A Fine Romance (27 page)

Wow. Sooo many things wrong with that offer, even when made out of love. Mira didn’t want to be set up. She definitely didn’t want to be set up with a man who “did” Monte Carlo with her parents. Or with a man who spent months at a time at sea somewhere. She especially didn’t want to be set up with a man who looked to be her own age, but found it acceptable to flirt with a college sophomore. Last of all, she didn’t want to be set up with anyone because she loved Sam. Even knowing he didn’t love her enough to take a chance on a life with her, she still loved him wholeheartedly. This was the moment of truth. Her chance to lay down the law to her parents. Mira clasped the butterfly pendant at her neck for moral support.

“Thank you for taking the time to flush out a potential suitor. Look, you’re welcome to browse the store, but you are no longer allowed to browse for potential husbands. Love will always be more important to me than money. I’ll find my own man, the right man for me, in my own time.”

They both blinked at her, like a pair of sleepy owls. “It would be nice if we could believe that,” Hale said.

“Much like the facial, the offer for Greyson will still be on the table if you change your mind. Even after we leave. We’ll give him your number. Just think about it, darling. How on earth are you going to find a man cooped up in here all day? Shopkeeper isn’t a particularly alluring profession.”

She’d said her piece. Whether or not they accepted it was out of her hands. Mira looked at her watch. Almost time for Ivy’s big speech. “I can’t believe you came all the way to Chicago for the opening. Thank you.” Because even with the jabs, she knew it meant a lot that they were here. The equivalent to normal parents driving a kid to college, or going to a track meet. Mira sincerely doubted her parents even knew that she’d run track in high school.

“Well, we went to New York earlier this week for the opening gala at the Metropolitan Opera.
Turandot
. Beautifully sung, and with exquisite costumes. As long as we were in the States, it would’ve felt selfish not to come see you.”

They’d never win a parent of the year award. Or even parent of the century. Not even back in that century when parents sacrificed up their thirteen-year-old virgin daughters to volcano gods. But they were here. Mira put that in the win column, kissed them both again and walked back into the party.

* * *

“Helen, if you stay another minute, I’m firing you. Your family’s waiting to take you out. Go.” Sam watched through a tiny crack in the connecting door as Mira toed off her shoes. She probably needed a foot rub right about now. God, what he wouldn’t give to be able to pull her legs into his lap and start rubbing. Of course, at this point, he’d be happy if she just listened to him without slamming the door in his face.

“You sure you don’t want to come with us? I think Noah has a tiny crush on you. He’d be over the moon if an older woman paid him some attention.”

“Thanks, but I want to stay her for a while. Soak in all the wonderful things that happened tonight.”

Two local news stations had carried promos at six for the store, and live stand-ups at nine. He’d watched them all, thrilled for her. Hungrily staring at the television screen for every second of her poised interviews. Every customer that came out raved about the place. By morning it would be the hottest new boutique in Chicago. All of Mira’s hard work paid off, and turned the tide against the previous bad press.

“Including your parents’ appearance?”

Sam almost fell through the door in shock. The Parrishes came to support Mira?

“Surprisingly, yes. You were right to invite them. This time. But don’t go adding them to the store’s mailing list or anything.”

“You got it.” Helen gave her a big hug. “A Fine Romance might have started out as Ivy’s, but now it is all you. It sparkles like a ten-carat, cushion-cut diamond because of you. Be proud.” Hefting an insulated food carrier off the counter, Helen headed out the door. Mira locked it behind her. She took a few steps forward.

“Well, it’s just you and me now.” Slowly she walked from the front of the store, trailing her hand over each display case like a coach patting the asses of the defensive squad after a good game. After a detour to grab a sparkly tiara from beneath the counter, she stopped at the kitchen area and sank onto a stool. Lower lip trembling, her head began to droop toward the tiara in her lap. Sam guessed she was about one good sigh away from bursting into tears. It was now or never.

Holding a doily covered silver tray in both hands, he kicked the door open. Probably a lot harder than necessary. It slammed against the wall and jolted Mira upright.

“Sam?”

“You told me not to come to the opening.” He spoke in a rush, worried she’d cut him off before he got it all out. “I stayed away all night. But now that it’s over, we need to straighten out a few things.”

She shook her head from side to side, giving a clear keep-away signal before speaking. “I’m exhausted. Can it wait?”

“No. It really can’t.” Sam refused to be waved off before saying his piece. “I can’t take the chance that you’re miserable for another second because of me.”

“Too late.”

“Hear me out. Five minutes?”

Mira nodded. Or did a head bob from sheer exhaustion. It was all the green light he needed. “I talked to my mother.”

“There’s a shock. The phone line between you two’s a second umbilical cord.”

Okay. He’d expected her to be a little pissed, to not make this easy for him. “I asked her if she missed Dad taking care of her.”

“Interesting.”

Illuminating was more like it. Swiped his feet right out from underneath him. “She laughed in my face. Said that she was the one who’d worn the pants in the family. She’d taken care of him from day one. And as much as she missed him, it had actually been a little bit of a relief to only have to worry about herself.”

“Is this when you informed her that you’ve actually taken over this caretaker position?”

“I tried. Mom just laughed even harder. When she finally caught her breath, she said that ever since she got out of the hospital, she’d been
letting
me take care of her. Thought it was part of my grieving process for Dad.”

She focused on the tiara, slowly running her finger over each rounded point. “How’d that feel?”

“Like a slap in the face. Like I’m Han Solo in
Empire
Strikes
Back
, frozen in a block of carbonite for the past year.” Like he’d missed the exit he was supposed to take on the road of life, and was now stuck going nowhere. “So I let it all out. I told her about my dream of being a gourmet chocolatier, the expansion and the Fancy Food show.”

“That’s a lot of sharing. You must be worn out.”

Another direct hit. Sam absorbed the blow. If it meant she’d keep listening to him, he could take it. “As you predicted, Mom wouldn’t let me give up my dreams for her sake.”

“I do like to know I’m right. Thanks for telling me.”

“I know I deserve all these little digs, but would you please be quiet? I’m getting to the good part.”

She ran an imaginary zipper across her lips. Smart-ass. God, he loved that about her.

“I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. The solution was right in front of me all along. The juvenile work-release program’s been going great. We called the head case worker, and he’s going to assign us more kids. Javon’s going to play a much bigger role in the bakery. He just passed his GED, so he was about to leave the program anyway. We’re hiring him full-time, and Isaiah part-time. The store doesn’t have to be run by just the Lyons family. We can create an extended family by nurturing these boys who have nothing.”

Mira raised her hand. She still annoyed him without even trying. “What?”

“I think that is a beautiful idea. Generous and life-changing and wonderful. I bet your dad would approve.”

“Thanks. That’s what Mom said. Right before she pulled up the exhibitor registration form on the computer and made me fill it out on the spot. I’m in. I’m going to the Fancy Food show, and I’m starting my own chocolate line.”

The corners of her lips lifted. Not a full-blown smile, but into soft approval. “That’s really great, Sam.”

“I realized that I couldn’t give up on my dreams after urging you to follow yours. What kind of a hypocritical idiot would that make me?” Gib and Ben had certainly helped him to realize just how much he was on the brink of throwing away. Good thing he’d come to that conclusion before having Dr. Rubin chip away at his wallet for a few weeks. “We’re both on the same path, and I want us to walk it together.”

And the lips curved right back down. “No.”

“Mira, haven’t you heard me?” Wait, he knew what the problem was. He owed her a wheelbarrow full of groveling. Gib and Ben told him that she’d been crying all night. It made Sam sick that he’d been the reason. “I’m sorry. I was an idiot. I thought I was being selfless, but I was actually being a self-centered fool. Give me another chance, and I’ll apologize every day until my hair turns gray. You can remind me three times a day of how stupid I was. I’ll even set an alarm to remind you.”

She slid off the stool and looked to be about two seconds from walking away. “It’s too late. You can’t decide to run after me just because your mom released you from your dad’s imaginary onus. I won’t be your consolation prize.”

For such a smart woman, Mira really wasn’t connecting the dots. “You’re missing the point completely. I opened up this whole can of worms with my mother because I already missed you so much that I could barely breathe. I talked to her so that she could help me find my way back to you.”

“Oh.” She fell back onto the stool, as if her legs simply wouldn’t hold her up anymore.

“Here.” He picked up the tray and presented it to her. This was his last, best shot to make her change her mind and stay with him. Forever. “I made this for you. Just for you. It’s a brand-new flavor I’ve created. I call it Fiery Love. Dark chocolate, because that’s your favorite, with a little heat from chile pepper and Chambord. Try it. A small bite,” he cautioned.

Her face giving away nothing, Mira nibbled at the edge. She scraped it against her teeth and wrinkled her nose. Licking her thumb, she looked down at the remaining half truffle. A gold semicircle peeked out of the middle of the brown, creamy ganache.

“It’s delicious.” Carefully she reversed the truffle and, hanging on to the ring, sucked off the rest of the chocolate. “Sam, this is a diamond ring.”

He grabbed it, cleaned it off with a napkin left over from the party until the burnished gold leaves surrounding the stone shone. “Not just any diamond. My father gave this to my mother as an engagement ring. When I told her that I’d do anything to show you how much you mean to me, she told me to use this. Thought it might prove that you are absolutely the most important woman in my life.”

Mira hitched in a shaky breath. “Kathleen is a very smart woman.”

“So are you. You’re crazy smart. You can finish an entire Sudoku while you’re brushing your teeth.” Singing her praises came easy. There was so much he loved about her. “Mira, you totally get my passion for chocolate. You don’t let anything get in the way of your goals. You bounce back faster than a Super Ball. You’re thoughtful and loyal and funny and so beautiful I practically drool every time I look at you, and—”

“Sam, stop.”

“I can’t. I can’t stop until I convince you to marry me, and be the sweetness in my heart forever. Say you love me,” he begged, because right now, he wasn’t above begging. He’d crawl on his knees over broken glass to hear those words come out of her lips.

“I love you,” she said, laughing breathlessly.

It couldn’t be that easy. He’d barely begun to grovel. And Gib, with all his vast experience, swore up and down that women were complicated. “Just like that?”

“I’ve been too scared to admit it. Scared to love you when the store might fail and I’d be stuck marrying some bore my parents chose. I told you that all I want out of life is to be happy, and you make me deliriously happy.”

Sam was ready to turn backflips that she loved him. But they couldn’t move forward until she answered the next question. Because they couldn’t have a future if the shadow of her parents and the promise of an easier life hung over them. “What if the store fails?”

“Then I’ll find another one.” She leaned over to whisper in his ear. “It won’t, by the way.” Then she stood up, her eyes shining like the midday sky. “But my love for you is worth so much more than a measly hundred million dollars.”

Holy shit. “How much?” If he’d known she was worth that much, Sam never would’ve had the balls to urge her to throw it all away.

“Doesn’t matter.” Mira dismissed her lost fortune with a wave. “Let me finish. I have to air the doubt I felt, and then it’ll be done. I was scared to love a man who didn’t love me enough. There has to be equal footing in a relationship.”

“Then we’re out of luck, because I love you way more than you could ever love me.”

Her competitive streak flashed in her quick smile, but it was nothing but love brimming over in her eyes. “Not a chance.”

He held up the ring to her finger, ready to slip it on. “Prove it. Say yes, and spend the rest of your life trying to prove you love me more. It won’t work, because I’ll always love you more, but I dare you to try.”

Mira slid her finger through the gold band, happy tears slipping down her cheeks. “You know I never back down from a challenge.”

That was worth sealing with a kiss. And Sam kissed her, reveling in the sweetness of her lips and her love. He’d make damn sure every day of her life with him would be a fine romance.

* * * * *

Go back to the beginning of Christi Barth’s Aisle Bound series and check out
Planning
for
Love
, available now!

Planning for Love

Wedding planner Ivy Rhodes is the best in the business, and she’s not about to let a personal problem stop her from getting ahead. So when she’s asked to star in the reality TV show
Planning
for
Love
, it doesn’t matter that the show’s videographer happens to be a recent—and heartbreaking—one-night stand.

Bennett Westcott admits he didn’t handle his encounter with Ivy very well. But looking at her beautiful smile—and great body—through a camera lens every day? He can’t be faulted for suggesting they have some no-strings fun.

The more time they spend together, the more Ben realizes Ivy isn’t the wedding-crazed bridezilla he’d imagined. But if he doesn’t trust himself to make a relationship last, how can he convince Ivy to give him another chance?

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