Single, Available, and Completely Attached (29 page)

“But the heart wants what the heart wants, doesn’t it?”
 
She stared up at him, her palm on his cheek.
 
Drew nodded, his eyes smiling down at her as he took her hand from his cheek and touched his lips to it.

They continued walking down the street, still hand in hand.
 
“I have to admit, when I walked in there and saw that older gentlemanly fellow trying to
chat
you up, I flashed to Chandler Duvet and I figured it was game over for me.”

“That
was
Chandler Duvet.”
 
Drew stopped her, pulling her close to him.
 
She wrapped her arms around his neck, still smiling.
 
She wanted to be as close to him as she could.
 

“
The
Chandler Duvet?”
 
Anna nodded, her eyes sparkling with joy and amusement.
 
“Is it weird that I want to go back and punch him?”
 

She laughed then, throwing her head back.
 

“I would rather you just take me back to my hotel room, take my dress off, and take the most incredible bath either one of us can imagine.”

“That sounds a lot better.”

She reached up, as if to kiss him—but he stopped her, his expression suddenly serious.
 
“Before we take this any further, Annabelle
Maloy
, I have something I need to tell you.”

“Oh?”
 
She raised an eyebrow, the corners of her lips still upturned.

“There’s another woman in my life.”
 

“Really, now?”
 
Anna pulled back further, waiting for him to finish.
 

“Her name is Bella, and she’s really quite adorable—
”
 
Drew
continued on.

“Uh-huh—and does Bella happen to have four legs and pretty golden fur?”
 

“How’d you guess?”
 
Anna laughed again, shrugging a shoulder.
 
So, maybe she’d listened to a few podcasts of his show while she was gone.
 
She couldn’t exactly help it.
 

“Oh, I have my sources.”
 
She dropped her head to the side, looking up at him.
 
“Drew, did you name your dog after me?”

“First—Bella was her given name.
 
Who am I to change her identity?
 
And second,
”
 
Drew
leaned in closer.
 
“Your name is Anna.”

“But
you
call me Annabelle.
 
Which you’ve never actually explained, by the way.”
 

“Isn’t it obvious, Anna?”
 
He grazed her cheek with the back of his hand.
 
“Since the moment I saw you, I knew.
 
You were so beautiful, it hurt to look away.
 
It’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I knew then that you were it for me—my belle.”

“Oh, stop it.”
 
She rolled her eyes, but deep down, she knew he meant it.
 
She remembered his words, from the morning he’d bared his soul on live air, replaying them in her mind as she’d done thousands of times since then.
 
Suddenly, she felt her chest tighten and she looked up at him, holding his eyes.
 

“I think I knew, too,
”
 
she
whispered.

“Knew what?”
 
Drew asked.

“I knew that it was you.
 
The moment you kissed me—everything about you felt right.
 
But I was too afraid to listen.
 
I didn’t want to get hurt.”
 
Anna bit her lip.
 
“But I knew.”

And as Drew touched his lips to hers, she was taken back to that night.
 
The same rush of excitement washed over her—mixed with the anticipation of what was to come and the tenderness of an affection that had grown between them since that first moment.

She felt the passion there.
 

But she knew that this was something more.
 
This was a flame that would burn on—it might brighten, and it might ebb, but it would never go out.

Anna didn’t know how—but she just
knew
.

And that was all she needed.

Michelle Brewer has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember (literally—she began “borrowing” her sister’s romance novels around age ten), and it was her love of reading that led her to want to become a writer.
 
The ability to create a world of fiction that feels so real to the reader—that feeling has inspired her since she first put pen to paper.

She lives in Michigan with her husband of four years and their nearly-two-year old son, with whom she loves spending her free time.
 

Other books by Michelle Brewer:

Playing at Forever

Can’t Let Go