Page 138 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

Izzie arrived early on Sunday morning with a flourish, a cackle, and a small, yappy puppy named Bandit. At least, that was when her presence was known. The child could have arrived the night before for all Gracie knew. Yawning, she pulled the covers back over her head and turned away from the sounds in the hallway. This was her morning to sleep in and unwind, read the paper in bed, and allow her brain to unravel.

Sunday was her day to spoil herself.

Sometimes, she would light candles and burn incense and drink a glass of Merlot while she soaked the afternoon away in her antique claw foot tub.

Other days, she’d indulge herself in sappy movies and chocolate ice cream while staying in her jammies all day long.

Occasionally, immersing herself in some long-forgotten artsy-crafty project was just the ticket.

Today she just wanted to sleep in. That was the only thing on her agenda. Amie had treated her to margaritas and fajitas at her house the night before and Gracie felt slightly hung-over this morning. A rare occurrence, but nonetheless, very real.

This Sunday morning, however, didn’t appear to be one destined for a pampering ritual.

Small, running footsteps, up and down the back stairs, echoed inside her head with every thump...thump...thump, came first. Those were followed closely by shrieks and shouts. Then a giggle or two. Mixed throughout were yips and yaps and sometimes even a feisty little puppy growl.

The dog’s name was Bandit, she’d also learned. Izzie had screamed the pup’s name every time it yipped and growled.

Gracie searched her fuzzy little brain. Had she put anything in the lease about pets?

Damn. She couldn’t remember.

She pulled her covers up tighter over her ears. She’d managed for two weeks to avoid Rick and she really didn’t want to approach him first thing this morning. Certainly, she could just ignore the child and the dog, stuff some imaginary cotton in her ears and go back to sleep—

“Bandit, no!”

“Yip! Yip!”

“Eeek!”

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

“Izzie! Quiet that pup down!”

That last shout was from Rick.

How quickly the two weeks had passed. It seemed only yesterday she had embarrassed herself to no end when Amie made that crack about busybodies and matchmakers. Along with the covers, Gracie pulled her pillow over her head and grimaced, still embarrassed at the thought of her spitting tea across the table all over Richard. Er, Rick.

How stupidly embarrassing.

She’d not faced the man since.

And no matter what, she didn’t plan on facing him this morning.

Ah, silence. Blessed silence.

Gracie inhaled deeply, and then let out a relaxed sigh. Rick must have commandeered the child and the pup to another location.

“Thank you,”

she whispered, and felt herself drifting again.

Then she heard: Eeeeeeeeeek! Yip! Yip! Yip! Me-OWWWWW! And a loud tumbling and rumbling which echoed down the stairwell mingled with a small whine, a puppy whimper, a final shriek, and a sob.

Silence.

“Izzie!”

That was Rick.

More silence. Then heavy footsteps.

Gracie sat straight up in bed. Had Izzie fallen down the stairs? The dog! The cat?

She leapt from her bed and took off toward the door with no regard to the fact that she didn’t want to see Rick or that she probably looked like hell or that she was wearing nothing more than an oversized t-shirt and black bikini panties.

Jerking open her apartment door, which lead faced the stairway landing, Gracie bolted smack into him. She shrieked and each scrambled and side-tracked the other and made apologies and some sort of incoherent babble, then raced to the bottom of the stairs.

“Izzie! Oh my God!”

Gracie wasn’t sure if those were her words or Rick’s.

They lay in a pile at the foot of the steps, the pup and the girl. The pup was whining. The cat was nowhere to be seen. The girl was softly sobbing—big, fat tears sliding down her face as she looked up at the two adults barreling down the stairs toward her. Izzie held the tiny Bandit in her hands.

“I smashed her!”

she screamed, a look of horror on her face.

“Let me see.”

Rick reached for the pup. He did a quick inspection, Bandit nipped at his finger, and he proclaimed her okay.

Gracie breathed a small sigh knowing that if Izzie was more worried about the pup than herself, she was probably okay too. Rick gathered both child and dog into his arms. She noticed he was doing a quick inspection of his daughter as well, running his hands over her arms and legs, checking for injuries.

“Izzie,”

he breathed.

“you scared the heck out of me.”

Gracie realized her own heart was beating mighty quickly as she watched Rick sit on the bottom step and cradle his daughter and her puppy closer. She placed a hand over her heart and willed it to stop beating so wildly. Rick’s eyes closed as he stroked her head and placed a light kiss on top her head, his strong arms wrapped securely about her.

Finally, her heart slowed a bit. Izzie continued to sniffle.

“Are you okay, Munchkin?”

Rick whispered to Izzie.

She sniffed and nodded.

“B-Bandit—”

Rick cradled the tiny pup in his hand. The pup nuzzled under his chin.

“She’s fine, honey. Everyone is all right.”

Izzie sobbed again.

“I didn’t mean to fall on her.”

“I know, honey.”

“My...my feet got tangled...around her...and the kitty...and I tripped and...”

she said between sniffs.

“She’s okay, Munchkin,”

Rick assured her.

Izzie looked up at her father.

“You’re sure?”

As if on cue, Bandit barked.

Rick nodded.

“See, she’s fine.”

“What about the kitty?”

“I’m sure she’s fine, too.”

Rick glanced around and glanced up.

Gracie interjected with.

“I’m sure Claire skedaddled at the first inkling of disaster. She can take care of herself. No worries, Izzie.”

Izzie took the pup away from him.

“Bad puppy,”

she told the dog.

“You have to stay out from under my feet.”

Rick grasped Izzie’s chin and turned her face so she would look at him.

“Iz, it’s not the puppy’s fault so don’t scold the dog. You must be careful. I told you not to run on the stairs. You, and the pup, could have been hurt very badly.”

Izzie cradled the puppy closer.

“I know. Sorry.”

Gracie heard Rick’s sigh and sensed his relief. After a moment, he looked up at her again, his gaze lingering.

“We’re sorry we woke you.”

Suddenly, Gracie wasn’t an unobserved bystander to the situation any longer. It probably had something to do with the way Rick’s eyes grew larger as his gaze traveled slowly from her painted toenails, up her long bare legs, over the skimpy t-shirt, and to her face.

She glanced down.

Oh, no....

Her heart started that wild beat again.

****

There was a moment, which seemed eons ago now, that Rick had registered running into Gracie out in the hallway. Briefly, he recalled their bodies bumping together and them exchanging a couple of excited words as they raced down the stairway toward Izzie. After that, focused on Izzie, he lost track of her.

But she was a damned hard sight to lose track of now.

His mouth went dry and he swallowed. Hard. He knew Grace was tall, but as she stood a few steps above him, she seemed nothing but legs. Long, shapely legs. Dancer’s legs, he’d heard them called. And the t-shirt she wore, which hit her about hip-thigh, wasn’t doing its job of effectively covering them.

Or, anything.

His libido spiked at the glance at her black bikini panties and he quickly pulled his gaze up to her face.

Obviously, Gracie had just been roused from her bed. Her rich blond tresses lay long and loose around her shoulders, unbrushed and untamed. She wore no make-up, her face fresh and dewy, her eyes a little swollen from sleep.

From out of the blue he thought of Marci and how he’d loved the way she looked first thing in the morning, before she’d taken her shower and made herself up for the day. That was when he’d loved making love to her most.

That was over three years ago and over. And making love with Marci was the furthest thing from his mind now. In fact, the woman standing before him with the startled, doe-eyed look was doing more things to his body than any other woman had in quite some time.

He decided to stand, shifting Izzie off his lap.

“Munchkin, why don’t you take Bandit upstairs? I’ll be along in a minute.”

He said the words to his daughter, realizing he’d not yet taken his eyes off Gracie.

For once Izzie minded him without protest and scooted up the stairs. He sent up a silent prayer.

“Uh....”

Gracie started.

“About the pup,”

Rick began.

“It’s okay. She can have her,”

Gracie intercepted.

“Well, there wasn’t anything in the lease about pets. I wasn’t sure. Was going to ask you today. We got in late last night.”

Gracie took a step up the stairway. She tugged at her shirt, as if she were trying to make it longer, then crossed her arms over her chest. Didn’t she realize that made it shorter?

“It’s okay. If she’s careful on the stairs. I think my heart is still in my throat.”

She smiled hesitantly, then took another step up and stopped.

“I should be getting back upstairs... To my apartment.”

She started to move up another step, clutched at her t-shirt again, then cautiously turned back to look at him.

“Um, would you mind going first?”

Rick then realized the reason for her wavering—why she did not want to precede him up the stairway. From the lower position, he would have had a very nice few of her backside. And she knew it.

“Oh! Of course.”

Idiot! He mentally slapped himself on the forehead and moved upward, carefully moving past her. Not stopping, he ascended all the stairs until he reached the landing and the door to his apartment a few steps beyond. He laid a hand on his doorknob then risked a glance backward.

Gracie stood not six feet away, her hand on her doorknob as well, her head turning back to glance at him at the same time. Then at once, they both twisted their separate doorknobs and pushed their respective doors to the inside.

“Oh!”

“One more thing.”

They spoke simultaneously.

Rick grinned. Gracie giggled.

“You first,” she said.

“No, you,”

he returned.

Gracie bit her lip. Rick thought it was a cute gesture and not one he expected from Grace Hart, the businesswoman. Yet, Grace Hart the businesswoman was not standing before him now. The woman standing before him was someone else. She was simply, Gracie.

“Was just going to say,”

she began.

“well, was just going to apologize again to you for that tea-spitting thing the other day.”

Rick gestured with his hand, reminded of the last time he’d seen her.

“No problem. I understand. Anyone could get choked on a bagel.”

She smiled again. Lord save him. He liked that smile.

“You were going to say?”

she asked then.

Nodding, Rick continued.

“Was just going to apologize for the pup. I should have asked first.”

This time Gracie gestured with her hand.

“Not a problem. With the pup, I mean.”

She turned to head into her apartment, then stopped and faced him once again.

“Just don’t make a habit of not asking, Mr. Price.”

For a moment, he thought she was dead serious. Then he saw that sassy smile return to her face and knew that she was teasing.

Yes, Lord help him. He liked that smile

****

With her back to her closed door, Gracie clamped her hands over her eyes and groaned.

“Now what in the world did I go and do that for?”

she quietly chided herself.

Stepping away, she headed toward her bedroom and the sanctuary of her comfy bed.

“My God Gracie, you were flirting with him! Half-dressed, no less! Have you gone mad?”

Falling into her bed, she jerked the covers up to her neck, closed her eyes, and tried to erase the image of Rick Price standing before her at his apartment door. She tried not to think about the fact that the man had signed a year’s lease and that he would be coming and going out of that door for months to come.

Oh my. What in the world would she do?

Opening her eyes wide again, she stared across the bedroom, letting her brain quietly mull the situation.

Nothing. She would do nothing.

After all, there was nothing to do. She would just go about her daily routine, living her life, just as she had done for ten years now.

But the ticking started in her brain again and this time it appeared to be piercing her heart with every tick, tick, tick, it drummed up.

“One of these days, Gracie Hart,”

she whispered to herself.

“you’re going to have to come face-to-face with your fears, you know that?”

And she knew exactly what her fears were. Facing them was just the thing she had to learn to do. For some reason, she knew that day was coming. It had been ten years since she’d lost everything. Ten years since the accident happened that took everything away from her that she loved.

Ten long and sometimes lonely years.

She never thought she’d end up like this—thirty-five, single, and childless. But this was her life. And now, there’s an interesting man next door who makes her heart flutter, one who might even be a very nice candidate for someone to love.

Plus, a bonus. A precocious child that also warmed her heart.

She just didn’t know if she could ever get over this fear about falling in love again, though. It wasn’t the falling in love part that scared her so much—it was falling in love and losing that love all over again that scared the hell out of her.

****

Later that evening, Rick glanced about the inside of Rick’s Cafe, not believing that the time had almost come. The old store had truly been transformed. Three weeks of hard work and late nights and his bar was nearly up and running. He’d been thinking how he would handle his grand opening, debating on whether to throw one hopping shindig of a kick-ass party, or just quietly open his doors one evening and see what happened. Maybe he would host a small party with some of his Asheville friends on Friday night, a little live music, food and drink, and just take it from there.

Since that was the direction he seemed to be leaning, Rick figured he probably needed to get himself in gear and start inviting people. Goodness knows his friends loved their weekends and a good party to boot. Well, they had best make time for him on this Friday night.

It was high time Main Street Harbor Falls started hopping. He chuckled at the thought.

Stepping closer to the front of the bar, he stared out the window to the dark, empty street lit with the red glow of the traffic light and a smattering of streetlights. Quiet, quaint little town. He liked it, but it was a far cry from downtown Asheville where he’d lived since college.

He almost felt a little guilty thinking about how he was going to break this calm next weekend. Of course, today was Sunday evening and the town was cozily tucked in for the night, preparing for the next workweek. Friday and Saturday evenings were usually a little livelier, anyway.

It crossed his mind whether he should extend an invitation to Gracie. Maybe, just maybe, he should. On one hand, there was no use borrowing trouble. On the other, he wouldn’t be able to hide what her rental property had become from her forever.

Besides, maybe she wouldn’t even care that he’d put a bar on her property. After all, she was the one with the assumptions. Right?

That reasoning just didn’t feel right in his gut.

With thoughts of Gracie in his head, he twisted the doorknob and stepped outside to the street. The nights were still cool and crisp, and he inhaled deeply of the fresh air. This was an advantage. Although Asheville wasn’t a smoggy town, the air just seemed cleaner here in Harbor Falls. Probably the mountains. He stood for a moment taking in the quiet, then leaned again the brick front of his building. About the same time, a light went on next door in Gracie’s shop, throwing a muted rectangular glow toward the street.

Images of her this morning popped into his brain. That same image had troubled him all day long. He couldn’t deny that right from the start, he’d thought Ms. Grace Hart an attractive woman. Ricks Cafe had kept him so busy that he’d only allowed himself to entertain those thoughts briefly over the past three weeks.

But since seeing her this morning, with her hair soft around her shoulders and wearing nothing more than that sexy t-shirt—and well, he was having difficulty extracting thoughts of her from his mind.

That wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Beside him, the door handle jiggled and the door to Gracie’s shop swung open. Rick stood still, waiting, barely allowing himself to breathe.

She stepped out with a huge watering can in hand and moved toward the edge of the street where she started watering two large flower boxes full of pansies. Rick watched her with fascination. He decided right then that he really liked her hair down, not in the French roll she often twisted her locks up into. Tonight, over the t-shirt, she wore a short, wrap-around robe of pale blue. Even though the robe covered the t-shirt quite well, it still only hit her little below mid-thigh, and didn’t do a lot to hide those gorgeous legs.

Thankfully.

With a long sigh, he let his gaze stretch all the way down to her bare feet and painted toenails. Yes, he was glad about that. Being a leg man, he wasn’t the least bit disappointed in the fact that Gracie had decided to show her legs a bit.

She moved to the other side of the flower boxes, nearly facing him now, and Rick decided not to play voyeur any longer. He stepped away from the building and closer to the flowers.

“Those pesky, thirsty plants. Always need the water, huh?”

he said rather loudly. Immediately, he wished he’d taken another tack.

Startled, Gracie jerked her head up and let out a little shriek. One hand flew to her chest while the other dropped the watering can sharply on her toe.

“Ow!”

“Damn!”

Rick rushed forward.

Gracie stumbled backward and sat on the side of the flower box, her chest heaving. She pulled the injured foot up and laid it on her right knee, then looked up at Rick.

“You scared the hell out of me!”

He sat across from her on the opposite flower box.

“God, Gracie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

She waved him off and reached for her foot.

“It’s okay. Just dropped the damned thing on my toe.”

Rick righted the metal watering can, and then reached for Gracie’s foot.

“Let me see.”

“It’s okay.”

She shook her head and covered her foot with her hands.

“No. Please.”

Rick gently took the sole of her foot in his hands, cradling it in his palm. Her hands slid back. Lifting his gaze to her face, he made eye contact with Gracie as he carefully ran his hand along the top of the arch of her foot.

She grimaced. “Ow!”

“Where does it hurt? Here?”

He pushed along the top of her toes.

“The two middle ones.”

He probed some more.

She jerked her foot back. “Ouch!”

“There?”

“What do you think?”

she bit back.

Rick laughed.

“Yeah. I think there.”

“Is it broken?”

Her voice was softer as she asked, leaning forward as if to inspect the toe.

“Hard to tell.”

“It hurts.”

With her foot still cradled in his palm, Rick began a slow caress of both the bottom and top of her foot. She started to jerk back but he held her foot a little tighter, gently resisting the pull. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to touch her, to make her feel better. As he continued the slow massage of her foot and each of its tiny appendages, he resisted the temptation to look up into her face.

It seemed the night had suddenly gone still. Not a breath, nor a breeze. Nothing moved. Except his heart, which was beginning a slow and steady thrum in his chest.

The night seemed full of just the two of them.

Finally, he looked up. “Better?”

Gracie’s eyes were big and full of question. The expression on her face was difficult to discern. Quickly, she broke the connection between them and withdrew her foot. Rick dropped his hands to his side.

“Yes.”

She cleared her throat and stood.

“It’s... It’s fine now. Thank you.”

“Just a pretty good whack, I guess. I don’t think anything is broken.”

In the next movement, she gathered the watering can and turned toward the door.

“Guess we’ll see. It’s late. I should be getting inside.”

Rick nodded.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

She started for her door, a slight hobble to her step.

He stepped up behind her.

“I really am sorry I startled you. I didn’t mean to do that.”

As they both stood in front of her door, she turned and faced him again.

“I know. It’s okay. I’m sure it will be fine by morning.”

Then she offered him one of those faint, uncertain grins he liked.

He nodded and she reached for the doorknob.

“Wait.”

She glanced back, questioning.

“I, uh, Friday night I’m giving a little party. Just a few of my friends from Asheville to kick off the opening of the cafe. I’d like for you to come. That is, if you don’t have other plans.”

Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that it was quite possible she might have other plans. Like a date or something. He didn’t like the notion of that.

She bit her lip and glanced away.

“Just a small get-together,”

he added.

“Izzie will be there, too.”

She looked back and continued to chew her lip.

“Even if for a little while?”

After another lengthy moment she dropped her chin in a nod.

“I’ll be out of town Wednesday through Friday on a buying trip. If I’m not too tired when I get back late Friday afternoon, I’ll come by,”

she finally said, then added.

“and oh, thank you for inviting me.”

He smiled.

“My pleasure.”

Then she twisted the doorknob and walked back into her shop. Rick wondered why suddenly, the night felt so empty again.