Falling for the Wrong Twin (26 page)

“And don’t you forget it.”

His family cheered as they made it inside, though Rick was a little less enthusiastic than the others. It might have to do with the swelling bruise on his jaw. Mike looked at him and tried to look contrite.

“Sorry, man. I just lost my temper.”

Rick snorted. “Yeah, I gathered that.” Then he looked at Anna. “I’m sorry my gift went wrong.”

“Don’t apologize. It was all my fault.”

“Yes it was, dear,” said Aunt Tilde sternly to Anna. “So don’t go telling fibs anymore.”

Anna nodded gravely. “I won’t. I promise.”

“Good,” the older woman said with a clap of her hands. “Now come have some birthday cake.”

Mike felt Anna start in surprise. Clearly she hadn’t expected it to be that easy. An admonishment to never fib again, and it was over. Or at least it was until his mom interrupted.

“Wait!” she cried as she held out a white envelope. “She has to open Mike’s present first.”

Anna looked around at everyone. Mike had finally set her down, but he kept an arm around her to keep her from bolting again. He could feel the confusion in her stance, the wary lift to her shoulders even as her body leaned forward a bit, toward everyone.

“You’re not mad?” she asked softly.

“Well, we are a little,” said Chrissy. “But if pretending to be related to Jennifer Lopez is the worst thing you’ve ever done, then you’re a paragon of virtue.” Her gaze shifted to Mike. “And frankly, we’ve never seen Mike so besotted, so you must be a pretty good person. He’s rarely wrong. It’s really annoying.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Rick. “He’s always wrong, but not about you Anna.” He stepped forward and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Yes, everything’s forgiven.”

Anna looked at them all, her hand slipping up to her cheek where Rick had kissed her. “I can’t believe… I’m so sorry… I--”

“Enough already!” cried Tilde. “Open Mike’s present. We’ve all been dying to see what it is.”

Anna took the envelope, her gaze going to Mike’s as she pulled out the folded piece of paper, reading it slowly. He watched her skin flush pink and her mouth open slightly in shock. And then she read it again, twice more.

“Mike, you can’t mean--”

“I do. If you want to.”

She stared at him. “Of course I want to! But--”

He touched his fingers to her mouth. No way was he kissing her full out in front of his mother and aunt. “I want to.” Then he leaned down and took the print out. It was a gift certificate for a luxury vacation in Hollywood. Plane tickets, hotel, and even a couple’s spa day. “I thought you could show me the sights.” He paused a moment. “You have been there, right?”

“Lots of times!” she said as she pulled her hand from his mouth. Then she glanced self-consciously at everyone else in the room. “If by lots of times, you mean three. But I made every trip count.”

He grinned. “I’ll be you did.” He leaned forward. “But I bet we can make it even more memorable together.”

She flushed while Rick clapped his hands. “Okay, so that’s done. Can I have some cake now? I need something sweet to take my mind off of all the pain in my jaw.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mike drawled. “You’re just jealous because this time I got the girl. But don’t worry. I’m sure there’s a woman somewhere in this world who will tolerate you.”

“There are a dozen supermodels who--”

“Sure there are. They don’t count until they come to dinner, right Mom?”

His mother smiled as she handed Anna a piece of cake. “That’s right, Rick. Bring them to dinner.” Then she settled down in front of Anna. “So tell me more about Alan Alda. What else do you know?”

Chapter 20

Anna surveyed the ballroom with a critical eye. Everything was in place for Aunt Tilde’s birthday party. Who knew that the woman had enough friends to fill a ballroom or that at the ripe age of 71 she would want to celebrate in style?

But after six months of dinners and events with Mike’s family, she was no longer surprised by the network of people who adored them. The eleven people she’d met in the fall were just the tip of the iceberg. She’d already been to three weddings, two christenings, and countless bowling nights. Yes, apparently one branch of Tilde’s family was avid bowlers. And thanks to them--and Mike’s patient tutelage--she now had a 240 average. Not to mention a whole group of people who now called her “friend.”

Her social life was so busy that she sometimes missed the quiet of her formerly empty life. Sometimes, but not often. And frankly, all she had to do was think of Mike and her entire body flushed with happiness. He was everything perfect in a man, and she couldn’t believe he was hers.

Well, sort of hers.

In six months, they’d been together as much as it was possible for two people who lived in different cities. Either she spent weekends in St. Louis or he came to Kansas City. During the weekdays, they worked. His new job was demanding, but he loved it. And thanks to his extended family and friends network, she had more jobs than she could handle. And all of them were in St. Louis, which meant that she had more and more reasons to be in his city during the week too.

Which was great except for one thing: he still hadn’t said he loved her.

He’d done a lot of things to show his affection--and not all of them involved mind-blowing sex. But at the end of the day, she wanted to hear those three special words. She wanted to know that he loved her like she loved him.

“Anna! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Anna turned to see Mike looking resplendent in his dark suit. His hair was mussed, though, as if he’d been running a hand through it. In fact, now that he came closer, he looked clearly stressed. Not too bad, but she’d been with him for six months. She knew what that tightness around his mouth meant.

“Is everything okay? Is Aunt Tilde all right? Sometimes the excitement--”

“She’s fine. Mom’s fine. Everyone’s fine.”

She set down her clipboard and crossed to him. They had maybe a half hour before all the guests started arriving. The caterers were making noises in the kitchen, and the baker had already turned on the fountain in the cake. Yes, Aunt Tilde had wanted a replica of the Fountain of Youth on her cake, and frankly, Anna thought it looked fabulous. But all of that was nothing if something bad had happened. And from the look in Mike’s eyes, something significant was going on. She just wasn’t sure what yet.

“Mike, you’re freaking me out here. What’s happened?”

He flashed her a wan smile then took hold her hands. Then he cleared his throat. “Anna, you happened.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Anna, you burst into my life six months ago and turned me inside out. You showed me how cold my world had gotten. How very compartmentalized and dull.”

She frowned at him, her mind too numb to stop random words from falling from her lips. “You’re an engineer. That kind of goes with the territory.”

He quirked a brow at her. “Not all engineers are dull, you know.”

“I know,” she said as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I happen to love a fascinating one.” She would have deepened the kiss, but he pulled back. “Mike--”

“Anna, you know I’m not good with words. I like doing things more than talking about them.”

“I know--”

“So I’m going to do something now. Something that I hope will show you how much I love you.”

She blinked. Then she gasped. Had he really just said the words I love you? All casual like as if he’d been saying it for six months now?

Apparently so because his attention was on going down on one knee before her. Yep, there he was, on bended knee as he pulled a jeweler’s box out of his coat pocket.

“Anna Lopez, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?” Then he flipped open the box and showed her a big ruby ring.

She looked down at him, looked at the ring and her throat just closed up. Oh my God, he was finally saying he loved her. And he was doing it as he was proposing!

And all the while, he was looking at her, his expression slowly sliding from hopeful to awkward to worried. “Anna? If you don’t like the ring, I can change it. I just thought--you know--a red stone. A ruby because you have my heart.” He lifted it up a little higher. “So when I forget to tell you I love you, you can look down and see that you have my heart.”

She gasped. “It’s perfect, Mike. It’s… Oh my God, I love you so much.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him as thoroughly as she could.

Behind them, she heard clapping. Then a moment later, she looked up to see everyone coming into the ballroom. Aunt Dee and Aunt Tilde, Rick with a fresh cast on his leg from his recent surgery, Chrissy with her kids, and even the twin boys and their parents. All the people who had been there when they’d first met were cheering now. Even the goofy brother that had left early.

She pressed her hand to her mouth, stunned that everyone was here. That everyone was happy to have her join their family. “Oh God,” she whispered.

“Wait, wait!” Rick said, as he waved everyone to silence. When it was finally quiet, he turned to her. “Anna, I don’t believe we heard an answer.”

She smiled and looked down at the love her life.

“Well?” Mike prompted.

“Well, yes,” she said loudly. “I absolutely do want to be part of your life forever.” Then she glanced up at everyone else. “And theirs too.”

Mike groaned as he tightened his arms around her. “Really? Do you have to have all of them too?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, okay,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “So long as you spend your nights with just me.”

She grinned. “Deal.”

They kissed again, deep and long and with all the love that was bursting inside her. It was so wonderful that she almost missed her future mother-in-law’s comment.

“Well, if they get engaged on your birthday, Tilde, I expect a grandchild on mine!”

Example…

Come Undone one last time with Danielle…

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