Home for Love (An Adult Contemporary Romance) by Aneesa Price

something women wanted to sink into. Unfortunately, with
the way he looked, Bree felt like one of those women. He bent over to chat to
Amber as she tugged on his sleeve in excitement. Bree sighed, it gave her a
fantastic rear view that nudged the temperature up a few notches. Todd turned
around and caught her staring at him. He grinned in response, which she duly
ignored offering him a blank expression in exchange.
    “Are you ready to go?” Todd asked,
holding his arm out, ready for her to hook into.
    Bree nodded, bending down to kiss Amber
first and greet her grandparents. Not, yet ready to speak to this sinfully
delicious version of Todd, she took his arm and left for town to the sound of
giggles in the background.
     
    xxx
     
    “Bree Tanner Ramsay,” a shrill voice
interrupted her conversation with Shelly.
    “Hi Sandra,” Bree replied, keeping her
voice light and interested. Sandra was one person she had not missed while gone
from Devil’s Peak. The feeling was as mutual as their common lust for Todd.
From the looks, that Sandra had been throwing Todd the whole evening that
seemed to be another irritating constant.
    With a dress as brassy as her voice,
Sandra dramatically stopped in front of Bree and gave her outfit an inspection.
“I see that little has changed since you left us. I was hoping that some of the
Lower 48 sophistication had rubbed off on you.”
    Bree discreetly nudged Shelly who was
about to deliver a scathing retort and with a fake smile still pasted on,
responded with the nonchalance, she was far from feeling. “Well, you know me
Sandra; I’m just a hometown girl at heart.” Before the verbal boxing match
could be further entertained, Bree grabbed Shelly by the hand and headed over
to the hotel bar, “Excuse us, hun, we’re a bit parched. See yah around.”
    “Two things,” stated Shelly, “first -
you don’t drink, and second - you’re too nice to that cow.”
    “Killing her with kindness, Shelly,”
Bree laughed. Now, this was one person she definitely had missed. Shelly may be
direct and come across as no-nonsense, but she was loyal to a fault.
    “Uh-huh,” came Shelly’s skeptical
response.
    “Now what’s the beef with Todd?”
inquired Shelly. “You know I don’t entertain rumors as far as the people I love
are concerned, so you better tell me.”
    “Todd and I are trying to come to terms
with co-parenting Amber,” replied Bree.
    Shelly quirked an eyebrow in response,
“Honey, you can’t fool anyone. Todd hasn’t been able to take his eyes off of
you the whole evening.”
    “That’s just high school flames still
burning, Shelly,” returned Bree. “We didn’t have closure when we broke up.”
    “As I recall,” drawled Shelly, “you
didn’t break up. You upped off and left. And, from what I see, you still
haven’t ‘broken up’.” Shelly used a well-manicured hand to make air quotes
before flipping her long, mahogany curls over her shoulder.
    “And this is a good conversation. Thank
you.” At yet another quirked eyebrow, Bree laughed and carried on, “No,
seriously. Maybe closure is what we need before we move on.”
    “Sorry to interrupt, ladies but I
believe, Shelly that our dance is up.” Shelly’s date, a sinfully handsome
newcomer to town, dragged Shelly away to the dance floor.
    It gave Bree a moment to gather her
thoughts. Closure. That was exactly what was needed. And, the sooner it was
done, the better. She scanned the hotel bar cum dining area for Todd without
any success. The evening had gone better than she’d imagined. They’d seemed to
have put their differences aside and had even managed to dance together and
have fun. They’d gotten quite a few looks when they’d arrived, but as the
evening progressed, less people seemed focused on them, so the tactic to meet
the grapevine head on must be working. What wasn’t working was controlling the
pull he had on her. It had seemed so easy, so natural to dance with him.
Swaying in time to the