Say You'll Stay by SUSAN MALLERY

Author:SUSAN MALLERY
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Special Release
Published: 2021-05-22T20:03:31+00:00

* * *

“I DO BELIEVE YOU,” she whispered.

He took her hand and squeezed her fingers. “I’m glad. I arranged all this because I was thinking about spending the evening with you.”

“Thank you.”

They took their seats across from each other. Lawson had brought wine, which he promised to open later. He poured them each a glass of champagne, then they touched glasses.

“To a magical summer,” she said. “Thank you for bringing me here tonight.”

“I’ve been looking forward to it.”

She smiled. “Me, too.”

After they’d sipped their champagne, he began unpacking the picnic. First he handed her paper napkins and plates, then he set out the food.

“We’ll start with melon prosciutto skewers with fresh basil and mozzarella,” he said, putting a plastic container on the table. “Then we have a nice green salad with an herb vinaigrette. The entrée is a fresh corn-and-tomato fettuccine, and for dessert we have an assortment of cookies along with prosecco grapes.” He grinned. “They are grapes soaked in vodka and prosecco, then rolled in sugar.”

She stared at him, unable to fully grasp the menu. “I thought we’d have egg salad sandwiches and potato chips. How much did you make yourself?”

“My mom made the fettuccine, but I did the rest.” He gave her a half proud, half embarrassed smile. “I like to cook. One of my friends in the army came from a family that owned a couple of Italian restaurants in Cleveland. He taught me a few things.”

“And he cooks,” she murmured, thinking Lawson simply got better and better. So what was the catch?

He opened the first container and served her a couple of the skewers. The salty goodness of the prosciutto went perfectly with the sweet melon and the cheese. As she chewed her first bite she realized that she’d been too nervous to eat lunch and was starving. Good thing he’d brought plenty.

“All right,” she said, after she’d finished her second skewer. “Why aren’t you married?”

He stared at her, his eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?”

She picked up her glass of champagne. “Come on, look at you. You’re nice, you’re funny, you have a plan for your life. You’re good-looking, you can cook, you like dogs. Why aren’t you married with a couple of kids?”

She expected him to laugh or distract her, but instead he exhaled slowly.

“I haven’t found someone I can fall in love with.”

The blunt, honest answer surprised her. “Not ever?”

“Not in a while. I had the serious girlfriend I told you about, in high school. We talked about getting married, but when that didn’t work out, I took some time to think about what I wanted in my life. I dated a fair amount, but I never felt...sparks.”

“You’re not talking about passion, are you?”

“No. The other kind. I liked the women I went out with, but there wasn’t anything special. No sense that any of them could be the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I don’t expect to hear angels singing, but an old-fashioned kick in the gut would be nice.

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