In Happily Inc, love means never having to say “I do”...

Wedding coordinator Renee Grothen isn’t meant for marriage. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, plan. But she never could have planned on gorgeous, talented thriller writer Jasper Dembenski proposing—a fling, that is. Fun without a future. And the attraction between them is too strong for Renee to resist. Now she can have her no-wedding cake...and eat it, too.

After years in the military, Jasper is convinced he’s too damaged for relationships. So a flirtation—and more—with fiery, determined Renee is way too good to pass up...until his flame becomes his muse.

Renee is an expert at averting every crisis. But is she finally ready to leap into the one thing that can never be controlled: love?

SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—romance, friendship, family. With compassion and humour, Susan keenly observes how people think and feel, in stories that take readers on an emotional journey. Sometimes heartbreaking, often funny and always uplifting, Susan’s books have spent more than 200 weeks on the USA TODAY bestseller list, thanks to her ever-growing legions of fans.

Susan lives in Seattle with her husband, two ragdoll cats and a tattletale toy poodle. Animals play a big role in her books, as well, as she believes they’re an integral component to a happy life.

Also available from Susan Mallery

And Mills & Boon

The Summer of Sunshine & Margot

You Say it First

Second Chance Girl

Why Not Tonight

Not Quite Over You

Coming Soon

Sisters By Choice

The Friendship List

For a complete list of titles available from Susan Mallery,

please visit www.SusanMallery.com

Meant to Be Yours

Susan Mallery

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09901-1

MEANT TO BE YOURS

© 2019 Susan Mallery, Inc.

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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FALL IN LOVE WITH #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR SUSAN MALLERY

‘The perfect feel-good read’ Sarah Morgan on You Say It First

‘Susan Mallery is one of my favourites.’

#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

[You Say it First] “has the author’s signature blend of humor,

poignancy, and small-town charm.”

—Booklist

“The romance is sweet and hot, the writing is quick and easy…

A great choice for a weekend read.”

—Kirkus Reviews on You Say it First

“A heartfelt and genuine friends-to-lovers story fraught with emotional trauma that makes the happily-ever-after satisfyingly sweet… Sharp, well-drawn characters and a naughty beagle add depth to the story.”

—Publishers Weekly on Second Chance Girl

“You can always count on Mallery to deliver warmhearted and quirky stories featuring emotionally dented individuals doing their best to survive and hopefully thrive.… A truly unforgettable read! Mallery is one of a kind!”

—RT Book Reviews, Top Pick! On Second Chance Girl

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Praise

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

JASPER DEMBENSKI COULD accept an idiosyncratic GPS, the blown tire and the five hailstorms he’d driven through yesterday. It was the lack of coffee that was going to do him in.

He shook the empty coffee can, as if the action would magically produce results. Not shockingly, no coffee appeared. He was going to have to head to the grocery store, which was easier said than done, given that he was driving a thirty-six-foot RV. Or maybe there was coffee up at the main office. If he could grab some there, he could put off having to shop until later in the day.

Jasper was on the last leg of a three-month book tour for his latest suspense novel. Rather than trying to convince him to deal with dozens of flights, rental cars and hotels on the multicity tour, his publisher had enticed him with the idea of traveling via RV. Jasper didn’t mind driving long distances, he enjoyed the solitude and time to think, and the RV parks were actually pretty decent.

He was about eleven hundred miles from home. Once he joined up with Interstate 10, it was a straight shot back to Happily Inc. All he needed was a large cup of coffee. He would find a Walmart or Target close to the interstate and get enough food to see him through the next two days.

He walked out into the warm September morning and started for the main office. Along the way, he nodded at people who waved or called out greetings. RV parks were friendly places. As he wasn’t one for unnecessary chats, he’d learned to keep moving while offering a brief wave. Otherwise, he might get trapped in a lengthy and tedious conversation about the viability of a certain back road or a discussion about the best kind of bait for catfish.

“You git, you hear me? Go on out of here or I’ll get my shotgun.”

The angry words came from his left. Jasper instinctively went on alert, his body tensing as he spun in that direction. Using the RV he’d just passed for cover, he backtracked so he could come around from behind and see what was happening.

“You heard me,” the man yelled. “Get out of here.”

Jasper stayed close to the RV as he circled around and then stepped into view, prepared to get between some jerk and whoever he was threatening. Only the short, round, old man wasn’t taking on his kid or his woman, instead he was raising his hand to a dog. An old dog with ribs showing through dirty fur. A dog who flinched and backed away.

“Problem?” Jasper asked, using his tell me your story before I kick your ass voice, the one he’d perfected during his time with the military police.

The old man glared at him, as if wanting to take him on, then seemed to think better of it. “It’s nothing. Just that dog who’s been hanging out here for a few weeks. Somebody dumped him. If you don’t want a dog, just shoot him. That’s what I say.”

The kindness of strangers, Jasper thought grimly. Or lack thereof. He knew there were more good people than bad, but every now and then he was forced to question his faith in humanity.

The dog—some kind of Lab-shepherd mix—looked at him with sad, knowing eyes, as if he didn’t really expect better of life. He stayed out of reach and, despite the heat, shivered a little. He was obviously starving and might be sick. Who would just dump a dog at an RV park?

“He begs for food,” the old man added, his tone defensive. “I don’t have time to deal with him.”

Jasper thought about the coffee he hadn’t had yet and the eleven hundred miles between him and home. He thought about the book he was trying to write and how slowly it was going. He thought about the nightmares he often had and that there were still enough bad days to keep him humble. The absolute last thing he needed in his life was some old dog.

“If you were him, you’d beg for food, too,” Jasper said. “Don’t shoot him.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

Jasper sighed before squaring his shoulders and staring down at the old man who was maybe five-five to Jasper’s six foot three.

“Seriously?” he asked. “You’re going to go there with me?”

The old man shook his head. “I’m just saying...”

“I know what you’re saying. Don’t shoot the dog.”

Jasper walked to the office. Sure enough, they had a huge carafe of coffee that he used to fill his travel mug. While he drank down the dark, hot liquid, he asked about the dog and confirmed it was indeed a stray. A few attempts had been made to catch it, but no one had been successful.

Jasper headed to his RV. He would spend no more than fifteen minutes looking for the dog. If he found it, he would lure it back to his RV with food. Once it was inside, he would take it to a local vet and have it checked for a chip. If there wasn’t one, he would drop it off at a shelter and be on his way. It would take him two hours, tops.

Or less, he thought as he approached his RV and saw the dog sitting outside the side door.

“Good morning,” Jasper said, opening the door.

The dog jumped inside and made his way to the small refrigerator, where he sat again.

“Somebody’s messing with me,” Jasper grumbled.

He pulled out lunch meat he was going to use for a sandwich and gave that to the dog, who gulped it down. Jasper quickly scrambled a couple of eggs. Less than ten minutes later, the dog was stretched out on the sofa, completely relaxed and nearly asleep.

Jasper looked up the closest vet’s office and called to explain the situation. The perky receptionist told him they’d just had a cancellation and could see him right away.

“Of course you can,” he muttered.

The drive was easy, there was parking for his RV and damn if the dog didn’t follow him inside the vet’s office with no problem.

Jasper explained the situation to the smiling older woman with a name tag that read Sally. When he got to the part about him giving the dog to a shelter, her smile faded.

“You don’t want to keep him yourself?” she asked.

“Ah, no. I’m not really a pet person.”

Both she and the dog stared at him. Jasper shifted uncomfortably. He wanted to explain that he wasn’t being cruel—rather his reluctance was realistic. He’d been in a really bad place when he’d gotten out of the army. After tons of therapy, medication and stumbling onto the one thing that could get him halfway back to being able to exist in polite society, he was healed enough to pass for normal. But he knew the truth—he would never fully get there. More than one therapist had warned him he was broken beyond repair.

They hadn’t used those exact words—they were too professional for that. But the truth had been clear enough all the same.

But the woman in front of him wouldn’t want to hear that and he certainly didn’t want to tell her.

“I’d like him checked for a chip and maybe given an exam to see if he’s all right,” Jasper said.

“Sure. Let me take you to one of the rooms.”

He and the dog followed her. She paused by a floor scale and motioned for the dog to step on it.

“Come on, boy. Right here.”

The dog obliged. He was forty-eight pounds. Sally winced.

“He should be closer to seventy-five pounds,” she said. “He’s really skinny. Poor guy.”

Jasper and the dog went into an exam room.

“I’ll get one of the techs to come in and scan him. If there’s a chip, we’ll take it from there. If there isn’t, we can talk about whether you want to pay for an exam when you’re just going to take him to the shelter.”

Her tone was pleasant enough but Jasper heard the judgment, all the same. Instead of speaking, he nodded. The woman left and he was alone with the dog.

They both sat and stared at each other. Jasper looked away first.

“You can’t stay on your own,” he said, shifting uneasily in his chair. “Look at you. You need someone to take care of you. A shelter would mean three squares and a bunk, right? And you’d find a family of your own.”

Without wanting to, he recalled reading somewhere that older dogs had trouble getting adopted. Which wasn’t his problem.

“I’ve never had a pet,” he added, glancing at the dog, who still regarded him steadily. “I don’t know how to take care of you.”

He supposed there were books on the subject. Plus, the old guy wasn’t a puppy. He would know how to deal with humans. Between the two of them, they might be able to get it right.

“I’m not a good bet,” he added in a low voice. “I was in the army for eight years and I saw things. Sometimes I have flashbacks and I just... I’m better off alone.”

The dog’s head dropped as if he realized what Jasper was trying to say. As if he’d given up hoping and had accepted he was going to be abandoned—again.

Jasper stood up and glared at the dog, who still didn’t look at him.

“I didn’t want any of this. It’s not my fault. I’m not the bad guy.”

The dog didn’t move—he sat there all hunched, as if the weight of the world was just too much for him.

Jasper thought longingly of his quiet house, the sameness of his life when he was home. He had friends, but on his terms. He had relationships with women. Sort of. He just wasn’t like everyone else and wanting to be different didn’t change the truth.

The dog raised his head and looked at him. In that moment when their eyes met, Jasper would swear he saw down-to-the-bone sadness and despair. It was so real, so visceral, that he felt the anguish as actual pain.

The door to the exam room opened and a petite, pretty, gray-haired woman in a white coat entered.

“I’m Dr. Anthony,” she said with a smile. “For once all my techs are busy and I’m free.” She crouched down and gently patted the dog’s back. “Hey, old guy. How are you? Where’d you find him?”

“At an RV park a few miles from here. They told me he was abandoned a few weeks ago. Apparently he’s been avoiding people, except to beg for food, but he came right into my vehicle.”

Dr. Anthony petted him a little more, before running her hands up and down his legs and along his back as if gently checking for wounds or injuries.

“People can be cruel,” she said as she stood. She pulled a handheld device out of her coat pocket and turned it on. “All right, let’s see if you have a chip.”

Jasper found himself tensing, not sure if he wanted the dog to have one or not. Dr. Anthony ran the reader back and forth a couple of times, checking him closely, then straightening and shaking her head.

“No dice,” she said. “I didn’t think so. Someone who cares enough to get a microchip doesn’t walk away from their pet. Sally said you were going to take him to a shelter?”

Jasper hesitated.

Dr. Anthony gave him a sympathetic glance. “Look, it’s better for him to be there than on the streets. We have a good one nearby. They’ll take care of him. He’s not your responsibility. You did the decent thing, bringing him in. That can be enough.”

Which sounded like permission to do what he knew made sense. Great. He would take the dog there and be on his way.

He opened his mouth to ask for the address, but what he said instead was, “What if I wanted to keep him?”

“You sure?”

Jasper looked at the dog, who stared back at him. He thought about his house up in the mountains and how every now and then, the quiet got to him. He thought about the loneliness he’d seen in the dog’s eyes.

“No, but I think giving him a good home is the least I should do.”

Dr. Anthony smiled. “Okay, then. Are you from around here?”

“California. I’m heading home today.”

“Then I would suggest a brief exam to make sure he’s relatively healthy. I can give you a collar and leash and food that will be easy for him to digest. When you get to your place, find a vet and get him a more thorough exam. You and your vet can discuss what to do as far as vaccinations. He’ll need a few chew toys, maybe a ball and a bed of some kind. He’s an old guy, so he’s going to want to take things easy. Still interested?”

“I am.”

“Good. Now why don’t you put him on the exam table there and we’ll get started.”

“IT MIGHT JUST be okay,” wedding coordinator Renee Grothen murmured softly to herself as she surveyed the wedding reception. She wouldn’t risk admitting everything had turned out as planned until the last guest had left, but four and a half hours in, things were going really well.

Jim and Monica Martinez were a sweet couple with a fun firefighter theme for their big day. There was a long tradition of firefighters on both sides of the family and plenty of cute touches in the wedding and reception.

Monica’s dress laced up the back and instead of white ribbon to cinch her gown, she’d used bright red. The centerpieces were ceramic boot vases painted to look like firefighter boots, filled with red, orange and yellow flowers. There was even a walk-through fountain at one end of the reception area, created with fire hoses, a pump and a lot of engineering.

Renee walked around the perimeter of the indoor reception space, looking for problems. So far, so good, she thought with cautious optimism. The cake had been cut, the bar service was about to end and the tone of the party had faded from raucous to comfortably tired—exactly as it should. With a little luck, things would wrap up on time and without a crisis. This was Monica and Jim’s day—Renee wanted it to be as perfect as possible. While she always took care of her clients, she tended to unleash her mother bear instincts for her special couples and Monica and Jim certainly qualified.

She spotted Pallas Mitchell, her boss, walking toward her. It was nearly ten on a Saturday night and Pallas, a pretty brunette only recently returned from maternity leave, yawned widely. When she spotted Renee she held up her hands, palms up.

“What can I say? I’ve been home with an infant. These wild late-night hours are going to take some getting used to.”

“No one’s judging,” Renee told her. “As I said at seven, at eight and again at nine, go home. I can handle this. You’re barely back and you need to give yourself time to adjust to the schedule.”

“You’ve been running things for nearly six months. You need a break.”

In truth, Renee was a little ragged around the edges, but she’d loved handling Weddings Out of the Box while Pallas had been gone. She’d enjoyed the challenges each unique wedding presented and watching all the details fall into place on the big day.

“I had lots of help,” Renee pointed out. “Hiring college students on summer break was a good idea.” And what they’d lacked in experience, they’d made up for in energy and enthusiasm.

“Now that I’m back, things can return to normal,” Pallas said, covering another yawn.

“Go home,” Renee urged. “Please. I can handle things here. I promise.”

“Okay. I will. Thanks. Don’t you dare come in tomorrow.” Pallas’s voice was firm. “For once, we don’t have a Sunday wedding. Enjoy the break.”

“I will.” Renee would probably pop in to do a little paperwork, but she wouldn’t stay long. “Are you coming to The Boardroom on Monday night?”

In a wedding destination town, the rhythms of the residents were determined by weekend weddings. Happily Inc’s workweek started on Wednesdays as the businesses geared up for the dozens of nuptials that occurred in multiple venues. Which meant the town’s Friday night was actually on Monday.

The Boardroom, a local bar, hosted game nights on Mondays. Board games ruled and tournaments were heated and fun as friends crushed each other at everything from Candy Land to Risk.

Pallas shook her head. “I’ll admit to being a bit of a worrier. When we went a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ryan. He’s only five months old. It’s too soon to leave him at night.”

Renee held in a smile. “Sure. I get that.”

“I know you don’t, but thank you for pretending. Have fun for me, too. Oh, Jasper’s back, so tell him hi, if you think of it.”

Jasper was back? Renee hadn’t heard. She liked knowing he’d returned from his big book tour. Not for any reason in particular, she amended hastily. Sure, he was nice, but there were a lot of nice guys in the world. There was just something about Jasper. Maybe it was because in addition to being good-looking and just a little dangerous, he wasn’t a forever kind of guy.

“I saw that!” Pallas grinned. “I totally saw that. You did the predatory smile thing I was never good at. You want to use him for sex! Did I know this?” She stomped her foot. “Did this happen while I was on maternity leave? What else went on while I was off having a baby?”

Renee laughed. “You’re reading way too much into my smile. I’m happy he’s home from his book tour. That’s all.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Jasper and I are not involved. I doubt we’ve had more than a three-sentence conversation.”

Not that it took many sentences to ask Your place or mine? And while the description of predatory was nice, it gave her too much credit. Would she stalk him and pounce? Not even on her best day. Would she say yes if the man asked? She smiled again. Oh, yeah, she would. Definitely. Okay, probably. If she was feeling brave. Because while she worked her butt off to give her couples their perfect happily-ever-after day, she knew it was never going to happen for her. Those who could—did. Those who couldn’t became wedding planners.

Avoiding relationships might be the smart choice, but it was also a lonely one. She knew Jasper was into the long-term, monogamous, not-serious kind of thing and she was pretty sure she could handle that. Assuming she was his type and he was interested. They could have some laughs, lots of sex and walk away completely unscathed in the heart department. Where was the bad?

“There’s something going on and you can’t convince me otherwise,” Pallas said. “You have depths. I’m very impressed. Okay, use Jasper and then tell me the details because hey, he’s got to be great.” She yawned again. “I’m such a lightweight. I’m leaving now.”

“Good night. Hug Ryan for me.”

“You know I will.”

Pallas walked out of the reception hall. Renee continued to circle the space, looking for any forgotten handbags or phones, and noting how long it would take the cleaning service to return the huge room to order. Doing her job and not thinking about the fact that Jasper was back—that was her.

A loud whoop got her attention. She turned and saw three teenaged guys running through the fountain at the far end of the big, open room. Each of them jumped, trying to touch the arc of water dancing overhead.

The younger brother, she thought as she made her way toward them. And his friends. No doubt they were bored after so many hours with not very much to do. Regardless, she was not going to have them disrupt the reception when it was so close to being over.

As she approached the running, jumping teens, she saw both sets of parents, along with the bride and groom, still dancing. They swayed in time with the music, oblivious to the fountain and the idiots messing with it. Then several things happened at once.

The younger brother started an extra long run toward the fountain. Jim let go of Monica and spun her out the length of their arms. Monica bumped her mom, who stumbled a little. Dad grabbed Mom, moving all of them closer to the fountain and the younger brother running, who had to swerve suddenly to avoid them. As he swerved, he lost his balance and slipped, tumbling into the fountain mechanism. One of the hoses broke free, wiggling and spraying water everywhere.

Renee saw it all happening and knew there was no way she was going to allow her beautiful bride to get soaked. She lunged for the hose, caught it and held it tightly against her chest as the bride’s father rushed to turn off the water to the hose. It took only seconds, but by then the entire fountain had spilled over and Renee was drenched, shivering and had water up her nose even as she wondered if she looked half as ridiculous as she felt.

The new Mrs. Martinez hurried over. “Renee, are you all right?” She turned on her brother. “How could you? This is a wedding, not a water park.”

Aware that end-of-wedding exhaustion could easily lead to emotions spiraling out of control, Renee quickly faked a smile.

“Monica, it’s fine. Don’t worry. Keeping you and the rest of the wedding party dry was my only concern.” She glanced at the water draining onto the floor and realized part of the fountain was still pumping out water. That couldn’t be good. If she couldn’t get everything turned off, she was going to have to call in one of those companies that took care of disasters like flooding. “Really. It’s no problem.”

“You’re dripping and the water’s rising. My dad went to find the main shutoff.”

Renee wrung out her hair and hoped her makeup wasn’t too badly smudged. Then she realized the water level in the reception hall was indeed climbing and hoped Monica’s father found the shutoff soon.

She was just about to go help him when he returned.

“All turned off.” He glanced at the mini flood. “Sorry about this.”

“It’s fine,” Renee lied, her tone soothing, because that was part of her job. To pretend all was well even when they needed to be figuring out how to build an ark.

The rest of the guests were heading out. Nothing like the threat of an unexpected flood to get people moving, she thought, trying to find the humor in the situation.

“I’m so sorry,” Monica told her as she held her dress out of the water and slipped out of her shoes.

“Don’t be. You had a wonderful wedding and reception. Why don’t you and Jim start gathering your things? I have a spare set of clothes in my office. I’ll get changed, then help you make sure you have everything.”

As she spoke, she noticed the water seemed to have settled at about the six- or seven-inch level. Yup, she was going to have to call someone. No doubt she would be here all night. Oh, joy.

“I’m really sorry,” Jim said. “We thought we’d planned for every contingency.” He glared at his new brother-in-law. “Except for stupid.” He turned back to her. “Let us know the cost of cleanup. We’ll pay for it.”

“Thank you. I think the deposit should take care of it but I’ll let you know if there’s a problem. Now if you’ll let me go get changed, I’ll be back with you in ten minutes.”

Monica nodded.

Renee slipped out of her shoes and walked through the ankle-deep water. When she reached her office upstairs, she carefully closed the door behind her before undressing, then slipped on jeans and a T-shirt. Not exactly professional, but she wasn’t going to worry about that right now. Before she returned to her bride and groom, she looked up the local disaster cleaning service. The number was in her files, but wasn’t one she had had to use before.

They picked up on the first ring.

“Happily Inc CleanUp. This is Hilde. How can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m Renee Grothen at Weddings Out of the Box. We had a firefighter wedding tonight with a big fountain. There was an accident with one of the hoses and now our main reception hall is flooded.”

There was a pause. “Um, did you say firefighter wedding? Never mind. How much water?”

“About six inches.”

“That’s a lot.”

“It was a big fountain.”

“Give us thirty minutes and we’ll be there.”

“Thank you.”

Renee hung up, gave herself a second to catch her breath, then headed back to deal with the bride, the groom, the flood and anything else that might happen tonight. Because with a wedding, it was always something.

CHAPTER TWO

SIX DAYS INTO pet ownership, Jasper had no idea how he was doing. He and Koda—a name that had just kind of shown up in his brain and seemed to suit the dog—appeared to be getting along okay. Koda had slept most of the drive back, waking up for meals and for easy walks while they both stretched their legs. Along the way, Jasper had bought dog beds, some toys and more food. Koda’s appetite was good and he looked better every day.

Once they’d reached Jasper’s mountain home just outside of Happily Inc, Koda had explored the house before quickly settling into a routine. When let out to do his business, Koda didn’t stray far from the house and he seemed to prefer to be inside rather than out. They took a couple of walks a day, going slowly, Koda sniffing and Jasper thinking. Koda slept quietly while Jasper worked. When they left the office together, Koda brought his favorite toy—a stuffed rabbit—with him.

From Jasper’s point of view, Koda was pretty easy company. He slept on his dog bed in Jasper’s bedroom at night. Once, Jasper had awakened from a familiar nightmare, to find the dog on the bed, pressed hard against him, as if offering comfort. As Jasper got his bearings and was able to slow his breathing, Koda hopped down and returned to his own bed where he quickly went to sleep.

Jasper had installed an electronic doggie door so Koda could come and go as he wanted without Jasper having to worry that local wildlife could also wander into the house. Koda had figured out how to work the doggie door in about ten minutes. They had a vet appointment later in the week and Jasper had downloaded a book on having a dog as a pet to make sure he had it all covered.

He still didn’t know why he’d brought the old guy home—nor did it matter. Koda was here now and Jasper would take care of him. He had to admit, the quiet company was nice.

“I’m going into town,” he told Koda as he set out the bowl of kibble mixed with canned food. “It’s Monday night and I like to hang out at The Boardroom. It’s a bar that caters to locals. On Mondays they have board game tournaments. Most of my friends go.”

He had no idea why he was explaining any of this to the dog—it wasn’t as if Koda could understand him. Still, he couldn’t help going on.

“I won’t be that late,” he continued. “You have water and your bed. I’ll leave the radio on that classical station you like. There’s the doggie door if you need to go out.” He paused, not sure what else to say.

Koda finished his dinner, then looked at Jasper, as if processing the information. After a couple of seconds, the dog retreated to his bed in the family room and lay down.

“All right.” Jasper put his food bowl in the sink. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

He got in his truck and started down the mountain. The road was familiar and when compared with the RV he’d been driving, the 4X4 truck was practically sporty.

The thought made him smile. The long book tour had been good for him. The RV had given him a home base. Although his publisher had offered to rent a fancy bus with pop-outs and an onboard washer and dryer, Jasper had decided to buy an old, used RV instead. He’d thought he might want to use it again, for a tour and maybe a trip of his own. He’d liked being on the road.

As he headed into town he wondered if Koda would enjoy another trip or if he’d been too traumatized by what had happened to him in San Antonio. He supposed he could take an overnight trip and see how it went. Although any time away would have to wait. He was getting back into his book and had a deadline looming. For the next few months, his primary focus would be getting the story right, then getting it down on paper. Well, not paper, exactly. He used a computer, but the concept was the same.

He reached the main part of town and turned into The Boardroom’s parking lot. He saw plenty of familiar cars and smiled. His friends would be there, as would other local residents. He would kick a little ass on the board game front, have a beer and a burger, talk to his buddies, then head home. A perfect evening.

Four years ago, if someone had told him he would settle in this quirky wedding-based town, he would have said that person was crazier than him, but here he was—doing better than anyone could have expected. Forward progress, he thought as he made his way inside. It beat getting left behind.

“Jasper! You’re back.”

“Hey, stranger. How was the book tour?”

“When’d you get home?”

The calls came from every corner of the bar. Jasper nodded at his buddies, waved at a few people he knew by sight and scanned the room, looking for an open spot at the tables set up for four.

Mathias Mitchell, an artist who worked with glass, walked past him, a beer in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

“Hey, man, you made it. Good to see you.” Mathias nodded toward a table. “Come sit with us. Carol’s friend, Renee, is hanging out with us, so you’d make a fourth.”

“Will do.”

Jasper walked around for a few minutes, greeting his friends and giving a brief account of his three-month book tour. When a gong sounded, giving the ten-minute warning before the game started, he walked to the bar and ordered himself a beer. He figured he would get the burger later.

As he took his drink, he glanced around the room and caught sight of a petite redhead talking to Carol, Mathias’s wife. Renee Something, he thought. The woman Mathias had mentioned. She was maybe five-one. Despite her slight stature, there was something powerful about her. As if she would do whatever was necessary to get what she wanted.

He held in a grin. Right. Because he was just that good at assessing women. The truth was he knew nothing about her, which was fine. Even though it had been nearly a year since he and Wynn had ended their not-quite relationship, he wasn’t looking for anything else right now. Still, there was something about a woman with long hair. Especially long, red hair.

As if aware of his scrutiny, Renee turned toward him. For a brief second, their eyes met. Jasper was about to offer a wave when Renee surprised him by flushing slightly and looking away. As if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t.

He glanced around, trying to figure out what could have caused her discomfort. When nothing obvious showed itself, he figured he’d simply misinterpreted the situation. Hardly a surprise—he wasn’t just a guy, he was a guy who knew diddly about women. A fact proven by his inability to create a love interest for the hero of his latest novel. He knew the guy needed a woman in his life—it was a great way to wrap up the series—but he had yet to figure out who she was and how she fit into the story. Or how to write her. So far the only sentence he’d managed to write and then not delete was: She was tall, with short, blond hair. Oh, yeah, the royalty checks were going to roll in on that one.

He was still chuckling when he approached the table. Carol rose and hugged him.

“You made it back! Welcome home. Did you miss us?”

“I did.”

Mathias held out his hand. “Good to see you. How was the tour?”

“Good. Long. Plenty of stops.”

“And adoring fans?” Carol asked, her voice teasing.

“There were some.” Jasper turned to Renee. “Mind if I join you?”

She smiled and waved to the empty chair. “Please. Your reputation precedes you, so I’m happy to be on the same team.”

Whatever weirdness had existed before—or hadn’t existed—was obviously gone.

He raised a shoulder. “I haven’t played board games in a few months. I’m probably rusty.”

“I doubt that,” Carol said as she sat down. “Speaking of rusty, I want to warn everyone that this is my first night away from Devon. I’ve been away during the day, but never at night.”

Jasper wanted to ask how one was different from the other, but knew there was no point. Her reasoning might be based on the fact that her baby was maybe five months old, or it might be a female thing, or it could be something everyone else understood intuitively.

Mathias reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You know she’s fine, right? And it’s not like she’s with someone we don’t know.”

Renee smiled and leaned toward Jasper. “Pallas and Carol share a nanny. With their kids only ten days apart in age, it makes sense. The woman is terrific and does a great job, but they’re both uncomfortable being away from their babies.” Her tone softened. “You know what new moms are like.”

He nodded rather than say something along the lines of “not really.” He knew even less about young mothers than women in general. His stint in the army had given him a range of skills that could be useful in a wartime situation but they hadn’t been much on training him for life with regular people. As for that small town where he’d grown up...well, that was eight lifetimes ago.

He studied Renee, taking in her freckles and the cute way her nose turned up a little at the end. She had green eyes—although hers were more gray than his. There was something about her smile he liked. If he were to describe her in a book he would probably mention her long bangs and...

And what? Her height? Her eyes? The shape of her mouth? Did anyone care about that kind of crap? Dammit—he was a number one New York Times best-selling author and he couldn’t describe a woman? His career was obviously over.

He pushed that thought away. He would dwell on his inability to write later. Tonight was about having a good time.

“What’s the game?” he asked as several of the servers started passing out board games. “Ah, Monopoly. Excellent.”

Carol picked up the piece of paper that had been left on the table. “Traditional rules,” she read. “Whoever has the most money at the end of an hour goes on to the next round. After that, rounds are thirty minutes.” She glanced at her teammates. “That sounds easy enough.”

Renee nodded and turned to Jasper. “While you were gone, we had a Monopoly Junior tournament and odd number rolls didn’t count. Things got quite heated.”

“I’ll bet.”

Her conversation was completely normal. He must have imagined whatever had happened before. Only was she leaning toward him or was he imagining it?

They unpacked the game and chose tokens. Mathias counted the money and passed the right amount to everyone, then they rolled to see who would go first. As usual, Jasper rolled the highest number and got to start. He rolled double sixes, followed by a five. He bought the Electric Company property, then collected two hundred dollars from the Community Chest card he drew from the top of the stack. Carol was on his left, so he handed the dice to her.

She stared at him. “I’d forgotten what it was like to play against you. I don’t think I like it.”

He flashed her a smile. “What can I say? I’m a lucky guy.”

She made a huffing sound and rolled a seven. “How did the cleanup go yesterday?” she asked Renee.

“We are back to normal. The water is gone, everything is dried out and there’s not really any serious damage.” She glanced at Jasper. “We had a little accident at the firefighter wedding on Saturday night. Someone bumped the hose fountain and nearly flooded the place.”

“What’s a firefighter wedding?”

She took the dice from Mathias and rolled. “Weddings Out of the Box does theme weddings. In this case, the theme was firefighters. The wedding colors were red, yellow and orange. The flower girl carried flowers in a fireman’s helmet. That sort of thing.”

“People do that?”

Renee grinned. “Jasper, you’ve driven by Weddings Out of the Box. One side of the building looks like a Tuscan villa and another looks like a castle. What did you think was happening there?”

“I thought Pallas was quirky.”

“Theme weddings are big business,” she told him. “There are the usual ones. Princess, pirate, weddings based on books or movies. This fall we’re having a Halloween wedding, a football wedding and an apple wedding.”

“What’s an apple wedding?” he asked.

“They’re apple lovers.” She laughed. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

An apple wedding? Was that really a thing? He felt as if there was a whole world out there, about which he knew nothing. First women and now weddings. He needed to work on his life skills education.

Mathias rolled the dice and then moved his token. “I’m going to make a quick call to our nanny,” he said, then shrugged sheepishly. “Like we said before, it’s the first time we’ve left Devon at night, so...”

“You should absolutely check in,” Renee told him. “You’ll feel better.”

Carol watched him go. “It’s funny. All the things I worried about before we had Devon haven’t been a problem. Instead there are so many other things to worry about. Like leaving her alone.”

Renee patted her arm. “It will get better. You’re a terrific mom. She’s lucky to have you.”

“Thanks.”

Jasper looked at Renee. “Do you have kids?”

“Me? No. I’m not married.” She flushed slightly. “Not that you need to be married to have children. I wasn’t saying that. Or judging. I just mean...” She cleared her throat, lowered her gaze, then looked at him. “Um, no. You?”

He shook his head.

Okay, there was something going on with her. He was sure of it. Fairly sure. Reasonably sure, at least. He really had to get out more. He hadn’t felt the need before, but being around people again made him aware of his solitary state. Not to mention the lack of sex in his life.

He looked at Renee. She was small, but everything was in the right place. She had a sense of humor and he liked her smile. What were the odds she was looking for a brief but satisfying fling that would go absolutely nowhere?

Mathias returned and took his seat. “Everything is fine,” he told Carol. “Devon’s asleep and nothing is wrong.”

Their eyes locked. “I want to go home,” Carol said softly.

“Thank God. Me, too.” Mathias sprang to his feet. “Sorry about this, but it’s a baby thing.”

Renee waved her hand toward the door. “Go be with your beautiful baby. Great progress was made tonight. Next time you’ll stay the whole first hour.”

Carol laughed. “Thanks for understanding. See you at lunch tomorrow.”

“You will,” Renee told her.

Seconds later, they were gone. Jasper looked at Renee. “I guess the odds of one of us heading to the finals just went up.”

“They did.”

She held his gaze a second past what he would consider normal, friendly interaction, shifting them into the maybe I’m interested category. Or was that just wishful thinking on his part? He really had to get this whole man/woman thing figured out. At sixteen, being socially awkward could be considered a little charming. At his age, it was pathetic.

“Monopoly is less fun with just two players,” he said. “Could I buy you a drink instead?”

RENEE TOLD HERSELF there was absolutely no pressure. Jasper had invited her for a drink and she had said yes. Big whoop. Men and women met for drinks hundreds of times a day and it was all completely normal. Boring even. Only sitting across from Jasper wasn’t anything she would describe as normal, and it could never be boring.

For one thing, the guy was hot. He was tall, with broad shoulders, but more than that, there was an air of casual strength about him. As if he could handle himself in any situation. Should scary-looking bad guys burst into the place, Renee knew Jasper would handle the situation. She, on the other hand, would run screaming into the night. Or hide. Or faint.

He also had that hint of slightly wounded male about him. He’d been damaged in his past and it showed. It took a stronger woman than her to resist that kind of yumminess. Although this was just a drink, she reminded herself as Jasper walked over to small corner table they’d moved to. He set a cosmo in front of her before taking a seat across from her and picking up his gin and tonic.

He took a sip, studying her over the glass. She had no idea what he was thinking, nor did she know what to say. Nerves gripped her tightly, making her feel awkward. She hadn’t been on a date since moving to Happily Inc, and before that she’d been getting over a shattered heart, and before that she’d been in a nearly three-year relationship, and before that...

“So, how was your book tour?” she asked brightly, hoping the question and his answer would distract her brain. “You were gone a long time.”

“I was. My publisher tried something new, sending me out in an RV.”

“I’d heard something about that but I thought maybe people were kidding. You really traveled the country in an RV for a month?”

“Three,” he said with another one of his sexy smiles. “Before that I spent a few weeks in Europe. Traveling more conventionally.”

“You must have a lot of fans. I knew you were a successful author, but you’re internationally famous.”

She meant the words to be teasing, but didn’t think they came out that way. Probably because she hadn’t actually put together who Jasper was. In her mind, he was the slightly mysterious, former military guy who kept to himself and provided plenty of take me now, big guy fantasies. Apparently he was a little too close to, say, Chris Pine territory for her purposes.

Not that she was going to smile brightly and offer a night of hot sex. Because while everything went fine in her head, in real life, there were serious pitfalls. Hysterical laughter followed by a look of extreme pity. Not that Jasper seemed like the hysterical laughter type. But the pity was a real possibility. Or revulsion. That would be depressing and she wasn’t looking for another boy-girl setback.

The smart decision would be to enjoy the drink, pretend she’d never once undressed him with her eyes and retreat to her charming apartment where she would tell herself she didn’t care that she was never going to have sex with a man again.

“I’ve been lucky,” he said easily. “The books have to work for people, of course, but there are a lot of authors who struggle in obscurity. I had breaks early on.”

“Like I said—internationally famous. What’s touring like? Is the Europe part different from the US part?”

“Very, especially with the RV. Here I was able to drive from place to place. I’d park near a big city, then head in for the events. Sometimes I’d do a morning show, or drive-time radio. I might have media interviews during the day or drop in to a few bookstores and sign stock. In the evenings I would have organized book signings where I’d talk for a few minutes, take questions, then sign books. Then back to the hotel or RV and start it over in the morning.”

“That’s less glamorous than I thought. What about in Europe?”

“That’s a different schedule. I would arrive in a city, usually in the morning, have lunch with whomever the publisher wanted me to meet, do media, then have a signing, followed by a late dinner. Get up in the morning and drive, fly or take the train to the next city and do it all again.” He flashed her another smile. “All while not speaking the language. It’s an endurance sport.”

“It sounds like it. What’s the best part?”

“Meeting the readers. It’s hard not to like people willing to line up to tell you how much they love what you do.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I get the occasional thank-you note, but there’s never been a line.” She picked up her drink. “Anyone creepy? Didn’t Stephen King write a book about a crazed fan?”

“Yes, and we’re not going to talk about that.” He chuckled. “There are fans who know way more about my books than I do and want to talk themes and what I could do instead. Sometimes readers want to give me story lines, which I have to sidestep because of potential legal problems.”

“Your life is really interesting.”

“No, it’s not. Ninety percent of the time I’m sitting at a computer, trying to figure out what to say next. It’s a lot of hours by myself, sometimes with swearing.”

She liked him, she thought with some surprise. She hadn’t really spent time with him before, so had filled in the blanks with her own fantasies, which were more about his body than his personality. It was nice to know there was an actual person behind the gorgeous eyes.

Funny how she’d been thinking about him on and off for the past couple of days and tonight he’d walked into The Boardroom and sat down at her table, as if fate were stepping in.

“Tell me about the apple wedding,” he said, leaning toward her. “No one dresses up in an apple costume, do they?”

She laughed. “No. I promise, nothing like that. An apple wedding is more like a Christmas wedding. The theme inspires the decorations and the colors, not the clothing. Let’s see. The bridesmaid dresses are apple green, there are crab apples in the bouquet and the floral arrangements on the tables. The signature drink is an apple martini. That sort of thing.”

He stared at her, his expression blank. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What’s confusing?”

“All of it. I get the bridesmaid dresses. I’ve seen women in those before. But the rest of it? You’re speaking a foreign language.”

“What about all the weddings you’ve been to?”

He took another sip of his drink. “I haven’t. I joined the army when I was eighteen. None of my friends were even thinking about getting married then. I got back for a few visits, but no weddings. After my dad died—it was always just the two of us—I never went back. My military friends went home to get married and I usually couldn’t get leave.”

Now he was the one speaking a foreign language. “You’ve never been to a wedding?”

“Nope.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“It’s a rite of passage. It’s how this town supports itself. Happily Inc is a wedding destination town and you have actually never been to a wedding?”

“Pallas and Nick got married in Italy and I was gone when Carol and Mathias got married.”

She stared at him. “Come by Weddings Out of the Box sometime and I’ll show you a video,” she told him. “They’re all variations on a theme, so once you’ve seen one, you’ll be wedding literate.”

“But not fluent?”

His voice was low and teasing. It sent ripples down her spine and made her wish she was the kind of woman who could look a man in the eye while inviting him back to her place. But she wasn’t and she couldn’t. She might want a let’s get naked night with Jasper, but the truth was she’d never once had sex with a man she wasn’t half in love with and it seemed unlikely she could find the skill set to change that now.

“I think fluency is a ways off,” she said lightly, hoping he couldn’t hear the disappointment in her voice. As he had no idea what she was thinking, the emotion would only be confusing and misleading. Man, even without a relationship, the whole boy-girl thing was really hard to navigate.

“You help brides plan their weddings, right?” he asked.

“Yes, although it’s better when the groom is involved, too. Weddings Out of the Box is a wedding venue. We specialize in theme weddings. We’ve done princess weddings and cowboy weddings and apparently the world’s greatest alien wedding based on a computer game, but that was before my time.”

“Interesting.”

She wasn’t sure it was, but it was nice of him to say it.

They looked at each other, then away. Silence stretched between them, grew awkward, got bigger and started making Renee uncomfortable. Crap, crap, crap, this wasn’t going to work. Who was she kidding? She was only confident in limited situations—like work. She was never going to be the kind of woman who could tell a guy she thought he was attractive and ask if he would like to have his way with her. Which left her sad and depressingly aware of the fact that she might never do the deed again, which made her want to stomp her foot. Or cry.

Neither response would go over well in public, so it was definitely time to go home. She looked at Jasper.

“It’s getting late. Thanks for the drink. I had a nice time.”

He studied her for a second before nodding. “I did, too. Let me walk you to your car.”

They went out into the night. It was mid-September, so still warm, but they’d passed through the burning heat of summer. In a few more weeks, there would be an actual nip in the air. At least in those hours close to midnight. It rarely got cold-cold in Happily Inc.

They walked to her black Mini with the white racing stripes on the hood. A silly car, to be sure, but one she loved as much as she could love a car. It was cute, it was zippy and with the back seats down, it held as much as she needed.

“This is me,” she said lightly.

Jasper glanced from the car to her and back. “It suits you.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I try to be worthy of its sassiness, but I don’t always succeed. I suppose that’s a metaphor for my life. I want to be wild, but I’m not quite sure how.”

“You mean that?”

She looked up at him. Literally. With them both standing, she was aware of how tall he was, how strong. He exuded power and confidence. He was all things male and maybe that should have scared her, but it didn’t.

“Renee?”

“What?”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“There was a question?”

One corner of his mouth turned up. “I may be reading this all wrong, but just in case I’m not...”

He put his hands on her waist and pulled her toward him. The move was unexpected and she would have instinctively resisted, only there was something about the feel of his hands and her growing sense of anticipation. Because he was holding her exactly like a man holds a woman he means to kiss and kiss well.

She looked up to confirm her theory, which gave her exactly half a second to prepare herself for the impact of his lips on hers.

Her first impression was of heat. His mouth was warm, as was his body, but she was on fire. Need erupted long before he deepened the kiss. Just pressing against him, having him hold her and holding him back was unbearably arousing. When he actually got busy with the kissing part, she wasn’t sure if she was going to melt, scream or fall apart right there in the parking lot.

His tongue stroked her bottom lip. She parted, then groaned when he slipped inside. They circled and danced and explored. She raised herself on her tiptoes to get a better angle. He nipped her lower lip, then ran his hands up and down her back.

Everywhere he touched blazed with hunger. She was nearly shaking with need. He might not know much about weddings, but he sure could kiss and right now that was the superior skill.

But just when she was really getting into it, Jasper pulled back. He was breathing heavily and looked slightly dazed.

“That was unexpected,” he murmured.

“Good unexpected?”

He cleared his throat. “You have to ask?”

“Just checking.”

They stared at each other. Here it was, she thought. The moment of reckoning. She could wimp out and walk away or she could be strong and self-actualized by asking for what she wanted.

“Come home with me.”

The words came out more question than statement, but she’d said them, so good for her. Unless he said no. Then she would die—right there in the parking lot. They would find her stiff body in the morning and no one would know what had happened.

Jasper raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

She hunched her shoulders. “I’ve used up all my courage, so I can’t ask again.”

He chuckled. “I’m not looking for you to repeat the question. I’m confirming this is what you want.”

She looked at him, starting at his very large feet and working her way up. It was too dark in the parking lot for her to be sure, but she was fairly confident he had an erection. She took in his broad shoulders, his handsome face and then thought about how sad and lonely her girl bits had been.

“This is what I want,” she told him.

That corner of his mouth turned up again. “How far is your place?”

“About six minutes from here.”

“Then we’d best get going.”

CHAPTER THREE

SEVEN MINUTES AND maybe twenty seconds later, they were in her small apartment. Renee managed to turn on the lamp by the door and kick off her shoes before Jasper reached for her. Their lips clung even as he tugged at the hem of her T-shirt. It was impossible to pull off her shirt while kissing, but they tried before finally breaking apart.

“Bedroom,” she said, thinking of the box of condoms she had in her dresser. A box she’d bought when she’d moved to town and never had the opportunity to open until now.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned and saw Jasper had pulled off his shirt, leaving his broad chest bare. He was muscled and male and she couldn’t help moving closer and pressing her mouth to his warm skin.

She’d barely had a chance to do more than register the slightly salty taste of him when he was unfastening her bra and reaching around to cup her breasts. The feel of his fingers against her hungry flesh was perfection. He caressed her curves before brushing against her tight, sensitive nipples. At the first stroke, her breath caught. At the second, she cried out as pleasure burned through to her center. She was already wet and swollen. In seconds she shifted to downright desperate.

“Bedroom,” she said weakly, still thinking of that condom and him inside of her and oh, please could they get on with it.

“You are focused on getting up there,” he said, his voice teasing.

She managed to open her eyes and look up at him—a challenging task considering how he was playing with her nipples, rubbing them between his thumb and fingers and then squeezing just tightly enough to make her groan.

“Unless you walk around with protection in your pocket which, I confess, will make me think less of you, we should head to the bedroom.”

“Well, damn. You’re right.”

Before she could say anything, he shifted, bending over and then scooping her up in his arms. She shrieked at the sudden loss of control and grabbed on to him.

Renee couldn’t remember the last time she’d been carried. She assumed she’d been maybe eight or nine. Yes, she was small, but she was mighty and she didn’t take kindly to being—

He lowered her onto her bed. Before she could complain that she did not enjoy being picked up like a sack of potatoes, he lowered his head and drew her left nipple deeply into his mouth. He flicked his tongue against the taut skin before sucking hard enough to make her writhe with need and delight. Heat poured through her. Wanting grew until she couldn’t think about anything else. Even as he shifted to her other breast, she was unfastening her jeans and pushing them off.

He drew back and watched her. “That much of a hurry?”

“It’s been decades.”

“You’re not old enough for it to have been decades.”

“It feels like decades.” She pointed to his jeans. “Take your clothes off.”

He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

He stood and quickly did as she requested. Renee gave herself a moment to study his naked body. The man looked good and was, ah, well proportioned.

“Condoms?” he asked.

She rolled over to get them out of the far nightstand drawer. When she shifted back, Jasper returned to the bed.

“How would you like this to go?” he asked.

“Fast.”

He chuckled. “What I meant was you’re kind of small and I’m a big guy. Until we figure out what works best, do you want to be on top?”

She had a brief image of impaling herself on his erection, sliding down until he filled her all the way.

“Done,” she said, tossing him the box. “Hurry.”

“You’re bossy.”

“Yes, I know. It’s part of my charm.”

He put on the condom, then motioned to his covered dick. “Whenever you’re ready.”

She supposed she should spend a minute thinking about the fact that she barely knew the man, yet here she was, naked and prepared to do the deed. While she’d never been particularly prudish during sex, she wasn’t exactly wild, either. Maybe it was because there was no emotional risk, or maybe she was simply that horny, or maybe it was Jasper himself. At this point, she genuinely didn’t care.

She straddled him and positioned herself over him, then closed her eyes as she slowly lowered herself. He was long and thick and filled every inch of her in the most delicious way possible. She shifted that last bit all the way in, then let her body remember what all this was about.

Jasper swore. She looked at him.

“What?”

“You.” He swore again. “You’re naked, sexy as hell, all-in with how it feels and I’m just supposed to lie here without losing it like some kid? I’m not sure I have that much willpower.”

Really? Really? She smiled. “So this is arousing?” She wiggled a little, then contracted her muscles.

He inhaled sharply. “That is not a game you’re going to win. Not if you want what I think you want.”

He had a point, but she couldn’t help teasing him with another squeeze. He groaned.

She laughed. “Okay, I’ll stop, for now. What if I do this?”

Without thinking, she slipped her fingers between her parted thighs and found her swollen clit. She’d only meant to tease him with a quick show of her touching herself, but the second she rubbed herself, her need climbed from desperate to unbearable. The combination of her touch and the fullness of him inside of her was too much to resist. She told herself she had to stop, that she couldn’t do that kind of thing in front of him, but the sensations building inside of her were powerful and amazing and...

“Don’t stop,” he said quickly. “Renee, don’t stop. Please.”

She looked at him and saw him intently studying her. His pupils were dilated, his body stiff. He moved his hands to her hips, guiding her up and down in the rhythm designed to take them both over the edge.

Still watching him watch her, she rubbed harder, faster, with each circle, she brushed against the base of his erection, she felt how hard he was, how ready.

“Tell me it’s not going to take long,” he breathed.

“It’s not.”

She was so close already. Her orgasm was just there, on the fringes. Still holding his gaze, she moved up and down faster and faster. She could feel her breasts bouncing, her face flushing, her release getting closer. Need built and built until she was overwhelmed and had no choice but to give in to her orgasm. She cried out, her body contracting around him, forcing him over the edge. His hands tightened on her hips, holding her still as he pushed in even farther, pressing against the very heart of her and groaning as he came.

Renee stayed where she was for a few seconds. Reality returned and she had to face the fact that she was naked, straddling a man she barely knew and his penis was still inside of her.

Just as her afterglow was about to crash and burn in a sea of humiliation, Jasper smiled at her. It was a very self-satisfied male smile that spoke of his own pleasure at everything that had happened.

“You’re not all that,” she said, shifting off him and standing. Her legs were a little shaky and she’d been stretched every which way, but she had to admit, she felt good. Better than good.

“I’m all that and so are you.”

He got up, as well. They cleaned up and went looking for their clothes. Once they were dressed, Renee braced herself for the speedy departure. It was what guys did, or so she’d been told. This was her first one-night stand. No regrets, she told herself. She wasn’t looking for anything but easy sex. She was a disaster at romantic relationships and knew the smartest decision was to avoid them completely. Jasper had given her everything she’d wanted.

“Got any beer?” he asked when he’d tugged on his T-shirt.

“I do.”

She moved toward the kitchen. As she passed him, he reached out and lightly stroked her arm. They paused to stare at each other. One corner of his mouth turned up in a boyish half smile that left her feeling oddly...floaty.

She grabbed a bottle for each of them and they went into the living room. So he was going to stay for a bit. That was unexpected, but nice. Really nice.

He settled on the sofa. She hesitated a second before sitting in the chair opposite. While snuggling next to him sounded appealing and something she could get into, she didn’t actually know him that well. The truth of the statement nearly made her laugh.

Sex?

Why, yes, thank you. Now what was your name again?

“Something funny?” he asked.

“Um, no. Just thinking about stuff.”

He studied her for a second. “You know I’m not the marrying kind, right?”

She’d nearly taken a sip of her beer. Grateful she hadn’t, so she wouldn’t choke to death, she set the bottle on the coffee table between them and stared at him. So much for feeling floaty.

“What are you talking about? The marrying kind? Why would you say that? Why would you think it? Who do you think I am? I don’t want to marry you. It was just sex. It was good sex but it wasn’t in the—” she held up both hands and made air quotes “‘now we have to get married’ category.”

She didn’t know if she should stand up for emphasis or just glare convincingly.

Jasper grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just, you plan weddings for a living.”

“That is my job, not who I am. You write about people getting murdered. I don’t assume you’re planning to murder me. Not the marrying kind. No wondering you’re not in a relationship.”

“Hey, don’t judge.”

“That line deserves judgment.”

“Can I have a do-over?”

“Sexually or conversationally?”

An eyebrow rose, as his expression shifted to slightly predatory. “Give me a few minutes and you can have both.”

“You wish.” Although in truth, she thought it was a good idea, too.

“I kind of do.”

They smiled at each other. There was a moment of silence, but this time it was comfortable.

“How’d you end up here?” she asked. “You don’t strike me as a Happily Inc kind of guy.”

“My car broke down. I was living in LA and I had just driven to New York to visit my publisher and agent.”

“You drove from LA to New York and back? Why didn’t you fly?”

“I didn’t fly well back then. I still don’t like it, but I can do it.”

Why wouldn’t he fly well? Oh, right, she thought. While she didn’t know the details, she’d heard rumors about his time in the military and how he’d escaped without physical injury but still had suffered from significant PTSD.

“So you were stuck in town while they fixed your car?” she asked.

“I was. It was an old clunker and it took a while to get the parts shipped in. I stayed at one of the hotels.”

She picked up her beer and grinned. “Oh, please, please tell me you stayed at the Sweet Dreams Inn.”

“Why would you care about that?”

“I want to picture you hanging out in one of the themed rooms. The princess room or the Heidi room or the woodland creature room.”

“There’s a woodland creature room? Why?”

“It’s fun. I’d love it.”

He shuddered. “That must be a girl thing. For what it’s worth, I was in the pirate room.”

“I know that one. It’s nice.”

When she’d first taken the job in Happily Inc, she’d made it a point to visit all the local businesses that supported the wedding industry. She wanted to be able to offer recommendations because she knew what she was talking about. To that end, she’d toured all the rooms at the Sweet Dreams Inn, so she knew the pirate room was actually fairly masculine, with a huge sailing ship doubling as a bed.

“But still—no little woodland creatures to keep you company?” she asked, her tone wistful.

“I’m afraid not. Argh.”

She laughed. “Okay, I’ll accept the pirate room. So you were stuck in town and decided to stay?”

“I didn’t have a plan. I drove around to kill time. The people were friendly enough. I was here over a Monday night, so the clerk at the front desk suggested I head to The Boardroom for game night.”

“And you were hooked?”

“I was intrigued.” He shifted so he rested his bare feet on the coffee table. “I contacted a local real estate agent about places on the market. I knew I wouldn’t want to live in town, so I wasn’t expecting much. My house is the first place we saw. I looked at a half dozen more, realized I’d already found what I wanted and made an offer.”

“And here you are.”

His gaze locked with hers. “Here we both are.”

She felt the tension rising between them. It was nice. Sexy and insistent. Inside, heat began to build.

“So I’m not looking for a relationship,” she said. “I haven’t ever had good luck in the romance department.” Which was putting it mildly, she thought. Her love life had been a disaster, and while she wanted to say it was her mother’s fault, in truth there were other reasons.

“Giving up on your own happily-ever-after?” he asked.

“Pretty much.”

He lowered his legs and rested his feet on the floor, then put his beer on the table. “But a woman has needs.”

His tone was low, sexy and intriguing. Renee felt herself flushing. Stupid red hair, she thought with a sigh. “A woman does. As does a man.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

She kept her gaze on his, even though she desperately wanted to look away. “But, ah, I’ve never really done anything like this before.”

“Had a sex-only relationship?”

She winced. “Could we not call it that?”

His voice turned teasing. “But you do want me to be your booty call.”

In for a penny and all that. “Yes.”

He nodded slowly. “So you’d be using me for sex?”

“I could say the same thing about you.”

“I didn’t ask you to be my booty call. I don’t know.” He raised and lowered his shoulders. “I’ve never been anyone’s sex toy before.”

“You didn’t really just say that.”

He dropped his gaze to the floor. “I feel used.”

“Just stop it. No one believes that for a second.”

He looked at her again and grinned. “Sex without the promise of anything more,” he said. “I’m in.” His smile faded. “Having said that, I’d like to keep things exclusive. Otherwise it gets confusing. Unless you want to invite one of your friends to join us.”

“What?” she shrieked.

He stood and pulled her to her feet. “I’m kidding. I know them too well. Worse, I know the men in their lives. It would be weird. So just you and me, for as long as it’s good for us, then when it’s over, we walk away. No regrets, no bad breakup.”

It sounded so mature and modern, she thought. And was exactly what she wanted. And while she was fully aware that it could all end horribly, because her boy-girl things always did, at least she was starting from a position of clarity and honesty.

“Agreed,” she said firmly, raising herself on tiptoe so she could kiss him. “Now, if it’s been long enough, I think I should let you use me for sex. To keep things fair.”

“I like how you think.”

He pulled a condom out of his jeans pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table. “I grabbed that from your bedroom. I say that so you don’t think less of me.” He grinned. “Your sofa is very comfortable. Why don’t we start here and see where things go.”

RENEE HAD BEEN HEALED. Despite her lack of sleep and the generally achiness from unused muscles getting a workout, she felt happy and energized and just a little bit weightless. It was amazing what a night of great sex could do for a woman. And with a little luck and some schedule planning, it was exactly what she intended to experience again and again. Yup, she would be enjoying her booty call bonanza for as long as it lasted.

Jasper had left around two in the morning. Even though she technically could have slept in, she’d been awake by six, happy and practically humming with the glory of the day. After clearing up her work emails, she’d gone to the grocery store for ingredients for one of her favorite pasta salads. She’d fixed that, showered, done a little more paperwork, then just before noon she headed for Willow Gallery, where she would meet her girlfriends for lunch.

She had a large group of friends in town. Their schedules were complicated and everyone was busy, so the weekly lunch was a priority. They rotated locations and whoever hosted provided an entrée. Everyone else brought whatever they were in the mood for. Mostly the menu worked out but every now and then they ended up with three veggie plates. Still, Renee was far more interested in the conversation than the food. She enjoyed the chance to hang with other women. In the past, she’d worked hard to keep herself a safe distance from the people around her. But since moving to Happily Inc, she’d realized it was safe to connect and fit in. She could relax here and that felt good.

Willow Gallery, a beautiful venue close to the river, housed amazing art pieces. Happily Inc was home to several successful artists. Renee had moved to town in time to see her friend Natalie grow from struggling unknown to rising star. Natalie had been able to quit her office manager job to concentrate on her art full-time.

Renee pulled in next to two familiar cars. Pallas and Carol were both already inside, and if previous lunches were anything to go by, they would have brought their babies with them.

Just as difficult as accepting she would never have love in her life, was the realization that she would never have a traditional family. While children weren’t an impossible dream, if she wanted kids, she was going to have to go it alone, and being a single mom wasn’t an easy road. Renee had watched her own mother deal with being both parents while raising a child and it had been hard for her. On the flip side, Renee also knew what it was like to be left by a father and that was a pain that didn’t go away. So while she could have a child on her own, she didn’t want to go that route, and what with her finally accepting she was never going to trust her heart to a man again, she was stuck.

“I’m not going to think about that,” she said aloud as she got out of her car. She’d had great sex the night before, she was going to enjoy hanging with her friends and she would hold Devon and Ryan as much as she could until the other women wrestled the sweet infants from her arms.

She was still smiling as she walked into the gallery. Natalie already had Ryan, so Renee dropped her tote on the buffet table set up by a display of a massive blown glass garden filled with exquisite glass flowers.

“How’s my best girl?” she asked, gently taking the sleeping baby from Carol.

“I’m fine,” her friend said drily. “Thanks for asking.”

Renee grinned. “Good to know.” She gently rocked Devon, enjoying the weight of her and admiring her rosebud mouth and velvety soft skin.

“We need more babies around here,” Pallas said as she unpacked Renee’s insulated tote. “Pasta salad. At some point I need to get off carbs, but I’m not quite ready. What’s in this?”

“Cheese tortellini, bacon, tomatoes, diced cucumber, broccoli all tossed with an avocado ranch dressing and sprinkled with cheese.”

Pallas raised her eyebrows. “That’s a lot of work, young lady.”

Renee thought about her early start and good mood. “I was inspired. It’s a recipe my mom used to make, only she used regular ranch dressing.”

“Sounds delish. I brought brownies,” Pallas said with a sigh. “It’s the carb thing. I can’t help it.”

Silver and Bethany walked in together. Silver dumped her container on the table and headed for Natalie.

“Hi, everyone. Pass him over.”

Natalie reluctantly passed Ryan to Silver.

“I guess we really do need more babies,” Natalie admitted, pushing up her glasses.

“You first,” Silver, a pretty platinum blonde and the owner of a mobile bar called AlcoHaul, told her with a grin.

“Not me.” Natalie shook her head. “I want another year at least before I get pregnant. I’m working on my art and enjoying being married to Ronan. I’m more interested in aunt status right now.”

Renee looked at Bethany, expecting her friend to hurry over and claim Devon, but Bethany stayed by the buffet.

“Hi, everyone,” Bethany said with a wave. “The lunch looks great. I brought a veggie plate.”

Pallas made a face, then forced a smile. “It’s always good to have something healthy on the table.”

Renee lowered her voice and whispered, “Liar.”

Pallas took Devon from her. “I meant it. Sort of.”

Wynn arrived, a plate of brownies in her hand. “Sorry. I got on a call with a client and he was a talker. How is everyone?”

As she spoke, she set down the brownies and reached for Devon.

“Go hug your own baby,” Wynn said with a smile as she cooed at Devon. “Mine is way too old to rock.”

Renee felt an unexpected stab of guilt and worry rip through her. Jasper and Wynn had once been a couple. Sure, things had ended nearly a year ago, but still, they’d been involved. Wynn was her friend and did that make things awkward?

Renee told herself she would talk to Wynn after the lunch—there was no way she was going to discuss it in front of everyone. Not when it was new and she had no idea what having a man available for a booty call actually meant.

The still-sleeping babies were placed in their car seats and the friends filled their plates before sitting at the table that had been set up in the center of the gallery.

“How’s everyone?” Silver asked. “Bethany, weren’t you and Cade planning a trip to El Bahar next month?”

Bethany, the adopted daughter of the king of El Bahar, looked startled by the question. “Nothing is finalized. We’re still figuring it all out. Leaving the horses for that long is always difficult.”

“Don’t you have a manager and several people helping out in the stables?” Renee asked.

“We do, but it’s still complicated.”

Not exactly an answer that made sense, Renee thought. She looked at her friend and wondered if something was going on. Bethany didn’t seem like herself.

“I can’t find anything better than an appletini for the apple wedding,” Silver said. “I’ve tried a bunch of different cocktails and I’m not sure our bride is going to love any of them.”

Pallas looked around the table. “We have an upcoming apple wedding. The bride wants appletinis but the groom’s mother wants a different apple-based drink. So far they’ve been unable to agree on anything. We have one final tasting this week.”

“This whole thing is putting me off apples,” Silver grumbled. “And I like apples.”

“Give yourself an apple-free month and your love will be restored,” Carol told her.

Everyone laughed.

Conversation flowed easily. Renee remembered the first time Pallas had invited her to the girlfriends’ lunch. She’d been nervous and not sure she would get along with the women, but they’d welcomed her and now were an important part of her life. She knew that her friends would be there for her. She liked being a part of something—belonging. She hadn’t had that in a while. Certainly not in high school where the other girls had mostly avoided her. College had been a little better, until someone had figured out the truth about her mother.

Nothing she had to worry about now, she reminded herself. She was keeping Verity far, far away from Happily Inc.

“Great salad,” Wynn said, waving her fork at Renee. “There are just enough vegetables to make me feel righteous.”

Renee smiled and ignored the guilt. She would talk to Wynn later and get any issues resolved. It was the right thing to do.

But ninety minutes later, all Renee wanted to do was bolt. Instead, she forced herself to walk out with Wynn and ask if they could talk for a moment. Wynn looked surprised, but immediately agreed.

“Want to go grab coffee or can this be talked about in the parking lot?”

Renee glanced around. Everyone else had already left and the gallery was closed on Tuesdays, so customers would not be arriving.

“I just need a second,” she said, not sure how to begin. Or what to say. Or... “I had sex with Jasper.”

Wynn, a gorgeous woman with curly, dark hair, raised her eyebrows. “Interesting.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. It’s just you two used to, you know, be friends, and now you’re not and I wasn’t sure if you were still, um, thinking about him and if it was all right that I...”

“Had sex with him?” The corners of Wynn’s mouth twitched. “Aren’t you asking a little late? The deed is done.”

“I know, but it was unexpected, so I didn’t really have time to text you.”

Wynn grinned. “That would have been a really noteworthy text for sure.” Her expression turned serious. “Our relationship ended last year. We’re completely done and what he does with you is great with me.” The smile returned. “I mean that in a not awkward way.”

Relief erased the guilt. “You’re sure?”

“Very. Jasper and I weren’t right for each other. He’s a great guy, but not my great guy.”

“Oh, this isn’t serious,” Renee said quickly. “Neither of us is looking for that. This is very much a no-strings kind of thing.” No way she was going to mention the booty call aspect of things.

“That’s how it always starts.” Wynn tilted her head. “Just as an FYI, Jasper isn’t as broken as he thinks. You might want to be careful about that.”

Renee had no idea what she was talking about. “Meaning?”

“Most normal guys eventually reach a place where they want more. If you’re sure that’s not in the cards for you, great. But Jasper just might want to change the rules.”

“I can’t see that happening.”

“Maybe I’m wrong.” She smiled. “I’m glad you two found each other. It’s nice to be a part of something.”

“What about you?”

Wynn shook her head. “Yeah, I’m not really that girl. I try to be, but I’m not.”

CHAPTER FOUR

JASPER THOUGHT ABOUT throwing his laptop out the window, but as always, talked himself down. The urge occurred fairly regularly and so far he’d resisted destroying his computer. No good would come of it, he reminded himself. It wasn’t as if getting rid of the piece of equipment would solve the problem. It wasn’t the keyboard’s fault that he couldn’t write for shit.

“Dammit,” he growled, pounding on the table.

Koda raised his head, as if asking what was wrong.

“Sorry,” he told the dog. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be more quiet.” Jasper saved the pitiful three sentences it had taken him the entire morning to write and leaned back in his chair.

“I can’t write women,” he told the dog. “Never knew it was a problem. After six years of being published, you wouldn’t think that would be news, but it turns out I’ve never tried to write a woman before. Not one who isn’t a victim or a one-night stand.”

He rested his head in his hand. “Please don’t repeat that to anyone. It makes me sound like a misogynistic asshole and I’m not. It’s just my detective had been single through the entire series and now that I’m wrapping things up with him and moving on to another character, everyone thinks I need to leave Vidar in a better place, and that means involved with a woman.”

His editor had suggested the idea more than once, and Jasper knew she was right. But who was the woman and how did they meet and when they met, what did they talk about? So far all his dialogue had been stilted and unrealistic. Book dialogue was not like normal human-to-human conversation. It was high points and information and moving the plot forward. In real life...

He smiled, thinking about the conversations he’d had the other night with Renee. Now those had been fun. Especially the parts where she’d gasped “More” or “Harder.” Neither of which was going to make it into his book. Writing a woman was difficult enough—no way he could write sex. He wrote about serial killers, and unless sex was part of the ritual murder, he absolutely was not going there in his novel.

Jasper looked at Koda. “I am one sick guy,” he admitted. “I need help.”

Koda got up and stretched, then picked up his stuffed rabbit and carried it over to Jasper.

“Thanks,” Jasper told the dog, before tossing it across his office. Koda trotted over and picked up the rabbit, carrying it back to Jasper, who threw it again.

They played the game for a few minutes before Jasper gave up pretending to work. He stood and headed for the door, Koda at his heels. They both went outside. Koda headed off into the woods to take care of business while Jasper looked around, wondering if there was any inspiration to be had or if he should simply accept his limitations and hope his career continued despite them.

He was deep in self-flagellation when he heard a familiar voice calling his name. Hunter Beauchene walked around the side of the house.

Wynn’s son was thirteen now, and getting taller by the day. He was at that awkward stage where his arms and legs didn’t fit with his torso. His voice was in the process of changing and every now and then, Jasper caught glimpses of the man he would eventually grow to be.

“Hey, you,” he said, holding out his hand. Hunter did the same as they greeted each other with their elaborate handshake, a ritual that had been established nearly two summers ago. Back when he’d first started seeing Wynn.

Not that she’d introduced him to Hunter. Instead she’d insisted their sex-only relationship be kept secret—especially from her son. If Hunter found out, it was over. Well, Hunter had figured it out almost immediately and had wanted to be friends with Jasper. The kid knew the rules and wanted to keep their hanging out time off his mom’s radar. Jasper had resisted at first but eventually Hunter had won him over and they’d started hanging out. He supposed his willingness to break her only rule had been a sign they weren’t going to make it as a couple. Ironically, as soon as they’d broken up, she’d stopped minding if he hung out with her son. Yup, women were confusing as hell.

“Is it afternoon already?” Jasper asked, glancing up at the sun. It felt earlier.

Hunter looked at him. “It’s barely eleven. I have the day off. The teachers are doing some training or something. You really don’t know what time it is?”

“I’ve been working.”

Hunter nodded, getting the explanation. He was used to Jasper’s odd ways.

Koda broke through the trees and raced toward Hunter. The teen dropped to his knees to greet the dog. In a matter of seconds, they were on the ground, tumbling over each other. The combination of happy yips and human laughter comforted Jasper. At least this part of his world was as it should be.

“You hungry?” Jasper asked, when the two broke apart.

“Got any cookies?”

Jasper and Hunter shared a weakness for Cheryl’s Cookies, and Jasper ordered them frequently. They agreed that the sugar cookies with buttercream frosting were the best.

They went into the kitchen and Jasper pulled four cookies out of the freezer. Hunter poured himself a glass of milk while Jasper refilled his coffee mug. Koda settled in his bed in the kitchen where he could watch everything going on.

The dog was doing well, Jasper thought. Putting on weight, sleeping and settling in to his new life. He was good company.

“How’s school?” Jasper asked as he opened the plastic wrap around the first cookie. “Classes going okay?”

“Jasper, you always ask that.”

“I’m interested. So answer the question.”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “I’m doing fine. I get good grades.”

“You better.”

“Or what?”

Jasper grinned. “You want to go there with me, kid?”

Hunter laughed. “No, I don’t. But in a couple of years I’ll be able to take you.”

“In your dreams.”

“Mom says this year if you hire some guy to teach you a new fighting style I can come to the lessons. As long as they’re after school.” Hunter’s expression was hopeful. “So maybe you could think of something really cool for the book you’re writing.”

Jasper found it easier to write about something if he could actually do it himself. He’d learned to throw knives and use fighting sticks for previous books. And shoot a crossbow. Hunter had begged to be a part of the lessons, but while Jasper was willing to cross some lines, there were others that needed to stay in place.

“I will think of something cool,” he said, “but I will also run whatever it is past your mom.”

“She really did say that.”

“I believe you.” He flashed a grin. “Sort of.”

Hunter laughed and tossed Koda a piece of cookie.

“So what’s going on for the rest of your day off?”

Hunter finished his second cookie and picked up his milk. “I’m going to go over to a friend’s house.”

“You ride all the way up here?”

“I got a ride partway from a park ranger.”

Jasper thought about the pages he hadn’t written. He was behind on his book and if this morning was any indication—and so far, it was—without doing something drastic, he was never going to make forward progress on his story. Maybe he needed a change of scene and a chance to observe women in their natural habitat.

“I’m heading to town,” he said. “We can throw your bike in the back of the truck and I’ll drive you to your friend’s house.”

“Thanks.”

Thirty minutes later Jasper stood in the center of town and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do now. Walk around and watch women going about their lives? That wasn’t going to be good for anyone. He wasn’t some crazed stalker guy and would watching a random female do grocery shopping or walking her baby get him any closer to solving his problem? He honestly didn’t know where to start. Or how to start. Or what he wanted to do.

He walked over to a bench by the river and sat down. Detective Vidar needed a love interest. He didn’t want the woman to be a cop, so not anyone he worked with. Which was limiting because Vidar, like Jasper himself, didn’t have much of a social life. Dating a victim seemed tacky. Plus, most of Jasper’s killer’s victims ended up dead. So someone involved on the fringes of the crime? Or what? A neighbor? A...

He stood up. This was ridiculous. He knew women. Lots of women. All he had to do was talk to one of them. He looked around and saw the large wall that defined the boundaries of Weddings Out of the Box. Renee. He would go see Renee. Not only could they talk about his book, he would get to see her smile and that alone was worth a trip down the mountain.

“WE CAN DO an assortment of different kinds of apples to hold the place cards,” Renee said, scrolling through photos of apples on her computer. “That adds variety. However if you want consistency and to be in line with your color palette, then I would say stick with the Granny Smith apples.”

She paused and glanced at the speakerphone. There was a moment of silence, followed by the sound of breathless female laughter.

“I’ve hit a wall,” Stacey Treadway said. “I can’t make one more decision. I just can’t.”

“Someone has to,” Renee said gently. “And it’s not going to be me.”

“And I thought apples would be easy. Let’s do the Granny Smith apples for the place cards. They’ll go with the glass towers we’ll have around the space and it will look nice.”

“Done and done,” Renee said, studying her list. “Stacey, I don’t want to scare you, but I think we’re finished.”

“Really? So no more decisions?”

“Not today.”

Stacey laughed. “Let me guess. You’re not making any promises.”

“Nope. But we’re really close and your wedding is going to be beautiful. I’m very excited to see everything turn out.”

“Thanks, Renee. You’ve been so wonderful to work with.”

“You’ve been great, too. Just remember, I’m here for you. Call me if you need anything and I’ll do the same. Otherwise, we are good to go.”

“Wow. It’s getting close. I guess I’ll see you soon.”

“You will.”

They hung up. Renee wrote up the notes from their phone call, entering the information on her computer where it would automatically feed to her tablet. A happy wedding day was all about keeping track of the details.

She’d barely hit the save key when Jasper walked into her office.

He looked good, she thought as she felt a bit of tingling low in her belly. Tall and a little rugged. She hadn’t seen him since their night together and wasn’t sure what to say now. Or think. Or how to act. Unexpected nerves tightened her throat and chest and she had the strangest urge to both bolt and throw herself at him. She settled on doing neither.

“Hey,” he said as he paused by the door. “Is this an okay time?”

“It is. What’s up?”

“I was in town and I wondered if we could talk for a second.”

“About?”

He motioned to a chair in front of her desk. She nodded and he sank down, then looked at her.

“I have no idea,” he said.

“You have no idea why you’re in town or you have no idea what you want to talk about?”

“Both.”

“Okay. Do you want to take a minute and collect your thoughts?”

Instead of answering, he glanced around at her office. “You plan weddings, right?”

“I do.”

“What does that entail?”

Not the question she was expecting. She smiled. “Are you asking for yourself?”

“You know I’m not.”

“Just checking. You might have met your one true love in the last few days.”

His gaze turned knowing. “I had someone on my mind, so no. Tell me what you do?”

“When a couple decides to hold their wedding here, I help them with as much of the wedding as they want. We provide a full service venue. We can arrange catering, bar service, flowers, an officiant and anything else they might want. In addition we have the unique ability to create nearly any kind of theme wedding the happy couple is looking for.”

He nodded. “Say I want a movie wedding. American Graffiti. Do you know it?”

“I’ve seen it before. It’s what, the 1960s? I’m kind of picturing the movie Grease, so I’d have to watch American Graffiti again to get the details right. We’d take liberties with the clothing. Some kind of poodle skirt bridesmaid dresses could be cute. We could do food from a diner for sure. Maybe a play on burgers and fries. Silver could come up with some fun cocktails—all variations on classics. You’d want a cutout of that white Thunderbird for guests to take pictures in. 1960s music, for sure. Oh, we could get a bunch of 45 records and use them in lots of different decorations. Maybe around the base of the centerpieces, or hanging from the ceiling. I think themed custom cookies would be terrific, too. If the groom was willing, we could really play on the poodle skirt idea and have poodles made out of flowers. And a soda fountain would be fantastic. Oh, we could do ice cream–based adult beverages. That would be unique and the guests would love it.”

He stared at her. “You came up with all that in a minute.”

“Probably more like five, but yes. Jasper, that’s what I do. I might know what a bride wants before she comes in but often I don’t. I need to be able to think on my feet.” She leaned toward him. “Once we picked a direction, we would discuss who’s providing the vendors and where she is in her process. Oh, we also need to know how long we have. Less time makes things frantic, but more time means decisions get changed again and again and that can be stressful for all of us.”

She paused. “I can keep talking, but I’m not sure what you want to know.”

“Me, either. You’ve given me a lot to think about. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. This is for your book, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m having some problems with one of the characters.” He frowned. “Why aren’t you married?”

She hadn’t seen that question coming. “Excuse me?”

“Why aren’t you married? You’re smart, you’re sexy and—” He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “I happen to know you’re dynamite in bed.”

She felt herself flush. “Thank you and that is off-topic.”

“Too personal?”

“A little, but also confusing.”

“I don’t get women,” he admitted. “I have this character and I can’t figure her out. I can’t even make her close to real. Why do women do what they do? What are they thinking?”

He got up and closed her office door, then returned to his seat. “That night at The Boardroom. Why me? Why then? I served for eight years and when I got out of the army I was so screwed up in the head. I’ve made my way back a fair amount but we both know I’ll never be normal. I’m okay with that. But you’re not damaged. So why aren’t you with some great guy, popping out babies and living the American Dream?”

She could see he was genuinely confused, which was kind of appealing. Later she would think about how casually he talked about being damaged. According to Wynn, he wasn’t as broken as he thought, but that was for another day.

As for his question about her single status, she wasn’t sure what to say. There were a lot of reasons and many of them had to do with her mother. No way she was going to talk about that. So maybe something safer. And lucky for her, it was the truth.

“I’ve had two serious relationships,” she began. “In college and then a few years later. My last one lasted almost three years. He was a little older, established. Nice. That’s what I liked most about him. He was just plain nice. A thoughtful man who paid attention to the little things.”

“I hate him already.”

She smiled. “Don’t bother. He’s not worth the energy. Things were going great until they weren’t. We were seeing each other regularly, when we could. He traveled. I thought we were in love and mentioned marriage. He said he needed time. He loved me but didn’t see himself committing to one woman for the rest of his life.” Her mouth twisted as she remembered the long talks. “He said if he was ever going to marry someone, it would be me.”

Jasper looked concerned. “Did he cheat?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking.” She sucked in a breath and looked at him. “It turns out he was already married. With three kids. When I found out and confronted him, he admitted he totally adored his wife and his family and had no plans to leave them, but he loved me, too, and hoped we could just go on the way we had been.”

Jasper swore under his breath. “You kicked his ass to the curb.”

“I did. I felt stupid. Did he play me or did I allow myself to be played? And did it really matter?”

She still couldn’t answer that question. She’d taken over a year to come to terms with his deception and her own foolishness. Falling for someone married after the disaster with Turner and their broken engagement, she’d realized love simply wasn’t going to happen for her. Whether it was because she chose the wrong guy or because there was something fundamentally wrong with her, the end result was the same. Relationships ended. Men left—like her dad, Turner. Or they were total losers. Regardless of the how and why, she always found herself alone and shattered. She wasn’t going to do that ever again.

“You weren’t wrong to give your heart,” Jasper told her. “You didn’t know what he was doing. It’s not your fault.”

“I still feel stupid and ashamed. At least I did. Now I’ve moved on. Anyway, that goes in the column of reasons why I’m not married. I take issue with your assuming that a woman has to—” she made air quotes “—be married and pop out babies to be living the American Dream.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I kind of figured that one out on my own. The woman thing is hard. Any suggestions on how to do better?”

She thought for a second. “Movies. Watch movies.” She started writing on a piece of paper. “Two Weeks Notice, Brooklyn, Juno, Steel Magnolias.” She wrote down several others. “These are all strong women in great stories. Watch them, then we’ll talk.”

He took the list and stood. “Thanks, Renee. I appreciate it. I’ll start watching them today.”

Before she could answer, he was gone. Just like that. No offer for a lunchtime quickie or even some idle chitchat.

“You are such a guy,” she murmured, before turning back to her computer. Which, she had to admit to herself, wasn’t really a bad thing at all.

JASPER WATCHED THE movies Renee suggested and a few more. He made sure he fed Koda on time and took the old guy for a walk every day. Otherwise, he was pretty much glued to his TV or tablet. He watched movies while jogging on his treadmill, while preparing and eating his meals. He fell asleep watching movies, then started fresh in the morning.

Several days later, he surfaced, realizing he’d watched all the ones Renee had suggested, and several more, and he still had questions. After checking the time on his phone and realizing it was barely seven in the evening, he texted Renee.

You around?

A bit later, she responded. Are you asking what I think you’re asking?

He picked up his phone and called her.

“I was asking if we could talk,” he said when she answered. “I watched all those movies you suggested and I have a lot of questions.” And an interest in seeing her because it had been a few days and even while watching the movies, she’d been on his mind.

“Oh. Okay. I wasn’t sure.”

“What else would I be asking?”

“I thought maybe a polite version of ‘u up.’ You know—the texting question about a booty call.”

“I didn’t know that.” He paused. “Maybe I knew that, but I wasn’t thinking about that.”

She chuckled. “Apparently we need a code word. And to be honest, some foreplay, because I would need more than ‘u up’ to get me in the mood.”

“I can be all about foreplay. What would you like?” Because while he had wanted to ask her some questions, they could wait until after. “Or I could come over and figure it out.”

“I can’t. I have my period and I feel awful. And while that probably falls under the category of TMI, it’s true.”

“I’m sorry. Can I do anything?”

“I wish, but this is my problem. However, I am available to school you on the mysterious ways of women. Did you really watch all those movies?”

“Yes, and a lot more. You sure you’re up for company?”

“I would appreciate the distraction. Just ignore the soft whimpers.”

“Would ice cream help?”

She sighed. “Actually, it would help a lot.”

“I’m on my way.”

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