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Fallon pops the ring out of the box and positions it near my finger. His eyes meet mine, the question clear.
Throat tight, all I can do is nod. When the ring slides over the third finger on my left hand, I let out a breath, watch the stone glitter for a few moments, then throw my arms around Fallon and kiss the daylights out of him.
I’m not going to be an old, perfectionist spinster. I’m not a robot who hates sex.
I’ve got a whole world of possibilities open in front of me and an unbreakable support system at my back. But most importantly, the man of my dreams will be at my side for whatever comes next.
Fallon nuzzles his nose against mine, then pulls back. “Would you really encourage me to keep working with ex-cons? That wouldn’t make you uncomfortable?”
“Fallon.” I sigh. “No. It would make me proud.”
His face splits into a smile, then he dips his lips to kiss me.
With my arms wrapped around the man of my dreams, a big honking diamond ring glimmering on my finger, and a world of possibilities opened up in front of me, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.
This isn’t midlife. I’m just getting started.
Lily
Things are dire.
Jen is all loved-up, Candice and Trina are the same, and my mother keeps dropping hints about me finding a man of my own.
And I’m still carrying this secret inside me that will change everyone’s opinion of me. The secret that’s about to change my life forever.
There’s one thing I know for sure: I should stay far, far away from Rudy with his sparkling blue eyes and his muscular arms and his sexy stubble and that smile that burns the panties right off my body.
Somehow, though, my traitorous feet take me right back to the bookstore when I see him through the window. I’ve finished all the books he recommended, and I did promise to tell him what I thought.
I’m just keeping my word, is all. Being polite.
I’m not walking through this door and hoping he’ll give me that heated look and drop his voice when he says my name again.
Nope.
Just normal, a platonic conversation between two consenting bookworms. I promise.
Dirty Little Midlife Secret
HEART’S COVE HOTTIES: BOOK SIX
CHAPTER 1
Lily
There are two secrets, really. One is a blessing, and the other is a curse.
I’m still coming to grips with them both—and trying to figure out how to tell my family. My mother, Lottie, won’t know how to react. She’ll be ecstatic and dismayed and overwhelmed. She’ll tell her best friend Dorothy, which means the whole town will know what’s happening within minutes.
My two sisters, Candice and Katrina, will burst into mother-hen mode.
Telling them what’s been going on will be a good thing. They’ll be supportive. They’ll have my back. I’ll be able to grieve all the things that have gone wrong, and maybe even celebrate the things that might go right. I’ll be able to move on.
So why haven’t I told anyone yet?
The past six weeks have felt like I’m driving through a snowstorm in the dead of night. I can see four or five feet ahead of me, a small cone of light that quickly falls away to complete darkness. Snowflakes swirl and dart above the blacktop in front of me as my windshield wipers flick over and back at full speed, and I’m just gripping the steering wheel praying there isn’t a patch of black ice beneath my tires. Ask me what bends are coming up in the road, and I’ll just laugh. How the hell would I know? I’m barely able to keep the car between the lines, let alone see what kind of hairpin turns are coming up next.
Running my finger along the edge of one of the ten thousand brochures I’ve been given over the past four weeks since I’ve been back in Heart’s Cove, I try to focus on what my doctor is saying.
