Made for You (The Best Mistake 2)

Will slowly, deliberately unscrewed the plastic top from the container and turned it upside down. Tiny shreds of paper fell to the ground, not even bothering to flutter in the breezeless air.

Brynn closed her eyes and let the tears fall.

He didn’t want her. She’d offered him everything. Been as bare as she’d ever been before, but it had been too little too late.

Incoherent with pain, she started to drop to her knees to pick up the paper. Needing something, anything to ground herself.

She’d lost him.

Rough hands gripped her shoulders and yanked her forward. Will’s hands slid up to cup her cheeks as he rested his forehead on hers. “Goddamn you, Brynn Dalton.”

She choked out a laugh, hardly daring to hope as her fingers clenched his shirt. “Give me a chance, Will. Let me try to be the woman for you.”

“You idiot.” His fingers clenched in her hair. “You’ve always been the only woman for me.”

“I love you,” she said. “I love you so much. I think somehow I always have.”

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that?” His voice sounded suspiciously choked up, and she wiggled closer to him.

“You might have heard it a lot sooner if you hadn’t tried to woo me by running my bra up the flagpole my freshman year.”

“Foreplay, baby. Fifteen really long years of foreplay.”

And then he kissed her, long and hard. It was the first kiss they’d shared in front of other people, and it was all the sweeter because of it.

And when a sudden gust of hot summer air dragged up the scraps of paper at their feet before scattering them in a mess of confetti, that was okay too.

The new Brynn—the real Brynn—had all she needed.

EPILOGUE

It’s a lovely housewarming party, Brynn, honey.”

Brynn smiled in satisfaction. It really was a perfect party. The night was unseasonably warm for fall in Seattle, but there were a couple of those fancy heat lamps scattered around for when the sun went down. She’d even put out a couple of warm blankets for anyone who wanted to stay late and cuddle up under the stars.

Emphasis on the cuddle.

On second thought, she hoped nobody else would stay around for that part.

Brynn set out the last of the condiments on the table. “I’ve lived here a year and a half, Mom. I don’t think you can call it a ‘housewarming’ anymore.”

Marnie Dalton linked arms with her eldest daughter and gave her a secret smile. “Yes, but I suspect it’s just now starting to feel like a home, yes?”

Brynn’s eyes involuntarily went across the deck to where Will was manning the grill and drinking a beer with her dad. It was a scene she’d envisioned a dozen times before—outdoor barbecues, friends and family, and a partner that helped her do it all.

Oddly, she’d also been seeing this scene for years—Will talking to her dad, Will as part of the family. She just hadn’t been able to reconcile her dream vision with the reality.

She had now. And it was wonderful.

“It’s not like we’re living together, Mom. He has his own apartment in Seattle.”

Marnie sniffed. “I still don’t understand why he sold his house. A perfectly good piece of real estate…”

Brynn only gave her mom half an ear. Will hadn’t bothered to try and buy back his house when he’d returned to Seattle. It seemed silly for both of them to have big houses right next door to each other when they were spending their nights in the same bed.

Will had, however, insisted on getting his own apartment so as not to rush her. But she suspected there was another reason…Despite all his live-on-the-wild-side lectures, Wil

l Thatcher had a streak of old-fashioned in him, and didn’t want to shack up with a girl who wasn’t his wife.