“I probably fell in love with you when you mowed my lawn, or when you took me out that first night and made the most incredible sweet love to me that anyone ever has. But God, Will, you scared me, because you made me feel things that I thought I’d never feel again. You made me feel secure and cared for and you made me trust in you.”
She took a deep breath and Will grasped her hand. She fought it, but he grabbed it anyway until she let him. “It’s okay to be scared, Jane. I know how much Vic hurt you.”
She nodded, and big fat tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I hate how much he hurt you and the kids. I’d give anything for you to not have that big hole in your heart because of what he did to you.”
“The thing is, I never got to blast him for all that hurt. After he left town, our divorce was handled long-distance. So I never got to tell him to his face how much he hurt me.”
She paused, looked down at her shoes again. He knew he needed to give her time to work through it all in her head, and to get it all out. So he waited.
“So I held it all inside and I stewed. And then you came into my life and gave me the outlet I needed. And I took it out on you. I put all that mistrust on you. I backed away from you and ran away from you. And that’s not fair. Because you never did anything to hurt me or the kids.”
“I’m sorry I let you down.”
She looked at him and gave him a rueful smile. “You never let me down. You’re one of the most honorable men I’ve ever known. You would never intentionally hurt anyone. And you were right in what you said, that there’s no such thing as perfection. I’m not looking for perfection, Will. I was just looking for an opening so I could jump on it, so I could point my finger and say, ‘See? See? It’s going to happen again. I was right not to trust you,’ when in fact, you didn’t do anything wrong at all. It was stupid. I’m stupid.”
He pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. “You’re not stupid. You were protecting your heart and your children. I love how fierce you are about keeping them safe.”
She pulled back and gazed up at him. “I was afraid to give my heart to you, because I was in love with you. And that gives you the capacity to hurt me.”
Hearing her say the words back to him made his heart squeeze, made his throat go tight with emotion that he’d never felt before. He swallowed. “I’ll make mistakes with you, Jane. I know I will. But I’ll never hurt you. I promise.”
She finally lifted her gaze to his. “I know. I believe you. I believe in you, Will, because I love you.”
His hopes soared. “We can make this work, you know. And we’ll take it slow. We won’t rush things. The kids need to get to know me better.”
She swept her fingers across his jaw. “My kids love you as much as I do.”
He brushed his lips across hers. “We’ll still take it slow, because you all need that. And we have all the time in the world. I’m in no hurry, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Jane sighed and fell into his arms. Will wrapped his arms around her and sealed the deal with a kiss that curled her toes inside her tennis shoes.
She felt foolish for being so reticent, so stupid for hurting him. And he’d been so easily forgiving when she didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve him, but she’d spend as long as it took making it up to him, and proving to him that she could make him happy.
When he finally broke the kiss, she was lying across his lap.
“Do you have to go home?”
She shook her head. “Chelsea said she’d stay the night, because I told her I might be here with you—talking—all night long. Or at least that’s how I hoped it would go.”
His lips curved in that devilish smile that never failed to make her stomach flip. “Well, you can stay the night, Jane, but I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of talking.”
She reached up to pull his head down to hers. “I like the way you think, Will.”
PERFECT STRANGER
A Serendipity Novella
CARLY PHILLIPS
To all my readers who love the town of
Serendipity and the people who live there. This
story is for you! Thank you for buying my books,
reading my stories, and writing to tell me how much
you enjoy them. Alexa’s story is for you.
CHAPTER ONE
Joe’s Bar. Familiar stomping grounds for Alexa Collins, yet everything about the night felt off to her. First, the bar’s owner and his new bride were on their honeymoon, so Joe wasn’t serving. Alexa’s normally happy friend Cara Hartley sat morosely stirring her drink, staring into the glass for answers, but the man who’d caused the problems was nowhere to be found. Alexa couldn’t relate to guy issues considering she lived an extremely busy life, spent hours in the hospital ER, and had no time for a relationship, let alone hot, stress-relieving sex—something she could definitely use. For the last couple of weeks she’d been suffering from a definite case of the blues, and the strain of her life was beginning to wear on her.
No wonder she was in a funk.
The music now blasting through the speakers gave her a jolt akin to a caffeine kick, and Alexa perked up at the sound. Rising from her barstool, she glanced at her friend.
“I feel like dancing,” Alexa announced.
With a disinterested sigh, Cara shook her head, but Alexa wasn’t taking no for an answer. Cara needed to have fun and forget about Mike Marsden, the man who’d broken her heart.
She jerked her head toward the dance floor. “Dance. Now.”
Cara groaned but complied, standing up on command.
Alexa looked to the third woman in their trio. “Liza?” Liza and her husband, Dare Barron, had joined them for a night out along with some other friends who mingled around the bar.
Liza swayed her hips in time to the beat of the music. “Why not? I could use some letting go.”
Katy Perry’s upbeat tune reverberated around them as they headed to the dance floor near the jukebox. “Teenage Dream” began the set, which segued into “Firework,” one of Alexa’s favorite songs. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to get lost in the moment, her body moving to the beat, her entire being consumed by the tempo and the sounds pulsing around her.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed she wasn’t the only one attracted to the upbeat music. The crowd had grown in size, everyone on the floor pumping their fists, swiveling their hips, and dancing as if they were shooting across the sky as the lyrics suggested.