SunnyWithAChanceofTrueLove (6 page)

But every minute with Ross was her new favorite. Whether they were making love, sharing a meal, or just taking a walk around downtown after the shops were closed, making up stories about what was happening behind closed doors now that the day was through—every moment with him proved what she’d known deep down since she was a little girl. Ross was her one, the soul that sang the song that had called her home and she intended to stay right by his side.

They’d spent the past two days in bed and she planned to drag him back here as soon as the wedding, the party, and their first dinner service together were finished. He’d insisted she shouldn’t feel obligated to step in and wait tables, but when the bus boy called in sick and his new waitress flat out quit, Elodie had insisted.

Truth be told, she was looking forward to a night on her feet, getting to know the locals. She spent too many hours cooped up in her studio with nothing but stuffed critters and props to keep her company. It would be nice to be around people for a while and to get to sneak a peek at her sexy boyfriend while he cooked.

“Sexy boyfriend,” she sighed as she collapsed on Ross’s chest, catching her breath.

“What?” he asked, hugging her closer.

“I said you’re my sexy boyfriend,” she repeated, loving the way the last word felt falling from her lips. “That’s how I’m going to introduce you when I take you back to Houston to meet Gram.”

Ross’s chest vibrated with laughter. “As long as your gram knows I have honorable intentions, I might make it out of that meeting with all my parts intact.”

Elodie lifted her head, propping her chin on one fist. “Oh, Gram doesn’t care about honorable intentions. She’s a fiend. She and her boyfriend have standing sex dates. Every Thursday and Sunday nights, and every other Tuesday.”

Ross’s brow furrowed. “She told you that?”

“No, I figured it out when I was in tenth grade and she and Bruce kept trying to send me to bed early on those nights. It’s no big deal.” She lifted a bare shoulder. “I mean, I was shocked at first, but now I’m glad for her. She and Bruce have a good thing.”

“But they’re not married?”

“Neither one of them saw the point. They were both married before and know that doesn’t necessarily mean a relationship will last. They said they preferred to take things day by day. So far, that’s lasted almost twenty years.”

Ross nodded slowly, making his thinking face, but he didn’t say anything for a long, quiet moment.

Finally, Elodie’s curiosity got the better of her. “What do you think about day by day forever?”

“I don’t know,” Ross said. “My parents have stayed married, but I know neither one of them takes what they have for granted. They work at it. So I guess that’s what it comes down to, whether you get married or not, you have to try not to take a good thing for granted.”

Elodie sighed as she stretched her toes toward the foot of the bed. “I can’t imagine taking love for granted. But I guess a person could eventually get used to feeling happy all the time. It might start to feel like the new normal, like something they deserved, instead of something they were so lucky to have found.”

Ross ran a gentle hand through her hair, making her feel treasured with a simple touch. “I guess, but I personally can’t imagine it.” He smiled. “Thank you.”

“For what?” she asked, returning the smile, because she couldn’t do anything else when he turned that sexy grin her way.

“For the past two days,” he said. “For being here when I woke up this morning. For making me happier than I could have imagined before you came back to town.”

“That woman was an idiot.” Elodie fought the wave of jealousy that flashed through her every time she thought about Ross’s ex. He hadn’t said much about the woman—except that they’d broken up recently, and she’d been the one to end it—but that was enough to make Elodie feel stabby every time she thought of this Meg person. “But her stupidity is my gain, so I’m glad she didn’t have the sense to hold on to the best man in town.”

Ross grinned. “You haven’t met every man in town.”

Elodie sniffed as she rolled onto her side beside him. “I’ve met enough.”

“Meg wasn’t stupid; she was right to break up with me,” he said, reaching over to squeeze her bare hip. “I wasn’t myself with her, and I didn’t care about her the way I should have.”

“Then why were you with her?” Elodie asked, knowing Ross would give her an honest answer.

“I was lonely,” he confessed. “All my friends have been pairing off and I was starting to think I’d never meet a woman who wanted to keep me around for more than a few months. Forget about forever.”

She frowned, her heart breaking to hear such sad words coming out of his mouth. “Why would you think that?” She pressed her fingers to his cheek, waiting until he turned to face her to continue. “You’re a sweet, giving, funny, wonderful man. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”

“I’m also a little bit of a train wreck, El,” he said with a laugh she could tell was forced. “I’m the guy who laughs when people aren’t making a joke and who can never tell when someone is sick of me until they tell me to get lost. I’m the guy who can’t stop talking, even when he knows he should, and who was dumb enough to think he could go from picking up dead animals on the side of the road to running a restaurant without any push back. I’m Ugly Ross, for God’s sake. That says it all right there.”

He rolled out of bed with a harsh sigh, retreating toward the bathroom so swiftly the door was already swinging closed when she cried out, “Don’t you dare call yourself that!”

When he didn’t respond, Elodie tossed off the covers and followed him, throwing open the door to the bathroom. “We’re going to talk. Right now. I don’t care if you’re peeing.”

Ross glanced over his shoulder as he reached in to start the shower. “I’m not peeing, but that’s good to know.”

“No joking,” she said sternly. “I don’t want to hear you call yourself Ugly Ross again. You’re not ugly. You’re beautiful, inside and out.”

His expression softened. “And you’re an angel, El, but seriously, it’s not a big deal. Even my friends call me Ugly Ross now. It’s not a mean thing like it was back in school. I’ve reclaimed it.”

“But it still bothers you,” she insisted. “I can tell. And it’s a name that came from a hateful person with hateful intentions and I’m honestly shocked the stupid thing didn’t die in elementary school.”

Ross reached for her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m really fine with it. I’m just nervous about the dinner service tonight and scared it’s going to be dead in here again, that’s all. Don’t be upset.”

She shook her head, sending her long hair flying around her shoulders, making her skin itch the way it always did when she left it down. “Don’t be sorry. Just promise me you’re going to kill it. That you’ll let me help you kill it.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Kill…the name.”

“Yes, that awful name,” she said. “I want it dead, because otherwise I’m going to be punching a lot a people in the mouth and that’s not a good way to fit in and make friends.”

He let out a tired-sounding sigh, but he was smiling again, giving her hope she was getting through to him. “Okay. You can help me kill it, but only if you’ll come get in the shower and let me show you how much I appreciate you taking me under your wing.”

“I’m not taking you under my wing,” she said softly, stepping into his open arms. “You’re in my heart. And no one hurts the people who are in my heart.”

His smile faded, replaced by an almost pained look that scared her a little until he said, “You’re in my heart, too. And I’d sure like it if you stuck around, El. I’d like to take it day by day with you.”

“Me too,” she said, standing on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek. “That’s why I’m moving in tonight. No point in renting a room from Remi if I’m never going to use it. And it’s going to take forever to make my parents’ old place livable.”

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—you’re a smart girl,” he said, obviously pleased with her announcement. “Now get in the shower. I need to be kissing you five minutes ago.”

“Yes, Mr. Dyer,” she said as she whisked the curtain aside.

“Now there’s something I wouldn’t mind being called every once in a while,” he said, his gaze darkening as he watched her step inside the hot spray. “Especially in that particular tone, from those particular lips.”

“Why don’t you join me in the shower, Mr. Dyer,” she said, playing up the sexy voice as she crooked her finger his way. “And I’ll show you all the things I can do with these lips.”

A second later he was beside her, scooping her into his arms and growling against her neck, making her giggle until his lips found hers and her giggles transformed to a happy sigh. The happy, blissed out kind of sigh a girl couldn’t fake, the kind of sigh she knew deep down was just asking for trouble.

Because, in Elodie’s experience, great happiness was usually accompanied by great sorrow and miracles like what she’d found with Ross came at a price.

CHAPTER FIVE

Ross

The bride was beautiful in a short lace dress and cowgirl boots, but Ross only had eyes for the woman by his side.

Instead of her usual braids, Elodie had twined her hair into one long coil that she’d pinned into a crown on top of her head. The hair alone made her look like a princess, but combined with a lavender chiffon dress that seemed to dance around her petite frame—even when she was standing still—she was positively…

“What’s that word?” Ross asked softly, leaning down to whisper into her ear.

“What word?” Elodie whispered back.

“The one that means magical, but it starts with a vowel.” Ross pulled her closer to his side, still finding it hard to believe she was real and not a creation of his overactive imagination. “I think it starts with an E.”

“Enchanting.” She grinned up at him, her smile dazzling him even more than it had a couple of days ago.

“That’s it,” Ross said, kissing her forehead. “You’re enchanting.”

“And you’re the sexiest man in here,” Elodie whispered, wrapping her arm affectionately around his waist. “Now hush, they’re starting.”

Ross turned to face the bar while Elodie pressed up on tiptoe to see the bride and groom over the shoulders of the taller people standing in front of them at the Blue Saloon.

Reece Hearst, Tulsi’s sister, and Grayson Parker had met at the saloon six weeks ago and had decided to be married on the barstools where they’d shared their first drink. Ross knew the bride’s parents hadn’t been thrilled that their daughter was getting married in a bar, but looking at Mr. and Mrs. Hearst now, you wouldn’t know it. They stood not far behind the bride and groom, both of them beaming, clearly overjoyed to have their long lost daughter back home and marrying a solid man like Grayson.

Tulsi and Clementine stood at the front of the small crowd. Ross couldn’t see either of them from his and Elodie’s position in the back, but he could hear Tulsi sobbing into her handkerchief. Tulsi was a wedding weeper from way back. She said she couldn’t help it, that the most beautiful things in life just always made her cry.

It hadn’t been something Ross had understood before—at least not in a visceral way—but now he did. Now, every time he looked down at Elodie, his heart began to ache and his throat threatened to close up. Something had changed between them this morning, something that made him feel even closer to her than he had before. It was more than gratitude that such a sweetly fierce person had his back. It was feeling so completely understood. It was realizing that Elodie saw him clearly—probably more clearly than anyone had before—and she loved him anyway.

She did love him. Neither of them had said the words straight out, but he could feel it in the way her fingers curled slowly through his and squeezed as Grayson and Reece promised to love and cherish each other until death did them part. It was as undeniable as the sun shining through the windows and the most precious gift he’d ever been given. Being loved by this beautiful girl, who seemed to have been made just for him, was a gift topped only by the gift of being able to love her in return.

He didn’t know how in the hell he’d gotten so lucky, but he meant to do whatever it took to make sure his luck held out. So when his best friend Mia crossed the room toward him after the ceremony, calling out—

“Ugly Ross, look at you! All dressed up and looking fine.”

—he didn’t hesitate to honor the promise he’d made to Elodie this morning.

“Hey, Mia,” he said, hand tightening around Elodie’s as he pulled Mia in for a quick hug. “I don’t want to upset you—especially considering you’re pregnant and all—but I was wondering if you would help me kill that name.”

Mia blinked up at him, confusion in her eyes as she swept her red curls from her face. “Kill what now?”

“Ugly Ross.” He felt his face flush but pushed on, knowing this was something he should have done twenty years ago. “I’d like to just be Ross from now on. If that’s okay.”

“Oh.” Mia’s lips parted and a stricken expression gradually replaced her confused one. “Oh my God, Ross. I’m so sorry. I never even thought… I mean, I should have, I guess, but I just assumed you were fine with it. I mean, you’re always so laid back.” She winced. “Jesus, I’m an awful person. I’m so sorry.”