Page 34 of Rose's One Night to Forever
Considering he’d dealt with her family since nearly day one, she needed to gird her loins.
She leaned up on an elbow and smiled down. “Brings a whole new twist to meet the parents. But I can’t lie; I’d love to see Ireland. And the rest of your family.”
“Being here with Cody is important to me. But I’m glad you have all your family close. I don’t want that to change. How close you are with them.”
“It never will,” Rose promised. Then she waggled her brows. “We’ll just drag you and Cody into the fold with us. There is no escape.”
“Forewarned and accepted.” He kissed her again as if he craved her, and the connection between them grew and grew. “So what happens now?”
Rose considered.
Chance scooped her up and laid her over his body like a blanket. “May as well enjoy the wait while you plan our best course of action.”
She shook with laughter, settling more comfortably over him. All her soft parts nicely lined up with the warm parts of him that were solid and getting harder.
“You still have a lot to do before the show, don’t you?” she asked.
He made a face. “Yes.”
“Including sleep,” she scolded, fingers soft as she caressed his face. As much as it sucked, it was the right thing to suggest. “Let’s get Gabrielle’s running strong before making any bold changes in our lives.”
“Go slow?” His exaggerated confusion slid into a wink. “Can we do that?”
She snickered then rested her chin on her palms, centered on his chest. “I have a lot of work the next two weeks as well. There are these massive decorative bouquets I’m creating for a very demanding client.”
“The client could stop by and supervise a few times,” Chance suggested. “That way he can make sure you’re doing them up right.”
“Oh, and doing them up right would mean?”
“Naked. You, not the bouquets,” he clarified as seriously as possible. Delight rose in her heart. “I hear the very best floral arrangements are created in the buff.”
Laughter pooled around them. “You’re trouble.”
“You’re mine.” He said it softly. Sincerely. With his entire heart.
Everything she wanted was right here. Now to get through the next weeks so they could discover what came after.
14
August 27, grand opening of Gabrielle’s
* * *
Was there a feeling better than success?
Chance checked the crowd wandering on the main floor of the gallery and all but gloated. Music played in the background, a wild mix of theme music from epic movies and video games with assorted country and Western thrown in for good measure.
Three dozen bouquets were on display throughout the gallery. Some of the roses were deep red, some were brilliant yellow. Others, pink or nearly blue, the wild variety of colours echoed in the sizes of the bouquets. From a bare handful in a vase painted with a dancing goddess to the foyer showpiece with five dozen long-stemmed white beauties, Rose’s art fit perfectly with the rest of the show.
The artwork he’d assembled was being admired by a wide selection of Heart Falls residents, young and old. Conversations and laughter and even a few arguments rang out, and Chance was delighted by it all.
He’d invited the Heart Falls Seniors Lodge residents to an advance showing the previous day. The morning before that, the brand-new kindergarten to grade two classes had poured through the doors one after the other, accompanied by teachers and parent chaperones. Chance had acted as a tour guide that day as well, sharing stories about a handful of the pieces and sending the class home with a flyer Fern Fields had created explaining the rest.
A younger child dragged her older sister past him. “Come on. You’ve got to see the bear one. The sisters made friends with him, and then the mean gnome was going to hurt them, but—”
The rest of the story faded away as the twosome were lost to sight around the corner, but Chance had heard enough to be satisfied to the tips of his boots.
Storytelling mattered, no matter how people did it. Art, or music, or books, or flowers, or games. Or good old-fashioned fairy tales.
