Perfect Together (Serendipity's Finest 3)

“Longer week,” she said, surprising herself by laughing easily with him. She’d missed him more than she thought possible. “Would you like to come inside?”

He stepped closer and she inhaled his musky cologne, a warm familiar scent that mocked her attempts at keeping a distance. “I would, but I know you have a big day tomorrow and have to be up early.”

She nodded, disappointment filling her.

He stepped closer, tilted her chin up with one hand. “I missed you this week.”

His minty breath tested her resolve. “I missed you too.”

He slid his lips over hers, once, twice, a third time before settling his mouth over hers. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she sighed into the kiss, knowing she was defeating the need to keep him at a distance before he pushed her away first.

His tongue swirled inside her mouth, finding an answering tug lower in her belly, a pulsing need between her thighs. She raised her hands to his hair, holding on as he seduced her with his talented mouth and tongue.

She was about to insist he needed to come inside when the loud honk of a car horn startled her and she jumped back. She jerked toward the offending sound in time to see a large white BMW pull into her driveway.

“Oh my God.”

Sam glanced at the car. “Who is that?”

She swallowed hard, nausea filling her. “My mother.”

He swore beneath his breath. She knew the feeling.

Nicole watched in disbelief as her mother’s driver stepped out of the vehicle, strode around the back of the car, and opened the

door for Marian Farnsworth to climb out. That she’d made the drive to Serendipity at this hour didn’t bode well for Nicole, and she straightened her shoulders in preparation for confrontation.

“What’s she doing here?” Sam asked.

Nicole didn’t answer, already rebuilding the walls and distance she’d maintained all week. If Sam thought her father was cold, wait until he witnessed her mother in action.

Marian Farnsworth walked up the driveway, her heels clicking as she approached Nicole and Sam.

“Mother, what are you doing here?” Nicole thought it best to get down to business.

Her mother tilted her head, her perfectly blow-dried hair sweeping her shoulder. “I came to ask you the same question. To see what’s so attractive about this small town.” She glanced at Sam, assessing him and finding him lacking, all with a single dismissive glance.

Nicole did her best not to react.

“Your father told me you paid him a visit. He appreciated the heads-up you gave him about his partner’s . . . activities. Personally, I think you should have kept quiet. Discretion being the better part of valor, after all.”

Nicole raised her eyebrow. “Too late.”

“Ah. You think this changes things? That we no longer need you to come home and fulfill your role?”

“I can’t imagine what good you think forcing me to marry Tyler will do.”

“Your father and Tyler will rebuild the firm and our standing in the community with a united front. You, darling, are the glue that will hold the families together.”

Nicole felt the weight of Sam’s disbelieving stare on both her and her mother. To his credit, he remained silent, at least so far. But shock tended to render a person mute, Nicole thought.

“Nothing has changed,” she informed her mother. “Tyler and I are finished. And my life is here now.”

Marian rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. Give your father one. It’s time to stop playing games and come home. I’m finished humoring your little crisis.”

“Be blunt, why don’t you,” Nicole muttered.

“Well, humoring you hasn’t helped.”