Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (60 page)

He shakes his head. “I’m not tracking. An apology for what?”

“For all the things I’m going to say to you right now!”

“I see.” He sits down on the back edge of the couch, rubs his jaw, and tries not to smile again as he gets ready for the fireworks.

“First of all . . . ,” she points at him, “you’re a bastard!”

He crosses his arms and studies her. “Is that right.”

“Yes!”

“I can’t decide if that’s better or worse than being called an asshole or a dick.”

She shoots him a dark look. “You think you can buy me, don’t you? By putting all that money up for us. Well, let me tell you, I’m not for sale!”

He uncrosses his arms. “That’s not what I was doing.”

“And I know where you got the money. I figured it out pretty fast. You’re not the only smart one around here.” She stops talking and then takes a deep breath. “You sold your Ducati, didn’t you?”

He meets her eyes and then looks away.

“I knew it,” she says quietly. “You shouldn’t have done that, Anthony. You loved that motorcycle.”

His eyes flash back to her. “Yeah, well, I love you more. And I wasn’t trying to buy you back.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because I’m taking care of you.”

She blinks. Clearly it wasn’t the answer she was expecting. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I can take care of myself.”

“I know, but I’m doing it anyway.”

“Well,” she sputters. “I’m still mad!”

And then she continues her tirade, hands on hips, marching around his kitchen. He knows she’s on the defensive now because she’s scared. Scared to let someone else take part of her load. He can’t take his eyes off her. She’s so beautiful. And then he notices her shoes, some strappy high-heeled fuck-me kind of shoes. He imagines what he’d like to do to her with those shoes on. Damn.
Maybe she really did come here just to torture me.

“I kicked Peter out. It’s over.”

This grabs his attention and a spark of hope blazes. “I’m very glad to hear that. I hope you’re saying what I think you are.”

She leans back with her hands against the counter, her tirade winding down. “I can’t believe you fought for me,” she says, her voice shaking. “No one’s ever . . . fought for me.”

“I know. But you have me in your corner now. I’ve got your back.”

He sees her chewing on her lower lip and then her shoulders quiver.

Immediately, he goes to her. Wraps her in his arms. She hugs him tightly then pulls back to look up at him as tears run down her face.

“Miss Natalie, look at you, you’re crying,” he says in wonder. He gently wipes the tears from one cheek with his thumb.

“I told you, I cry all the time now over every dumb thing. It’s ridiculous!”

“So you did.”

“Turns out I’m in love with you after all.” She sniffs, still meeting his gaze. “Guess I’m just another groupie. What do you say to that?”

His eyes roam her face. “You can be my top number one groupie.”

She makes a sound between a laugh and a cry. “That’s a big offer.”

He draws in a deep breath and lets it out. “I’d like to hear the actual words now.”

Her expression changes as she puts her cool hand to his face. She considers him and then finally says it. “I love you, Anthony.”

“It’s about time,” he mutters.

Natalie laughs through her tears. Anthony kisses her and everything is right in his world again.

“You wore that little red dress to torture me, didn’t you?” Anthony says later when they’re lying in bed, both of them recovering from a passionate round of lovemaking.

Natalie is still catching her breath. “Maybe just a little.”

“I approve. You can torture me like that anytime you want.”

She rolls onto her side and props herself up on one elbow, studying his handsome face. “Did you know I was going to come back?”

“No,” he admits. “But I hoped. And now you’re here, I have big plans for you.”

“Like what?”

He only smiles mysteriously. “You’ll find out when we fly to Rome in a couple of months.”

“Rome?”

“Yeah, you told me you’d consider going, remember? I want to show you my favorite city.”

Natalie opens her mouth, but then closes it. The truth is she’d love to go to Rome.

“You’ll like it, I promise,” he tells her.

They lie quietly for a little while. Anthony strokes her hair and she closes her eyes.

How I missed this.

“Remember that morning at the hotel when I met your parents?” she asks him.

“Uh oh.”

“What?”

“Just that. Uh oh.”

Natalie laughs. “I never told you how glad I was for you when your dad finally apologized. That seemed like a big deal.”

“Oh, that was nothing.” Anthony rolls his eyes. “He’s always apologizing.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s like the third time he’s apologized for the same thing. My mom keeps putting him up to it.”

“You’re kidding!” Natalie is surprised. It’s not what she imagined. His father seemed so intense.

Anthony lets out a deep sigh. “He’s never going to get over the fact I didn’t go into medicine, but you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore, because I’m over it. I love my parents, but there are some things we’ll never see eye to eye on, and that’s okay.”

She strokes his jaw. “That sounds healthy.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Anthony suddenly shifts position and turns toward her. “And now I want to ask you a very important question, Miss Natalie.”

Her fingers still. “What’s that?”

Anthony picks up her hand, then kisses her palm. He meets her gaze.

“When can I have my tiramisu?”

I HOPE HE
doesn’t kill himself.
Natalie listens as Anthony bangs the ladder around outside her bedroom window, or guest bedroom window, since she hasn’t slept here since they got married. They decided to keep both of their houses for now, since they didn’t want to move Chloe to a new school.

Anthony proposed to her on the Ponte Milvio in Rome half a year ago. It was a warm summer evening, and he brought a metal padlock, attaching it to one of the steel posts by the bridge as Natalie watched. There were hundreds of padlocks there already—the bridge famous for lovers.

“This means I love you forever, Miss Natalie,” he said with a grin. He kissed her and then tossed the key into the Tiber.

Her heart melted at such a romantic gesture. Anthony took her hand and asked her if she’d marry him, which was the most romantic gesture of all.

“Yes,” she’d said and promptly burst into tears. She still cries a lot, but now the tears are all happy ones.

Anthony gave her a princess-cut diamond engagement ring, which Lindsay helped pick out, and Natalie had to hand it to them both because it’s a beautiful ring. In truth, she’d marry Anthony even if he gave her a ring from a gumball machine.

They had the wedding in Seattle. It took some doing, but they made it a family event. Friends and relatives flew in from Italy and others came up from California and Arizona. She could tell Anthony was pleased. It also endeared her to his parents, who were thrilled he was marrying “for real” this time.

And now here she is, two months later, in her former bedroom listening to her husband as he attempts to climb in through the window. The idea sounded sexy when he used to tease her about it, but the reality is proving to be more unnerving than erotic, since her bedroom is on the second floor.

Clang! Thump!

Natalie jumps as the ladder outside shifts again. She rushes over to the open window and looks down. She can see the top of Anthony’s dark hair as he makes his way up. He’s closer than she thought.

Quickly she runs over to the bed and positions herself. She’s wearing Princess Leia’s gold bikini, which she ordered off the Internet. It’s skimpy and daring and she knows Anthony is going to love it. She even pulled her hair up into a braided ponytail, letting it fall over her shoulder. Before their wedding, she considered coloring her hair back to her natural color again. Anthony told her he didn’t care either way, but in the end she decided to keep it blonde. Oddly, she feels more like herself this way. For years she thought of herself as a plain Jane, but turns out she’s really more the blonde pin-up girl type. Who knew?

There’s a commotion at the window and Natalie’s pulse quickens when she sees Anthony’s handsome face appear over the edge. He grabs the sides of the window, hoisting himself into the room with his usual grace, though she can hear the ladder bumping into the side of the house.
I’m not letting him leave that way, no matter what he says.

He strolls over to her and then stops at the foot of the bed. Anthony’s eyes roam her body from head to toe, lingering on all the important parts. He’s wearing a long brown cape with a belted tunic beneath it. A sword is sheathed at his side. Natalie likes what she sees, but changes her expression to one of anguish.

“I’ve been captured and taken prisoner! Can you help me escape, Aragorn?”

Anthony strokes his stubbled jaw thoughtfully, his dark eyes still lingering on her nearly nude body. “It’s possible, Princess,” he says in a low growl. “For the right price.”

“My family is wealthy. If you rescue me, I can assure you’ll be handsomely rewarded.”

“Money?” he scoffs. “I have no use for your money.”

She studies him boldly. “What other reward interests a man like yourself, then?”

Anthony’s expression goes hot as he steps closer. His hand drops to her ankle, fingers gliding slowly up her bare leg. His touch is electric.

Natalie sucks in her breath as excitement skitters through her. “Perhaps there is something else I can offer,” she says in a husky voice, meeting his gaze. “Perhaps you’d enjoy a taste of my charms?”

He nods with approval. “A taste of your charms will do nicely.”

And then he grins.

The End

Thank you so much for reading YEAR OF LIVING BLONDE! I hope you enjoyed spending time with Natalie and Anthony. If so, would you please consider the following:

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Don't miss the next book! Blair and Road's story… RETURN OF THE JERK. Release date September 17, 2015. You can buy it
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