Carly Phillips - Sealed with a Kiss

Instead, he turned to see a vision walk through his door. From the toes of her red cowboy boots to the dark denim of her jeans, up to the matching tomato red, tight zippered hoodie she wore, the woman before him was vintage Molly.

He sucked in a startled breath and dropped his duffel to the floor. “Molly.” He didn’t know what surprised him more, that she was here or what she was wearing.

And damned if he wanted to draw the wrong conclusions or subject himself to any more false hope. But his heart wasn’t listening. It was beating at a rapid pace while his pulse rate spiked.

“Hi.” She raised a hand in a half wave, obviously feeling as awkward as he did. She glanced at the duffel bag at his feet. “Were you on your way out?”

He shrugged. “I was going to get dinner.” Suddenly keeping that reserved table didn’t seem all that important. “What brings you by?”

Molly ran a hand through her tousled but gorgeous blond hair. “I had a question to ask you.”

“And you drove all the way up here to do it?”

“I flew, actually. It seemed faster. Lacey picked me up at the airport.”

Hunter narrowed his gaze. “She’s in town?”

“She and Ty both are. They’re at his mother’s. Listen, can I at least come inside?” Molly knew Hunter’s secretary was right outside and she didn’t want an audience for what she had to say.

He gestured with one hand. “Of course. I’m just surprised to see you.”

She shut the door behind her and walked toward him. “Happy, too, I hope.”

“Always,” he said gruffly.

He looked so good she wanted to throw her arms around him and stay there. But she could see the wariness in his gaze. Too much remained unresolved between them.

Some things had changed though. He wasn’t in a suit or tie. Like her, he seemed to have reverted to something more innately comfortable. She supposed they’d get to that soon enough.

First, there were the internal issues. And though she didn’t know where they’d be when this conversation ended, they had to talk things through.

“When you left, I told myself you were running away.” Molly shook her head and laughed. “That lasted all of five minutes. Then my mother showed up and something inside me snapped. I found myself taking your advice and laying down some ground rules about our relationship. She may not follow them, but at least I can say I tried my best to take control.”

A smile took hold of his sexy mouth. “That’s good. It’s all about how you react to people not how they react to you. You can only control your own feelings and actions, not theirs.”

“It just took me half a lifetime to figure that one out.” Her stomach churned, yet she knew how much had to be said before she could get to the real reason she was here.

“How’s the family?” he asked.

“Good. Good. Even Seth seems to be coping. Everyone else has gone back to their regular lives, thanks to you.” She licked her dry lips.

Hunter shoved his hands into his pockets. “So you’re working with your father now?”

“Actually, I told him that wasn’t what I wanted. Which I have to admit, took me by surprise.” Unable to help it, Molly placed a hand over her nervous stomach.

“Me, too. I thought working with your dad would be the answer to a lifelong dream.” Confusion rang in his voice.

“Things change. I changed.” She inclined her head. “Actually, you changed me.”

He narrowed his gaze. “Oh, yeah? How’s that?”

Molly drew a deep breath. “By accepting me for me, to start with. Except I didn’t realize how much that meant until I lost myself. Which I have to admit is ironic, since I left you to find myself.” She shook her head. “Am I making any sense?” she asked, laughing.

“Surprisingly, yeah. You are. So go on.”

“You’re the trial lawyer. I’m not used to being so long-winded, but you do need to hear all this, so here goes. Once everyone in the house went back to their lives, I was alone and had to really look at where I stood. It was like, at the moment I had everything I’d been looking for my whole life, the most important piece was missing.”

“And that would be?” He leaned closer.

His aftershave surrounded her but didn’t throw her off track. “Me. I was missing me. Here I was at twenty-eight with the family I’d gone in search of, the acceptance I’d wanted, but no real job, no home to call my own, no sense of who I was because I’d buried my clothes and my individuality and most importantly…” Oh, this was the hard part, Molly thought.

“Go on,” he whispered.

“I realized that everything I’d always wanted, everything I had, meant nothing to me without the man I love.” She said the last on a rush, embarrassed that she was admitting it when she had no idea how he felt. What he wanted.

But he deserved no less. In fact, he deserved so much more.

Like love. A word she’d avoided since seeing Hunter again because it would have meant facing her fears. Now she had confronted them and she was here, free of hang-ups and old issues.

“I love you,” she said, her heart ready to beat out of her chest.

Because anything she’d felt for him in the past paled in comparison to her overwhelming emotions now. It had merely been practice for the real thing. “I know it’s late, I know I put you through hell, but I love you and I hope you love me, too.” She put her cards on the table, her heart in his hands and waited for him to break it.

Because now she knew exactly what her rejection must have done to his ego and his heart.

Hunter stared at the woman offering him everything. He had to be dreaming. How else did a man go from merely existing to complete elation in the span of five minutes?

“Molly-”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it. It’s over, you’re finished, you’ve had enough. I completely understand,” she said, beginning to ramble. “It’s okay. I had to tell you how I felt anyway because you helped me reach this point, but that doesn’t mean you have to be part of my future.”

He took a step closer, grasping her shaking hand in his. “What if I want to be?” Hunter asked and before she could reply with a long monologue, he raised his free hand and touched her mouth with one finger.

As much as he needed her to keep quiet for a moment, he also needed to feel her lips after such a long drought.

“You still want to be with me? Really?” she asked, amazed. “I didn’t blow it?”

He smiled, a free and easy grin for the first time in ages. “I only had to take one look at you to know you’re there. You’ve reached the point where you’re you. The one I knew but better. Stronger. So if you’re saying you’re ready to commit to me, too, do you really think I’m going to argue?”

She squealed with delight and threw her arms around his neck, sealing her lips over his. He kissed her back, with his mouth, his tongue, his entire being. She was his. He could embrace her and a future for the first time without fear of it being taken away, and he had every intention of savoring the moment.

Until he remembered something important. Hunter broke the kiss, tipping his head back and meeting her eyes. “When you walked in, you said you had a question for me.” He didn’t know what it was, but he had a hunch he was going to like it.

Anything Molly wanted at this point, he’d willingly give.

“Oh, yeah. I did, didn’t I?” Molly couldn’t help but grin. Maybe she’d be smiling for the rest of her life. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. Besides, didn’t she finally deserve to be happy?

“Are you going to ask me?” He brushed her hair off her cheek, letting his fingertips linger in a caress.

“Um…I still need to get a real job and a real apartment-”

“No apartment. I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again,” he said, firm on that point.

She grinned, relieved. Thrilled. Beyond ecstatic. “That’s good since I came here to ask you-what are you doing for the rest of your life?”

Hunter wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. His warm gaze never left hers as he spoke. “I plan to spend it with you.” A statement he sealed with a kiss.

WELL, MOLLY WAS RIGHT.AGAIN. She dresses so outrageously the crowd in church was more shocked to see her in a traditional white wedding dress than they would have been by that red dress I wanted her to get. But I know Hunter would have liked it since he’s always saying how red’s his favorite color. Molly said that’s why she was wearing red underwear and garters, and she packed her red cowboy boots. (I refuse to think about the wedding night. So not my business.) But today I think everyone liked her red stiletto heels the best. (I could live with being like Molly when I’m older.)

One of the bridesmaids, along with me and Molly’s friend Liza, was Hunter’s best friend’s wife, Lacey.

It turned out that Lacey had a surprise of her own when her gown didn’t fit at the last minute because of her expanding waistline. Worse, she had to keep sitting because of her morning sickness (in the afternoon!) during her last-minute fitting.

If Hunter has turned into an icky, in-love, sappy guy, his best man, Ty, is worse. The guy hovered over Lacey until she told him to get a grip and leave her alone. At least until the “I do’s” were over. Then they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. (Blech. It was gross to watch but I hope I meet a guy who loves me that much one day.)

Robin was the maid of honor and she looked beautiful as always. Dad gave Molly away and I wasn’t the least bit jealous. (Okay, maybe a little.) Then he spent the rest of the day with Sonya. They were also very lovey-dovey. These days I feel like I’m surrounded by PDA.

Molly’s mom showed up-wearing a cream-colored dress! If I were the bride, I’d be so pissed, but Molly didn’t seem to care. She even seemed glad her dragon-lady mother had flown in from Europe, even if she brought a man who called himself Count Something or Other.