AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Be Gentle
Carrie
“I’vegottogo,”Ryan says before planting one more chaste kiss on my lips. When we separate, my mouth follows his, not wanting to stop.
He grins at me, gives me one more peck, then pulls away. “If I don’t leave soon, I won’t leave at all.” His grin fades, and he tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear before tracing my ear lobe with his fingers, giving me a shiver of excitement.
“I want to do this right,” he says. “No mistakes this time.”
He takes my hand and pulls me to the coffee table. I zero in on the black box sitting there. “What’s that?”
“Good question.” He picks up the box and hands it to me. “They told me to give it to you.”
I take the large box, measuring the weight. It’s lighter than I expected, but that’s not saying much because I have no idea what would fit in a box like that, aside from a rifle, or golf clubs, or something weird like that.
Placing the box back on the coffee table, I lift the lid to find two dozen stems of dark purple peonies with a letter resting on top of the stems.
I gasp and pick up one of the flowers, inhaling its fragrance. “These are my favorites! How did you know?”
“I didn’t,” he reminds me with a shrug. “I’m just the messenger.”
Then it dawns on me. I must’ve mentioned it to Lucy over the years. We’ve been friends since high school. Somewhere along the line it’s probably come up. Most likely when she was my bridesmaid at Chase’s wedding and I insisted on purple peonies in the arrangements.
I call room service and order us a couple of burgers and a pitcher of water, no ice. Then I pick up the envelope and read it.
Dear Carrie,
I hope you haven’t kicked Dad out yet. He didn’t know we were going to send him to find you. But after months of watching him mope around the shop looking like a lost, miserable puppy, we had to do something!
He’s my dad and I love him. I know he loves you. I hope you love him too.Be gentle with his heart.
Love,
Livvie
I fold up the letter and set it aside.
“What did it say?” Ryan asks, his brows raised.
“It said I should finish the game of Truth or Dare with you,” I say, as I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer.
Ryan rests his hands on my waist, his fingers rubbing against the skin that's exposed when I lift my arms. “Really? Okay. Who goes first?”
“I believe you're first,” I say, pressing my lips to his for a quick kiss. Geez. I could do that all night long. Maybe forever, if he lets me.
“Truth or dare?” he murmurs into my ear, following up with a nip at my earlobe.
“Truth,” I say.
Ryan’s brows raise. His lips slowly curve into a smile. “Will you come back to Walla Walla With me?”
I nod, then say, “I’m never leaving you again.”
Then I pull him into another kiss.
Chapter 37
One Year Later
