If you want to change your entire view of the world, all you have to do is fall in love.
—MILLIE GREENWOOD
I
n the emergency waiting room, Dade felt like a fifth wheel. He waited in the corner with his back to the wall, watching Delia’s family and friends arrive. Natalie insisted on introducing him to all of them. Once people had heard the news, through what was apparently Cupid’s phone tree, half the town showed up. The emergency room was packed and there wasn’t a spare chair in the place. Some of the younger relatives like Zoey were sitting on the floor.
He checked his watch, shifted his weight, and distracted himself by thinking about Natalie’s panties tucked in his back pocket.
Natalie sat in a chair, Junie Mae on one side of her, an older African-American woman on the other, both holding her hands. Natalie’s legs were primly pressed together, but the thought that she wasn’t wearing any underwear under that green skirt was ripping him up inside. It wasn’t the time or the place for lusty thoughts, but by God, how did a man turn them off with a woman like Natalie?
Once, she glanced up and met his gaze, and a hint of a naughty smile touched her lips. She blushed prettily and quickly glanced away.
He briefly closed his eyes and in that second, he was back on her patio deck, straddling her in the chaise longue.
Lips. Skin. Heat. Banana pudding.
She made him think of other things too—which was the truly disturbing part—things like wooden porch swings, cold glasses of sweet lemonade on a hot day, a platter full of buttermilk-battered fried chicken, the evening song of crickets, whippoorwills, and bullfrogs. He didn’t know where the impressions came from because they certainly weren’t from his memories, but these images of a life with her burrowed into him and wouldn’t turn loose.
Fighting for self-control, he opened his eyes. Natalie was so calm amid her family. Some of whom could be quite overly dramatic, like the one called Carol Ann. Natalie seemed to be the family’s center, their true north. He admired that about her, while at the same time he flinched from it.
She was everything he’d ever wanted but knew he could never have. He felt a longing inside him, an urge to belong, but he didn’t fit in with other people, especially a close-knit community like this one. He realized that. The navy was the closest he’d ever come to a home and even they had eventually turned him out.
Betrayed.
All throughout his life he’d been betrayed by everyone he’d ever loved or trusted.
Oh, friggin’ boo-hoo for you. Get over it, Vega. You don’t fit here, not anywhere, and you never will.
Red was the only one who’d never betrayed him. Dade stuck his hand in his front pocket, fingered the frayed yarn of the bullet casing bracelet.
Where in the hell are you, buddy?
His instincts told him to leave. He needed to be back at work at 6
P.M.
after all, he had an excuse. He was getting too close to these people, and it would only end in a big lot of hurt on his side, but he couldn’t abandon Natalie. Not when she had everyone leaning on her. She needed someone to lean on and he intended on being that someone.
So he stayed.
And waited.
No matter how uncomfortable it felt.
He did take a minute to call Chantilly’s and ask the bartender he’d covered for that day to now cover for him, and the man readily agreed because of the emergency situation.
Natalie got up and went around the room, resting her hands on shoulders, murmuring words of comfort, bringing people coffee, passing out Kleenex.
Dade eyed the door and counted off the number of paces it would take him to reach the exit. Twelve if he took long-legged strides; twelve steps to freedom. With the hubbub, probably no one would notice if he left. He readied himself, coiled his thigh muscles, and he was just about to take flight when Natalie came over and wrapped an arm around his waist.
Wrapped her arm around him like it was the most natural thing in the world. A strange lump formed in his throat and he fought to swallow.
Her hand strummed over the seat of his jeans. Oh yeah. She plucked the panties from his back pocket. Not for him. She had come to get her panties back.
Yeah, bullet head, she didn’t come over here for emotional support from the likes of you, she just wanted her underwear. Get over yourself.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and surreptitiously fisted the panties in her hand and then slipped her fist into the pocket of her skirt. “Thank you so much for being there for me, for Delia.”
He shrugged. “Anyone would have done the same thing.”
“Don’t underestimate what you did.”
“I’m no hero.”
“You are in my book.”
If she only knew! She would not think so highly of him if she knew the things he was capable of, but his desire to be with her was stronger than his self-doubt. It scared him. This neediness. Scared him because it was more than physical. If it were just physical, he could handle that, but when he looked at Natalie, he wanted more, something he’d never wanted before. He wanted what most people in this small town seemed to have—love, belonging, a deep sense of community.
It doesn’t work. Not for you. You’re marked by your past. A leopard can’t change its spots.
Why not? Why couldn’t he have happiness?
He looked into her eyes and knew the answer. Because Natalie deserved so much more than what he could offer. She deserved a man with a clear conscience. A man who didn’t wake up in the night battling nightmares, a man who could promise to stand by her through thick and thin.
You could promise her that, if you tried.
God, how he wanted to believe that.
She leaned against him and damn him, he just wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Right there in the emergency room. Right in front of her family and friends, and that’s when he knew that he was not going to get out of Cupid with his heart intact.
“Listen, Natalie,” he said. “We need to talk.”
“Okay,” she said. “Would you like to go outside?”
He glanced around the room, noticed several members of her family were staring at him. He lowered his voice. “Not here. Not now. Your family needs you. But soon. Very soon.”
“Okay.” She smiled tentatively and then she stretched up to kiss him on the cheek. “We’ll talk when I get home.”
Good. He had an appointment to tell her who he really was. So why did he suddenly feel as naked as the day he was born?
I
t was the next afternoon before Delia awakened in ICU after going through surgery. She’d broken her hip during the fall in her shower. At her age, the hip fracture was worrisome since the elderly sometimes died from complications of a broken hip. She’d also suffered a concussion and mild dehydration.
Guilt gnawed at Natalie. She should have kept a closer eye on her aunt. Delia was the last surviving family member of her generation, and when she passed away, something irredeemable would be lost.
Natalie, Sandra, and Carol Ann had spent the night in the ICU waiting room while everyone else went home. Zoey was going to look after the B&B guests, and Junie Mae promised Natalie she’d pop over to make sure everything was running smoothly. Lars too volunteered to chip in and do what he could to help. The bases were covered on the home front.
For the first visiting hours of the morning, the nurse came into the waiting room. “Miss Delia is asking for Natalie.”
Carol Ann got up along with Natalie.
“I’m sorry.” The nurse put up a restraining hand. “She asked for
just
Natalie.”
Carol Ann looked slightly affronted, but sat back down beside Sandra.
Sandra patted Carol Ann’s arm. “It’s okay. We can see her next visiting hours. Why don’t we go get some eggs in the cafeteria?”
Natalie followed the nurse into the ICU area, and she found herself wishing that Dade were here.
What for? It’s not like he was her boyfriend or anything. He was just a sexy boarder that she’d kissed a couple of times.
Oh, you liar. Are you trying to backtrack now? Chicken.
She still remembered how fabulously wicked she’d felt slipping her arm around his hard-muscled waist in the waiting room right in front of everyone and retrieving her panties from his back pocket. How crazy to be turned on over something so simple.
Provocative.
He was provocative and he aroused unfamiliar emotions in her. Emotions she was eager to explore.
Okay, so maybe she did have more expectations from him than she should. Being with him felt good. So good it scared her.
The nurse showed her to her great-aunt’s private room. Delia lay propped up in bed, her head resting on a plump pillow. Tubes were everywhere—IVs, monitors, catheters. Natalie’s heart stumbled as it hit home how close they’d come to losing her, could still lose her. Her aunt wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Delia’s skin was ghostly pale, but her eyes were sharp and bright. “Natty,” she whispered, and motioned her closer.
Natalie moved to the bedside and took her great-aunt’s hand. It felt too cold. She rubbed it between her palms. “You gave us quite a scare.”
“Scared myself.” Delia laughed weakly.
“I can’t imagine what you went through, lying there on the floor all alone.”
“But I wasn’t alone,” Delia said. “Frank was with me.”
Natalie cocked her head. Uncle Frank had been dead for ten years. She had heard that sometimes when people were close to death they saw deceased loved ones. She squeezed Delia’s hand.
“I could hear him so clearly, talking to me as if he were standing right beside me,” Delia went on. “But the main problem with a ghost is that they can’t help you up off the damn floor.”
Natalie laughed. Even sick and in pain, Delia was still feisty.
“When you love someone, they never die,” Delia said. “They’re always with you in your heart no matter what. Just as your parents live on in you, Natalie.”
“Shh, don’t talk. You need your strength. Rest. Just rest.”
“It’s just like the way you feel about Dade,” Delia went on.
“What are you talking about, Auntie?” Natalie put a hand to her face.
“You love him. He loves you. Cupid has drawn back his bow, flung his arrow. There’s no escape.”
“Do you really believe in love at first sight?”
“I do,” Delia said vehemently. “I know it’s out of fashion to believe in such things, but I know it to be true.”
“I’m scared of what I’m feeling. It’s so strong, but how can you ever be sure?”
“Just listen to your heart.” Delia tapped Natalie’s chest. “Your heart knows the truth.”
“I barely know him.”
“That’s not true. Your souls speak to each other. You know him, deep down inside. You’ve always known him on a cellular level.”
She’d never heard her aunt talk like this. “Are you telling me that you believe in reincarnation?”
Delia shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. But I do believe in soul mates. Someone meant just for you. Dade is your soul mate.”
“But how can you know that for certain?” Natalie asked, sounding shriller than she intended.
“Well, for one thing I almost died, so indulge me. It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. Just stop being so damn scared.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“What if I’m not and you let him get away? You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Girl, do I have to spell it out for you? Give yourself to that man. Seal the bond.”
“Are you telling me to have sex with him?”
Delia nodded slowly. “A man isn’t fully bonded to a woman until he makes love to her, but once he’s made her his, if he’s the right one, he’ll move heaven and earth to be with you.”
“That’s a pretty generic statement and a bit sexist.”
“Hey, I’m an old broad and I broke my hip. That means I get to say what I think.”
Natalie kissed the back of Delia’s hand. “What if I make love to him and it turns out he’s not my soul mate?”
“Well, he is, but just on the off chance that I’m wrong, then at least you will have lived a little, and had a big adventure. If nothing else, you deserve that. But for heaven’s sake, use protection, sweetie. Even with a soul mate you don’t want to make little ones until you’re ready for them.”
“You’re being a busybody, you know that?”
“That man of yours saved my life, Natty. You should hear the nurses raving about him and if you just give him half a chance, I know he’ll save yours.”
M
EET ME @ the B&B dining room.
Dade looked down at the text message from Natalie and smiled. He pocketed the phone and turned his motorcycle for Cupid’s Rest. Chantilly’s was closed on Sundays and he’d been out driving the roads around town since dawn, pretending to be Red, trying to imagine where his friend might have gone and why. It had been a full week since Dade had first arrived in town and he was no closer to finding Red than he’d been the first day.
He parked the Harley and rushed up the steps, excited to see her again. How had she gotten under his skin in such a short amount of time? It seemed impossible, but he couldn’t get to her fast enough.
There was no one in the lobby. Odd. There was usually someone at the front desk during the day. The place was eerily quiet. Maybe Natalie had gotten rid of everyone and she was waiting for him in the dining room wearing something sexy.
His mouth watered as he opened the dining room door.
“Surprise!”
Dade stared at the people in the room, stunned by the party streamers, noisemakers, confetti, and huge red velvet cake positioned in the center of the buffet table. The room was packed with people he did not know. He recognized Pearl and Zoey and Junie Mae. A lot of the folks he’d met at the hospital, but he couldn’t remember all their names. Lars was there and so were Gizmo and Jasper.
His chest seized up. It felt like an ambush.
A banner strung across the back of the room read “Dade, You’re Our Hero.”
Inwardly, he groaned. What the hell was this?
“Look at him,” someone said, “he’s so surprised he can’t speak.”