Summer's Road (29 page)

Authors: Kelly Moran

Ian’s shadow came into view, settling over me. For a moment, I imagined the boy I knew years ago coming over to ask me to play. Instead stood the man I grew to fall in love with. His hands were deep into the pockets of his jeans, his chest and feet bare. He leaned against the railing and pulled a hand out to rub through his hair. “You need to quit leaving my bed or you’re going to give me a complex.”

“What?”

He sat next to me on the step and stretched his long legs before him. “You come over every time it rains, and when I wake up in the morning, you’re gone. Now that we’re together, I always reach for you, hoping you’re there, but you never are.” Drawing his legs up, he rested his forearms on his knees.

“I’m sorry. I was just…saying goodbye to the house, I guess.”

“I don’t get it.”

My gaze took him in, all his rumpled yumminess. “Do you want to marry me?”

“You
could
give me a couple days to buy you a ring and ask properly,” he said dryly.

I grinned. “What I meant was, I want to move into your house and give my mother this one.” I swallowed, waiting for his reaction.

He stared at me for several moments, his gaze probing. “Are you sure? Your dad’s house? That’ll be really hard on you.”

“I’m sure.” I captured his mouth, pouring all my love into the kiss. “I love you.”

His lids grew heavy and his smile lazy. “Say it again.”

I laughed, then sighed against his mouth after he kissed me again. “I love you.”

Wow. Who knew? The boy next door, the love of my life. Me, Summer Quinn, was going to marry Ian Memmer and…

I straightened.

He cupped my jaw and brought my gaze to his. “Christ. What? You have that look that stops my heart.”

I frowned, just to tease him. “If we get married, my last name will be Memmer. Summer Memmer. I’ll sound like a Dr. Seuss book.”

He blinked. Then laughed. “Sweetheart, if that’s the biggest concern we have, I’ll take it.” He laid his head in my lap, and I stroked his hair. “Summer,” he said after awhile. “Don’t tell my mama you proposed to me.”

I bit my tongue to hide the smirk. “Okay.”

“And I want control over the remote once and awhile.”

“Okay. But my furniture gets moved to your house. And I get to paint some color on your walls.”

“Deal.” He lifted his head, kissed my knee, and laid it back down.

A breeze blew gently, cooling off my skin as I glanced upward and squinted at the moon. “Hmm.”

“What now?” His tone was sleepy. Nuzzling his cheek against the top of my thigh, he ran his finger up and down my calf, making me shiver.

“You’re not bitching about how my grass needs to be cut. Look at all the dandelions. Aren’t you twitchy?”

He laughed, the sound rough. “Got the rest of our lives to hassle you about it.”

“You won’t win.”

“Don’t I know it.” He kissed my leg again. “You’re really okay, sweetheart? About the house? Everything? We can take things slow.”

Maybe fairy tales were real. Maybe they did come true, after all.

My gaze never wavered from the sky as a new painting inspiration dug in. “No, I’m happy. I was just thinking how beautiful the moon looked tonight.”

About the Author:

Kelly Moran is a best-selling & award-winning romance author of enchanting ever-afters. She won the 2013 Catherine Award, is a Readers’ Choice Finalist, and a 2014 Award of Excellence Finalist through RWA, plus she earned one of the 10 Best Reads by USA TODAY’s HEA. Kelly’s been known to say she gets her ideas from everyone and everything around her and there’s always a book playing out in her head. No one who knows her bats an eyelash when she talks to herself. Her interests include: sappy movies, MLB, NFL, driving others insane, and sleeping when she can. She is a closet caffeine junkie and chocoholic, but don’t tell anyone. She resides in Wisconsin with her husband, three sons, and her black lab. Most of her family lives in the Carolinas, so she spends a lot of time there as well. She loves connecting with her readers.

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