The Stranger In Room 205 (Hot off the Press! 1)

“You, uh, might want to work on your interview skills,” Serena advised shakily. “You’re supposed to be convincing me to hire you, not discouraging me from doing so.”

“I thought I should give you the negatives first, just so there’d be no worry that I tried to deceive you.”

She cleared her throat, feeling strength flood her limbs again, along with a surge of exhilaration. “And the positives?”

“I’m a hard worker. I know the newspaper business. I’m ready for new challenges. You won’t have to worry about me leaving for greener pastures. I’ve been around enough to know there aren’t any.”

“I find it rather hard to believe you’ve always dreamed of running a small-town newspaper

,” she whispered, her eyes locked on his face.

“No. I always dreamed of finding a place to call home,” he answered quietly. “I just didn’t know where to look before.”

“There’s not a lot to do around here. How do I know you won’t get bored?”

The faintest smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “I wouldn’t say it gets boring around here. There’s dancing at Gaylord’s. Wrestling on big-screen TV at the pizza parlor. Thirty-six flavors of snow cones. And I never got a chance to go parking down by the lake on a Saturday night.”

“Those things are enough to keep you here permanently?”

“No.” He stood and walked slowly around the corner of the desk. Leaning over her chair, he tipped her chin back and lowered his mouth to within an inch of hers. “But you are.”

She lifted to meet him, trying to express in her kiss exactly how much she had missed him while he’d been gone. Judging from the enthusiastic way he gathered her into his arms, pulling her out of her chair and onto her tiptoes, he had missed her, too.

Locking her arms around his neck, she pressed herself so tightly against him that there was no separation left between them. Exactly the way she wanted it.

He released her mouth to give them both a chance to breathe, resting his forehead against hers. “I’ve missed you. So much I ached with it—worse than I ever ached from any physical injuries.”

“I missed you, too,” she whispered. “Every time I looked at the guest house, every time I sat in the rose garden, every time I ate in the diner, all I could think about was how empty it seemed without you there. It seemed hard to believe you’d only been here three weeks. Everywhere I looked, you were there.”

“With every memory I recovered in Dallas, I was only more convinced that I’d never been happier than I was during those three weeks here,” he answered unsteadily. “I kept telling myself you didn’t really know me, that you couldn’t possibly feel the way about me that I did about you, that you deserved someone better—but I couldn’t stay away.”

“You don’t know how many times I thought about coming to Dallas to find you. Maybe to drag you back here—or maybe I would have stayed with you. I don’t know. I guess I’m more like my sister than I’ve wanted to admit.”

“I want to meet your sister—and her singing beau.”

“I want you to meet them. And I want to meet anyone who’s important to you.”

“We’ll invite them all to the wedding. Hell, we’ll even invite my parents, if they aren’t too busy with their own pursuits to spare the time. I want you to know everything about me—good and bad. I want you to know me the way no one else ever has—not even Shane, who’s been my best friend since we were teenagers.”

She traced a finger along his jaw. His face was so dearly familiar to her, whatever name he used. “We’ve known each other such a short time, and already you’re talking about a wedding. There are people who will say we’re crazy.”

He laughed. “They won’t be calling me anything I haven’t called myself this summer. But take if from someone who knows—crazy isn’t as bad as it sounds.”

Her smile felt big enough to split her face. “Let’s be crazy together, Cameron North.”

He kissed her lingeringly, then lifted his head with a grin. “Does this mean I got the job?”

“You’re hired. Now can we get out of here?”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We could always go park by the lake,” he suggested as they moved together toward the door.

“I have a better idea,” she said, taking his hand. “Let’s go find a bed.”

“You’re right. That is a better idea.” He reached eagerly for the doorknob.

Epilogue

“I never thought I would live to see this day,” Shane commented, amusement and approval evident in his deep voice.