SunnyWithAChanceofTrueLove (10 page)

But Elodie knew one thing for certain—she was telling him the way she felt tonight. The only thing worse than being afraid she was going to lose him was fearing it was going to happen before she’d had a chance to tell him how much she loved him. She wanted to tell him that he was the only person in the world who could make her heart feel so full of hope, and that she couldn’t imagine living the rest of her life without him.

As soon as they were finished with lunch and buckled into Ross’s bug on the way to his surprise, she started looking for the perfect moment. It didn’t come as they were driving out to his parents’ house—she wanted to be able to look him in the eyes when she said the words for the first time—or as his dad led them out to the barn, where two saddled horses were already waiting. It didn’t come as they were riding out across the pasture in the warm afternoon with a light breeze blowing that promised an unusually warm spring or as Ross tied their horses to a tree near an old log cabin. But as soon as he reached up to help her out of her saddle, the words bubbled up inside her, desperate to be out of her heart and born into the world.

Before she could speak, Ross pulled her into his arms and silenced her with a kiss. It was a warm, sweet kiss, but it still took her breath away and made her thoughts fuzzy around the edges. By the time she recovered, he was leading her down the overgrown path toward the cabin.

“I didn’t know you were rich and famous when I set this up,” he said, smiling at her over his shoulder. “So you might have one of these already, but the minute I saw it, I knew it had to be yours.”

“I’m not famous,” Elodie said, not bothering to protest the rich part. She was rich, at least as far as she was concerned. She couldn’t imagine ever needing more money than she had now. And she couldn’t imagine any amount of money making her happier than getting to spend another day with this man.

“You’re famous enough.” Ross paused with his hand on the door to the cabin. “I did a little Googling while I was in the hospital and found out you did a show with this guy a few years ago. But this is one of his new pieces, so, anyhow…I hope you like it.”

He opened the door and there, in the middle of the dusty cabin was a tidy little table covered in a red tablecloth. On top was a stuffed armadillo with glorious pink wings dressed in a Cupid costume, holding a tiny bow and arrow.

Elodie recognized the artist immediately. “It’s a Kaplan,” she said, hand coming to cover her mouth as she floated toward the beautifully arranged creature. “Oh my God, it’s gorgeous!”

“So you don’t already have one?” Ross asked.

“No, I don’t,” she said, circling the piece, taking in the places where the artist had seamlessly added wings onto the armadillo. “I always stopped myself.” She glanced up at Ross, realizing how much this must have cost him. “You shouldn’t have done this. It’s too much.”

“It’s just enough, and like I said, I couldn’t resist,” he said with a smile, obviously thrilled to pieces simply because he’d made her happy. “It was too perfect. A cupid for Valentine’s Day, and an armadillo to remember the day we started falling in love again. Can’t get much better than that.”

Elodie smiled even as tears stung at her eyes. “You’re falling in love with me?”

“Fallen in love with you,” Ross said, crossing the room. “I’m completely crazy about you, El, and I plan to keep loving you for as many days as you’ll have me.”

“How about all of them?” Elodie said, tears slipping down her cheeks as she stepped into his arms, feeling so lucky when he hugged her tight. “I’m going to love you forever. Forever and ever until cockroaches rule the world and humans are a horror story they tell the little cockroaches to teach them to take good care of their planet.”

Ross chuckled as he kissed the top of her head. “That reminds me of the stories you used to tell in school. I always liked your scary stories the best.”

She tilted her head back. “They always felt like the truest stories, back then. But now I think I’d rather make up love stories, ones with sweet, brave heroes with lovely brown eyes.”

“And princesses who punch people in the nuts,” Ross said, his smile fading as he pulled her closer. “Or maybe you could just kiss me a love story. Because I swear I can hear you talking in my head every time we kiss.”

“Yes,” Elodie said, her words transforming to a happy sigh as Ross’s lips met hers.

Me too
, she said with her kiss. With the next, she promised to keep him warm every night. And with the next, she promised to be his partner in every adventure. By the fifth and the sixth kisses, she was simply sending him waves of love as their clothes fell away and they came back together on the dusty floor, too eager to wait until they made it home.

And as they made love beneath the approving gaze of a stuffed armadillo, Elodie knew that all was as it should be and that from here on out every day would be sunny with a certainty of true love.

***

Keep reading for a sneak peek of book three in the Lonesome Point series,

DIAMONDS AND DUST, Tulsi and Pike’s story.

A Letter From the Author

Tell me your favorite part!

I hope you enjoyed SUNNY WITH A CHANCE OF TRUE LOVE and will take a moment to leave a review (even a sentence or two is great!) and
tell me your favorite par
t of the story! I love reading your thoughts so much and reviews help other readers discover the series.

The Lonesome Point books mean so much to me, and I’m thrilled to share these stories of sexy Texas cowboys and the women tough enough to tame them with all of you. I treasure every email I receive and hope to have more to add to my collection in the coming months as the rest of the series releases.

If you’d like to chat about your reading experience please drop me a line at
[email protected]
. You can also catch me on Facebook (my favorite place to hang out with readers)
https://www.facebook.com/JessieEvansRomance
, or sign up for my newsletter so you’ll never miss out on a new release or giveaway again
http://bit.ly/1swaXYv
.

And on a much more serious note, if you or someone you love is suffering from the emotional side effects of bullying there are many places to turn to for help, including the following websites:

http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

http://www.pacer.org/bullying/

Wishing you many good reads, and thank you for the chance to tell you stories,

Jessie Evans

More about the author:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessie Evans, gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sexy, contemporary romances she loves to read.
She's married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a cottage in the jungle. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more. 
When she's not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house full of boys, and drifting in and out on the waves, feeling thankful for sun, surf, and lovely people to share them with.

Learn more at
www.jessieevansauthor.com

More Sexy Contemporary Romances by Jessie Evans

Lonesome Point, Texas, Series:

Leather and Lace

Saddles and Sin

Diamonds and Dust

Twelve Dates of Christmas: The Ballad of Lula Jo

Glitter and Grit

Sunny With a Chance of True Love: The Ballad of Ugly Ross

Chaps and Chance

Ropes and Revenge

Always a Bridesmaid Series

Betting on You

Keeping You

Wild For You

Taking You
(Series Ending Novella)

The Fire and Icing Series

Melt with You

Hot for You

Sweet to You

Saving You
(Series Ending Novella)

The Wild Rush Series (Edgy, Sexy New Adult Reads) written as J. Evans

One Wild Night

This Wicked Rush

One Perfect Love

This Sweet Escape
-(Danny and Sam’s story)

One Beautiful Revenge (Danny and Sam’s conclusion)

Please enjoy this excerpt of DIAMONDS AND DUST

Tulsi and Pike’s story

PROLOGUE

Seven years earlier

Some people fall in love a hundred times between the cradle and the grave—their fickle hearts flitting from one infatuation to the next like bees buzzing from flower to flower.

And then there are people like Tulsi Hearst.

Since the day ten-year-old Pike Sherman dove into the river at the annual church float trip to pull six-year-old Tulsi out of the current before she was swept downstream, she had adored only one boy. It started as puppy love, transformed into an angsty pre-teen crush, and by the time Tulsi became a senior at Lonesome Point High School, four years behind the object of her affection, it had become a brightly burning torch of unrequited love.

She knew Pike didn’t return her feelings. Heck, if Tulsi hadn’t been his sister Mia’s best friend, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t have known she was alive.

Tulsi was so shy she rarely spoke to anyone but her two best friends; Pike was the town golden boy with too many friends—and ex-girlfriends—to count. Tulsi preferred the quiet shadows of the family barn; Pike lived for the floodlights illuminating the baseball field as he led his team to victory. Tulsi treasured the long weekends when Pike came home to visit from the University of Texas; Pike couldn’t wait to start his professional baseball career and be free of Lonesome Point, and his controlling father, forever.

Tulsi had spent enough time at the Sherman house to know that Pike and his dad were like dynamite and a lit fuse, and other things best kept apart, and realized her days with Pike were numbered. Still, when she learned he’d been drafted onto a Minor League team, and would be spending spring break training, instead of joining her and Mia on their annual camping trip, Tulsi was devastated.

After a long cry in the hayloft and hugging her horse Velveeta’s neck for longer than a nearly grown woman should need to, she decided it was time to let her infatuation with Pike go. She was eighteen years old and going to college to study equine business in the fall. She was becoming a woman, and it was time to put little girl dreams on the shelf.

With those noble intentions in mind, she signed up for an internship at a busy working barn in Springfield, Texas, and went to stay with her Aunt Willa for the week of spring break. She showed up for her first day at work determined to make a fresh start. She was going to be a new Tulsi, a Tulsi who was focused on career and friends, not crushes on boys who saw her as a little sister to be teased, tormented, and protected, but never loved the way she yearned to be loved.

She could feel New Tulsi blossoming inside her as she helped out around the barn, her usual shyness vanishing as she taught little girls to groom and saddle their horses, and led toddlers around the ring on docile ponies.

Then she joined her co-workers for lunch at the picnic tables at the edge of the property and saw the baseball diamond across the street…

Even before her new boss explained that the field was where the Springfield Cardinals minor league team held their annual training, Tulsi’s stomach was twisting into knots around her bite of potato salad. She’d already seen the familiar silhouette on the pitcher’s mound and realized that Pike Sherman was right across the street. Right across the
flipping
street, after she’d left home, missed the camping trip she’d been looking forward to for months, and stepped out of all her comfort zones in an attempt to purge her unrequited love from her system.

Tulsi rarely got angry—her father and big sister were the loose cannons in the Hearst family. She was a pacifist by nature, and believed kindness was the greatest virtue any human being could possess, but the fact that Pike had dared to stick his handsome nose into her fresh start made her mad enough to spit.

She stewed in her anger all day, and by the time Pike pulled up beside her in his red pickup truck as she was walking back to her aunt’s farm for supper, she was in a truly foul mood.

“Tulsi?” Pike frowned at her through the open passenger side window. “What the heck are you doing here? Did you and Mia come up to watch spring training?”