Tangled Up in You (19 page)

Authors: Rachel Gibson

Baby didnt say anything. Shed heard it before.

M addie plugged Snowballs DVD into the player and sat her on the cat bed in front of the television. It wasnt even ten a.m., and shed had enough of Snowball. If you dont behave, Im going to throw you in your carrier and toss you into the trunk of my car.

Meow.

I mean it. Snowball was going through some sort of passive-aggressive phase. She meowed to go out. Meowed to come in, but when Maddie opened the door, shed run the opposite way. Youd think the cat would be more grateful.

She pointed at her kittens nose. Im warning you. Youve just gotten on my last nerve. She rose and tiptoed away. Snowball didnt follow, for the moment transfixed by the parakeets chirping on the screen.

The doorbell rang and Maddie moved to the front of the house and looked through the peephole. Last night when shed said good-bye to Mick, she hadnt expected to see him again. Now here he was, looking a bit rough. The lower half of his face was covered in stubble like all the times theyd stayed up late making love. She opened the door and saw the Xerox box in his hand. Her heart dropped. All that work and he hadnt read it.

Are you going to invite me in?

She opened the door wider and shut it behind him. He wore a black North Face fleece jacket and, beneath the black stubble, his cheeks were pink from the cold morning chill. He followed her into the living room, bringing the scent of October air and of him into her house. She loved the way he smelled and had missed it.

Is your cat watching television? His voice was kind of rough too.

For the moment.

He set the box on her coffee table. I read your book.

She glanced at the clock above the television just to make sure of the time. Shed given it to him to read and destroy because she loved him, and hed probably skimmed it. That was fast.

Im sorry.

Dont be sorry. Some people are just fast readers.

He smiled, but it didnt reach his blue eyes or bring out his dimples. No. Im sorry for what my mother did to yours. I dont believe anyone in my family has ever apologized to you. We were all too wrapped up in what it did to us to even stop and think about what it did to you.

She blinked and managed a stunned, Oh. You dont have to apologize. You didnt do anything wrong.

He laughed without humor. Dont let me off the hook, Maddie. Ive done a lot of things wrong. He unzipped his jacket, and he wore the same Morts polo shirt hed had on the night before. The man must have dozens of them. Believing that just because I dont think about what had happened in the past meant it doesnt bother or affect me was not only wrong, it was stupid. If Id truly gotten over it, who you are wouldnt have mattered to me. It would have surprised me, maybe even shocked the shit out of me, but it wouldnt matter.

But it had mattered to him. So much so that hed cut her out of his life.

Ive been up all night reading your book. At first I didnt want to read it because I thought it would be a long laundry list of the things my parents had done, complete with grisly photos. But it wasnt.

She wanted to reach out and touch him. To run her hands up his chest and bury her face in his neck. I tried to be fair.

You were surprisingly fair. If your mother had shot mine, I dont know if I would have been as fair. I felt a kind of weird connection to my parents. To my life as a kid, and I understand how everything went so wrong. And I understand that you dont always get a second chance to do it right.

She wanted him to reach out and touch her. To put his hands on the sides of her face and lower his mouth to hers. Instead he stuck his fingers in the front pocket of his Levis.

When I saw you in the park, I said I didnt know you, but that was a lie. I know you. I know that youre funny and smart and that youre freezing when its seventy degrees outside. I know that you crave cheesecake but settle for cake-scented lotion instead. I know you have a problem with people telling you what to do. And I know that you want everyone to think youre a hard-ass, but that you take in a bucktoothed cat and give her a home. Everything I know about you makes me want to know more.

Her chest got that familiar ache, and she looked down at her feet, not trusting the emotion expanding in her chest.

Since I moved back to Truly, he said, Ive felt as if I were standing in one place, unable to move. But I wasnt standing still. I was waiting. I think I was waiting for you.

The backs of her eyes stung and she bit her bottom lip.

When Im with you, I feel a kind of calm Ive never felt in my life. Im tangled up in you and youre tangled up in me and it feels right. Like it was meant to be. I love you, Maddie, and Im sorry its taken me so long to say it to you again.

She looked up at him and smiled. Ive missed you.

He laughed, and his dimples finally dented his cheeks. You havent missed me any more than Ive missed you. Ive been one miserable shithead. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. Ive never believed that death happens for a reason, he said as he looked up into her face. But if our lives had been different, I wouldnt have fallen in love with you. Slowly she slid down his body until her pelvis fit his. He was ready for love, and his hands slipped beneath her shirt and caressed her bare back.

He lowered his head and kissed her. His mouth was warm and wet and so welcome. Later she would take his hand and take him to her room. For now, she just wanted to feel his kiss again, and it was like walking into the sun after a long cold winter. An ahh that felt good clear to the marrow of her bones.

He pulled back and pressed his forehead to hers. Ever since that first night you came into Morts, my eyes have been on you, he said. You were the only thing I could see, even when I tried like hell to look someplace else.

Hmm. Look or touch? I saw you talking to Tanya in the park.

Just look. I dont want anyone else.

She put her arms around his back and locked her hands together. What about Meg?

He raised his head. What about my sister?

What are you going to tell her? She hates me.

Actually, shes been too busy with my friend Steve to think much about you. He thought a moment, then said, I dont think she really hates you. She blames your mother for everything that happened, but she doesnt know you.

Maddie laughed. Getting to know me isnt a guarantee that shell like me.

He shrugged. I think shell get over it, because ultimately she does want me to be happy. She wants me to marry someone I love. To have a wife and a family. I never thought I wanted kids, but after Ive seen the way youve raised your cat He paused to look over at Snowball, who was mesmerized by goldfish. Youre a natural. He looked back at her and smiled. Let me know if any or all parts of that plan appeal to you. If not, well make adjustments.

This sounds a lot like a white wedding, picket fence, baby maker plan.

He chuckled. Who would have thought?

Certainly not her. Shed never thought shed be some mans wife or that shed be thinking about having a family. Of course, she never thought shed fall in love or be a cat owner either. Her life had drastically changed since shed moved to Truly. Shed changed.

She took Micks hand and led him from the room. Maybe he was right. Maybe their lives had always been entwined and they were meant to be together. If that was the case, shed happily spend the rest of her life tangled up in Mick Hennessy.

About the Author

With the publication of New York Times bestselling author RACHEL GIBSONs first book, readers discovered one of contemporary romances freshest voices. Four of her novels were named among the Top Ten Favorite Books of the Year by Romance Writers Of America. She has won numerous awards, including Borders Bestselling Romantic Comedy, National Readers Choice, and the RITA ® award for the Best Single Title Contemporary Romance of the Year.

Readers can write to Rachel Gibson at P.O. Box 4124, Boise, Idaho 83711-4124, or visit her website at www.rachelgibson.com.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

By Rachel Gibson

T ANGLED U P I N Y OU

I M I N N O M OOD F OR L OVE

S EX , L IES, AND O NLINE D ATING

T HE T ROUBLE W ITH V ALENTINES D AY

D AISYS B ACK IN T OWN

S EE J ANE S CORE

L OLA C ARLYLE R EVEALS A LL

T RUE C ONFESSIONS

I T M UST B E L OVE

T RULY M ADLY Y OURS

S IMPLY I RRESISTIBLE

Coming Soon

100 B AD D ATES

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

TANGLED UP IN YOU . Copyright © 2007 by Rachel Gibson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Microsoft Reader May 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-146624-3

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