“All the crap with the inn was one thing, Cherry,” Dad said. “But our daughter getting engaged . . . you really think we wouldn’t fly out here to see if her fiancé is good enough?” He eyed Vaughn carefully. “I’m willing to give you a shot because of what you did for Cherry for the inn but it’s a shot, not a free pass.”
Vaughn stared at my father in perfect seriousness. “Understood.”
“Oh, he’s handsome, sweetie.” My mom st
ared at Vaughn, apparently stunned. “So handsome.”
Liam grinned. “Good genes.”
I snorted in an attempt to hold in my hysterical laughter and Vaughn squeezed my hand. Hard. I knew without him telling me that he didn’t want to laugh in front of my dad.
“So,” Aaron Hartwell said loudly as he stared at my fiancé, “let’s have a drink and get to know one another. Very well. Like blood type, medical history—including any and all sexually transmitted diseases—kind of well.”
“Dad,” I warned him.
But Vaughn looked at Cooper. “Drinks, Lawson. A lot of drinks.”
Cooper was grinning, clearly enjoying Vaughn’s predicament. “What is everyone having?”
As everyone ordered their drinks, regulars swarmed Mom and Dad, happy to see them again. While they were distracted catching up with the town, I snuggled against Vaughn and whispered, “I’m sorry about this.”
“Don’t be,” he assured me. “I’m going to like your dad. I can tell.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He kissed me, a short, sweet kiss on the lips. “He’s just protecting you, wants you to be happy. He and I are already on the same page.”
I smiled and melted against him, still amazed that Vaughn had changed so much in the past few months.
No.
Not changed.
Just shed his fears to become the man he’d always meant to be.
I’d helped him do that.
He had helped me to be brave, too.
And right then I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
The truth was that loving someone wasn’t always as easy as the love songs made it out to be. In fact, loving someone could be the most terrifying thing a person could ever do in life. It was difficult to make yourself that vulnerable to another, to let him be the one person who got to see who you really are, flaws and all. Yeah, especially those flaws. It was scary asking someone to love those flaws.
But I’d done it. Vaughn had helped me be courageous enough to love fully with all my defenses down; to love every little thing about this man, good and bad, because I knew without fear or insecurity that Vaughn loved every little thing about me.
Don’t miss how it all began in Hart’s Boardwalk in the first book in the series,
The One Real Thing
Available now. Turn the page for a special excerpt.
Jessica
One of my favorite feelings in the whole world is that moment I step inside a hot shower after having been caught outside in cold, lashing rain. The transformation from clothes-soaked-to-the-skin misery to soothing warmth is unlike any other. I love the resultant goose bumps and the way my whole body relaxes under the stream of warm water. In that pure, simple moment all accumulated worries just wash away with the rain.
The moment I met Cooper Lawson felt exactly like that hot shower after a very long, cold storm.
The day hadn’t started out all sunshine and clear skies. It was a little gray outside and there were definite clouds, but I still hadn’t been prepared for the sudden deluge of rain that flooded from the heavens as I was walking along the boardwalk in the seaside city of Hartwell.