Noah reacted like she’d slapped him, and the cold splash in his chest didn’t help. But she giggled, and held up her hands in surrender. “Hey, I didn’t promise I wouldn’t look you up, and you went off-grid for six days. I had to do something.”
“I thought you liked off-grid.”
“When it’s me.” She tossed him a smile that made his stomach clench, made his desire for her top the charts.
He reached for her hand and slipped his fingers between hers. “Look who’s Googling who now.”
“I didn’t Google,” she said, shaking her head in mock solemnity. “I have a friend who can find anyone, figure anything out. He’s…influential.”
“You mean he’s rich.”
“So are you.”
“Not after I buy this clinic. And I need to find somewhere to live, and—”
“That’s an easy one,” she interrupted. “You can stay with me. I got my own apartment at Hibiscus. It’s a two-bedroom so the dogs can share.”
Surprise flitted through Noah. “And we can share?”
She lifted her shoulder in a shrug, but he knew she cared. “You’ll still have plenty of money after you buy the clinic. My friend is detail-oriented.”
“Who is this friend?”
“My boss’s husband is kind of a billionaire tech-wizard.”
Noah tipped his head back and laughed, and it felt so good to be on this island, with this woman, at this clinic. The idea of the Lions Creek Lodge still floated around in the back of his mind, and he wondered if he could buy both places. Take a few winter getaways to the lodge just to satisfy his snow-loving side.
His mother had won the lottery five years ago, and she’d been smart with her investments. As she’d raised him and his sister alone, usually working two or three jobs, Noah hadn’t wanted a single dime. But she’d insisted he and his sister both take a large portion of the money to keep it from being taxed—and to keep it away from their father.
So he’d taken it. Paid back Lucas in one lump sum, and had his whole future ahead of him in Jackson Hole.
Now, he was waiting in a gravel parking lot for the woman he was falling in love with to say yes to an island life, lots of dogs, and several babies. It drove him crazy that she hadn’t answered that particular question yet, but he had been gone for six days, and maybe she needed more time to make such a big decision.
“So I’ll move in with you at the Hibiscus Apartments,” he said, swinging their hands between them as he walked with her toward his SUV. He whistled between his teeth, and his dogs came running toward him.
“When did you teach them that?”
“On the ascent of Mount Mitchell.”
“You know I’ve never hiked anything, right?” she asked.
Noah stared at her, horror curling behind his tongue. “I did not know that.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she said, something fierce and determined sparking in her expression.
“I’m not worried about it,” he said. “I know enough, and I like you.” He tripped over the word like. “I mean, I really like you.”
“Enough to make babies.” She gazed down the road, her mind clearly far away.
He swallowed. “And buy diamond rings, if you want one.”
She twisted toward him, almost a flinch. “I think…I think I’d like a break from diamonds for a while,” she said, reaching up with both arms to embrace him. “But I’d like time to get to know everything about you, and for you to learn everything about me, and then we can talk about those babies.”
“And the diamonds.” He watched her for her reaction.
She gave him a lazy smile, tipped her head back, and said, “If you insist,” right before she kissed him. She created a shelter for him, one that a hurricane-force wind could try to beat down, but he felt sure it wouldn’t be able to penetrate the comfort, the safety, and the blooming love he felt with Abby.
He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. “We need to talk about names.”
“That comes way after diamonds and babies.”
He chuckled and dipped his lips for a taste of her sexy neck. “Not for our kids,” he whispered, though the thought of having kids with her got him hot under the collar. “For our clinic.”
“Let’s talk about it at the beach,” she said.
“I’m not staying at Casa Blanca anymore,” he said. “I don’t have access to their private beach.”
She turned and opened the passenger door to the SUV, climbing in with a laugh. “I do. Let’s go walk the dogs and talk about names for the clinic.”
Ten months later
Noah paced the length of the sand from the arched dais to the shoreline, waiting for Abby to make her grand appearance. She’d wanted a Christmas wedding, and Noah wanted her to be happy. She’d confessed and told him that if they got married over Christmas, her mother wouldn’t come.
“You don’t want your own mother at the wedding?” he’d asked.
She’d simply shaken her head and he’d let her drift into childhood memories she’d shared with him while they made grilled cheese sandwiches in their small apartment. She had told him about her celebrity upbringing with an actor-producer father, the messy divorce, and the countless TV and media print ads she’d done to try to make her mother happy.
“You didn’t like the modeling? The acting?” he’d asked.
She’d gone quiet for a while, and Noah had learned over the months that Abby was still trying to figure out what she liked and didn’t like. In the end, she’d said, “I think I liked it at the time. I don’t want to do it now.”
Noah didn’t want her to either. She ran a tight ship at Shelter Me, the name they’d decided on for their animal clinic and boarding facilities. Appointment reminders went out via text, and people could schedule vaccinations and checkups online. Of course, getting the older residents of the island to actually use those features had been a bit of a challenge as well. But Abby had faced every obstacle head-on, and she’d even commissioned Albert to take some pictures of Barksdale and Lord Pawton for Noah’s office.
He’d fallen in love with her the first day he met her in that blue party dress—which he now knew she’d borrowed—and that love had only grown over the past ten months.
If she’d hurry up and come out of the hotel to marry him, he’d be the happiest man on earth. The hot air balloon waited in the distance, a glorious white orb against the blue sky. A December wind blew off the water, adding a chill to the air that didn’t come close to the freezing temperatures at the Lions Creek Lodge.
Noah missed the slopes. Missed coming in off the mountain from negative degrees to the hearty warmth of a fire and a mug of hot coffee. He supposed coming in from the heat of the beach to an air-conditioned villa was just as good, but it didn’t settle his blood the way snowboarding did.
The music wafting over the water changed, and Noah spun to find the wedding party advancing. Finally.
Abby was hidden by four women wearing dresses so pale blue they almost looked white. Maryann was her best friend and next-door neighbor, Noah had learned. Mandy, whose husband had tracked Noah through Florida and North Carolina, came next, throwing Noah a smile he’d seen so many times he didn’t even have to guess what she was thinking.
Good job, Noah. You got a good one.
He knew he had.
Frankie came next, her dark hair complementing the washed-out dress. Lastly came Jocelyn, the woman who ran the spa at Casa Blanca. She’d been a huge help to Abby in getting Shelter Me off the ground, what with her experience running her own business in LA as well as starting and managing the spa. Not only that, but she and Abby shared a quiet kinship of former California women who’d been in a spotlight they’d rather not have shining on them, and Abby went out to lunch with Jocelyn at least once a month.
Noah didn’t mind. They still played confessional, and when she cuddled into him in the evenings and fell asleep in his arms, he whispered how much he loved her, how g
lad he was he didn’t own a lodge fifteen hundred miles away.
The women passed, finally revealing his bride. She took his breath away in a simple yet elegant white dress that seemed to be made of only lace. It hugged her form—all extra twenty pounds of it—and Noah’s whole body lit up.
Her eyes locked onto his, and he tracked her as her aunt walked her down the aisle and handed her off to Noah.
“Gorgeous,” he whispered, noticing she’d gone light on the makeup, heavy on the jewelry. She smelled like honey and milk, probably from one of Frankie’s soaps, and Noah took a deep breath of her, never able to get enough.
“Not too bad yourself.” She squeezed his arm and faced the pastor. “Hope you’re ready for a long flight.”
He blinked, trying to understand. “I think the balloon ride is short.”
“For the honeymoon.”
She’d planned every detail of their honeymoon, and she hadn’t told him a single thing other than she’d handle it all. The packing, the booking, the travel. Since things had exploded at the clinic, he’d let her do what she did best: manage business, even if that was personal business.
“Where are we going?” he asked as the pastor started to speak.
She grinned and shook her head the tiniest bit. That was all he’d ever gotten out of her, and he couldn’t very well argue over the pastor as he spoke about unending love and becoming one in body and spirit.
Finally he said, “Noah, you can kiss your bride,” and Noah swept one arm around Abby and took her bouquet in the other. He bent her back and kissed her like he’d never kissed her before.
She reciprocated for just a few moments before opening her mouth and laughing. She pushed him gently in the chest as he righted her, and he lifted her bouquet in the air amidst cheers and applause from their friends on the island. Even Charity Grambling stood near the back, clapping with half a smile on her face.
“Zoe’s waiting for you,” Jocelyn gathered Abby into a hug and whispered something in her ear. Noah hugged his mom and his sister, who had come to Casa Blanca for the affair.
“I think I might move here,” his mother said. “It’s so beautiful.”
Noah couldn’t argue with that, and he let himself get congratulated by some clients, Zeke and Becker, who had become friends of his, and the architect who’d designed the resort. When he finally made it back to Abby, she looked at him with that playful smile he loved so much.
“Are you ready, Doctor?”
He’d stopped groaning about her endearment months ago. “Only if you tell me where we’re going on our honeymoon.” He swept his lips along her browline, hungry for more already.
“Somewhere cold,” she said, a promise in the syllables.
“So you’ve packed appropriately?” They strolled across the sand toward the waiting hot air balloon, the sun about an hour from disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico.
She scoffed. “You doubt me?”
“Not even a little bit.” He climbed into the basket and helped her in to stand beside him. There was champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries, and Zoe was busy explaining how the balloon operated to another woman.
Abby pressed into him, gripping the lapels of his tuxedo jacket as he brought his arms around her.
“I hope you’re ready for a lifetime of snowboarding.” Her eyes sparkled, but whether it was with fear or happiness, he wasn’t sure. Looked like both. “Because we’re going to the Lions Creek Lodge for Christmas.”
Before he could truly process what that meant and form a response, the balloon lifted off the ground and everyone still on the sand clapped and cheered some more.
The rush of leaving solid ground left Noah’s knees weak. Or maybe that was the fact that he was now married to Abby. She was his. He was hers.
He drew her in for a real kiss, this one deep and personal and something he probably shouldn’t have done with other people nearby. But she didn’t seem to mind, and neither did they.
“Explain what you meant by a lifetime of snowboarding,” he murmured into her ear as they stood side-by-side in the basket, gazing over the Gulf of Mexico as the sun dipped its toes into the water.
“Your mother bought the Lions Creek Lodge.” Abby looked up at him, hoping shining in her expression. “We can go whenever we want.”
Shock traveled through Noah in waves, and then he tipped his head back and laughed. The sound filled the sky, and he couldn’t remember ever feeling so happy. He pulled Abby closer. “Have you ever snowboarded before?”
“Not even once.”
“You’re going to love it.”
She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. “I love you, Noah.”
“Love you too, Abs.”
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About Elana
A speculative fiction author and USA Today bestseller under the name Elana Johnson and an inspirational adult romance author under the pen name of Liz Isaacson, her work includes the young adult dystopian romance series Possession, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), Elevated, the Elemental series, the Songs of Life fantasy series (Amazon Publishing/Kindle Press), the Redwood Bay romance series (Start Media/Cleis Press), and the #1 bestselling Three Rivers Ranch Romance series. She lives in Utah, where she teaches elementary school, taxis her daughter to dance several times a week, and eats a lot of Ferrero Rocher while writing.
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