“I always have been,” he confirmed, wrapping his arms around her. “From the moment I first saw you when we were kids. It’s always been you for me, Ang.”

“I love you,” she said again, and then laughed as Andrew joined them for a group hug. Emma led the shower guests in a round of applause, and Mariella whistled her approval. Angi couldn’t even bring herself to care that the sweetest moment of her life was shared by her friends plus a gaggle of excited clients.

Her heart was too full for anything but happiness. It felt so good to be tucked in Gabe’s embrace again, like coming home. Angi knew this man would always be her home, and she’d go through everything again to end up with Gabe, the exact place where she belonged.

A Carolina Christmas

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER ONE

THE ACCIDENT HAD happened so quickly, but Bella Hart couldn’t stop replaying it in her mind in excruciatingly slow motion. They were the worst few minutes of her entire life, and that was saying something.

The front door accidentally left ajar.

The ten-month-old puppy gleefully running across the yard toward the street, ignoring his panicked owner’s calls to come.

The giant SUV headed right toward the animal.

Bella’s scream as she followed her four-legged baby into the road.

In front of the massive vehicle.

The squeal of tires reverberating in her ears.

And then...

“Hey.”

Tanned fingers snapped in front of her face.

“You okay, Bella? Are you sure I can’t call someone?”

She blinked and looked into the brilliant cerulean gaze of Sam Anderson. Blue that reminded Bella of the Colorado sky on a clear winter’s day. A bluebird day, the locals called it as they headed for the slopes in the mountain town where she’d grown up. Bella had never liked snow.

Sam was her neighbor in the duplex she rented just outside the small town of Magnolia, North Carolina. She’d gotten a job as a third grade teacher there after graduating from college five years earlier, much to the chagrin of her parents, who were desperate for her to return home.

Sam was also a couple of years younger than her, as hot as any man she’d ever seen—a fact that made him quite popular with the ladies of the quaint Southern town.

He’d also been the one to hit her puppy. Or almost hit. Bella wanted to believe it was a near miss.

The veterinarian who was currently casting Tater’s front leg couldn’t be sure if there had actually been impact. The puppy had a broken leg but no other sign of trauma.

Bella hadn’t been hit. Thank God the brakes on Sam’s ancient Land Cruiser seemed to be in good working order.

But she had a nasty road burn on her legs.

She’d been wearing—still wore—a short robe over pajama shorts and a thin T-shirt, no bra. She pulled the fuzzy pink robe closed as she met Sam’s gaze.