All You Can Handle (Moments In Maplesville Book 5) (19 page)

“You should totally have a wedding on a beach so we can all be barefoot!” She looked to Sonny. “That’s what your boss’s friend, the vet lady, did. Tabitha, who’s in my class, heard Dr. Webber talking about her wedding on the beach while she was giving Tabitha’s hamster her shots. I do not like that hamster, but I would
love
to go to a wedding on the beach. Or you can get married in a church, I guess, but that’s so boring!

“I have to text Anesha,” Kimmie said. “She’s going to say ‘I told you so,’ but, well, she did tell me. I’ll let her brag this time.” Kimmie raced out of the kitchen, then raced back in. She pointed to them both. “Remember, think beach wedding.” Then she raced out again.

Sonny turned around to face him. Her eyes held that dazed, just got hit by Hurricane Kimmie look.

“What just happened there?” she asked.

Ian shrugged. “Kimmie happened. After an entire month, I thought you’d be used to it already.”

“You’d think so.” She huffed out a laugh, then she sobered. “How are you really doing?” she asked. “I know how much you were counting on that loan.”

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Ian admitted. “This is my dream. I’ll just have to postpone it for a while longer.”

“But why, Ian? Why does your dream hinge on that building? Why can’t you make it happen right here? Right now?”

He shook his head. “I don’t—”

“How many bikes do you have in that garage that could be sold right now?”

He squinted, thinking. “Four?” he said.

“That’s your inventory. That’s all you need.”

“There’s more to it than just the bikes.”

“Sure there is, but you can think about that later. You have the bikes right now, so you have to make those work for you. You can show them around at car shows like that one at St. Michael’s Church Fair. That’s how you get your start. You don’t need the storefront. Yes, it would have been perfect for you, but you don’t always get perfect. You can do this, Ian. You can do it right now.”

The excitement in her voice was infectious. The belief she had in him fed the hope suddenly racing through his veins.

He
could
do this. He could do exactly what she said. He didn’t have to wait for either of his dreams to become reality. He could have everything he wanted right now.

“You’re right,” Ian said. “I already have everything I need. I can start small. Trey would probably let me do business out of his shop.”

“And maybe you can one day convince whoever buys the Miller Pharmacy building to sell it,” Sonny said. “Who knows what the future holds for you.”

Ian didn’t know what the future held. But he did know he wouldn’t be happy if his future didn’t include her.

“Sonny, I—”

The stampede-like clomp of footsteps pounding down the stairs overshadowed his words. Seconds later, Kimmie slid on the kitchen’s hardwood floor a la Tom Cruise in
Risky Business
.

“Forgot this,” she said. She snatched her book bag from where she’d apparently dropped it next to the pantry when she came in from school, and then she pointed to them again. “You’re still thinking a beach wedding, right? Good,” she said, without giving either of them the chance to answer.

Sonny laughed again. She turned back to Ian, amusement glittering in her deep brown eyes. “So, who’s going to break the news to Kimmie that she’s way off base?”

“Is she?” Ian asked.

He felt her stiffen and he knew he needed to make his case before she allowed those fears to take over.

He clasped his hands on her upper arms and looked her square in the eyes. “What I said to you the other night, about being okay if you left Maplesville? It’s bullshit, Sonny. I’m not okay with you leaving.”

“Ian, I—”

“I want you,” he said. He shook his head. “No. It’s more than that. I
love
you. Shit, at least I think this is love. I’ve never done love before. I just know that when I think of you leaving I can’t breathe. You’re like air to me, Sonny.”

Her chest expanded with the deep breath she pulled in. “Ian, let me—”

“Tell me you don’t feel something for me,” he said, giving her arms a firm but gentle squeeze.

“I…I can’t do that,” she said, her voice a meek whisper. She looked up at him. “It would be a lie if I said I didn’t.”

His chest tightened. The breath stilled in his lungs.

This was it for him. This was everything. He had to make her see how good they would be together. He had to convince her to stay.

Ian ran his hands down her arms, and then he clasped both of her hands between his. He pulled her closer to him, leaning his head forward until their foreheads met.

“I had convinced myself that it was better to let you go,” he said. “I told myself that it was for the best, because I thought you were exactly like my mom. But then I told you not to compare me to your ex-fiancé, so how could I continue comparing you to her? You’re nothing like she is, Sonny. You didn’t up and leave your old life because you just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. You left because it was slowly killing you. I understand that now, and I know that you’re afraid that if you stay in one place too long that it may start to slowly eat away at you, too, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

He released a deep breath. “I know Maplesville is supposed to be a temporary stop on this journey for you, but I’m not ready to see this end. We haven’t had a chance to start yet.”

“Ian—” she started, but he cut her off again. He didn’t want to hear her excuses. Didn’t want to hear her reasons for wanting to leave him.

“Just tell me,” Ian said, his plea desperate. “Just tell me what I have to do to convince you to stay. To give us a chance. I know you want that job in New Orleans, and I thought I’d be okay with you moving there. I figured it’s only an hour away, we could see each other whenever we want to. But that’s not how these things work. You’ll leave and you’ll be too busy with the new job and baking cakes on the side, and I’ll be too busy with my work and this would end. It can’t end, Sonny. It
can’t
. I want you here. In this house. With me.”

“It’s what I want, too,” she said. “This is where I want to be.”

Ian reared back as if he’d been struck by lightning. He stared into her eyes, hesitant to trust the hope that stole over him. But then he grabbed at it, clung to it. In the few seconds that passed, Ian went from drowning in desperation to floating on air.

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“I backed out of the interview with the Windsor Court,” she said. “I’m not ready for something on that scale. And, even if I were, I would have still backed out.”

“And that means?” he asked. “I need you to spell it out for me, Sonny.”

“It means that I want to be here in Maplesville with you and Kimmie.” She captured his face within her palms. “I like what I’ve found here, Ian. I love my job with Kiera. I’m loving this town more and more every day. And…” She paused. Swallowed. “And I think I may love you, too. It scares me so much, and you’re going to have to be patient with me, but I’m not ready to see this end.”

“Thank God,” Ian said. He grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her to his chest, holding her so tightly that he wasn’t sure he would be able to let her go. He never wanted to let her go.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to realize this is what I want.”

“That’s okay,” Ian said. “You can make up for it later.”

He felt the rumble of her chuckle against his chest. Then she lifted her head, the corner of her mouth twisted up in a frown. “Now, I don’t know if I’m ready to talk weddings on the beach just yet.”

Ian grinned, then swallowed down the emotion clogging his throat. “I think Kimmie will get over it.”

They smiled into each other’s eyes and simultaneously shook their heads. “Probably not,” they said at the same time.

Ian loosened his embrace, settling his clasped hands at the small of her back.

“You’re sure about this?” he asked. “Not that I want you to think too much on it, but I also don’t want you to feel pressured.” The last thing he wanted her to do was change her mind, but he had to make sure she’d thought this through.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she said.

Her next words set him at ease.

“I know exactly what I want, Ian. It’s you. It’s this. This is exactly where I want to be.”

“Good. There’s just one other thing.” She looked up at him, a curious lift to her brows. “The apartment above the garage is no longer available for rent. You’ll have to move in here with me.”

Sonny’s head flew back with her laugh. “I think I can handle that.”

Epilogue

“Are you sure you’re not up for a quick trip to New York?”

Sonny lifted the natural sea sponge from the bergamot-scented bath water and squeezed it above Ian’s chest, letting the sudsy water sluice down his body.

“Even if I were up for a trip to New York, I wouldn’t let you get within a hundred feet of Kimmie,” she said. They’d had this conversation more than once since driving Kimmie to the airport this afternoon.

“This was a stupid gift,” Ian huffed. “What in the hell was I thinking? She’s only thirteen. She’s not old enough to spend the summer in a big city all by herself.”

“She will not be by herself. She’ll be surrounded by a bunch of new friends who are movie junkies like her.” Sonny pressed a kiss to his temple as she glided the sponge along his chest. “This is
her
time; she doesn’t need her big brother tagging along. Besides, you’ve got three people waiting for bikes, remember? You’re in high demand, Mr. Landry. You don’t have time to go traipsing around New York City. Even this bubble bath is a luxury.”

“The same could be said for you,” he pointed out. “The kitchen looks like an explosion in a flour factory.”

“Hey, I keep a clean kitchen,” Sonny said.

He had a point, though. She had more cake orders than she knew what to do with, which was just fine with her.

“I still think I should have gotten Kimmie something other than the film camp,” Ian said.

Sonny let out an exaggerated sigh. “Would you stop it?” she said, slipping from behind him and maneuvering her way around the huge garden tub until she faced him. She stretched out on top of him, her breast lightly brushing his solid chest. “Stop with the worry, Ian. It was the perfect gift, for Kimmie and for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes.” She kissed his chin. “Because now that you don’t have your little sister around to use as an excuse, you’re going to live a little. It’s time for you to have some fun, Ian Landry.”

“I already know how to have fun.
You’re
the one who was too afraid to take a ride on my motorcycle, remember?”

“Oh, I remember,” she said. “I also remember that you’re the one who wouldn’t take a swim in the pond. I think I win.”

“You do, huh?”

“Sure do,” Sonny said.

“That sounds like a challenge to me. Which one of us can dish out the most fun.”

Sonny raised her brow. “Honey, you’d better get ready, because I’m about to give you every bit of fun you can handle.”

“Is that a promise?”

She grinned. “That’s a guarantee.

Thank you so much for purchasing and reading
All You Can Handle
.

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A LITTLE BIT NAUGHTY

A Moments in Maplesville Novella

Chapter One