you love me again.”
Epilogue
Alma hosted Christmas dinner at her house. Dawn and Evan arrived early so that he could help in the kitchen. Dawn explained to him that he was being given a great honor. Her mother didn’t let just anyone into her kitchen. Evan understood the sentiment. He felt the same about his kitchen.
Since his initial grilling, he and Alma had gotten along well. They both had a passion for cooking. They often exchanged recipe ideas and cooking tips.
After dinner, Evan and Josh watched as their wives exchanged Christmas gifts. Apparently, they’d both been thinking alike. Their gift bags were stuffed with baby clothes, blankets, toys and the like. They squealed at each new discovery and hugged each other. Evan shook his head in amazement.
“What is it?” Josh asked.
“Well, I was thinking. A year ago, I was dead set against ever getting married again. You were trying to screw your way through the south—”
“Hey!”
He shrugged. “Sorry. I call ‘em like I see ‘em. Yet here we are, both married to these amazing women. With children on the way.”
His brother smiled. “Yeah, they are pretty amazing. We’re very lucky.”
“You’re lucky. I’m smart.”
“And how do you figure that?”
“It took you fourteen years to get that woman to notice you. I got Dawn in only a matter of months.” He laughed at his brother’s stunned expression as he joined his wife by the Christmas tree.
The End
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