Love's Second Chance (Second Chances Series) (18 page)

“Why don’t you just move in with me?” Galen whispered in my ear. His arms felt warm and protective, wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me close, as we lay in bed. I pretended to still be asleep, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Ever since he came home from his business trip, I’d been there every night. The week he wanted me to stay there turned into two weeks, then three, and now the whole month. The only times I’d been to my condo had been to grab more of my things and leave.

He nudged me playfully in the side, but I ignored him, trying desperately not to laugh. “I know you’re not asleep, Kori. Why don’t you answer me?”

I snickered into the pillow and turned my body so I could face him. “Because I like making you sweat.” I giggled.

He smiled, but then his expression changed. “I’m serious,” he said while staring deeply into my eyes. His fiery blue gaze conveyed all of his emotions in that one stare. Love, passion, determination. “I want you with me, always. You can easily break the lease on your condo.”

“What would you say if I said no?” I asked curiously.

Shrugging his shoulder, he let out a sigh. “I guess I would have to respect your decision. Why, are you saying no?”

I ignored the question and continued on. “What would you say if I said yes?”

He narrowed his eyes at me and grinned, knowing full well what game I was playing. “Then I would have to say that you were the luckiest woman on earth,” he taunted playfully. He stifled a laugh when I hit him in the arm. “So are you saying yes?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“Of course I’m saying yes, goofball. I would love to move in with you, but I do disagree with you about one thing.”

“What would that be might I ask?” he added.

“I think it would make
you
the luckiest man on earth if I moved in here,” I countered back.

“I believe you may be right,” he acknowledged. Galen took my lips and caressed them with his own, all loving and possessive … claiming.

“You’re mine,” he said with complete conviction. The husky tone of his voice and the possessive look in his eyes said that he’d never let me go, even without him saying the words. I didn’t want him to. “You will always be mine.”

“Yes, I will,” I promised whole-heartedly. The rays from the morning sun began to peep through the blinds making me squint from the brightness. It was going to be another beautiful spring day, so I asked, “What do you want to do today?”

He smiled wickedly at me and confessed, “Well … I know it’s a Saturday, but we have to do some work today.” I began to groan, but he put a finger to my lips. “You didn’t let me finish. Anyway, I thought we could make the experience a little more enjoyable and discuss things over a picnic.”

“That would be great! It’ll be like old times,” I squealed happily.

“Yes, I know,” he agreed. “I wanted to bring back all those fun memories we had together.”

“Do you remember the time you locked the keys in Big Blue and it started to rain?” I asked softly. That moment in time had been branded in my mind. Galen let out a breath and ran a finger down the side of my cheek.

His warm breath tickled my face when he spoke. “How could I forget, love? That fateful day in the rain was the first time I told you I loved you,” he kissed me tenderly before continuing with his thought, “and then we made love in that rain.”

With a twinkle in his eye, he pulled back to smile at me, and I could see that the playful Galen was back. “Maybe it’ll rain today. Wouldn’t it be fun to make love in the rain again?” He wiggled his eyebrows and hopped out of bed.

“Where are you going?” I pouted, pursing my lips.

“I need to make the picnic while you get ready. It takes you a
lot
longer to get dressed than it takes me.” Throwing a pillow at him, he ducked successfully and dodged it. “It’s the truth! Now hurry so we can go.”

“Fine!” I gave in. Even though we had to work, it would still be fun having our picnic. Thirty minutes later I was dressed and ready to leave. Walking outside, I could see that Galen had already packed and loaded everything up into Big Blue.

“Come on slow poke!” Galen called out. Rolling my eyes at him, I casually strode over to the truck. He opened the door for me and kissed my cheek before I got in. It was the little things like that, that got my heart racing.

“So exactly where are we going for this picnic?”

Galen smiled mischievously at me and winked. “It’s a surprise, but I have to warn you, it’s about an hour and forty-five minutes away from here.”

I jerked my head around to look at him incredulously. “Wow! You know we could have just had a picnic in your back yard. You have an amazing setup out there with a great view of the lake.”

Galen shrugged and started up the old truck. “I know, but you’ll understand why when we get there. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

I was intrigued and unfortunately I had no clue what Galen had up his sleeve. Once we got on the road, I could tell from the direction we were going that we were probably headed for the mountains. Galen knew that anywhere in the mountains was my slice of heaven. There was just something about them that called to me and brought me peace. “Do you know where we’re going yet?” Galen inquired.

I shook my head. “Maybe not the exact location, but it looks like we’re headed to the mountains. Am I right?”

“You are, babe. We’re not that far away now, only about thirty miles.” At that moment, his phone buzzed in the center console. “Do you mind getting that for me?”

I reached inside the console and pulled out his phone. “Who is Jacob Harrington?” I asked.

Galen’s eyes went wide and he grabbed the phone from me. “He’s with the Denver deal. I assumed when I never heard back from them that they didn’t like what I had to offer.”

The phone kept ringing and I stared at him wide-eyed, waiting on him to answer it. “Answer it, Galen,” I said impatiently.

He finally answered it and I sat there frozen, watching every single change in his expressions.
So far so good
, I thought. When he hung up the phone his face was blank, so I had no clue if they wanted to use our company or not. “Well?” I asked.

He looked over at me and the huge grin that formed on his face said it all. “They accepted!”

I squealed and clapped with excitement. “What happens now?” I asked cheerfully.

He shook his head. “Nothing much just yet, but with us expanding our business to the west—”

“Will get us more known around the United States instead of just on the east coast,” I finished for him.

“Exactly,” he said, grinning widely. “This will be great for the company, and for our future.”

Galen grabbed my hand and we enjoyed the rest of the ride in silence. We were both excited about the call, and I knew Galen was floating on air about it. I knew he was going to be dying to tell everyone as soon as he could. It wasn’t long before the thirty miles quickly passed us by and we reached our destination. We were in the middle of nowhere with nothing and no one for miles and miles away. The view was absolutely stunning, and I had to commend Galen for picking what had to be the best picnic spot ever.

“We’re here!” Galen shouted. He smiled and patted my leg before exiting the car. I followed suit, but I felt a little wary being on that land. What if it belonged to someone and we got arrested for trespassing.

“We’re not trespassing, are we?” I cringed while speaking the words. “I don’t want to go to jail you know.”

Galen huffed and rolled his eyes. “Korinne, stop worrying. We’ll be fine I promise. Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” I replied, rubbing my stomach. Galen began to pull everything out from the truck.

“If you give me a few minutes I’ll have everything set up. If you walk a little ways down that path, you’ll get a view of the waterfalls.”

“Really?” I shrieked excitedly.

He laughed. “Yes, really, so go look at them while I get our food out.”

“If I didn’t know any better I would say you were trying to get rid of me for a while.” I narrowed my eyes at him, but he smiled his boyish smile, letting that cute little dimple win me over.

He waved me off, so in return I rolled my eyes at him and stomped along the path toward the falls. Something wasn’t right with him. He was acting too strange. The smile on his face was one of excitement, but also the same smile he’d give when he knew something I didn’t. He could be such a sneaky bastard sometimes, but I loved that about him. Walking down the path, I was surprised that I could already hear the vibrant sound of the waterfalls up ahead. How did Galen know about this land? It couldn’t have been easy to find.

The smell of pine engulfed me and I breathed it in deeply. Some people liked chamomile to soothe them, but I always chose the pine scent. This land reminded me of a painting. Maybe I would bring Jenna out here one day so she could capture it on canvas. She would know how to capture it perfectly. The wild flowers that decorated the ground, along with the magical feel of the land, reminded me of a fairy tale. This was the kind of place I’d want to live. It was hidden and nestled away from every day city life. An opening in the foliage lay ahead, and the sounds of the falls became even louder. When I finally got there my body froze of its own accord, and I knew for a second that I had forgotten to breathe. The waterfalls were absolutely magnificent. There were three different sets of them, one leading down to the other. This was much better than hiking the trails with a bunch of strangers. It was hard to enjoy the nature and beauty of such a thing when there were a ton of people milling about.

“I knew you would like it,” Galen spoke from behind me. He startled me and I jumped in surprise, placing my hand over my chest.

“How did you know about this place?” I asked, breathing hard from excitement.

Galen smirked and shrugged his shoulder. “I have my ways.”

“You’re being awfully cryptic,” I confessed darkly. “What’s going on?” I tried putting on a serious face while crossing my arms across my chest.

He looked me up and down and laughed. “Come on, let’s get to work and eat our lunch.”

I huffed in annoyance. “Fine, don’t tell me anything, but you know how I have a knack for finding things out. You won’t be able to keep a secret from me for long.”

“I’m well aware of that,” he teased. “You’ll find everything out soon enough.” Taking my hand, Galen led me back up the path to our awaiting picnic. The spread lay out before us looked delicious. He brought wine, cheese, fruit, and of course he couldn’t forget his favorite … peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After looking at the expression on my face he said, “I couldn’t help it. You know it’s my favorite.”

“I know,” I teased. Sitting on the blanket, Galen poured me a glass of wine and handed over the plate with the cheeses and fruit.

“Are you ready to get to work?” he asked.

I groaned and took a huge gulp of wine. “I can’t believe you’re making me work on a Saturday.”

“Well, it’s technically just me working, but since you tagged along you might as well help me.”

“Lucky me,” I mumbled to myself.

“I heard that!” Galen laughed. Off to the side of the blanket, Galen had a pile of blueprints.

“Please tell me you’re not going to have to work on every single one of those blueprints,” I griped, pointing to the pile.

“No,” Galen replied shaking his head. “But there is one layout I do want your opinion on.”

I usually never did anything with the layouts, but I loved looking at them. One day I would design my own floor plan. “Which one of these do you need to work on first?” I offered.

Galen narrowed his eyes and studied the pile. While he contemplated, I stuffed a couple of grapes in my mouth, waiting on his answer. “Hmm … I believe it’s the one with the red tag taped around the top.”

Peering down at the pile, I spotted the one with the red tag and grabbed it. “I got it!” I said sarcastically. Grasping it, I handed it over to Galen, but not before my eyes landed on something shiny and sparkly holding the blueprint together. I blinked several times to see if maybe I was imagining what I was looking at.

“It’s real, Korinne,” Galen stated calmly. Shock and awe took over me as I stared bewildered at the shiny diamond ring that twinkled in the sun. My insides were screaming with joy and my heart felt like it was about to pop out of my chest.
Was this really happening
? I thought. Galen gently pried the scroll of paper from my grasp and slid the ring down until it landed in his hand. There were no words that formed in my mouth as I sat there, waiting patiently for him to speak again. Galen moved closer and took my left hand into his. He looked down at my shaking hand and smiled. “Korinne,” he began. Galen lifted his watery gaze and my heart melted in that instant. The strong and determined Galen never cried, so seeing him like that, showing his vulnerable side, meant everything in the world to me. It showed me how much he cared about me.

“I love you so much, Korinne, and I want you with me always. You have no idea how many times I’ve prayed, thanking God that you came back into my life.” Galen took his free hand and gently wiped away the tears that began to fall like rivers down my cheeks. “Please tell me you’re going to spend the rest of your life with me. I want you to be my wife, Korinne. I want to love you and only you for the rest of my life.” He slid the exquisite diamond ring on my finger and looked expectantly into my eyes. “Please say you’ll marry me.”