The Line That Binds Series Box Set (77 page)

I arched an eyebrow at her and she grinned sexily in return. “Nice try, Bubbles.”

“You’re not going to tell me?” she asked as I put my arm over her shoulder and steered her toward the house.

“Not today.” I smiled. “But maybe soon.”

My phone vibrated as I turned the Escape onto 212 Stockton Drive. No one was here. There were no weddings booked for the entire weekend. Taking advantage of the empty schedule, Simone had given all the employees off and picked Dad up while we were at my doctor’s appointment, anxious to get an early start to their weekend getaway to an upstate bed and breakfast.

Gag
.

It wasn’t something that I really wanted to think about, but Dad insisted on telling me in case of an emergency. Despite the gross factor, I was happy that he was happy. And I was thrilled he’d be gone the whole weekend. Gavin would also be away. Ever since the winter snow melted a few weeks ago, he’d been on a dirt bike. When his cast was still on, it earned him some new friends who were also fond of breaking bones and biking. He’d been spending a lot of time at their farm houses lately, riding hard to impress groups of dairy cows.

I parked beside the house and looked at my phone. It was a text from Ben.

Hey, babe. Everything go ok?

All good! Just got home.
I texted back.

I’ll call in a few.

I’d ridden into school with him this morning. As soon as we got there, he decided to drop a bomb on our weekend plans.

“You know how I told you that Pop and Randall have a fishing trip this weekend?” he asked, while I grabbed the books I needed out of my locker.

“Yeah,” I replied, closing the metal door and gazing up at him as I thought about our plans for our weekend alone. No sneaking through the tunnel into our rooms. No holding back giggles. No biting my lip to hold back other
…
sounds.

He slid his hand down my arm as I placed mine against his chest, physically admiring his tight muscles through his T-shirt. I was tempted to slip my hands underneath just to feel his skin on my fingertips. “Well,” he said with a grimace. “I kind of agreed to go with them.”

“What?” I asked, dropping my hands. “How? Why?”

“Babe,” he said with a small sigh. “I just feel like I owe him some time. I mean, your birthday was last week and
…
We’ve just been spending so much time together, which is what I want, but
…
” he paused, running his hand back up my arm, “I think I need to give him this weekend. Since we don’t have to work, we’re leaving as soon as I get home.”

“So, good news,” Izzy said, walking up to us with Spaz in tow.

“Ryan finally gave up the D to Emily,” Spaz cut in.

“Babe, I was going to tell them,” Izzy scolded him with a stern look. He shrugged. She turned back at us. “She’s already blown up Twitter about it. Hopefully, this means you won’t have to endure Ryan’s ugly puppy eyes in Chemistry anymore.” She winked at me, then stopped smiling when she finally noticed our silence.

I was still stunned by Ben’s news.

Spaz tagged Ben’s shoulder with a light punch while Izzy leaned in closer to me. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, still locked eyes with Ben. “It’s okay, babe. I know you need to spend some time with him.”

“You’re not mad?” he asked.

“No,” I reassured him, pinching the front of his shirt between my fingers. “Maybe Izzy will want to hang with me?” I twisted my head and watched her heart-shaped face scrunch.

“Um,” she said as she glanced at Spaz. “Well, I would, LJ, but we’ve got plans too. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “I guess I’ll just catch you all another time.”

After Izzy and Spaz left, Ben and I had one minute to say goodbye before the bell rang. We kissed every last second, but it still wasn’t enough. This would be our first weekend apart. I wasn’t afraid of losing him. After all, his love had saved my life. Not many people have love like that. But it still would be tough to be separated, even for two days.

I opened the door to the quiet house and climbed the lonely stairs. What was I going to do with no one around? I passed by Gavin’s deserted room, then Dad’s. When I stepped into my bedroom, I dropped my bag beside the door and stared at the well painting I’d hung after Ben had broken the curse.
Smoothing my finger along the edge of the canvas, I stared at the smudgy gray hues the same way I had when I first moved here. The well. The stones. The trees’ branches, swirling around the dream-like scene. This was number one, originally hung in Janine’s room. Dad didn’t want it there anymore and I couldn’t bring myself to put it with the others in the basement. It felt wrong. I knew this was Janine’s first wish, though I had no idea what her first wish was. I did, however, know the wish she had from the start. To break the curse. And we finally did. No more heartache for Dahlia, no more loss for Charles. Aunt Janine knew it would be worth it in the end. She just made some really bad decisions, the biggest of which was not trusting Lloyd with all the information from the beginning.

Moving over to one of the windows, I peered down at the property. Most of it was mine. I’d gone to Mr. Upton’s office on Monday and signed the paperwork. This was home, forever. The same day, I informed Simone about my decision to sell part of the business. I was pretty sure I cracked the rest of her tough façade when I told her Upton was drawing up the paperwork for her half of the partnership. She deserved it. Later that afternoon, I made sure to have Emily’s last paycheck ready when she came to work. I was fully prepared to give it to her in a professional way, but when she snatched it from my hand and threw a punch I decided throwing one back was the better tactic. She threatened to sue. I threatened to call the cops. Simone escorted her off the property and called her parents instead. After she’d already gotten into trouble for accusing me of drug use, I was sure her parents were less than thrilled to get Simone’s call. I hadn’t seen her around school much since Monday. I had hope that the rest of the year would stay the same.

Mom had decided to permanently stay in Pennsylvania also. She checked herself into an inpatient rehab facility an hour away and was out after two months. No setbacks. No wagon falls. She had the strength to quit. I had to give her that wish, even if it meant I’d lose a little more.

Luckily, though, none of it was lost.

When I turned back to the bed, I noticed the framed moon flower on my pillow.

I didn’t leave it there.

I scooped it up, admiring the gift I’d never forget from the man I loved with everything I had. Its white petals were dried and pressed into their natural circle shape, its veins creating the shape of a star. I hung it back in place above my bed.

Beautiful.

A creaking sound came from the bathroom behind me. I moved to the door and pushed it open, finding myself staring at the tub filled with bubbles stacked high above the rim. Some had even spilled onto the floor. I smiled, wondering how and when Ben had done this. Did he just leave? I pulled my phone out of my pocket, ready to call, when I saw toes peeking out of the edge.

His toes.

I set my phone on the vanity, noticing his phone and the skeleton key at the far end. Stepping closer to the tub, I watched his upper body emerge from the bubbles. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled and wiped his face. “I wanted to surprise you. And to give you a little taste of what I got to see when we first
technically
met.”

My smile was so big, my face started to hurt. “You wanted to surprise me?”

“Sure,” he said, folding his arms over the edge of the tub. Groups of bubbles were on his head, in his ears, on his neck. His lower half was completely covered, and I found myself hoping for a way to see more. “How was your appointment?” he asked, bringing my focus back to his eyes, as dark and intense as the first time I’d looked into them.

“I’m done. The doctors said the MRI scans were clean and I passed their last psych eval, clearing me of any signs of insanity.”

There was no evidence of the curse ever happening. Ben and I weren’t sure how any of it was possible, or how it all worked. We figured the end happened when I had passed out by the well. Since then, I hadn’t heard a single wish or had a single headache. And as far as I could tell, all of my memories were intact. Maybe one day we’d stumble across more information, but for now we gladly abandoned the search.

“I’m so relieved it wasn’t permanent.”

“Me too,” I admitted, knowing how lucky I was to escape such a horrible fate. I watched the bubbles drift down his slick shoulders, switching my focus back to him. “Was it like this for you?”

“What?” he asked with a knowing grin.

“This.” I waved my hand down at him. “You, looking like that in the tub.”

He leaned back and gathered more bubbles around his body to mock me. “I don’t know what you mean, but the way you’re looking at me is making me feel a little uncomfortable.”

“Oh, really?”
Okay, I’ll play.
“Making you uncomfortable?” I squatted down and leaned closer. “Is this what you wanted to do when you saw me?” I scooped some bubbles out of the tub, uncovering part of his thigh under the water.

“You in the mood for a bath, Bubbles?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling a little dirty,” I said and his smile stretched wider, displaying his dimples, deep and delightful.

After pulling my T-shirt over my head, I watched his eyes dilate, sharpening his stare. Next, I stripped my jeans. I moved slow, taunting, tempting. I loved how he looked at me. My bra followed and then my panties. I dropped them to the floor and let his eyes take me in for another moment.

“LJ, you are so beautiful. I… Wow.”

I stepped into the opposite end of the tub, letting the bubbles engulf me. “Speechless, huh? Like when we first
technically
met.” I leaned onto my knees and moved closer. Reaching under the water, I found his knees then slid my hands up his thighs.

He sat up straight and pushed a bunch of bubbles my way with a sly grin.

I pursed my lips at his cute defensive move then shoved the bubbles away, quickly jerking back when my hand hit something solid floating in the water. Ben’s eyes were still focused on me, gauging me. “What was that?” I asked, reaching back into the water and grasping a palm-sized sphere. Removing it from the bubbles, I wiped off the clear surface. “What is this?” I asked, popping the plastic open and removing a piece of glass.

“Do you remember the night I was drunk in my basement? There was broken glass all over the ground. I cut my foot—”

“Diamonds,” I said, recalling that night as clear as the piece of glass between my fingers. “You called them diamonds.”

“I wanted to give them all to you. Every single one of them. I don’t know when I fell in love with you, LJ,” he said, taking my empty hand. “I’m not sure on the exact moment. I think it was a collection of moments, pieces of glass. They all just added up. I knew before that night, but that night was the first time I knew, without a doubt, I would ask you to marry me.”

The tears fell before I could blink. “Ben, I… That’s the sweetest…”

He lifted his hand, showing me a ring on his pinky finger before pulling it off and holding it up properly. It was a sleek design. A slim marquise diamond perched on a band of white gold. “It was one of my grandmother’s rings. I can buy you something better when—”

“I love it. Oh, Ben, I love it,” I said as he took my shaky hand and slipped it on my wet finger.

“Lila Janine Wayde, will you marry me?”

When the ring was on all the way, I looked into his eyes and whispered, “Yes.”

He pulled me close and kissed my lips in a way that promised me forever.

Happiness and love.

He made all my wishes come true.

Acknowledgements

Even though most of these wonderful people are thanked in the individual books, they deserve to be acknowledged again.

Always, I want to thank my supportive family. Will and Zoe, my books wouldn’t exist without you.

To everyone who helped me pull Ben and LJ’s story together: My besties- Tonya and Cari; My critique partners- Kim and Sam; My fantastic beta readers- Christine, Julie, Amy, Alicia, and Amanda. I can’t thank you enough for the time and attention you gave this series.

Thanks to Kristina for a fantastic edit and to Angela for the beautiful interior designs.

A big hug and thanks to Ena at Enticing Journey Book Promotions for arranging the cover reveals and blog tours for both individual books, and to Christine from The Hype PR for arranging the box set promo and blitz. For all the bloggers who read, reviewed, and helped spread the word about this series- You are all so flippin’ fantastic!