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.” Kelly laughed, helping Lacy with her plate.Steve chuckled.“What are we going to do when you’re no longer Pearson, and we’re both McCarthy?”“Hmm.Could be a problem.”“I doubt it.”Kelly’s skin took on a warm glow.She was even more beautiful when she was in love, Steve marveled, feeling as if he’d slipped on a pair of rose-colored glasses.***Kelly helped Lacy up beside Steve, her arm brushing his, triggering memories of last night in his arms.After loving one another all night, they’d swapped temporary vows and agreed to an August wedding.Kelly hoped Jill would be her Maid of Honor.For someone who’d been terrified of commitment, this new sense of completeness astounded her.“Can I be McCarthy, too, Steve?” Lacy held her breath with expectation.Kelly waited for Steve’s reaction.“If you want.Three McCarthy’s sounds good.” He took a sip of coffee.“Four sounds even better.What do you think, Pearson?”Kelly nodded and smiled at him, her heart filled with love and adoration.And trust.Steve looked up from his eggs, his regard shifting to the neighbor’s back yard.Kelly followed his gaze.Next door, a man left the shade of his screened-in patio and crossed the yard, stopping at the fence.He hung his head over into Steve’s yard.“Hey Gary!” Steve called out glancing again at Kelly.When Gary saw Steve, Kelly and Lacy his dull eyes lit with joy.“Steve!” He waved.“Hi, Steve! Hi Lacy!”Steve hadn’t explained to her about Gary yet, and now that the time had come, he appeared worried, filling Kelly with guilt.Didn’t he know she would accept Gary and love Steve all the more for caring about him? She sighed.They had so much trust to rebuild, so many things to learn about one another, and she looked forward to every moment they would share together.“That’s Gary Benson,” Steve said in a matter-of-fact tone.Kelly offered him her warmest smile to reassure him.“I know.”His face filled with surprise.“How do you know?”“I saw you two coming out of the theater last night.Lacy told me about Gary’s funny eyes, but until last night I never understood what she meant.” She knew she sounded a little crazy.It was time to come clean about her past and the resulting hang-ups.“I want to explain my bizarre behavior.It’s time I open up to you—start being honest right now.” She took a deep breath before confessing.“Your relationship with Gary made me jealous.I felt resentful of those times you chose him over me.I know it sounds ridiculous, but my ex-husband left me at home all the time, going out with the boys almost every night.If you’d explained sooner, maybe the incident with the police would never have happened.”“You’re right.I should have told you in the beginning, but I wasn’t sure what your reaction would be.” He set down his plate.“Come on, I want you to meet Gary, but be prepared, he’ll probably get a big crush on you.Gary has excellent taste when it comes to beautiful woman.”Kelly melted against him, and Steve encircled her waist with one arm.Together they crossed the yard.“I love you, McCarthy,” he whispered against her hair.“It’s a little soon for that.” She loved it anyway.Gary smiled, his soft face glowing with affection for Steve.“Gary, this is Kelly, Lacy’s mom.The nice lady I told you about.”“Hi, Kelly.Steve always gets pretty girls.”“Always?” She raised an eyebrow at Steve.“You’re the prettiest though,” Gary continued in his slow speech.“She looks like Snow White, doesn’t she, Steve?”Steve nodded.“We went to see Snow White, didn’t we, Steve?” Gary spotted Lacy ambling across the yard toward them and hollered, “Hi.Lacy!”Lacy broke into a run, landing in Steve’s arms, her skinny legs wrapping around his waist.“Hi, Gary.”“Do you want to go fishing today, Steve?” Gary asked with a hopeful gleam lighting his eyes.Steve set Lacy down and took Kelly by the arm, turning her around to face him.“I love you, Kelly, but it’s important you understand how much I mean to Gary, and how much he’s come to mean to me.I can’t ever let him down.This is sort of a package deal.””You’re such a jerk, McCarthy.I’m not exactly solo myself, or hadn’t you noticed?” She nodded at Lacy.“I’m game if you are.”“Yeah, Steve,” Lacy wiggled between them.“Me and Gary want to go fishing.”Steve pulled Kelly closer and dropped a kiss on the end of her nose.“I think we might have our hands full with these two.”Kelly snuggled closer.“And to think we may have started a boy last night,” she whispered.Steve nuzzled her neck and nodded to Lacy then Gary.“So, are you up to fishing, Pearson?”Kelly stifled a laugh.“I’ll give it my best shot.” She grinned, dropping one hand to her stomach, wondering.Gary and Lacy jumped up and down, impatient for an answer.“Please, please,” Lacy begged.“Okay, okay.We’ll go fishing,” Steve gave Kelly a teasing glance.“But only if Gary will teach Kelly how to cast.”About The AuthorMarried more than once, Chris Chegri knows romance.Keeping the marriage going has been the challenge, so she decided to express her romanticism through writing rather than dating.Her passion for humor, travel and foreign cultures has led her to work on a time travel set in Morocco and an East Texas crime novel, both of them humorous.A past member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America, she mentors several new writers.She lives in Arizona with her current love–her pet cockatoo, Star.Discover More Fine RomancesFromComing SoonThe Turning Point by Deb BusbyThe Silence of Mercy Blue by Suzan SterlingThe Bequest by J.KellyVisitknightromancepublishing.com [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]