“Did you call her retarded?”
“No. I was very nice to her because of you.” Somehow Chelsea doubted he’d been very nice. “I’m a better person since you came into my life,” he continued. “I want to be better for you.”
Just like Jerry Maguire, only Mark was hotter than Tom Cruise. Taller too.
“I love you and I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said you love me.” He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out her missing cell phone.
“Where did you get that?”
“Jules stole it for me.” He handed it to her, then pulled out his own cell and dialed. “I heard this song on the oldies radio station the other day and I can’t get it out of my head.” His cheeks turned a little pink as if he was embarrassed. “It’s cheesy, but every t›sy,ime I call, you’ll know how I feel about you.” The face on her BlackBerry lit, then Glen Campbell sang about needing and wanting for all time.
She looked up as her heart swelled and tears blurred her vision. “Jules downloaded this for you?”
“I did it. I had to buy the CD and record it on your phone. It took me a while.”
She smiled at the thought of him trying to get all the lyrics just right. “I didn’t know you could do this.”
“I can do a lot of things, Chelsea.” He slipped his phone into his pocket. “I can love you and make you happy, if you’ll let me.” He pulled out a ring. A big diamond ring.
She gasped. “Is that real?”
“Do you think I’d buy you a fake ring?”
She didn’t know what to think. He was here. He loved her. He was shoving a four-carat diamond ring on her finger. This was all so unreal.
“You once said that it would be hard to say no to a big ring.” He put the tips of his fingers beneath her chin and gently lifted her face. “Chelsea, I knew when you showed up on my porch that you were going to be trouble. You were bossy and annoying and you brought sunshine into a very dark time in my life. You saved me when I didn’t even know I needed saving. I love you for that. I will always love you for that.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the backs of her knuckles. “Please say you’ll stay in my life and make trouble with me forever.”
She nodded, and her big smile matched his equally big grin. “Yes. Mark, I love you. These past few days without you have been horrible.”
He pulled her against his chest, as if he never meant to let her go, and he lowered his mouth to her. The gentle kiss touched her soul, and when it ended, she slid her arms around his waist and laid her cheek against his hard chest. Beneath her ear she listened to the sound of his heart. Her eyes filled with tears and he kissed the part in her hair. “I know that you want to move back to L.A. and pursue your acting. I understand it’s important to you. I have an alternative. You might call it plan B.”
She smiled into the front of his white T-shirt. “What’s plan B?”
“When you’re not in a movie or acting in a commercial, you come to Seattle and be with me. During the off season I’ll come and live with you in L.A.”
“I don’t think so.” She shook her head and glanced up. The look in his eyes nearly broke her heart. “If I’m not here, who will make sure you don’t back-slide into your old cranky ways? Who will keep you in line and on your toes? Who will answer all your fan e-mails and play three-man hockey? Who will give Derek the stink eye?” He smiled, and she continued, “I have a plan C.”
“What?”
“You once told me that you were only good at two things....
Mark ran his hands up her shoulders and neck and held her face in his hands. “With me.”
She smiled. “Lucky you.”
Former hockey star and all-around NHL badass Mark Bressler looked into Chelsea’s blue eyes and chuckled. She was bossy and pushy and she made him damn happy to be alive. “Yeah,” he said. “Lucky me.”
Rachel Gibson’s
next sexy title
Coming Spring 2011
From
Sam Leclaire was a good-looking son of a bitch. Everyone thought so. Everyone from sportswriters to soccer moms.
The girl wrapped up in his sheets thought so, too. Although she wasn’t really a girl. She was a woman.