The Millionaire Tempted Fate (A Novella) (Sweet and Savory Romances) by Shirley Jump Page B

me. I was trying to fit her into this neat little checklist because that was easier than taking  a risk. Than letting my heart do the thinking." He reached out and took one of her hands in his. Between them, the ticket stub crinkled in his palm. "I got the ticket you left in my pocket, and it made me realize something. You know me so well, better than I know myself."
    Angie tore her gaze away from him, afraid to believe, to trust. "Max, I—"
    He pivoted her chin until she was looking at him. "Here I was preaching at you to take risks when it was me who was afraid. Afraid of losing you."
    Now a smile curved across her face, and took hold. "Don’t you know, after more than twenty years together that you could never lose me?"
    "I know it now." He traced her lower lip, and she opened against his touch. "And because of that, I don’t think we can be friends anymore."
    "What?" Those damned tears rushed to her eyes again, burning. "What do you mean?"
    "Because we’re going to be so much more." His gaze met hers, held. "Husband and wife sounds much better than best friends, don’t you think?"
    Had she heard him right? He wanted to marry her? "This isn’t about your timeline, is it?"
    "Not at all. I don’t care if you marry me before we’re thirty or before we’re a hundred. As long as you marry me someday. Because Angie, what I said before is true. You're the only one in the world who can make me laugh on the worst day of my life. The one person who always remembers I'm allergic to onions, and the one who once gave up her seat on a flight to Cancun to stay behind and nurse me through a man cold. And that is true love, the kind that will be there tomorrow and the day after that and all the days down the road."
    She smiled and her heart sang. "That really is an amazing proposal."
    "And the only one I should have been making. I was afraid to end up like my father, and I hadn’t even realized until today that by choosing Becky, I was repeating the very mistakes I wanted to avoid. You’re the one who makes me laugh and cry and scream and…" he grinned, "a lot of other things. You’re the one who makes my life…whole."
    Whole. Yes, that was exactly what she felt when she was with Max, how she had felt since that first day with the Starburst on the bus. "You do the same for me," she said. "You always have."
    He slid the ring out of the box and onto her left hand, then closed his palm over her fingers. "I love you, Angie. As a friend, as a woman, as my other half. Will you marry me?"
    She curved into Max’s chest while their dog danced around their feet, tangling them in the leash. "Anything else is inconceivable."
    They laughed, the merry sound carrying on the winter air, as lovers walked past and Valentine’s Day caught the city in its magical, romantic spell. And in one tiny corner of one tiny park in the massive city of Boston, two best friends found happily ever after in each other’s arms while a puppy named Chewie slobbered over them both.
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Excerpt from The Bride Wore Chocolate
    Book 1 in the Sweet and Savory Novel series
     
     
    C HAPTER O NE
     
    Candace Woodrow stared at the gooey, sunken mess inverting onto itself like there was a Hoover under the table. "This was supposed to be a groom's cake, not a pancake."
    Rebecca poked at the chocolate failure. "Did you cook it long enough?"
    "I thought I did," Candace said. "I lost track of time because Trifecta needed to go out."
    "I've seen you with that dog." Maria wagged a finger at her. "Taking a three-legged dog for a walk is a comedy of errors." She gave an indulgent smile to Candace's shelter-rescued mutt, dozing in the front part of the shop, separated from the kitchen by a glass door. "We still love ya, Trifecta, even if you are a living tripod."
    Candace laughed. The best thing about working with her friends every day was