Chapter 22

Pepper was up early the next morning. She wanted to go through the guest rooms and make lists of what she needed to jazz them up before the television people showed up. Flowers in vases on all the dressers. Special sachet packets in the drawers. Crystal dishes with those special peppermint candies people loved so much. She'd make sure the bathrooms were all stocked with the full complement of special toiletries. She'd have Cilla work on the downstairs. The woman had a great eye and knew exactly what to do to make a room "pop," as she was fond of saying. She was suspicious that she hadn't heard a word from her parents for a while but she decided not to worry about it for the moment.
She had just fixed a mug with coffee when she heard the front door open. Tony Rosen, the local UPS delivery man, waited for her in the lobby. He was wearing a big smile when he greeted her.
"I got an envelope here for you, Pepper. Says I have to get your signature." He looked at it as if it was a foreign object. "Must be mighty important. You don't get many of these."
What on earth?
"Who is it from?" Who would be sending her something that required her signature? Tony was right. She didn't get things like this.
Tony shrugged. "Can't tell. All the return info is blanked out." He frowned. "Sounds kind of fishy to me. Think it's a bomb?"
Pepper laughed. "Of all the places people might choose to bomb, I don't think this is one of them. Here. Let me sign."
She waited until Tony had left before she took the envelope over to the desk and sat down in the chair behind it. Unsure what she would find, she took her time opening the flat UPS envelope. There was a document inside, which she fished out with the tips of her fingers. She opened it, looked at it carefully, and she let out a scream.
Cilla raced in from the kitchen. "What? What the hell is going on? Are you okay?"
"L-look." She held out the papers in the envelope. "What do you think about this?"
"Oh. My. God." Cilla stared. "He's paid off the rest of the loan. This is the deed to Hibiscus House, and it's in your name. Damn, Pepper. Either you call him right now or I'm going after him myself. I'm serious."
Before Pepper could answer her, the phone rang.
"Did you get something from UPS today?" Mam's voice was filled with excitement.
"Yes, I did." Pepper was having trouble breathing. "How...? What...? When...?"
Maggie laughed. "I had to stop myself from rushing over there to wait for it. But Kyle said he'd kill us if we gave it away. I just couldn't wait any longer to call you."
"Mama. I'm floored."
"Honey, he loves you so much. He's been beating himself up over what happened and he wanted to show you how much he cares. And how important what you want is to him."
"And you know this how?"
"Oh, well, we might have chatted with him a time or two. Now you call him, Pepper. Right this minute."
Pepper stood there, still shocked. No one had ever done things like this for her before. She glanced over at Cilla.
"Can you dig out the information from Kyle's reservation? There must be a phone number on there. Maybe his cell?"
Cilla was already scrolling through the computer. "Yes. Here it is." She read off the number."
Pepper's hands were shaking when she punched the numbers into her own cell phone.
"It's ringing," she said.
"Is this the woman I love more than life itself?"
She heard his deep voice but not coming from the phone. It came from behind her. She turned to see him walking in through the front door. He looked so good she didn't want to tear her eyes away from him.
"I-I don't know what to say."
"How about I love you, Kyle?"
"I love you, Kyle," she repeated.
He shoved his own cell phone in his pocket and took hers away from her, setting it on the desk. Then he pulled her into his arms.
"I've wanted to do this every minute since I left here."
The kiss he gave her was so full of heat and emotion, it seared her very soul. He threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her head in place while he fed from her mouth as if he'd hadn't tasted her in forever. Only when he had completely stolen her breath did she break the kiss. If she had any doubts about his feelings for her, when she looked in his eyes, she saw her answer. There was so much love there, her heart swelled.
"You don't know how I regret the way everything happened," he told her. "I should have told you after that first night, but I didn't know how. I was afraid you'd throw me out, and I wanted a chance for you to really fall in love with me."
"But then - "
"But then I got caught up in my own trap. I was trying to figure out the right words when you found me on the Internet, and the jig was up. Honey, I know what this place means to you. If you want to live here and run it, I'll figure out how to make it work. It's only logistics. The important thing is for us to be together. I love you, Pepper. Will you marry me?"
"You sent me your broken heart," she said, watching his face.
"I did. Can you fix it? Marry me? Keep it whole?"
"For heaven's sake, answer him," Cilla said. "Don't keep the poor man in suspense."
Kyle pulled her tight to his body and tilted her face up to him again.
"Will you, Pepper? Please? I am no good without you."
She let out a long breath, and everything fell into place inside her.
"Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I'll marry you."
He kissed her again, and when she kissed him back, she put her whole heart and soul into it. And everything about it felt absolutely right.


End of Part One: Runaway Billionaire