“Here we are.” Now his visit had even more of the secret boyfriend vibe. Because she was showing him her intensely personal office for the first time. The place she poured her heart and soul into. The place he’d never set foot, never asked to see even after they fell back into their tight four-way friendship with Ella and Casey.
Would he approve of the comfortable wing chair tucked into a corner? The glass-topped wine barrel she used as a desk? Would he mock the shelf that still held her viniculture and business textbooks?
Piper didn’t know whether to sit or stand. Or where to do so. All she did know was that Ward’s height and muscles and sheer maleness seemed to be taking up all the available space. And she felt out of place in the room that was supposed to be her haven. She crouched in front of the mini-fridge. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No. Thanks.”
It didn’t stop her from grabbing a bottle of water. She’d need it to pop some more painkillers the moment he left. Except that he wasn’t leaving. Or talking. Piper curled her toes in the pinching tightness of her pumps and stood. A shiver ran through her as she slid along the hard length of Ward, who’d silently moved behind her to look at the photos on her shelf. Her entire body wanted to arch backward into the hot wall of muscle. But that would be pointless. Embarrassing for both of them.
“Sorry. Didn’t know you were there.” Piper didn’t move. Because if she turned around, it would line up too many things on their bodies in far too close proximity. If she made a break for it, that’d be a dead giveaway of her...her...flusterment. Overheatedness. Nope. She couldn’t even make up a good word to candy-coat it. The only word for the interest and heat throbbing through her right now was arousal. And Piper was quite positive that if there was a book or a blog post or even a limerick about the top five things not to do with your ex, admitting your arousal had to be the very first thing on the list.
He raised an arm to point at a photo in a round white frame decorated with blue and silver dots. It was from her cheerleading days, when just about everything she owned had to be decorated with the school colors. This particular one was the night of the state basketball championship. The night Ward had gotten the team MVP trophy. Ward had Casey and Ella hefted onto one hip, with Piper on the other. All four of them were grinning like fools at each other instead of the camera.
“I’d forgotten about this picture.” With the tip of his finger, Ward touched each face in turn. “Kind of surprised you keep it on display.”
“Good memories don’t sour because of a, um, behavioral anomaly. A status change. A schism.” A broken heart. A trampled heart. Nope, she probably shouldn’t bring that up, either. At a lack of how to describe it without making herself sound pathetic, she finished lamely, “What you did.”
“Nice to hear.”
His arm still caged her in place on one side. Piper decided to use simple politeness as an exit strategy. She pivoted away to point at the chair. “Would you like to sit down?”
“No.”
She set the water on a coaster. Still eight kinds of uncomfortable, Piper decided to sit in her wing chair. If she sat at her desk it would feel too much like a business meeting. “Ward, at this rate, we’re not going to get to why you came until after the Fall Festival. Spit it out.”
Ward kept staring at the row of photos. “The Festival’s why I was out in the boat this morning with the guys. Zane’s drafted us to help him show up some guy at Hobart in a sculling race.”
“Who got drafted?”
“Me, Joel and Gray.”
She laughed out loud. “The four of you against some wimpy college professors? You’ll beat the pants off of them.”
“That’s the plan.” He traced his fingers along the edge of another frame. This one bordered a shot of them in full costume, opening night of Damn Yankees. Ward got to show off his natural athletic abilities starring as a baseball player. Piper got to try to seduce him as the demoness Lola. So much fun.
“I think I’ll start an under/over pool with a few friends. Your race could help pay for my next pair of shoes.”
“Next pair? Piper, you’ve got more shoes than I have socks and underwear combined.”
Why, why did he have to mention his underwear? She’d seen him in shorts plenty of times over the years. Knew the basic shape of his legs, the crisp, dark hair covering the tanned skin. Her knowledge stopped there for a long time, since they never went all the way while dating. But as of June of this year, she also knew what he looked like in his underwear. And some things, once seen, couldn’t be unseen.
The sexy sighting occurred because their old drama teacher still lived in town, and the four of them made it a point to visit her a handful of times a year. He’d built an elaborate three-story green-and-yellow birdhouse for Fran Lacey’s eightieth birthday. Just thinking about that sweet gesture, and all the time it must’ve taken, melted Piper’s heart. Ward came across as all stoic and badass, but he could be so darn thoughtful it could take your breath away.
Hands shaking from Parkinson’s, Mrs. Lacey had insisted on cutting slices of birthday cake for them all. A tremble, a slip, and moments later the knife was in Ward’s thigh. Ella and Casey had stayed to calm down the distraught woman, which left Piper to drive Ward to the hospital, despite his protests. Said protests that were ignored due to the steady drip of blood down his leg.
So she’d been there, gurney-side, holding his hand for the first time in nine years. He professed not to need her to stay. But he didn’t let go. And then a nurse cut off his pants. They’d pulled off his shirt earlier to stem the blood on the drive. Which left him naked except for the thin and revealing cotton of his boxer-briefs. Black, of course. The image of his long, lean, muscled body had burned itself through her retinas deep into her memory banks.
Her dry eyes blinked involuntarily, making Piper realize she’d been both staring and completely zoned out. She blamed the exhaustion. Or the headache. “Shoes are the way to a woman’s heart, Ward. And they last longer than most relationships.”
He turned toward her, with a shake of his head that dismissed her comment. “Anyway, when we were out on the boat, Gray mentioned how upset you were last night.”
Guilt washed over her. “Oh, no. I called too late, didn’t I? Did I completely ruin their evening?”
Another brusque head shake. “Their evening was over. All you ruined was Gray’s chance at a good night’s sleep. He’ll survive.”
She’d been on the phone with Ella for almost two hours. In that entire time, she hadn’t once given a single thought to the man in the bed next to her best friend. “I’m still not used to Ella living with him. That was rude of me. I’ll have to make up for it. Maybe I’ll take him some apology brownies.”
An amused smile quirked up the corners of his lips. “Piper, the man lives in a hotel with a CIA-trained chef at his beck and call. You don’t need to take him brownies.”
“A bottle of wine, then.” She jumped up, scribbled a reminder on a sticky note and put it in the middle of her keyboard. “Or you could do me a favor. Call him with some trumped-up problem in the dead of night? Even the score?”
“That’s exactly why I’m here. To do you a favor.”
She’d been kidding. But she certainly wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Piper sank into her desk chair. “I’m intrigued.”
After an aborted motion that made her wonder if Ward could possibly be nervous, he fig-leafed his hands. “I’m sorry your dad’s such an ass.”
“In general?”
“Yes. And specifically, about your port line. I wish you’d told us you were working on it.”
“Wouldn’t have made a difference.” In fact, opening up to her friends would only have made the whole thing more painful. They would’ve been so supportive. They would’ve been even more upset than Piper at every dead end she hit.
And then she would’ve felt like she was letting them down too. Bad enough she was letting down her dead grandfather. “The project’s dead in the water.”
“I’d like to help.”
Sweet. There he went, flashing his big gushy heart again when she least expected it. Piper stood, came around to pat him on the shoulder. “I’d like you to be able to help too, but there’s nothing you can do.”
“There is.” Ward took a step closer, getting inside the bounds of polite personal space. Close enough to have crossed into the “I’ve had my hands down your shirt and up your skirt” territory that they hadn’t revisited in oh so long. “I can make it all happen.”
“Right. Because you have a wish-granting genie at your beck and call?”
“Better. I have land.”
Not at all what she’d expected to hear. Not crazy at all. The pilot light of hope flickered in her chest. “What do you mean? What land?”
“That field to the east of the barn behind the cherry grove. It had to lie fallow, but now it’s ready to be planted. Kind of surprised you didn’t think of it yourself.”
This was too good to be true. It was definitely too much to take in while standing up, especially with her pounding headache already giving her a touch of vertigo. The wing chair was too far away for her suddenly weak legs. She toed out the desk chair and collapsed into it, head whirling.
She indeed probably should’ve thought of it back when she was making lists of every possible rentable acre in the Finger Lakes. But his empty field wasn’t visible from the road, and she didn’t exactly keep track of the details of what was no longer an active farm.
When his father died, Ward had inherited massive debts. He leased some of the land to vineyards, and a good chunk of it to alpaca farmers who apparently paid in cash above the asking price for their pampered animals. Ward held back a few acres for himself. Piper hadn’t known exactly how many, or what shape they were in...not to mention that she never, in a million years, would’ve asked one of her best friends to get tangled up in a new business venture.
“I...I can’t believe you’re making such a generous offer.”
“Why, because I’m usually such a hard-assed skinflint?”
“No. Not at all. For goodness’ sake, you buy more than your weight in Girl Scout cookies every year, and end up giving them away at the nursing home.”
“Just because I prefer homemade doesn’t mean I shouldn’t help some little girl learn to...what the hell do Girl Scouts earn patches for now?”
“I don’t know. Can we please stop talking about the Girl Scouts?”
“You brought them up.”
The man drove her nuts. Which was yet another reason to pause and think about all the ramifications. Even though a part of her just wanted to jump up and down in excitement and ask how soon they could sign the papers.
“Ward, this would be a huge step. It would be waaaay above and beyond one friend helping out another. It would be business. Are you sure you want to jumble up our work with our barely stable friendship?”
“Even more than you know.” His voice had dropped far below his usual baritone. It was down in the rumbly register that either indicated Ward had a cold, or was making a move. The latter couldn’t possibly be true, so Piper made a mental note to take some extra vitamin C when she got home.
“First of all, thank you. Secondly, I have to come right out and say it—are you sure you can afford to go up against my father? He’s made it quite clear that he won’t stand for anyone helping me on this.”
“Your dad’s never liked me. That prejudice has only gotten stronger over the years, even as a bunch of other people in town dropped their cold shoulder toward me. And yeah, I’ll admit that when I’ve come up against a rock and a hard place getting the distillery off the ground, I wondered if your dad was the one putting speed bumps in my way. It can’t get any worse.”
“It might.” It was never wise to underestimate her father. He might be emotionally distant, sometimes even cruel, but no one disputed his business acumen.
“I don’t care. I want to help you. The cost doesn’t matter.”
“Ah. The cost.” Finally, Piper could grasp at a legitimate stumbling block. Something to be discussed and analyzed. Something to keep her from jumping headlong into a partnership that would undoubtedly flay open her scarred heart on a daily basis. She needed that right now. Needed to ground herself in details and not in the shiny hope that she might be able to make her promise to Grandpa Will a reality, after all. “I suppose this is the part where we haggle over price. I’ll tell you flat out what I offered to pay all the other farmers I approached. I want to be fair.”
“I want to be fair too.” Ward dug in his pocket and pulled out a folded scrap of paper. “There’s what I’ll charge you. Two numbers—one if you want to rent the land on a yearly basis, and one if you want to buy it outright.”
It was already intolerably hard to be around him as much as she was. But to be tied to him with a business venture for a year...or more? Could she handle it? Could she handle the extra contact with Ward without Ella and Casey as buffers? Piper wasn’t certain. She was certain, however, that she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t at least try.
“I wouldn’t think of buying it. If you ever decide to sell the property, you’ll need as much acreage as possible. I wouldn’t want to decrease your resale potential.”
“Fine. Lease it is.” He scratched something out, then handed her the paper.
It was a fair price. One that definitely included a friend discount—about 5 percent less than what she’d offered everyone else—but still reasonable enough that they’d both be satisfied with the transaction.
“No haggling needed, then.”
“No haggling allowed.” He snatched the paper back. “Because there’s a condition to go along with it. A make-or-break-the-deal condition.”
Piper could think of only one possible condition that she’d refuse. “I hope you don’t want me to name the port line after you. Grandpa Will already came up with what I think is the perfect name. I really want to honor his memory and bring his dream to life, in its entirety.”
“Not a problem.” Ward planted his hands on the desk and leaned over her laptop until their noses were practically touching. “What I want is for you to date me.”
Piper blinked a few times, clearing her eyes because she couldn’t figure out how to blink clear the words from her ears. Because they made no sense. As nonsensical as painting Easter eggs to look like jack-o’-lanterns. As ridiculous as looking out at the thirty-six-mile expanse of Seneca Lake and saying that you couldn’t see the water.
“Come again? Because I don’t understand.”
“Here’s the actual deal. You have to date me for a month. Not a onetime thing. Boyfriend/girlfriend type of time. Multiple shared meals in a week. Hanging out. Phone calls. Date like a real couple for an entire month.”
Why would he want to do that? Why, after he’d broken her heart, let years go by without talking to her, and only spent time with her since returning when accompanied by Ella and/or Casey, why would he make that a condition? Whywhywhywhywhy?
Piper wanted to shake him. Instead, she rephrased the question hammering in her head in a nonstop loop. In as calm and businesslike a voice as possible, she asked, “Why would I do that?”
He eased away, stood up and spread his arms low, palms facing her. “At the end of the month, if you still want the land, I’ll lease it to you. If you want to keep dating me, then you only pay me half the price.”
That was a very good deal. One she’d be crazy to refuse. But that loop in her head kept playing. So she came at him from a different direction. “How do you know I won’t keep dating you for another few weeks just to save a few dollars?”
Dipping his chin, Ward gave her a look from beneath hooded
eyes that plainly said who are you kidding? “I know you, Piper. You’re honest to the core. Principled. You’d never game the system like that.”
True. She wouldn’t even stock up on extra Forever stamps right before an announced price hike, because it felt like cheating the post office. But still...”This is crazy.”
“A little. Sometimes crazy works. Consider it an out-of-the-box solution to a long-standing problem.”
“What’s the problem?” Piper held her breath. This had to be the root of it. The reason behind the unbelievable request that had just turned her world upside down. Inside out. And it just figured that whatever it was, Ward labeled it a problem. Probably blamed her for it too.
“I want you.” There went his voice, dropping again into a growl that reverberated through her skin straight to her nerve endings. “I’ve never stopped wanting you. I can’t get you out of my mind.”
“So this month of dating you’re proposing is like getting the flu vaccine. With all this extra exposure to me, you think your attraction will go away?” Piper knew she sounded flippant. But the words flew out in a defensive rush before she could stop them. Because Ward hadn’t just given a nod to the scab around her heart. No, with this offer, he’d stitched up the jagged edges of every slash he’d caused, bandaged them and essentially kissed it to make it all better.
Could he, though? Make it all better? Did he even deserve the chance to try?
Ward came around and crouched in front of her, hands hanging loosely off his massive thighs. “Just the opposite. I’m hoping that your attraction to me will come back.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to admit that it had never left. Not when she was crying buckets of tears every night. Not when she ripped up the notes he’d written her. Not when she made Ella and Casey go out in the middle of the night and spray-paint over the P+W he’d put on a rock at the edge of the lake.
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