There was Sam, looking dapper in a new bow tie, and Tia and Tana, along with Rosie, holding a banner that read:Home of the Award-Winning Grandma Lou’s Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting.And behind them...
Her breath left her in a rush. She stumbled and would have fallen if Travis, who’d returned from the kitchen to set a large tray of cupcakes on the counter, hadn’t grabbed her arm and held her up. Standing just beyond the girls was a tall, broad-shouldered man with golden hair and eyes bluer than the sky on a summer day. He stared at her with all the apprehension of a man unsure of his welcome.
It seemed as if the background noise fell away, that the friends patting her back and offering congratulations didn’t exist, and only she and Hank were in the room. Travis said something, but she couldn’t hear him. Her stomach wound tighter than the trussed-up turkey she and Travis made last Thanksgiving. She tried for anger, but all she could feel was a mind-numbing, jaw-dropping relief. She covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed the sob threatening to erupt.
Hank looked good. More than good, he looked achingly real. His hair might have grown a tad, and he might have dropped a few pounds, but he still resembled the man who’d repaired her dishwasher and made her dinner and wished on stars and bought her flowers because he said she was beautiful and deserved them. The same man who’d kissed her and begged her to come to Los Angeles, then disappeared without a word of explanation.
She swallowed, but it didn’t ease the dryness in her mouth. She blinked, but her eyes still burned. She had thought she would never see him again—like it had all been a glorious, impossible dream. Now, here he was, in the flesh.
She kept a hand over her mouth as another sob rose in her throat, as if she could keep all the emotion of the last month contained. Every time she’d caught glimpses of Hank on television or in a magazine, he had a beautiful woman by his side. Bethany figured he had moved on and forgotten her. Yet here he was.
“Beth.” He came toward her and waited—for what, she didn’t know. Did he expect her to run into his arms because he’d helped her win the contest?
He was wrong. She pressed her lips together and kept her arms at her sides, so she wouldn’t be tempted to hurl herself into his hard embrace. He’d left what seemed like alifetime ago, with no communication, no “I’m sorry but I can’t see you anymore,” no “let’s remain friends.” If anyone was owed an apology, it was her.
Still, because of his actions, Grandma Lou’s was saved. He had somehow convinced Elizabeth to confess her role in the deception, which proved Bethany’s innocence and allowed her to win the contest. She should be grateful, shouldn’t she? And all eyes were on them. She needed to maintain some semblance of calm.
“Hank.” She forced his name past chapped lips.
He took another step forward, and then another, until he towered over her. “Beth,” he said again in his dear, familiar voice—the one that caused her to go all shivery inside with excitement. The same shiver she got when she watched an incredible sunset or pulled a recipe she’d never tried from the oven.
She wanted to lean her head against his broad chest and feel his arms wrap around her, but she didn’t dare. He held his hand out as if he meant to touch her face, but she turned her head to the side. “Why have you come back?”
His eyes took on a strange cast, almost vulnerable, and he dropped his hand. “You won the contest. I thought...”
Bethany kept her face calm, while inside she fought a battle for control. Did he really think he could waltz back into her life after weeks without contact and not expect her to need a solid explanation? “Is that the only reason? Because you helped me win a contest?”
“Woman.” His eyes warmed again, and his cool breath vibrated her hair. “Is that what you believe? I only came back because you won a contest?”
She stayed put, but her eyes locked with his and drank him in. “What am I supposed to think? You skipped townand had your assistant call me. You didn’t even give me the courtesy of a personal phone call. Now you appear in Grandma Lou’s on the day we’re closing and I...” She infused her voice with steel. “Well, I don’t know what to think.”
“I made a mess of things with you, didn’t I? I wasn’t thinking clearly. But I am now, and I promise you, I’m not leaving this time.”
“You’re staying in Cleveland?”
“Yes. If you’ll have me. I’ve missed you. You can’t begin to know how much. These past few weeks have felt like decades.”
But she did know because she missed him too. Something glorious unfurled inside her like a ship’s sail caught by the wind. Still, she held herself in check. What if he lied? What if she misinterpreted his words? What if he only meant he wanted to go back to being her handyman landlord? What if this was some ploy to make her lose her heart only to have him crush it? “Why did you leave in the first place?”
He reached for her hands, and the warm sensation of his large palms connecting with hers tore at her heart until it was almost more than she could bear. He threaded his fingers through hers, and she dropped her gaze to their joined hands.
“I was saving you from myself.”
She sucked in air. “What made you think I needed saving?”
Now his fingers tipped her chin until she couldn’t look anywhere but into his glorious eyes. She saw flecks of light blue in his irises and the gold-tinged brown of his thick eyelashes.
“I didn’t want to hurt you. I was under the misconception that I wasn’t capable of loving another—of loving you. I thought I was like my father, and I’d break your heart. I couldn’t do that to you.”
She kept her gaze fastened on his, afraid to move, afraid to breathe, afraid to dream. “Misconception? So you now believe youcanfall in love with me?”
He circled her pulse point with his thumb. “No, I don’t believe it.”
Alarm tingled in her stomach and a cold dread danced down her spine, erupting in a wave of anguish. Her body seemed to sag and draw inward. “You don’t?” she whispered.
He quirked his lips into a smile—the smile of a conquering hero—and drew her into his arms. “I know it. I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you taking a bite of chocolate cake, and I promise, I’ll love you until your last.”
Hank watchedher as she took in his words. He saw the moment her eyes went from wild hurt to the beginning of hopefulness to steady belief. He didn’t waste another moment on words then. Instead, he grabbed her hand and led her through the crowd, ignoring the hoots and hollers, and pulled her into the kitchen. Once inside, he drew her into his arms and kissed her.
