Just One Night (Black Alcove #2) (21 page)

I turn to face our
audience. “Well, I planned to grab everyone’s attention and make
a huge scene tonight. I wanted this moment to be special and couldn’t
picture any way better than to include all of you.” A collective
aww fills the silence. “But, I changed my mind.”

“What!” Kelsey’s
voice rings out and Ethan plants his hands firmly on hips and glares
at me. I see Sara’s father take a step forward. I pop the box open
and people begin to whisper when they realize it’s empty.

“I already said yes!”
Sara steps out and holds her hand up in the air. Cheers fall all
around us, and I don’t waste another minute pulling her into my
arms and kissing her. Everything inside my body warms. This is the
girl for me, and I couldn’t be happier or more thankful in my whole
life.

One month later…

Logan

I am 100 percent
whipped over Sara Parker. That’s right, Parker. She officially
became my wife as of one hour ago. I love that not a single person
thought our wedding was rushed, and I love that Sara and her father
have mended their relationship. Signing full ownership of both the BA
and The Silver Tap over to us was an amazing wedding gift. His
including me as an owner was a huge reason she forgave him.

We made the decision to
live in Wind Valley permanently. Rockland isn’t too far away, but
knowing it’s in Liam’s hands gives us peace of mind. He’s a
great manager and overall a person whom I’ve grown to trust.

The life I have at this
exact moment couldn’t be any better. Yes, a part of me will always
wonder what it’s like to have family who shares the same blood, but
as long as I have Sara, nothing else matters. One day, I may search
for Alexis again, but right now I’m happy with where my life is.
Besides, she could still very well show up one day.

Sara’s laughter from
the dance floor catches my attention. I’ll never get over the way
she makes me feel. Like I’m important, proud, loved. She makes me
want to be a better man. I told her all of this when I read her my
vows, but I’ll more than likely spend the rest of my life reminding
her how amazing she is.

“Married life is the
best life. Cheers, man.” Ethan takes a seat next to me and sets a
beer in front of me on the table. He tips the spout of his beer
toward the dance floor. Sara is dancing with Beth and Kelsey.

I turn to tell Ethan
he’s right when a loud crash comes from a table behind us. Kelsey’s
dad is standing at the dessert table with a broken plate at his feet
and a screaming baby in his arms. Ethan laughs, “Parenting, on the
other hand, is beautiful but unpredictable and testing.” He moves
quickly to help his father-in-law. Clara cries until Ethan has her in
his arms. Then it’s as if nothing happened and life is good again.
I want that. I want it soon, and I hope Sara does, too.

“Congrats again,
Logan,” Conner says, taking the seat Ethan left empty. “It’s
crazy how my sister and my best friend are both married now. Next
thing you know, you’ll have a kid.”

“I sure hope you’re
right. If it happens sooner rather than later, maybe they can grow up
with your little guy. How’s he doing, by the way?”

“He’s good. He’s
getting more comfortable with me. His mom is still being awful about
all this. She now says she has no problem letting him stay with me
from time to time under the condition that I get my own place. But
that isn’t the first thing she has asked me to do.”

“What’s wrong with
Kelsey’s place?” I ask. Until he can find his own place, Conner
moved in with his sister and Ethan after Sara moved in with me.

“Nothing. Every time
I do what she asks, she has another stipulation. At this rate, I’ll
never get him one on one.”

“Things will work
out. Keep your head up. Maybe what you really need is to find a
woman, marry her, and then create a family that she can’t say no
to. A woman who also gets along with Sara and your sister would be
nice.”

Connor laughs, and
squeezes my shoulder as he stands. “We can’t all have a woman
like Sara.”

I grin at his words and
silently pray he meets someone to help turn things around. He really
is a great guy, I wish there was a way I could help, but I got
nothing. This is definitely an area that could use a woman’s
advice.

“Logan.”

I look up and can’t
stop my lips from the massive, all-teeth smile that takes over. “Yes,
my wife?”

“Do you want to come
dance with me or keep gazing at Ethan and Clara with jealousy?”

The chair I’d been
sitting in shoots away from the table and I rush around it toward
her. I wrap my arms around her and lift her into the air before I
kiss her.

“I’ll never be
jealous of anyone as long as I have you.”

“Logan Parker,
there’s no reason to make me swoon over you now. I’ve already
married you.”

“I’ll make you
swoon every day for the rest of your life,” I say, placing another
kiss to her lips and guiding her to the dance floor.

As I hold my wife in my
arms, I give a silent thank you for the life I have and for the luck
I’ve had in love. One thing is for sure, I’ve never loved someone
so hard in my entire life.

THANK YOU for reading
Just One
Night
, the second book in the Black Alcove series. Sara
and Logan’s story was a fun one to write. I hope you enjoyed it.

The third book in
the Black Alcove series releases soon. Go to
www.jami-wagner.com
for more information.

I will never
forget the amount of support and encouragement that went in to
writing Sara and Logan’s story.

Mom, Dad, and
Holly: You are my biggest fans, and I love you more and more each
day. Thank you for believing in me and being there when I need you.

Dana Volney: In
the time I’ve known you, we’ve come a long way. You motivate me,
you push me, and because of you my goals actually happen. Thank you
for keeping me on track.

Mary Billiter: I
miss you. I wish you were here to share all these happy moments,
because I know without you and the push you gave me in the beginning,
my life would be so much different.

Grant Rogers: You
are a trooper and I will be forever thankful to have you in my life
during everything I’m going through.

Mallori Roth, Kate
Maxwell, and Megan Phillips: My beta readers rock! You’ve all
helped me and made me a stronger writer. Thank you!

Alyssa Navarro and
Trisha Butcher: Thank you all for being the best girlfriends a girl
could ask for and for understanding when I can’t make every girls
night out.

Julie Sturgeon: I
love working with you. You take away stress like it’s nobody’s
business. Thank you for working with me!

Christa at Paper
and Sage Design: Again, you amaze me with the bright and beautiful
covers you’ve made for me. This one is more than perfect!

And finally, thank
you to the readers, bloggers, and social media fans who have read
Just One Night
and
are spreading the word. Your support is the best thing I could ask
for.

Did you miss
Just One Kiss
,
the
story of Kelsey and Ethan?

Read
on for the first chapter of
Just
One Kiss
:
A Black
Alcove Novel

Kelsey

There’s no point in
making a plan because somehow it always manages to fall apart.

“I’m sorry, could
you
please
repeat
that?” I ask, even though I heard her loud and clear the first
time.

Sara Connelly did
not
just tell me that in less than thirty days she’ll be leaving on
some “extended” vacation to finally travel the world — those
are the exact words she used. Throw in the fact that she isn’t sure
when she’ll be back, she isn’t leaving me in charge of the bar
while she’s away, and someone else will be making my schedule, this
doesn’t look good for me. I can’t decide whether to be relieved
that she isn’t adding to my newfound stress or hurt by her choice,
seeing as a huge piece of my plan just went to shit.

“Any particular
reason you made this choice?” I ask.

She just shakes her
head.

After Sara graduated
college at twenty-one—thanks to early college classes she took
while still in high school—her father gave her The Bar. Sara hated
that name, so she had a reopening and renamed it The Black Alcove.
Except everyone refers to it as the BA, which is fitting because it’s
been a year since she took over and the entire place is pretty
badass.

That also means I’ve
been the bar manager for the last year. I know my way around this
place better than I do our apartment. I can do anything she can do,
and sometimes better. A new boss could and more than likely
will
ruin my already polished class schedule.

I stop slicing the lime
in my hand, set the knife calmly on the bar top in front of me, and
focus on her. Sara hasn’t made eye contact with me once since she
shared her announcement.
She’s
not telling me something.
She’s sitting on one of the
high-top stools at the other side of the bar, planning the next
week’s work schedule. She looks up from her papers and her long,
blonde curls fall around her guilty face. Big, blue eyes look
everywhere but at me before returning to the calendar lying in front
of her. She clicks her pen twice before she says anything.

“Come on, Kelsey,
this is your final semester of college. Do you really want to be
running a bar and going to class?” She glances up. “Besides, we
both know you hate working in general, and if I can’t rely on you
to show up on time to bartend the 3:00 p.m. shift, there’s no way
you can manage this place for a whole a year while I’m gone.”

A
whole year!
I thought she didn’t know how long she was
going to be gone.

I let out a small huff,
grabbing the knife and cutting into the green ball in front of me a
bit more harshly than I should, all while cursing at how well she
knows me. It’s true. I hate being told what to do and when and
where I need to be somewhere. I hate working. Correction – I hate
working on a schedule someone else has made for me – even if it
works around my classes – and rules are my enemy.

Yet here I am, about to
graduate with a degree in accounting, which has nothing to with
writing, my dream job. Writing would let me be anywhere at any time
and be happy. Accounting will do nothing but give me a job where I’ll
have to work eight to five behind a desk. I’ll probably work harder
than I do as a bartender while making half the money. And that says
something, because life as a bartender can be pretty intense work.
What was I thinking?

Make
Daddy proud. Maybe an accounting degree will get him to notice you.
That’s what I was thinking.

“I’m only late
because I get lost in my studies.” My voice is cheery and
exaggerated.

“Ha, yeah okay,
studies
. I wasn’t
aware you were majoring in how to take the longest naps ever,” she
says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

I give her my best sad
face, bottom lip out and all. I can’t help it when I fall asleep
from a boring textbook. Hand me a romance novel or some suspense, and
I’ll pull an all-nighter.

“But the main reason
I’m not leaving you in charge is because you stress easily. I don’t
want you becoming too overwhelmed this semester. It’s your last
one. Enjoy it.”

That’s sweet of her.
But I still think she’s holding back information.

The idea of new
management terrifies me. I admit I need someone who can cut me some
slack— college isn’t as easy as some people make it look.

“Who is your
replacement, and what if they fire me while you’re gone because
they don’t know how I work? They don’t know me like you, and they
won’t ‘let it slide’ on account of the best friend rule.”

It’s quite simple: We
always forgive each other no matter what and we don’t judge each
other or do anything that would cause the other to fail in life.
Hence, if she fired me, I would fail in helping pay our rent.

“My cousin is coming
to take over. I promise I already told him about you and that no
matter what happens, he can’t fire you.” She shrugs, continuing
to write out the schedule. Just like that. Problem solved. “Those
weren’t my exact words, but I run this place, not him. Technically
he has to do what I say even if I’m not here. So you can stop
having whatever huge mental freak out your having, because it doesn’t
look good on you.”

I try not to smile. I
was not having a
huge
freak out. Minor, possibly.

It’s the first week
of my final semester of college and everything should be going
exactly the way I’ve written in my planner. A day shouldn’t go by
without having at least one item checked off. Even if it’s as
simple as watering the plants on Friday.

The main focus of my
plan is the fact I’m housesitting for my parents for most of the
semester, which means I’ll have plenty of alone time to study and
pass the last of my dreaded accounting classes. I still can’t
believe I left payroll accounting and tax income for the last
semester. If I were smart, I would’ve taken them earlier. Scratch
that, if I were
smart
,
I would have enrolled in a degree for creative writing and taken a
full credit load every semester to finish college earlier. But no, I
didn’t do that and now I’m graduating in the fall with a degree
that means more to my father than me.

The next piece that
makes my life so easy right now is working for Sara at the Black
Alcove Bar. She’s my best friend and my boss. It has its perks,
such as my free-flowing schedule to work around homework and class.
This bartending shift is defiantly a key player that’s holding me
and my perfected plan together. All my friends work here and it feels
like home. We’re a team that wants to succeed, and we do everything
we can to help each other whether it’s at work or not.