And Then He Kissed Me (36 page)

“I want you to work there, too,” he whispered as she rocked on top of him. “I want you to stay at the Harley dealership. You and Fletch will make a good team.”

His hands slid across her flesh, cupping her breasts. The afternoon light wobbled as he sat up, placing hot kisses on her, pulling one nipple into his mouth and sucking gently, then the other.

“I want to start my own business,” she gasped, losing the thread of the conversation to pleasure. As if understanding she was sliding into a place where he couldn’t reach her, Kieran stilled her hips. He kissed her throat gently.

“You can do both,” he said, staring into her face with a mix of adoration and admiration that made her flush. “You can work at the dealership part time if you need to. Start your business and help me sell motorcycles. But don’t leave me there alone. I need you.”

“Business partners
and
lovers?” she asked teasingly. He answered by tilting his hips in a way that made them both moan. He pulled her against his chest and ground against her wet, aching core. She felt it in every part of her body, down to the tips of her fingers.

“Lovers first,” he whispered, increasing his pace. She closed her eyes, letting him lead the way to her breaking point. “Lovers always. Forever, Audrey. I’m not going anywhere. I can’t, because you have my heart in your hands, and if I walk away from you, I’ll die.”

“I won’t let that happen,” she murmured, leaning back slightly. He held on to her, letting her find just the right angle. And then he was crashing inside her at exactly the right place, and she came apart all over again, her heart shattering and becoming whole as he held on to her and never let go. Everything crumbled and turned to ash that glittered in her deepest parts.

And when the flame of passion had burned off her insecurities, her doubts, and her fears, she opened her eyes to find warm afternoon light streaming into the room.

There was Kieran, his grass-green eyes shining into hers. His strong arms were wrapped around her. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” she answered.

And deep inside, she heard the click—the sound of two puzzle pieces snapping together.

Forever.

E
PILOGUE

A
ugust had settled onto White Pine with a thick, heavy heat that wilted leaves and dried up streams and corn stalks in the field. It also had Audrey running at ungodly hours of the morning, just to beat the temperatures.

The farmers said it was one of the warmest stretches they could remember. Audrey hated the sun’s glare on everything, bright enough to make her head hurt.

So what in the world White Pine Harley was doing hosting an outdoor event in this weather was beyond her comprehension. But Kieran had insisted upon it, saying that renting a tent and inviting women to a clothing expo would be good for business. She’d disagreed, saying no woman wanted to try on leather jackets and gloves in this weather. But as a new co-owner of the dealership, he’d insisted it was important—finally pleading with her to trust him—and she’d relented.

“I’ll take care of everything,” he’d promised, placing both hands on either side of her face. “There’s an events manager up at headquarters who’s said she’ll help me. We’ll take care of the details. I just need you to show up on the day of and schmooze.” His gentle touch was enough to turn her to liquid. She couldn’t say no.

So now, wearing a simple white sundress and with her hair up off her sweaty neck in a ponytail, she parked her car and made for the tent, her cheeks already pink from the afternoon heat.

Not that she was complaining, exactly. Not really. Things at the dealership had been incredibly exciting and fulfilling, and every day she saw more and more women in the store. Up until today, the most challenging part of her job had been keeping her hands off Kieran when she passed him in the hallway, or when his fingers grazed hers underneath the conference room table. Some days they’d tumble out of bed together, throwing on whatever clothes they could before racing to work, trying to space their arrival but still making it in so neither was late. The eye rolls from colleagues, especially Fletch, told her they didn’t always do a convincing job of it. Not that it mattered, because being with Kieran was a heart-pounding joy that nothing could diminish. And working with him—solving problems with him and making the dealership thrive—was deeply fulfilling.

If he wanted to throw an ill-timed expo under a tent in the center of town, so be it. They’d find a way to make it work.

They always did.

She was smiling slightly when she heard the first strains of music. Kieran hadn’t told her there would be a live band. She bit her lip, wondering at the expense. Couldn’t they have just played songs from an iPod plugged into speakers? Her brow furrowed at the type of music as well.

Her clientele enjoyed classic rock, or sometimes country-western. Her massive amounts of research meant she was well versed in her market segment, and she knew their likes and dislikes as much as her own. The fiddle, banjo, and washboard she heard were too bluegrass-y. She held back a groan, thinking that now they were putting women inside a hot tent and asking them to try on hot clothes and not even playing the music they liked while they did so.

Sweet Joseph of Arimathea,
she thought, borrowing one of Kieran’s famous Irish expressions, they were in for it now. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed back the heavy flap of the tent, expecting to confront angry customers right away. Instead, a blast of cool air hit her face, and she blinked at the sparkling white lights and her friends underneath them. Not Harley clientele.

“What the…” She shook her head at the scene, her words fading. All around her were wooden asparagus cutouts, painted green and propped up, smiling. The band on stage was the Shiny Happy Trio, the same band that had played at this year’s Asparagus Festival. And in the corner of the tent was a keg that was labeled, improbably, as asparagus beer.

Suddenly Betty was next to her, threading her arm through Audrey’s. “Buckle up, kiddo. You’re in for a hell of a night.”

“What is all this?” she asked, searching her friend’s face.

“I think you’d better let
him
tell you that,” she said, motioning toward Kieran. He was striding toward them, two pints of beer in his hands.

“I’ll take it from here, Betty,” he said, winking at her friend.

“Kieran,” she started, “what in the world? I thought this was supposed to be an expo.”

His wide mouth split into a grin. “That’s what we said to get you here. But in actuality, it’s a do-over.”

“For what?”

“For the dance we missed at this year’s Asparagus Festival. You were going to come. And I was waiting for you. Only we didn’t get the chance. So I’d like to change that.”

Audrey stared at him. “All this? For a dance?”

Kieran handed her a pint. “A beer and a boogie. What do you say?”

She took the golden-hued drink from him and sipped.
Asparagus beer.
Her taste buds sang with delight.

“How in the world did you do this?”

“Dave Englund. I gave him a discount on a Forty-Eight. A great ride. Got him good financing, too.”

“But I mean
all
of this. How did you—”

Her question was cut short by Alexis and Caitlin, who flounced into their conversation, along with their respective moms.

“Oh my God this is so
romantic
.” Alexis practically swooned. “Mom, isn’t this so amazing?” She glanced at her mom, who had the same long limbs as her daughter. Mrs. Belten—Veronica, as Audrey had come to know her—smiled.

“I should take that beer away from Audrey for the workout she gave me last week,” Veronica said. She patted her thighs. “So many squats I can hardly sit down on the toilet.”

Audrey was barely able to swallow her beer before laughing. She’d expected personal training to be many things, but dramatic wasn’t among them. At least not initially. Now she knew that good-natured complaints and eye rolling were part of training many of her clients. She fit them in on Friday, which was her day away from the Harley-Davidson dealership.

“Oh, leave her be,” Caitlin’s mom, Samantha Granlund, said. She was also among Audrey’s clients and, in the three months Audrey had been working with her, she’d lost more than thirty pounds. She’d even started running with their group on Sundays. “We should stop moaning and groaning for five minutes and let Audrey have her night. She deserves it.” They raised their asparagus beers in a toast, and then the band struck up a slow song that sent chills along Audrey’s skin.

It was “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King, an old song Audrey had confessed to loving and that Kieran had played for her one night using an old record player and a forty-five he’d salvaged from a garage sale. She’d loved the ragged, worn sound of it, while Kieran held her tight as they swayed together in her living room.

Now, he gave her a knowing glance, and she set down her beer to dance with him at the grassy center of the tent. In her periphery, friends blurred together—Casey and the Knots and Bolts crew (especially Willa, whose hand rested on her now-round belly), plus Fletch from the dealership, Paul Frace and other school faculty members, and personal-training clients—all watching as Kieran pulled her close.

“This is a lot of effort for just one dance,” she said, smiling up at him. He pushed the errant end of her ponytail off her shoulder. The feel of his fingers on her flesh gave her chills.

“I wanted that dance,” he said, his voice low. “I needed it.”

A funny word,
need
, Audrey thought. Six months ago, if anyone had suggested that she needed Kieran Callaghan, she would have snorted. Now, clasped in his muscled arms, the idea of being without him bent her brain the way certain science articles did, when they talked about universes on top of universes in an infinite tableau of multiverses. It was incomprehensible.

“I need
you
,” Audrey said, watching shadows shift across the rugged stubble of his chin.

Kieran swallowed visibly. “We didn’t get our dance this year at the Asparagus Festival, but I wanted you to know that I will always give you what is in my power to give. And today, some lights and a tent—I can do that. But, more importantly, Audrey, I will give you everything that I have. Forever. I’ll show you my darkest parts and trust that you can always see the good in me. Because if anyone can—it’s you.”

His eyes sparkled. Audrey’s breath caught at the magnificence of his features, of the feel of him against her, and the smell of grass and cool air all around.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he was down on one knee. She was vaguely aware that the band had stopped playing. Bodies shifted around them, silent shadows.

What was happening? Was he going to—

From his back pocket, Kieran produced a velvet box. He opened it to reveal a sparkling ring. She gasped, her fingers flying to cover her mouth. This wasn’t real, she thought. It couldn’t be. This was a dream and no way had he just re-created the Asparagus Festival to propose to her. It was too much.

“Audrey Tanner, I love you and I want to be with you forever. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

The tent had gone stone still. She stared at Kieran, still unwilling to believe that this man loved her, that they had somehow fought the odds to come together after five long years apart.

And yet, they had. The cards were never in their favor, but they’d played their hands and trusted that the other was all in. And she would play the same hand again, if she had to. She’d go to the betting table holding nothing, and she’d trust that she and Kieran could still walk away clutching not riches, but each other.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I will.”

The entire tent erupted into a cheer, and Kieran swept her into his arms and kissed her so deeply she wondered if their mouths would ever separate, if perhaps they had fused together with love and passion.

Of course, the kiss eventually ended. And then there was music and dancing, even a toast from her sister. “To Audrey’s happiness,” Casey had said, her eyes shining as she held a pint of asparagus ale. “May nothing ever stand in your way.” She’d hugged Audrey and kissed her cheek, both of them struggling not to cry.

“Let me know if you want to go dress shopping,” Casey said. “If I can come, I promise not to offer too many opinions.”

“Unless I make her dress,” Betty interjected from nearby.

“Save it for the recipe exchange, you two,” Willa cautioned. Audrey was so delighted she hugged her sister again, then her Knots and Bolts friends, then her current and former colleagues, and everyone else she could pull into her arms. All the while Kieran stole more kisses that were so sweet she thought she would die from the pleasure of them.

And occasionally, she would lift her asparagus beer and think that the cardboard asparagus cutouts along the wall were winking at her. It might have been the twinkling lights or the joyous, delirious knowledge that she was Kieran’s forever, and he was hers. Either way, she winked back, and silently promised to carry a bouquet of asparagus down the aisle when she wed.