The Thrill of You Read online

  Derek had said Mikhail was home. Breathlessly, she hurried back to the staircase and headed up to the second floor. Midway she stopped and turned around. Her eyes lit up.

  Just then the sound of a car pulling up in front got her attention. She hurried to open the door, expecting to see Mikhail. Instead she saw Shauna getting out of her car and coming toward the house. “Hi, Shauna,” she said, trying not to look as disappointed as she felt.

  “Hey,” Shauna said, hurrying up the steps. “I hoped I’d find you here. I tried to catch you before you left the hospital.”

  “Mikhail isn’t here. I have no idea where he is,” Cyanna said.

  “I do. I’m on my way there now. He’s at Cutter Island.”

  Cyanna brightened instantly. “Shauna, I need to see him. Can you help me?”

  “Yes, I know. Come on—I’ll drive to the marina. Tatiana is waiting to take us over as soon as we get there.”

  She ran back to the house to grab her things. Her heart pounded with joy, and as much as she tried to calm herself, she was just too excited and apprehensive. “How is he, Shauna?” she asked, not sure she was ready to hear the answer.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him. I know he was hit and he lost blood. Dominik’s still with him.”

  Cyanna heard the words but this time she refused to let them seep in. They drove the rest of the way in silence. Shauna parked in the private lot behind the bungalows. They got out. Cyanna looked around, not sure which way to go. “This way,” Shauna said. Cyanna nodded and followed quickly. They met Tatiana and Nikita waiting on the docks. They all got into the boat, and Tatiana headed to Cutter Island.

  The twenty-minute boat ride seemed to take an eternity. Shauna and Nikita stayed with her down on the lower deck, while Tatiana drove the boat as if she’d been born to it. The boat soared over and cut through the crashing waves. She finally saw a small land mass on the far horizon. She knew it was Cutter Island and it made her even more anxious. She had prayed all her life to find someone to feel safe with, and God had answered her prayers in Mikhail. With him she had everything she ever wanted. He was kind, generous, loving and most definitely the only man for her, and she knew she was the only woman for him. She just hoped it wasn’t too late.

  When they got close, Tatiana slowed their approach, steering the boat alongside the dock. Two other boats were already there. Nikita jumped down and secured the boat as Shauna and Cyanna hurried up the path to the house. Well up the path, Cyanna turned to thank the sisters for bringing her.

  Seeing them coming from the dock, Dominik opened the front door. “Welcome. Come in,” he said to Cyanna. Shauna followed, smiling at her husband.

  “Thank you.” Cyanna walked inside and looked around for Mikhail. He wasn’t there. But she knew wherever Dominik was Mikhail was close by.

  “How are you feeling?” Dominik asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” she said.

  He knew she was referring to not seeing Mikhail. “If you like, I can take that bandage off your hand and wrist now.”

  She nodded impatiently. “Later. Where is—”

  “He’s in his bedroom, third room on the left.”

  Cyanna crossed the great room quickly, following Dominik’s directions. She stopped at Mikhail’s bedroom door. It was already open. She walked inside and looked around. The bed had been slept in and she recognized Mikhail’s cell phone on the nightstand. Her heart pounded excitedly. Thin sheers at the balcony doors blew with the breeze. She remembered the billowing sheers and finding him outside one night when it had rained. She walked over and saw the man she loved standing outside. Her heart leaped. She stepped on the balcony just as he turned around. His eyes lit up. “Cyanna,” he whispered.

  She smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked at him head to barefoot toe. He was okay. He wore jeans and no shirt. His one shoulder was badly bruising, red and turning blue. There was a wide white bandage on the side of his body. He was alive and that’s all that mattered. She took two quick, halted breaths, then ran into his arms.

  Mikhail caught her as pain shot through his shoulder and side, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even feel it. All he felt was his heart’s desire in knowing Cyanna was there with him. He held her tight, hoping this was the beginning of their life together. “Cyanna, I love you.”

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  “Don’t ever leave me again.”

  She leaned back and smiled. “Where would I go? My life is here with you and our child.” They kissed, and the world seemed to brighten as warm sunshine beamed down on them. “I had a dream.”

  “What kind of dream?” he asked.

  “A good one,” she said. “In it you asked me to marry you.”

  “And in this dream, what was your answer?”

  “Yes.”

  He nodded. “Good. That’s good to know.”

  “Yeah, I think so, too.”

  “So.” He released her and knelt down on one knee. “Cyanna Dupres, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  She smiled and nodded joyfully. “Yes, yes, yes.” She pulled him up, and they kissed passionately. Afterward she looked up at him and smiled. “And since I already have the ring,” she said, holding her hand up and the bandage back to show him the ring he placed on her finger days earlier.

  He smiled. “You knew. You remembered.”

  She nodded. “Yes. Not that night, but the next day. That’s why I was looking for you to come see me. But you didn’t. Your phone was turned off.”

  “I was kind of busy.”

  “Yeah, saving my brother and getting shot.”

  “All in a day’s work,” he said.

  She shook her head. “Not anymore,” she said. “You’re gonna be a husband and a dad.”

  He nodded in complete agreement. “You’re absolutely right, not anymore,” he said.

  “Hey, can we come back in now?”

  Mikhail and Cyanna looked down over the balcony and saw the Coles family with husbands, wives and children looking up at them. They smiled and waved. “Yeah, come on up. We’re celebrating. We’re getting married.”

  The cheer of joy and excitement echoed across the small island. The family came up to congratulate them. Dominik removed Cyanna’s bandage and the ring Mikhail had placed on her finger sparkled anew.

  The family celebration was beyond awesome. By sunset more members of the Coles family had arrived on the island and the evening turned into a huge holiday, celebrating family and love.

  Later that night Mikhail and Cyanna said their goodbyes to the family and watched as they got into their boats and headed back to Key West. Mikhail and Cyanna went back to the house and stood out on his balcony, where they had pledged their love eternally. She wrapped her arm around his body, and he held her close. “It’s so beautiful here on Cutter, and I’m so happy. I never want this moment to end.”

  “But it will, and we’ll have thousands and thousands more incredible moments to share with our family.” She stood in front of him as he caressed her stomach.

  “So, tell me, what exactly was the last term?” she asked.

  “This, you and me, together forever. How does that sound?”

  “Hmm,” she began. “Well, I think I can agree to that.”

  “Good. I love you, soon-to-be Mrs. Mikhail Coles.”

  She smiled, deliriously happy. “I love you, too, Mr. Coles.”

  They looked off over the trees, seeing the last family boat sail toward the horizon, leaving them on Cutter Island alone. “This is only the beginning of our Coles family story. With our children and our children’s children, there will be so much more to come.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Cyanna said as she turned into his embrace and kissed him. She knew that in Mikhail she had everythi
ng she’d always wanted—the true love of her life forever and ever.

  * * * * *

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  THE THRILL OF YOU

  ISBN: 9781460316948

  Copyright © 2013 by Celeste O. Norfleet

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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