All through the reception, Charlie felt warm and tired and like she was keeping the best secret in the world. The meal and toasts that followed passed in a blurry daze, and she had trouble following conversation and acting like her normal self.

No one seemed to realize anything was unusual about her behavior though. Evidently all her emotional agitation was occurring somewhere deep inside her—without spilling over to her expression.

Simon seemed like his normal self, other than a slight flush to his skin and the way his eyes kept resting on her face in that soft, observant way he had.

She couldn’t believe they’d just had sex in a side room at a wedding reception.

She couldn’t believe it had been so good.

She couldn’t believe that Simon wanted her so much.

But he did.

It didn’t feel like everything was settled, but it felt good. And she wasn’t going to expect everything when what she’d gotten was so much more than she’d had before.

She was in a relationship with Simon. He cared about her and wanted to have sex with her. He didn’t have to want to carry her off into the sunset and pronounce his everlasting love right away.

She was going to enjoy what she had and not be even the slightest bit anxious that it wasn’t everything.

After the bride and groom did their first dance, Simon even stood up and held out his hand to her, offering to dance. She accepted, letting him pull her into his arms on the dance floor.

His hands were in perfectly appropriate positions on her body, but she leaned against him, feeling close to him, oddly protected, like he was keeping watch over her.

He always had.

After a few minutes, she lifted her head to look at his face. His expression was unreadable, although his eyes were very deep.

“What is it?” he asked softly, thickly.

“Are we... are we good?” She didn’t know how else to ask the question she really wanted to know.

He seemed to freeze for a moment. Then he gave his head a slightly jerky inclination. “Yes. We’re good.”

“You’re not... you’re not regretting anything or having second thoughts?”

“No regrets. We can date. Take it slow. We don’t have to rush things or get too serious too soon. We’re good.”

Her heart did the craziest gymnastics in her chest—jumping in excitement and then crashing down as he continued to speak.

He wanted to date.

He wanted to take it slow.

He didn’t want to rush things.

It made sense, given how torn he was about their relationship, about being with her at all.

Of course he wanted to go slow.

Just because she was in this all the way didn’t mean he had to be too.

She needed to be patient. Reasonable. Guard her heart so she didn’t tumble into heartbreak.

She gave him a wobbly smile and couldn’t manage any answer with words.

After they’d danced for a while, she told him she was ready to leave whenever he was, so they went back up to their floor and he pulled her into his bedroom.

They didn’t have sex, but she fell asleep in his arms, and she told herself this was more than she could have hoped for, this was all she could expect.

The deepest need in her heart might not have been answered, but when was it ever really answered in this world?

She needed to guard her heart.

She wasn’t living in a fairy tale.

If she wasn’t careful, this world was going to break her.

She didn’t want to be broken.

***

WHEN SHE WOKE UP THE next morning, Simon was in the shower.

It was almost ten, and they needed to check out by eleven, so she scrambled up (grateful Simon must have turned the heat up earlier), grabbed her pretty clothes from last night, opened the bathroom door a crack to tell Simon she was leaving, and then headed next door to her room.

She got into the shower right away, letting the hot water wake her up and clear her mind. She kept her hair out of the spray so she didn’t have to wash and dry it again today, and she was feeling more herself when she got out. She drank a cup of coffee before she got dressed, and then she had to somehow get her clothes, which were all scattered haphazardly around the room, back into the luggage she’d brought with her.

She hadn’t bought a single thing this weekend, but her possessions seemed to have multiplied just the same.

At ten forty-five, there was a knock on her door, and she ran to open it to Simon.

“Hey,” he said, giving her the slightest little smile.

Even that tiny smile made her happy. She beamed at him. “Hey.”

“You about ready?”

“Yeah. Just finishing packing.” She let him into her room, and she went to the bed to finish zipping up her last bag.

“Do you want me to call down for someone to help with our stuff?”

“I think we can probably get it ourselves since all you have is the one case.”

Men always seemed to have it easier with packing for a trip. It didn’t seem quite fair.

When she’d finished closing her case, she glanced back at him almost shyly.

She wondered what he was thinking.

She wondered if things would change between them once they got back home.

She wondered how he felt about her and whether he’d ever let down the walls around his heart enough to really let her in.

She wondered how slow he wanted to go.

She wondered if he’d ever love her the way she loved him.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

She nodded. “Yeah. Of course.” After a pause, she added, “You?”

“I’m good.”

That seemed to be all he was going to say at the moment, so she slung the strap of her shoulder bag in place and let him take her roller suitcase. Her two evening gowns were in a garment bag, so she picked that up to carry down as they left her room.

They brought their stuff down to the lobby and waited for a valet to bring up Simon’s car. As they stood together waiting, Hannah and Bruce came into the lobby. Charlie’s eyes widened as she saw the way they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They were kissing, even as they were trying to check out.

At least Hannah seemed to have gotten more than she’d wanted this weekend.

Charlie...

Well, Charlie had gotten less.

She was suddenly hit by how much that was true, how much less it felt like she’d gotten from what she’d wanted.

Feeling like she was going to cry, she said she’d be right back and hurried into the lobby restroom. She stood in front of the mirror and breathed deeply until she was in control of herself again.

She was smiling as she came out. Simon wasn’t where she’d left him, so she looked around and discovered Simon had gone into a little sitting room off the lobby and was on his hands and knees, helping a hotel maid pick up dishes—some of them broken—that must have been on a tray she dropped.

Charlie stood in the entrance and watched as he shrugged off the maid’s assurances that she was fine and didn’t need any help. He stayed on the floor until all the pieces were picked up. Then he stood up, picking up the tray for the flustered young woman, who was thanking him in murmured tones.

Simon wasn’t smiling, although he did mumble out a “You’re welcome.”

Charlie was hit by another wave of emotion as she watched.

He had such a warm, generous heart beneath the gruff exterior. He was genuinely kind, whether he knew anyone was watching or not.

She loved him so much.

When he turned around, he gave a little start, evidently surprised by her presence.

“Sorry,” he said, coming over to stand in front of her. “I was just...”

“I saw.”

He gazed down at her, his eyes very sober.

“What?” she asked, when he didn’t say anything.

“Are you not happy?” The brief question was low and hoarse and utterly serious.

“I...”

“Tell me the truth, Charlie. I want you to be happy. More than anything. Even if it means I don’t get what I want myself. And I’m afraid... I’m afraid you’re not.”

She was shaking with emotion, the feeling coming on her all at once. “I... I want to be with you. I do. But...”

“But what?” He wasn’t touching her, but it was like he could see into her soul just the same.

Because it seemed like he knew her so intimately, she let the deepest truth spill out. “But I just can’t guard my heart the way you can. I can’t... I can’t be smart and strong and realistic and accept the world as it is. I want the world to be better. I want... everything. I don’t want to guard my heart. And trying to do so with you feels as wrong as wrong can be.”

He stared at her, unmoving, unspeaking, for more than a minute.

She clenched her trembling hands at her side.

It looked like he was finally about to say something when one of the bellman called out to them. The valet had driven up with their car. They went outside and waited as the bellman lifted the back hatch and loaded their luggage.

When the valet offered Simon the keys, he took them and passed him the tip.

Then Charlie finally realized she needed to get into the passenger seat. The valet was holding the door open for her.

She stepped toward it.

Before she could reach it, Simon moved all of a sudden, taking her by the shoulders, turning her around, pressing her back against the side of the car.

“What—” she gasped.

“I don’t want you to guard your heart, Charlie,” he murmured roughly.

She blinked.

“That’s never been what I wanted.”

“But... but you told me...”

“That was a year ago, and I was talking about other men. Men who might hurt you.”

His body was pressed into hers, and he was trapping her with his arms. They were basically embracing, right there on the side of the car in front of the hotel. Charlie wasn’t aware of any of that. She only saw the smolder in his dark eyes.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Simon went on. “I’d never hurt you.”

“I know you’d never mean to, but it feels like you’re holding back on me, and I don’t want you to. I don’t know how to be with someone that way. Especially not you. And that... that hurts.”

His face twisted almost helplessly. “It’s not because I want you to guard your heart. And it’s not because I’m still conflicted or worried that I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s because I keep trying to guard mine. I was trying to be reasonable, realistic, give us a... a normal beginning. But the truth is I’m so in love with you that I want everything right now, right away. I want everything from you at this moment. And I know I can’t expect that. You’re...”

“I’m what?” She could barely get the words out. Her heart was pounding a loud staccato.

“You’re used to dating. And I don’t know how to date. I only know how to be in love. So I keep trying to rein myself in so I don’t expect too much from you too soon.”

“Too much...”

“Everything.”

“Everything.” She sounded like an idiot but all she could do was repeat the words.

“Everything,” he murmured, even more softly. He leaned forward to kiss her gently.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling away as the words finally processed. “You want everything?”

“Yes. That’s what I said. More than once.”

“You love me?”

“More than anything in this world.”

“And you want everything? That’s why you keep holding back?” Her voice almost squeaked with emotion.

“How many times do I have to say it?” Just a hint of dry amusement glinted in his eyes.

“You idiot!” She pulled his head down toward hers. “I want everything too!”

She kissed him soundly, slightly annoyed when he pulled back to ask, “You do?”

“Yes, I do! I love you too, you big dummy. Why do you think I was so upset about you holding back? I don’t want to hold back. And I don’t want you to hold back. I want everything with you.”

He finally seemed to believe her because he kissed her again, and this time it was deep and hard and eager.

It might have gone on for a long time if a familiar female voice hadn’t come from the sidewalk behind them. “Uh, Charlie, some of us are still waiting to get out of here.”

Giggling, Charlie pulled away from Simon’s mouth to see that Hannah and Bruce were standing hand in hand, watching them in amusement.

Simon cleared his throat and stepped back. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

“No, it wasn’t.” She let him help her into the passenger seat, grinning so much she thought her smile would burst out of her face. “I like you when you let go. I like you like that a lot.”

“Well, I’ll do better letting go in private.” He was smiling too as he walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat at last.

Charlie rolled down her window to wave at Hannah, who must have had just as good a weekend as Charlie had had herself. Hopefully Madison had too.

As they were driving away, Charlie reached over to put a hand on Simon’s thigh. “So I really don’t have to hold back?” she asked.

He glanced over, his expression hot and fond. “Please don’t.”

“I can love you as much as I want?”

“Please do.”

“And I can trust that you’ll love me too.”

“I’ll never do anything else.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “That’s exactly what I want.”

“Me too.”

“Good.” With a satisfied nod, she looked ahead at the road in front of them. “Sounds like a happy ending to me.”

***

SIX MONTHS LATER, CHARLIE and Simon were spending the weekend at her parents’ estate.

Charlie still thought about the place as her parents’, although obviously it belonged to her now. She and Simon had both been busy lately, so she’d wanted to get away for a quiet weekend with him. Maybe a little romance.

But Simon had been quiet and grouchy all weekend, and he’d been hiding himself away in the library upstairs for the past hour, evidently working or stewing or something.

Charlie was starting to get annoyed.

Simon was never going to turn into a charming, smiling chatterbox. She wouldn’t want him to. She loved him the way he was, and she wasn’t expecting him to change.

But still...

This was supposed to be a romantic weekend, and the damn man wasn’t cooperating.

The past six months had been good. Amazing, really. They’d had a few expected hiccups from the transition in their relationship, but she couldn’t remember being happier, and she was convinced the same was true of Simon. She was satisfied with where they were right now, and she wasn’t in a hurry to move their relationship along. The idea of an engagement did occur to her occasionally. She hoped Simon might ask her to marry him eventually.

She would like that. A lot.

But she wasn’t going to be impatient about it. It had been hard for him to accept that his feelings for her weren’t what he used to think they should be. It was likely to take him longer than other men to take the next step.

He loved her. He was committed. She was allowed to love him with all her heart.

It was more than enough.

But she was annoyed about this weekend, and she’d had a random idea about what she might do about it.

It was spontaneous. Perhaps a little silly. But she couldn’t get it out of her head.

It was just ten in the evening. They hadn’t yet gotten ready for bed, although she was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a camisole since it was a warm night. Lady Jane was at her feet—since the dog followed her everywhere—looking up at her with interest as if she suspected something exciting might be happening soon.

Charlie stood in the entry hall next to the security console on the wall and stared at it for a minute.

Then she decided.

She activated the security system and then purposefully walked over to the side door.

She opened it, setting off the blaring alarm.

She stood in the hall as the alarm sounded loudly and Lady Jane started to bark.

In about thirty seconds, Charlie heard Simon’s bellow from upstairs. “Charlie? Charlie! Where are you?”

“I’m down here,” she called, hit with a little flicker of guilt because he sounded so urgent and worried.

Down he came, wearing the clothes he’d had on all day and brandishing one of her father’s signed baseball bats.

She couldn’t help but giggle.

When he reached her, he gave her and Lady Jane a quick once-over, assuring himself that they were all right. Then his eyes narrowed—as if he suspected what she was up to—and he stepped over to punch the code into the console and talk to the security company.

When the alarm was silenced, he turned toward her slowly. “What the hell, Charlie?” he growled.

“I wanted to get you out of your cave.”

“I wasn’t in a cave.”

“Yes, you were. You closed the door and weren’t coming out.”

“You could have come in.”

“The door was locked.”

“I would have opened it.”

“That’s not the point. The point is I don’t want to be locked out of your life. You would have snarled at me if I knocked. That’s what bears do when someone intrudes.”

“You wouldn’t have been intrud—”

“I didn’t want to come into your cave. I wanted you to come out.”

His face was softening, and she could see that he understood. “I wasn’t hiding in a cave, sweetheart.”

“Then why were you in there for so long? I thought we were going to spend the weekend together.”

He let out a long breath and reached out to pull her into a soft hug. “We were. We are. I was... I’ll show you. Come with me.”

He took her hand and led her up the stairs. She had no idea what was going on, but she went with him willingly. Lady Jane trotted happily behind them.

Simon led her by the hand toward the library. He paused before he opened the door. “I wasn’t locking you out of my life, Charlie.”

Her eyes were wide, and a shiver was running up and down her spine. She didn’t know why until he’d opened the door and pulled her into the room.

It was filled with candles and vases of lovely red roses on nearly every surface, filling the room with soft light and fragrance. There was a silver ice bucket holding a bottle of champagne next to two crystal flutes.

She blinked in surprise and turned to Simon questioningly.

He made a face. “I wasn’t quite finished.”

“Finished with what?” she breathed.

“Trying to make it... like a fairy tale... for you.” He looked stiff. Slightly awkward. But also... adorably hopeful.

“Make what like a fairy tale?”

He walked over to a big antique desk and picked up a small velvet pouch.

She let out a squeak when he fiddled with it until he was able to pull out a lovely diamond ring on a platinum band.

Simon came back toward her, holding the ring. “I was trying to make this like a fairy tale for you. I’m not any good at it, and I wasn’t quite done. I was going to change into a tuxedo.”

She was shaking now and swaying slightly on her feet. She could hear Lady Jane panting excitedly.

Charlie asked in a wobbly voice, “Are you going to do it with the bat?”

Simon gave a little jerk and seemed to realize for the first time that he still had the baseball bat tucked under one arm. With an amused huff, he retrieved it and put it down on the floor.

Then he moved closer to her and knelt down on one knee.

He wasn’t smiling at all as he said, “I’m never going to transform into a prince. But if you want a grouchy, old bear, he’ll be yours for the rest of his life.”

Her face crumpled as she was slammed with a wave of emotion. “I do want my bear,” she managed to say. “He’s the only one I want.”

His expression changed just slightly, but it was all the sign she needed of the state of his feelings. His dark eyes were blazing with joy. “So you’ll marry me?”

“Yes!” she burst out, reaching out to drag him back up to his feet so she could throw herself in his arms. “Yes, I’ll marry you! This is exactly the story that I want.”

Evidently Simon felt the same way. His arms were strong and urgent as he embraced her. His lips were possessive. And he was even laughing a little as they held on to each other.

He finally pulled away to slip the ring onto her finger, and Charlie had to lean over to pet Lady Jane, who was dancing around in excited confusion.

It was pretty much the perfect night, and Charlie thought it was better because the fairy tale hadn’t happened to her from out of the blue.

They’d made it happen. Charlie and Simon. Six months ago at that wedding weekend and then every day since.

And now soon she’d have a wedding of her own.

***

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS story, be sure to check out the next book in the One Fairy Tale Wedding series, Untouched, about Hannah and Bruce. You can find an excerpt from it on the following pages.

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