A Tender Touch: A Donnelley Brother's Novel (Logan Point Book 4) (21 page)

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Authors: Alannah Carbonneau

BOOK: A Tender Touch: A Donnelley Brother's Novel (Logan Point Book 4)

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As my knees buckled, Luke caught me around the waist, spilling himself into the condom.

“Naughty sex with you is definitely something to live for.” He whispered in my ear as he pulled out. “We’ll have to do this more.”

I shook my head. “And I’m the insatiable one?”

He nodded. “Definitely.”

I righted my panties and pants as Luke pulled the condom from his length to dispose of it in the garbage. Lifting my eyes to Luke, I watch as he shoved his satisfied cock back into his pants.

“You know, by the beginning of November the tours really start to slow down until about the beginning of February.” He looked up at me. “I was thinking we could take a vacation somewhere warm. Maybe before Christmas?”

“What?” I felt my body freeze as a conversation I wasn’t sure I wanted to have bloomed without any warning at all. “Luke, I’m not...”

He stiffened. “You’re not what, Ember?” He stepped toward me as he finished buckling his belt. “You’re not staying?”

Stuttering, I replied. “I - I don’t know.”

“What the hell do you mean, you don’t fucking know?” He yelled and I flinched in surprise and fear and uncertainty. Luke had never yelled at me before - but he was seriously angry right now.

“Luke,”

“No, Ember, what the hell do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t know!” I cry-yelled back. My emotions were all over the place and I didn’t know how to rein them in. All I knew, was this was the wrong place to be having this conversation. Forcing calm into my voice, I said. “We haven’t even talked about it. We haven’t discussed anything.”

“I’ve tried to talk about it, Ember.” He ran a hand through his dark hair with a violence that frightened me. “I love you. You love me - I know you love me.” Desperation fringed his tone. “What the hell is there to talk about?” He shook his head as he continued. “I assumed you were staying with me. After everything that happened between us - I assumed you were staying.”

“You shouldn’t assume.” I whispered through my breaking heart. I couldn’t help but wonder how I could go from being so blissfully happy and sated to so deeply saddened and frightened and uncertain in the span of five minutes. I mean, it was surreal how low I could fall when I’d been so impossibly high.

“You’re fucking right!” He yelled hard and loud. The sound literally vibrated off the walls in the small barn office as he paced the length of the small floor. And then he stopped pacing and moved to the door. “I don’t ever want to go back to life without you, Ember, because I love you and you’ve made me happier than any man could possibly be. But I can’t do this any more. If you’re with me, you’ve gotta be with me.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean that I want you now and forever, Ember. I’m a patient and generous man and I’ll give you almost everything you ask for. But there’s one thing I want from you.”

“What?”

“I want you to stay here.” He shrugged. “It’s that simple. I want you to build a life with me. Here.”

His eyes pleaded with me to decide, and when I shook my head, and words failed me, his hand that had lingered on the knob of the door twisted to fling it open, and he growled. “When you figure it out, come talk to me.”

“Luke,” I called his name - but he was already gone.

***

“Can I get a hot chocolate?” I ordered at the cafeteria. “With whip cream and chocolate sprinkles, too.”

“Sure,” the girl behind the counter smiled. “Anything else?”

I thought for a moment, before shaking my head. “No, just the hot chocolate. Thank you.”

“Are you sure?” I wise, familiar female voice asked. “I hear the triple chocolate muffins are soothing on a breaking heart.”

Spinning around, I found myself standing face to face with Gracie Donnelley. Sighing with a heavy heart, I turned back to the girl behind the counter. “Just the hot chocolate, please.”

Again, Gracie spoke. “Make it two, Kayla. And put it on my tab please.”

“For sure.” Kayla smiled before fluttering away for the hot chocolate.

I didn’t want to look at Gracie as I moved down the line to the pick-up counter, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “Thanks.”

“So, it’s the drink of broken hearts? What happened?”

“I don’t have a broken heart.”

“You’re telling me you’ve chosen to drink a hot chocolate with whip cream and sprinkles on one of the hottest days of the summer?” Gracie pinned me with soft green eyes. “Ember, you forget I’m a woman and I can spot a broken heart from a mile away.” She paused. “I also ran into my son an hour or so ago and he looks almost as bad as you.”

This perked my attention. “He does?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, my girl. He does.”

I sighed and then as my hot chocolate appeared on the counter and I looked at the gooey goodness that was my broken heart drink, my eyes misted with tears. “I’m lost.”

“We all get lost once in a while.” She replied soothingly. “Pick up your hot chocolate and join me.”

I did as she asked, joining her at a table in the back corner of the cafeteria where the air conditioning was blasting strongly. She chuckled as she lowered herself closest to the air conditioning. “Darling, could you not have a slushi for a broken heart drink - especially on a day as hot as this?”

“You didn’t have to order the same drink.”

She scowled at me. “Yes, I did.”

I shook my head and nibbled on my lip as I stared into the swirl of my whip cream. After a few minutes of silence, Gracie spoke again. “So, what’s made you feel so lost?”

“Honestly?”

“Is there any other way to be?” She cocked her head.

My shoulders fell and the stress that had built up inside of me tumbled out from the hole that was my mouth. And I told Gracie everything. “I’m in love with Luke. He wants me to stay here after September when I’m supposed to leave, but I’m afraid of leaving my mom all alone - and then there’s all the schooling I did. I mean, if I move out here and don’t finish, it’ll just be a waste.” I dropped my head into my hands. “I’m so confused, Gracie, and I have no one I can talk to.”

“You can always talk to me.” She stated matter of fact. “And you have Kami, Reese and Hadley as well.”

“But,”

“But you want to talk to Luke?” As soon as she spoke the words, I knew they were the truth. Gracie was right, I was feeling so terribly lost inside because I did want to talk to Luke. I had other people I could talk to, but over the last six months, Luke had been the one I had worked all my problems out with. He’d been the one who encouraged my decisions and accepted my quirks. I needed him. I wanted him.

Nodding, I tried to stop my tears. “Yeah, I want to talk to Luke.”

“Then talk to him, darling.”

“But,”

“Ember,” She leaned into the table. “If you’re worried about your mother, don’t be. She told me she was kicking you out. She wants you to move forward with your life, making your decisions for you. And honestly, sweetheart, she wants to move forward too. She’ll always be there for you and you for her.”

“But if I choose to stay here...”

“If you choose to stay here you’ll only be a phone call away from her, Ember. Don’t let your mother be your excuse for giving up on what you’ve found here with Luke.”

“And my schooling?”

“There’s a school you can go to here. Granted it’s a bit of a drive, but if school is something you want, Luke will encourage you to go.” She popped another smile. “School isn’t an excuse.”

“So what you’re telling me is that I have no excuse?”

She nodded. “That is exactly what I’m telling you. If you want to be with Luke, then be with him. It’s that simple.”

I sipped my too warm drink on a really hot day. “I want to be with him.”

“Then I suggest you go tell him that.” She raised a brow at my hot chocolate. “I don’t think you need that broken heart drink any longer, do you?”

I laughed, because there was a conflicted kind of relief in my heart that made me want to cry. “No, I don’t need this anymore.” I stood from the bench. “But I have to go.”

Gracie chuckled. “I’m so glad I could help!”

I waved behind me as I ran for the door. “Thank you!”

***

Pulling my car into Luke’s driveway beside his truck, I didn’t give myself time to second guess what I was about to do. Instead, I raced from my car to the door of his house, and I banged my fist against the wood over and over again until I heard footsteps sounding on the other side.

When he opened the door, he looked enraged for only a split second, before his eyes softened on my face. “Ember.”

“Don’t talk.” I gasped, trying to talk evenly in spite of the wild beating of my heart. “I have something to say.”

For a moment, there was silence, and then he announced. “I’m listening.

“I love you, Luke Donnelley.” I felt my eyes misting all over again with a new burst of tears. “I’m in love with you and I want you to know that I want to be with you. I want it all with you, forever and always, if you’ll have me.”

“Tell me, pretty girl.” Luke smiled softly. “Tell me what you want?”

“I want to live my life with you, because without you, it’s not life, not living - it’s just existing.” The tears I’ve fought so hard to keep from falling slipped from my eyes. “I want to stay here with you at the Ranch.” I sniffled. “Actually, I want to move in with you. And I want to be your wife. I want the big wedding with the dress and flowers and cake and shoeless dancing - and I know I sound crazy, but I want to be the mother of your children too.” I was a mess of emotions and sounds I couldn’t put my finger on were emanating from deep within me. I was sobbing, and laughing, and gasping for breath as I said. “I just want to be the woman you call yours - forever. Because I love you.”

“Ember Brighton,” Luke grinned a cocky grin. “Are you proposing?”

“No.” I shook my head, sniffling once again. “But I was kind of hoping that you would.”

Catching my face in his hands, he leaned down to press his lips against mine. Kissing me with a passionate warmth, I felt his lips curl against mine, and I knew he was smiling. Then he pulled away and I watched as he dipped his hand into the pocket of his jeans.

“This isn’t how I imagined doing this - and I’ve had the ring for a while now, waiting for the perfect time. I never thought the perfect time would come like this, but Ember Brighton, I’m in love with you.” He lowered himself to his knee. “I want you to stay here at the Ranch. Actually, I want you to move in with me.” He grinned up at me as I giggled through my sobs at his recycled proposal of the words I had said only a moment ago. “I want you to be my wife. I want the big wedding for you, pretty girl, and I can’t wait to see you in a dress, with the flowers, and the cake. And I want you to be the mother of my children.” He uncurled his fingers to expose the gold ring in his palm and I cried even harder. “I just want you to be the woman I call mine - forever. So Ember Brighton, will you marry me?”

Through my tears of utter happiness, I reminded. “Don’t forget the shoeless dancing.”

Luke laughed, his hand reaching out for my left one. “Shoeless dancing, got it.” He balanced the gold band at the tip of my finger. “Marry me?”

“Yes.” I whispered. And then I felt the thin gold band slide onto my left hand ring finger. In that moment, all my stars aligned. In this moment - everything was just how it was supposed to be.

Epilogue

John watches through loving eyes, as his wife appears from the attached bathroom, ready for bed. Reaching across the bed, he begins removing the throw pillows he pretends to adore, because he adores his wife.

“Now that all the boys have found their women and they’re all matched up and nearly married, you can rest.”

Gracie beamed at John. “Only another two weeks and Luke will be a married man.” Her eyes twinkled. “But John, don’t you think you’re getting a head of yourself, darling?”

John lowered himself onto his side of the bed, closest to the door, as he watched mischief flood the green of his wife’s eyes. “Ahead of myself? How am I getting ahead of myself, Gracie?”

Smiling the same smile that captured his heart so many years ago, she announced. “I still have grandbabies to meet.”

Authors Note

For this novel, and even series, there are so many people I owe a huge thanks to! First, I’d like to thank my ever-supportive fiancé who has been a huge inspiration for every one of these novels in The Donnelley Brother Series. Then there is my lovely street team - Alannah’s Angels - and yes, these ladies are my Angels (I swear they’re my Godsend)! It is this series that has brought me these wonderful ladies whom I now view as great friends I will surely have for a lifetime! Ashley, Emma, Dawn and Marian - I seriously love you girls! And Imy, you’ve been a huge support for this series and an amazing reader and friend, thank you for your ever constant excitement! I mainly just want to thank you all - everyone who reads and loves this series - from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!

Other Books By Alannah Carbonneau

Adult Romance

Enraptured

Enthralled

All Good Things

All Good Things Exposed

All Good Things Absolved

Broken Beginnings

Captured Miracle

Bleeding Heart (Captured Miracle Book Two)

Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother Novel - Book One)

A Safe Surrender (A Donnelley Brother Novel - Book Two)