A Mile High Engagement Read online

  Steamy Short Stories by Cassidy Coal

  A Mile High Romance: The Complete Collection

  An Undeniable Attraction: The Complete Collection

  A New Year’s to Remember

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  Sweet Short Stories by Cassidy Coal

  writing as C. Coal

  Puppy Love: Volumes 1 to 13

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  Novels by Cassidy Coal writing as C.K. Carr

  Something Worth Having

  Something Gained

  A Mile High Engagement

  Cassidy Coal

  Contents

  A Mile High Engagement

  About the Author

  A Mile High Engagement

  Sarah sighed in contentment as she nestled her naked body against Tyler Corrigan's, the early morning sun shining down upon them like a benediction.

  She'd missed this. More than she'd been willing to admit.

  They fit together so perfectly—mentally, physically, spiritually. It was all just so right.

  Tyler ran a lazy hand through her hair as he kissed the top of her head. "I missed you so much."

  He rolled over until he was on top of her, his lips meeting hers in a slow, languid, early-morning kiss.

  She responded by melding herself to him, her arms wrapping around his firm torso to pull him closer.

  Her phone rang.

  Sarah glared at it.

  "Leave it." Tyler traced kisses down her neck.

  It was only five-thirty in the morning. Who the hell was calling her this early?

  She lifted her head just enough to see the name displayed on the screen and reached for the phone. Tyler caught her hand. "Leave it, Sarah. There's enough time for that later."

  "It's my mom. Something has to be wrong if she's calling me this early."

  He released her hand and rolled away with a frustrated sigh. As Sarah answered the phone, he traced the curve of her body with his hand, stirring memories of the night before that made her blush.

  "Mom. What is it? What's wrong?"

  "You're engaged?" her mother shouted from the other end of the phone. "I didn't even know you were dating anyone and you're engaged."

  Sarah tried to speak, but words failed her. She slapped Tyler's hand away as she sat up.

  "I, um…"

  "How come I didn't know you were dating anyone?"

  Sarah winced. "Because I wasn't."

  Tyler leaned close to hear the conversation, nibbling on her neck while he was at it.

  "Then how can you be engaged? And to Tyler Corrigan. He's your boss, Sarah. What the hell were you thinking?"

  "Not anymore he isn't. He…it's…Can we talk about this later, Mom? Please?"

  "You're with him now aren't you? That's why you didn't come home last night?"

  "Mom. Can we please talk about this later?" Sarah emphasized each word as she tried to ignore the distracting way Tyler's hands were exploring her body.

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. "Are you coming to family dinner tonight?"

  "Yeah, of course."

  "Your engagement won't change that?"

  Sarah glanced at Tyler. "Um, well, I guess I hadn't thought about it much. But, no?"

  "Bring him."

  Sarah shook her head and Tyler pulled away, his eyes questioning. "Mom. No."

  "Sarah Jane Baxter. You are engaged to a man that none of us have met. You will bring him by this house today or you will suffer the consequences."

  "Mother! I am a grown woman. I will marry who I choose to marry."

  Tyler leaned close to hear her mother's reply.

  She snorted. "Oh, don't I know it. But if you want your family there on your wedding day you will bring him by and you will explain to all of us why we had to find out you were engaged from the newspaper."

  "It's in the paper?"

  "How the hell do you think I found out about it, Sarah?"

  She opened and closed her mouth a few times. "I guess I figured Jane had told you. But it's in the papers?"

  Sarah rubbed at her face as she tried to think about all the ramifications.

  Her mother snorted again. "Front page of the Lifestyle section and home page of the online edition. I've already had three calls this morning congratulating me on my daughter snagging herself a billionaire. Quite frankly, I think it's a bit early for celebrations. Is he a good man, Sarah? Or did he just blind you with his money?"

  Tyler sat back, his shoulders stiff, a frown creasing his beautiful face. Sarah ran a hand down the side of his face as she answered, "He's a good man, Mama. He is. You'll see. Tonight."

  "Tonight, then."

  Her mother hung up and Sarah fell back, pulling the covers over her head. "What were we thinking?" she asked.

  Tyler pulled the sheets away and stared down at her, his eyes clouded with worry. "You don't regret it do you?"

  "What? Saying yes to you?"

  He nodded.

  "No. Never." She gripped the back of his neck and pulled him down for a long, lingering, passionate kiss. When they both surfaced for air, she said, "I love you, Tyler Corrigan. And I can't think of anything I want more than to marry you. But…"

  He tensed under her grip as she continued, "I think we could've kept it to ourselves until we had a chance to tell our families."

  His eyes went wide and he jumped out of bed. "Oh, God. I didn't even think…"

  "What? What is it?" Sarah asked, half-laughing at his frantic search of the room.

  "If it's in the news, then my parents have seen it too." He grabbed his phone and punched in his code. When the phone dinged to indicate new mail, the blood drained from Tyler's face. "Oh no. It's already started."

  "What?"

  Tyler shook his head and put the phone back down like a man trying to ignore a death sentence. "No. I don't care. I am not going to ruin this morning with that."

  Sarah's phone started to ring, and she glanced at the display. It was her sister, Mary.

  Their eyes met and they both sighed.

  "Go ahead and answer." Tyler reached for his phone and started reading his e-mails as Sarah reached for her phone.

  She had the feeling it was going to be a very, very long morning.

  * * *

  Two hours later, they sat across from one another at a small café near Tyler's condo that served fresh chocolate croissants and the best coffee in the world. They'd hidden themselves away in the back corner so no one would notice them, but it hadn't helped. Every few minutes someone came over to congratulate them.

  "How the hell do people know?" Sarah whispered after the latest one walked away smiling to herself.

  Tyler nodded towards a man at the table near them. He was reading the paper, oblivious to them and everything around him. But sitting right there on the table for all the world to see was the Lifestyle section of the paper with a picture from the night before of Sarah in her red dress and red and black drape with Tyler next to her in his tuxedo. They were both smiling as if they'd received the best news of their lives and the headline above the picture read "ENGAGED! MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR ANYWHERE SNAGGED BY FORMER ACCOUNTANT."

  The story itself was even worse. Something about Cinderella dreams coming true and how Tyler was every girl's dream of Prince Charming.

  How they even knew what they knew about Sarah she didn't want to know.

  "They better leave my mom alone," she muttered to Tyler as she took a bite of her croissant, savoring the taste of the buttery crust and bitter chocolate.

  Tyler nodded, but he'd been distracted ever since he'd read his e-mails.

  Sarah leaned forward. "Out with it."

  "Out with what?" He blinked at her with a vacant smile, trying to pretend he hadn't
been miles away.

  "Tyler. You've been distracted all breakfast. What did your e-mails say?"

  He chewed on his lip as he studied her.

  "Tyler."

  "Can't we just talk about it some other time?"

  She laughed. "No, because you keep thinking about it. So?"

  He sighed heavily, but before he could speak an older woman bustled up to their table, camera in her hand. "Oh, do you think I could get a picture with you? You're such an attractive couple. I love that you chose a real woman for yourself and not that skinny blonde woman I kept seeing pictures of." She patted Tyler on the shoulder like he was her five-year-old great-nephew who'd just given her a pretty finger painting.

  Sarah couldn't hold back her laugh as Tyler stared at the woman, too stunned to respond.

  No way was the woman taking her picture. Sarah was still wearing last night's make-up and her hair was pulled into a messy bun because she hadn't wanted to deal with it this morning. At least Tyler had still had an old sundress of hers in his closet so she wasn't in her red gown from the night before, but she was definitely not up for random strangers taking her photo.

  The owner of the place ran over and shooed the woman away with an apologetic glance in their direction.

  "Maybe we should get out of here." Tyler threw a fifty on the table and led her towards the door. They waved to the woman as they left and then dashed back to Tyler's building before anyone else could recognize them.

  When they were safely ensconced back in his penthouse apartment, Sarah threw herself on the couch and Tyler laid down with his head in her lap. "Now this," he said, "is what life is all about."

  Sarah played with his jet black hair as she smiled down into his emerald green eyes. All she wanted was to kiss him and forget the rest of the world, but she couldn't. "The e-mails, Tyler. What did they say?"

  He closed his eyes as if pained.

  "Tyler?"

  He didn't open his eyes as he answered. "The first was from my father asking me what the hell I was thinking and reminding me that we're in the midst of delicate merger negotiations and the last thing he needs right now is to deal with news of his son's extracurricular activities overshadowing that."

  "Ouch." She knew his parents were cold, but that seemed a bit more than was really necessary. "And the others?"

  Tyler sat up, his body touching hers as he stared at the painting on the opposite wall. It was a giant framed oil painting of a pink rose. She'd always loved it. How an artist could take something so simple and make it a work of art just amazed her.

  "The second e-mail was from my mother."

  "And?"

  He laughed—a soft, bitter sound. "She asked me how I could embarrass her like that and said she was going to be the laughing stock of all her friends and suggested that if I had to marry someone so low class that at least I could've done so quietly so no one actually knew what a fool I was."

  Sarah stared at him. "Seriously?"

  He nodded. "Yep. That's my dear mother at her best."

  Sarah's gut clenched. She'd known she didn't belong in Tyler's world, but she'd figured that if he loved her it wouldn't matter. Now she wasn't so sure. If his family didn't accept her, where did that leave them?

  Tyler turned to her; his expression serious. He held her eyes. "They don't matter, Sarah. You have brought more love and light and joy to my life in the last year than they ever did with all their money and connections. So if I have to choose family versus you? I choose you. Every. Single. Time."

  Sarah swallowed heavily. Because he'd reminded her that he was going to meet her family tonight. And…

  What if her family didn't accept him? Or he didn't like them? What would she do then? Because, unlike him, she couldn't just walk away from her family like that.

  She shook the thought away. Time enough to deal with that if and when it happened. "Were there any other e-mails?" she asked.

  He glanced away, not answering.

  "Tyler?"

  He let out a deep sigh. "Yeah. My dad's lawyer contacted me about the pre-nup."

  "Pre-nup?"

  He looked at her and away again. "Yeah. We can't get married without it."

  Sarah tensed. "Why? Because, even though you proposed to me out of the blue, I must be a money-grubbing whore that's just going to take you for all you have?"

  Tyler winced but he didn't look at her. "It wouldn't matter who I married, Sarah, or how the proposal came about. Most of my money is tied up in family-run businesses. I can't afford to have a divorce destroy that. It wouldn't be fair."

  He did look at her then, his beautiful green eyes pleading with her to understand.

  Sarah stood and paced the room, her hands clenching and unclenching as she thought about it. Why marry someone with the expectation that it would fail?

  If it did fail she wouldn't want a penny, she'd just want out.

  She turned to him. "Tell your lawyer I don't want your money. You can keep it all. I will not spend the rest of my life depending on some man to write me a monthly check for my rent."

  Tyler slumped further into the couch, his eyes fixed on her face as he worried at his lip with his teeth. "It isn't that simple, Sarah."

  "What isn’t?"

  "There has to be a reasonable amount given to you or they can void the agreement."

  She laughed in frustration. "Seriously? I don't want it." When he just watched her, she continued, "Fine. Pick an amount. Whatever."

  Tyler grimaced. "The fourth e-mail was a list of lawyers that can represent you in the negotiations."

  Sarah stared at him. Her picture-perfect fiancé. Gorgeous, intelligent, supportive, successful, rich. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but this crap?

  No.

  "We don't have to get married you know." She chewed on her nail as she studied him.

  Tyler sat forward, his eyes wide with shock. "What?"

  "We don't have to get married. We can just get back together and spend as much time together as we can manage and make amazing, spectacular love, and forget the rest. I love you. You love me. That's good enough."

  He rushed forward and grabbed her hands. "No. Sarah Baxter I want you to be my wife. I want to wake up every morning with you by my side. I want that house in the suburbs with 2.2 kids and a golden retriever. I want it all. And I am not going to let my parents or their lawyers or anyone else keep us from finding that happiness. I want to marry you. Period. No arguments. No compromises."

  How could she say no with him standing so close and looking so determined?

  "Okay. But for now can we just make amazing, spectacular love?" She ran a finger down the front of his chest, her eyes holding his.

  "Absolutely."

  He pulled her close and their lips met and, just like the first time and every time since, fire raced through her veins. No man had ever made her feel the way Tyler did. She lost herself in him, in the moment, in the feel of flesh against flesh.

  This. This was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Later, much later, Sarah stretched languidly as she watched Tyler sleep. He looked so vulnerable when he slept—like a little boy who'd stayed up too late and finally collapsed in the corner unable to stay awake a moment longer.

  Sarah's phone rang and she cussed as Tyler stirred in his sleep. Damn it. Who was calling now?

  But when she turned to grab the phone and saw that it was already five-thirty, she blessed the caller for calling in time for them to still make it to her mom's for dinner at six-thirty.

  "Tyler. Get up." She shoved him as she bounded out of bed and answered the call. "Jane. Hey, what's up?" She raced to the front room to retrieve her clothes.

  "Oh, nothing. Just figured you might want a little reminder call to get to your mom's on time."

  Sarah laughed, breathless. "Thanks, but couldn't you've called about half an hour ago?"

  She could almost hear Jane shrug on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, but that wouldn't've been any
fun. See you there?"

  "Yeah, see you there."

  Sarah hung up and ran back into the bedroom. Tyler was sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing at his eyes. His hair was a tousled mess.

  She sighed as she stared at his beautiful naked body. If this were any other day…

  She'd call her mom and say they weren't coming.

  But they had to go. They had to get this out of the way now.

  "Get dressed," she ordered as she threw on her own clothes.

  "What should I wear?" Tyler opened the door to his walk-in closet to reveal rows of custom-made suits along one wall and khaki pants on another.

  "Do you own even one pair of jeans?" She peeked around his shoulder as she put on her shoe.

  He held up a pair of designer jeans that looked like they'd never been worn before.

  Sarah shook her head. "No. Those, no. Um. A pair of khakis then. Your oldest ones?"

  Tyler quirked an eyebrow at her.

  "Trust me, Tyler. You want to be as casual as you can get."

  He laughed. "Should I wear sweats?"

  She shook her head slightly as she considered it. "No…I think that…No."

  "I was joking, Sarah."

  She met his eyes. "I wasn't. But your sweats are actually too nice to pull it off. So khakis and a t-shirt. Do you have anything that's worn or scuffed in any way?"

  He frowned at her.

  "I'm serious, Tyler."

  "I'm meeting your family. I want to make a good impression."

  "I know. And I'm trying to help you do that."

  "By telling me to wear old and scuffed clothes?" He frowned at her, his eyebrows pulling down in the most adorable way.

  She sighed. He didn't get it. Why should he?

  "Tyler. We don't have time for this. Put it this way. Everything you wear screams money. And where we're going? That isn't going to help. So comfy, casual clothes if you can. Please. I have to go tell my mom we might be a few minutes late."

  * * *

  Sarah chewed on her thumbnail as she directed Tyler to pull into the Oak Gables Trailer Park. It was surrounded by a ten-foot privacy fence, so you really couldn't see what it was until you pulled in.