Leo reluctantly let go of my arm to pull out my chair for me. I tried not to shiver as he brushed his hand along the bare skin of my back as he left to take his own seat. Heat built in my core at the slightest of his touches.In the center of the table was a beautiful bowl full of meringue covered ice cream. The caterer gave me a nervous smile as she cut an orange peel into a long thin string. After pouring liquor on the meringue, she dipped the string of orange peel into a saucer of Grand Marnier. With a deep breath, she lit the orange peel on fire.The sweet scent of alcohol and orange filled the tent as she set the pretty dessert danced with blue and orange flames. The caterer carefully made sure nothing burned, definitely hyper-aware of the danger of the flames. It was a beautiful dessert and as the flames slowly died, the scent of sugar hit me.The caterer let out a small sigh of relief as everyone clapped. She grinned at me before carefully placing seven small cups of perfect cr
Present Day“And that concludes our auction. Thank you to all of our bidders and to Mr. Sebastian Belrose.”I leaned against the back wall and let out a huge sigh of relief. The auction was over. My work here was done. Everything was now in the hands of the auction house and Realtor, so I could go back to my normal job and not be doing double duty. For the first time in weeks, I was free. After the gala last night, and the auction all day today, I was beat. But, with everything finally finished, I could finally relax.My sigh turned into a yawn, which I quickly stifled. I'd been up since before dawn making sure that everyone and everything was ready for the auction today. Luckily, the auction house run by Ava's aunt had their act together. Even my least favorite auctioneer in the world managed to show up on time and do a good job.My stomach rumbled, reminding me that the last meal I ate was coffee and a granola bar sometime around sunrise. I needed to eat soon or I'd be chewing on th
The thrum of the engines vibrated the entire helicopter. I loved the feeling flying in a helicopter gave me. It was so easy and free. In a helicopter, I could go anywhere. There were no limits to how high or how fast. I wasn't human anymore, in here, I was a dragonfly.Leo squeezed my hand. From the light in his eyes, he was a dragonfly too. There wasn't anyone else that I wanted to be a dragonfly with more.The copter skimmed the shore for a while, each wave merging into the next as we sped onward. Dark shapes moved in the water, leviathans of the deep. But we flew past them without a care. Onward, into the island the helicopter flew.The only flights I'd been on around the island were just ones for coming and going from the mainland. I'd never really had the chance to explore the island, especially this past trip. I'd been so busy working the auction that I'd barely even had time to leave the mansion, let alone explore.The helicopter flew toward the middle of the island. Key Island
It took me all of two seconds to decide that yes, yes I was ready for that. I'd been ready to be naked with Leo for ten freaking years. But I didn't want to be the only one getting naked.“Only if you do, too,” I replied, slowly inching the skirt of the dress up. Leo's eyes went to my bare thigh, the blue slowly disappearing to the dilating black of his pupils.“Done,” he said, whipping his shirt over his head and tossing it to the shore.I nearly dropped my dress hem. His chest gleamed in the sun, muscled and perfect. He liked to keep active, but he usually stayed dressed around the office, so I didn't get a regular look at his body.He smirked as he caught me looking. “Were you going to take it off or what?” he teased, loosening the zipper on his shorts. My breath caught a little. It was time. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that I looked as good to him as he did to me.I pulled the dress up and over my head, balling it up and tossing it onto the pebbly beach. I star
“You're shivering,” Leo said, wrapping his arms around me. “Let's get you back where it's warm.”I nodded, my teeth chattering so hard I was afraid I might break them. Up until about three minutes ago, I hadn't noticed how cold the water was or that the sun was setting. I had been too hot and bothered to notice anything but Leo. Now, I was freezing.With Leo's arm around me, we picked up our clothing. He frowned at his soaked boxers, but carried them up as we hurried out from the shade of the waterfall back to the meadow with the waiting picnic basket. Shivering, I pulled my dress over my head and spread out on the blanket, soaking up the hot sun. Leo set his wet clothes on the grass to dry, going commando in his shorts.The sun was setting over the horizon, but away from the spray of the waterfall it was warm to the point of being hot. I stopped shivering fairly quickly and as soon as I was warm, my stomach started to rumble.“Dinner?” Leo asked, opening up the basket and pulling thi
I woke up sticky and hot with the sun in my eyes. But Leo was still in my bed. He was splayed out across the bed, snoring softly and taking up most of the room. I didn't care. He was here.Sunlight filtered through the window, highlighting the soft golds and reds in his brown hair. His chest rose and fell, rhythmic and smooth and full of muscles and tanned skin. I couldn't believe how beautiful he was. Handsome was a word for men, but he was so much more than that. He was perfect, and even better, he was mine.I was a lucky girl.“Are you watching me sleep?” Leo's eyes stayed closed.“Maybe.” I grinned at him, even though he couldn't see me.“That's kind of creepy,” he informed me, keeping his eyes closed.“But in a sweet, lovable kind of way, right?”He opened one eye and one corner of his mouth tipped upward. “Definitely a sweet, lovable kind of way.”This was heaven. It had to be. There was no way that a person could feel this much joy and pleasure and not be dead. It just wasn't p
I was just finishing putting on my sundress over my swimsuit when Leo came back in to my bedroom. He was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday, but he looked amazing. He held out the steaming mug of coffee for me and I took a nice long sip.Two creams, extra sweet. Just the way I liked it.“Do we need to stop at your place and pick you up anything?” I asked, eyeing the mashed potato mark on his shirt.“I have a change of clothes and a swimsuit on the boat,” he told me. He grinned. “As long as you don't mind me changing in front of you.”I put my hands to my cheeks. “Oh! The scandal!”Leo laughed and held out his hand for mine. “You ready?”I nodded, finishing off the last of my coffee and grabbing my bag.Leo opened the door and scanned the hallway, shaking his head. “I keep thinking I'm doing something bad. That Bastian is going to jump out at any moment and demand payment for your honor.”“Payment for my honor?” I giggled. “I knew you were charming, but I was unaware you wer
“Oh, hey, Charlotte and Leo!” A female voice interjected, stopping whatever Leo's retort was going to be. “I thought I heard voices up here.”Sam, or rather Samantha, came to join her husband at the railing. Her sun-bleached blonde hair was pulled back out of her tanned smiling face. She was the reason that Robbie was no longer a problem child. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him like he was her strength. Robbie's caressed her arm as he pulled her closer to him. It was such a small motion, but it spoke of a deep love between them.I envied them slightly. They spent their days either racing sailboats or teaching others how to sail. They got to be with the love of their life doing the thing that they loved most. I hoped Leo and I could be that happy someday.“Hi, Sam,” I greeted her. “It's good to see you.”Leo murmured an appropriate greeting as well. Our discussion on the safety of his boat would have to wait until later.“So, we're planning a little outing
I never thought this day would come.Maybe when I was a little girl, I had hoped that someday it would. But I never actually believed it. It feels like a dream, but I know it’s not because it’s even better than anything I could have dreamt up.I’m marrying Gabe Honors. In just a few moments, I’ll be wed to the love of my life.I’m beyond nervous, but also ready. I’ve spent the last twenty minutes looking at myself in the mirror, making sure that my hair and makeup look absolutely perfect for him.“Hey, it’s almost time,” Cora says, as she steps beside me. “You look perfect, Harper. Seriously, you look gorgeous. Gabe is going to melt.”I hope she’s right.“Well, let’s do this,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I’m ready.”Just outside, my mom is standing there, holding my little nephew’s hand. He breaks away and runs up to give me a quick hug before she tells him to go take his seat. Mom looks almost more nervous than I am. She can’t keep her hands still and she’s tapping her t
The following week I finally sat down to prepare for my final blog post. My decision was made. It was time to say goodbye and pass the reigns onto a new owner. It made sense and it felt right.Gabe had told me to sleep on the decision, and for most of the week I had made my home at his house, which made sleeping really easy. But the truth was that it really hadn’t taken much deliberation; the blog seemed like a thing of the past, something that opened the door to new writing feats, and I was ready to walk through that door.During our time together I had allowed the blog to slip even further off my mind, which was entirely okay with me. I had checked in periodically and had found a quick selection for Worst Wednesday. But besides that, and for the first time in a long time, I hadn’t paid it much attention. It seemed that the blog and I had finally begun to outgrow each other. At one time it had been my baby, but now it was moving out, and Cora was the perfect guide.If there was anyth
I had been fairly sure that I would never see the inside of Gabe's house ever again, but now I was standing on the deck watching the ocean once more. Not that I was complaining, though. I was happy to be there. In fact, the view of the ocean with the sun overhead never looked so good.“I’m glad you came over today. We need to talk. I’m ready to work through this and make things right again. But first, we both have to come clean with each other,” Gabe said, leaning against the railing of his deck.“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. My palms were sweating, but I felt calmer than I had in weeks.His surprise visit at the restaurant had happened just the night before and this was the first time we had really had a chance to hash things out. This conversation needed to happen. It had been a long time coming.“Where should we start?” he asked. The breeze from the ocean ruffled his dark hair.“I guess what I really don’t understand is why you hid it from me?” I asked, starting th
“So all of your readers think you’re out with Brian right now?” Cora asked.I nodded. “Yep, I’ve duped them all into thinking Brian is a real person that loves me just the way I should be loved. It’s too bad I had to make all that up, though, isn’t it.”“Whatever. I think it’s fine.” Cora just shrugged. “But I have to ask you an important question, Harper.”“What is it?” I asked, a little nervous.Cora turned to the side and set her jaw, making a serious face. “Do I look like a Brian to you?”I busted out laughing. Her goofy antics got me every time.“You know, you actually do!” I exclaimed. “You make a perfect Brian! Wow, I’m one lucky girl to be on a date with such a handsome man.”“Aw, thanks!” she said, as she turned back to face me and grinned. “If I talk like this does it make me sound like a Brian, too?”She lowered her voice as much as possible and crinkled her eyebrows together. I was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face. The good kind of tears, though, not
I sat down at my computer and clicked on the Internet. It was always the first step in starting a new blog post and I could almost feel the writer’s block start to set in as a blank window popped up on the screen and began loading.It had been just over two months since the breakup and about a month and a half since I had introduced Brian.Brian was a tall guy with a toned body, dark hair and eyes bluer than an open sky on a summer’s day. He was funny, smart, a hard worker in his career as a physical trainer, a huge sports fan and… completely fake.I had decided to create Brian in order to appease my Mother and to use as a marketing tool for the blog. After my readers had obsessed over my relationship with Gabe, Brian was designed to be Gabe 2.0 and to carry the burden of a new and passionate relationship. And completely fabricating a fake relationship was much easier than actually getting consumed by one.Brian took me on elaborate dates to all the exciting places around town without
I took a break from watching my blog to make some belated dinner. I heated up some left over lasagna and made a milkshake with some of the ice cream still left in the fridge as post-breakup comfort food. I couldn’t help but make fun of myself and my current state of affairs. It felt only fitting to throw on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix.After about a half hour I heard the phone ring.Immediately my heart skipped a beat. I had posted my blog late at night and had done so purposefully to avoid an instant reaction from Rosie or my Mom. But with as late as it was, realistically they were the only ones that would be calling.I checked the caller I.D. on the phone before answering. It was Rosie, which was better than Mom. I took a deep breath and clicked to accept the call.“Hey, Rosie,” I attempted cheerfully.“Hey, Big Sis!” she exclaimed.“What are you doing up so late?” I asked.“I fell asleep kind of early, and then the baby woke me up. My sleep schedule is so crazy now, thi
Well, the time has come. Every beginning has an end, and my relationship has found its end. Two weeks ago, Mr. Perfect Match and I broke up and it is time for the corresponding blog post (because blogging about breakups is the best way to move on, right??)It’s not the typical kind of post I’m used to writing. My life is filled with many more bad dates than bad breakups, and maybe that’s a good thing. But it also means that I’m entering new territory without the right map to guide me. They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have lovedI stopped writing and glared at the screen. I highlighted the last sentence and hit delete as if the force of my click would hurt the words as they left the page. Love. It was like a bad word, something I had been conditioned not to say. And Gabe deserved no exception, even if it would appease an old stupid cliché about breakups.After a few moments of contemplation I picked up again where I left off.Time is a weird thing. It has the a
The plane ride to Orlando only took less than an hour, but it felt like an eternity. I spent the entire trip trying to hide my sobs, but of course it was impossible. Luckily, I had sat in the window seat and was able to face away from everyone while I cried, but I still knew that people were looking at me. The older lady sitting next to me even asked if there was anything she could do to help. I responded with, “If you can make men honest, that would help.” She just laughed and said, “I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that one.”My makeup was ruined, my hair was a mess and the clothes I had on were a day old. Needless to say, I wasn’t looking like I was ready to hit the town when I crawled off of the plane. It didn’t matter, though. Cora didn’t care what I looked like. She wouldn’t judge me. That was why I had come to see her in the first place.I had only taken a few steps out of the front doors of the airport before I heard Cora calling out my name. I hadn’t even gotten
After storming out of Gabe’s office, I went back to the bedroom and got dressed as quickly as possible. I was teeming with emotion, but I didn’t want to let out a single sob. I could save that for later, when I could enjoy a pint if ice cream and a few days of binge watching my favorite TV show. But for now, I needed to keep it together and act tough.So once I was dressed, I gathered my makeup from his countertop in his bathroom and tossed everything into my overnight bag. To think, I was considering what it would be like to spend my life with the guy and now I was doing everything possible to speed up the process of leaving his house for good.I can’t believe this. I should have known that it would only be a matter of time before something like this would happen to me, I thought. Why did I fool myself into thinking I could actually meet a decent guy?I zipped up my bag and tossed it over my shoulder. Before leaving the bedroom, I took one last look at the bed, where the blankets wer