Love Me Or Lose Me

by Rita Sawyer

  “Top drawer on the right.” Scarlett’s voice filled the air and Darcy was so surprised she fell backwards onto her ass, hard.

  “How long have you been awake?” Darcy asked as she slid the drawer shut.

  “I was never asleep.” She climbed from the bed looking so cute in her pink and purple plaid flannel pajamas.

  Darcy got to her feet and watched as Scarlett walked over and opened the drawer. She reached in pulled out a pair of socks and gloves and tossed them to her. Darcy barely caught them. Scarlett smiled as she turned and walked into the bathroom. Once the door was closed Darcy quickly changed out of her shorts and t-shirt into the sweats. She’d just sat on the edge of the bed and started pulling a sock on when Scarlett re-entered the room. Scarlett didn’t climb back into the bed, instead she walked over to the closet and pulled out a fur lined fleece jacket and tossed it onto the bed.

  “You’re going to be nice and warm, but you’re not going to look very attractive. Are you sure you want to see him like that?” Scarlett asked as she climbed back into the bed.

  “Maybe it’ll keep him from kissing me.” Darcy laughed at her own joke, but Scarlett didn’t join her.

  “If I were you, I’d be doing whatever I could to get another kiss like that.” Scarlett sighed and dropped beck against the pillows.

  “His kisses aren’t the problem. It’s all mom’s fault you know.” Darcy yanked on the other sock with a little more force than necessary.

  Scarlett popped up onto her elbows. “Whoa, I must have missed something. I know we like to blame her for a lot of stuff, but just how are your issues with Thomas mom’s fault?”

  “Easy. She’s the one who always left those romance novels around for us to read.” Darcy shoved her hands on her hips. “Tell me, how are we supposed to settle for anything less than true love and utter devotion now?”

  Scarlett dissolved into a fit of laughter. It was true. Their mother had three loves in her life. Their father, epic romances, and NASCAR racing. She’d taken it so far that Darcy, Rhett, and Scarlett were all named for characters. Jarrett and Cale were named after drivers Ned Jarrett and Cale Yarborough, both powerhouses in the sixties and two of her mother’s favorites. Their father had loved their mother so much he did everything he could to make their life together one that could match the stories she loved so much. So with two role models like that, it was going to be hard for anyone to live up to those standards. Thomas had though, she thought with a smile.

  She heard a soft knock and jumped. “That’s him.”

  “Well, don’t keep him waiting.” Scarlett jumped out of the bed and shoved her towards the door.

  Darcy practically ran down the hall skidding to a stop in front of the door. She looked back at Scarlett who gave her a thumbs up and a big smile. Her hand trembled as she closed it around the door knob. She took a deep breath and let it out as she opened the door. Thomas smiled and Darcy gripped the knob tighter to keep from throwing herself at him. He looked pretty much the same as earlier, damn hot. The only real difference was the leather jacket, hat, and gloves he’d added to the skin tight jeans. It made him look even sexier than normal if that was possible.

  She stepped outside closing the door behind her. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” He held out his and she slipped hers into it without thinking. “Did you have any trouble getting out?”

  “No, Scarlett was all for me sneaking out. It turns out she was awake the whole time.” Thomas chuckled and Darcy joined him.

  “Did you run into any issues?” she asked, her breath coming out in little white puffs due to the cool night in air.

  “No. Damn, it’s colder than I thought it would be.” He moved closer, his shoulder rubbing against hers as they moved.

  Darcy leaned into him, relishing the slight friction between them. “It isn’t unusual to have a few chilly nights in the spring up in the hills. It’s hard to believe that in a few weeks it’ll be so hot Scarlett will need to open the windows at night to cool things off.”

  “Darcy, I know we said no kissing,” he stopped walking and looked into her eyes, “but can we please share a little body heat?”

  “I think that would be a really, really good idea.” She slid her arm around his back, and he slipped his around her shoulders.

  They walked along the bumpy dirt with the moon and stars lighting their way. It was so different from the lights of the city, but beautiful all the same. The sounds around them were muted, the air brisk and clean. All she wished for at that moment was that they could duck into their favorite little coffee shop two blocks from their apartment and grab a couple of hot cocoas. Darcy spotted a car pulled off to the side of the road ahead of them and slowed her already unhurried gait. They got a little closer and she recognized it as her brother Cale’s Jeep.

  “Did you swipe the keys or did he hand them over willingly?” She asked a little surprised that Cale let him take his precious toy.

  “I’m sure he would have given them to me if I asked, but he was snoring so soundly I just didn’t have the heart to wake him.”

  She knew just how strident her brother’s snore could get. “That explains your need to get out of the house.”

  “I could have survived, but passing up the chance to see you was too much.”

  “You know all this sweet talk isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

  “I know.” He nodded. “But it’s a start. How about we sit in the car and warm up a little before we head back?”

  Darcy thought back to the first time she had sat in a parked car with a guy to whom she hadn’t been related. She’d just turned sixteen and the boy hadn’t been much older. It had started off so innocently, but had led to steamy windows and some serious fumbling around. Being a good girl, she hadn’t let things go too far, and lucky for both her and the guy they hadn’t gotten caught.

  The last time was when she was in college. The guy had been a second stringer on the football team that she was tutoring. He’d been a little too hands on, and she’d had to teach him a lesson overzealous boys had been learning throughout the ages. She figured it fit in with the modern history guidelines. At the time she’d hoped someone would come by and ask what they were doing, but no one did.

  If anything got started with Thomas— which would be almost impossible since the Jeep had bucket seats in the front and a tiny ass back seat— the chances of them getting caught were null. Worse Darcy knew she’d be more than willing to let things go all the way even though she shouldn’t until they worked things out.

  So she surprised herself when she said, “Sure.”

  Thomas stumbled, but recovered quickly. She wondered if it was due to the bumpy dirt road, or if he was surprised too. He glanced over at her and she got her answer. His smile was a little too big.

  “Did you think I would say no?” she asked as they reached the car.

  “Yes, and I’m man enough to admit it.” They both laughed and for a minute it felt like nothing was wrong between them.

  He opened the driver’s door and motioned for her to get in. Always the gentleman she thought as he closed the door and rounded the hood. He climbed in beside her and handed her the keys. She started the car knowing they’d have to wait a few minutes for the car to warm up before they could crank the heat up. Not liking the silence that had settled over them, she reached for the radio, but Thomas grasped onto her wrist stopping her. As he moved their arms back, he slid his hand from her wrist and slipped her hand into his.

  Thomas looked at her and all the wise notions she had faded away. She’d been the one to rule out any more kissing until they straightened things out, but she found herself leaning across the space between them. He actually leaned further back toward his door. She followed, which had her practically falling out of her seat. Thomas took advantage of her precarious position and tugged her onto his lap. She not only let him, she twisted and wiggled until her ass was cradled by his thighs. The hard ridge that pressed against her left butt check made her wish they
had more room to fool around.

  When her lips finally connected with his, they both moaned. Equal parts of frustration and desire brought hers out. Their tongues stroked and teased as their gloved hands clutched at each other. Darcy was burning up and it had nothing to do with the fact that the heat had kicked in.

  “This isn’t going to solve anything,” she murmured as he kissed along her jaw to her neck.

  “I know, but I don’t want to stop. Do you?” He slowly slid down the zipper of her jacket.

  Darcy started to shrug her shoulders in an attempt to help him slid her coat off. He got it to her elbows when she felt his phone vibrate against her hip. They both froze, their ragged breaths filled the air. She closed her eyes and waited, knowing what was about to happen.

  ~* * *~

  Thomas felt her stiffen and regretted bringing the friggin' phone with him at all. If it wasn’t so late he would have just ignored the call, but if someone was calling him at two in the morning there was probably a good reason. There better be, because he knew just by answering he was risking losing any ground he might have gained.

  “Darcy, don’t get mad, but I should probably take this.” The second the words were out of his mouth, she scrambled off his lap and back onto her seat.

  “Whatever,” she murmured as she tugged her jacket back on and yanked the zipper up.

  Thomas heard the dejection in her voice and hated that he’d caused it. This wasn’t how he had planned on the night going. He slid the phone from his pocket and a quick glanced showed his cousin’s number on the incoming caller display. He pressed the connect button even though he wanted to through the phone out the window.

  “Kenny, someone better be dying.” He really hoped someone wasn’t, but anything less important would just piss her off.

  “I just came from the court house. Our fathers thought you should know that Andrew Ryerson was picked up on assault charges. They think this will help move along the division of property between the Ryerson heirs. Your father wants you back here ASAP.” Kenny sounded like he’d had one too many cups of coffee.

  “They’re probably right. Tell my father I’ll try and call him tomorrow.” Thomas had already told the old goat he wasn’t coming back until he fixed things with Darcy.

  Darcy glanced over at him with wide eyes. Why was she surprised? He came to show her he wasn’t the workaholic he’d been pretending to be for the past few months. This would be a good place to start.

  “Can you at least tell me what you think we should do about the assault charge?” Kenny pleaded on the other end of the line.

  “I’m in the middle of something and can’t this at least wait until morning?” Thomas asked. He wanted to get back to Darcy and something like this could take hours.

  “Actually I have to appear with Andrew in front of the judge at ten a.m., that doesn’t give me much time to decide what to do,” Kenny explained.

  Kenny was a good lawyer, but he still lacked the confidence he needed. If he relaxed, he’d be just fine. For the past few weeks Thomas had been pushing him to trust in his skills. He figured with him gone Kenny wouldn’t have any other choice. Kenny was still rambling on, but Thomas was only half listening because Darcy had shifted the Jeep into gear. She headed up the road to Scarlett’s house.

  He covered the phone with his hand and said, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m tired, so why don’t you deal with whatever the problem is and try to call me tomorrow.” She got out of the car and ran into the house before Thomas had even finished getting his door open.

  He thought about chasing after her for a few seconds. Damn it, there was no doubt in his mind he’d just taken a major hit in his campaign to get her back. Try to call. Hell, he’d call first thing tomorrow and hopefully when or if she answered, she’d give him a chance to explain. He wasn’t going to ask her to forgive him just yet that would only come with time. But now that she was gone, he picked up on the panic in Kenny’s tone. It was enough to convince him he really did need his help. He slid into the car and dropped his head to the back of the seat slamming his palm again the steering wheel.

  “Do you have the files handy?” He had them on his laptop back at Cale’s place, but he wasn’t logging in unless it was a dire emergency and this probably wasn’t.

  Chapter Four

  “You got really lucky that mom is off with her book club this week.” Scarlett walked over to the table with two plates in her hands.

  She laid a plate of French toast topped with strawberries and a swirl of whipped cream in front of Darcy, then sat down and put the other in front of herself. It was their mother’s idea of comfort food. Obviously Scarlett thought she needed some coddling. She wondered how her sister would feel if she pointed out how much like their mother she was.

  “She does love to travel.” Darcy took it as a blessing that she hadn’t inherited the wanderlust gene.

  “I promised to hit a few races with her this year,” Scarlett said between bites of her breakfast.

  They’d all hit the circuit with her at one time, but Scarlett had been so bored she swore on her eighteenth birthday that she’d never go again. Now ten years later at twenty-seven she’d had a change of heart and decided to give it another go. Darcy figured there had to be a story behind her decision. Either she’d gotten sick of turning her mother down or maybe Scarlett was looking for something she wasn’t finding at home.

  “Are the guys going too?” Darcy wondered out loud.

  “Hell no!” Scarlett shook her head. “In fact, I’m not even telling them until after I leave. Then I’ll call and ask them to water my plants.”

  “So it’s not so much spending time with mom, or enjoying the races, as it’ll be getting away from the domineering oafs we have for brothers.”

  Scarlett nodded. “I need to get away from them before I do something crazy.”

  “You could always come visit me. I could show you around the city, and we could take in a show or two.” Darcy had invited her many times, but now maybe she’d actually take her up on the offer.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. Maybe once you and Thomas work things out I’ll come visit for a week or two.” Scarlett got up and carried her plate to the sink.

  “I’m going to hold you to that.” Darcy finished her breakfast, but before she could get up and bring the empty plate to the sink Scarlett came over and took it.

  “If you hurry up and work out your issues with Thomas, you two could be gone before Mom gets home.” Scarlett’s tone told her she was teasing, but Darcy took a few seconds to consider the idea.

  “She’d skin me alive if I left before she got back.” Darcy hadn’t seen her mother in the past six months, and her mother had made sure to point it out during their bi-weekly phone call.

  The last four times they’d talked her mother must have sensed something was wrong, because she’d asked if everything was all right. Darcy had lied and reassured her that everything was okay. Once she found out Darcy was staying at Scarlett’s while Thomas stayed with Cale, her mother wouldn’t fall for it. She’d be understanding to a point, then she would set out to fix everything. Darcy hadn’t had an issue with discussing her problem with Scarlett, but she really wasn’t looking forward to explaining it to her mother.

  “Besides after last night, I don’t think we’ll be rectifying anything soon.” Darcy wasn’t ready to admit that they might not be able to work it out at all.

  She had to hold onto the hope that there was a chance, however slight, they could find a way to get back to where they had once been. After all, he had come after her. Then again, last night he’d chosen to take that call. Sure, it could have been important, and she would have felt terrible if someone was hurt and he didn’t know.

  Scarlett’s smile fell, but not for long.

  “Well, since you two aren’t going to be spending the day making up you can come with me.”

  “And where are you going?”

  “I need to
go to the post office. After that, we can sneak off and do some shopping. We'll just make sure to accidently leave our cell phones here."

  "What are we going shopping for? Anything specific?" Darcy asked following her sister down the hall.

  "Can you keep a secret?” Scarlett laughed and grabbed her hand yanking her towards the door that led out to the garage.

  “Duh, dumb question."

  Whatever her sister was hiding, she seemed pretty damn happy about it. The bubble of excitement must have been contagious, because Darcy felt a sudden giddiness she hadn't felt in really long time. Once in the garage they came to a stop in front of the stairs that went up to the loft storage area.

  "No one can know about this yet. I'll tell them when the time is right." Scarlett let go of her hand and bolted up the stairs with Darcy was hot on her heels.

  The area reminded Darcy of one of the working lofts she'd gone to in the city, except less roomy. The ceiling was just tall enough for the two of them to stand up right with a few inches to keep them from bumping their heads. Their brothers wouldn't be able to go up there without being contortionist, which is probably how Scarlett had been able to keep her secret.

  There wasn’t much to see, and that surprised her. Along the side of the room there were plastic shelves stacked with containers, and some of those plastic drawer units people used to keep organized. Two work benches were sitting in the middle of the room on a tarp that had been spread across the floor. They were covered with what looked like a dirty sheet.

  Scarlett flipped on the light then walked over and lifted the blanket off the table. Darcy gasped. Two mirrors were lying there. They had beautiful mosaic designs around the edges. One was done with pink and purple clear shiny stones, and the other was done with dark brown and neutral beige shades of tile. She walked over and reached out to touch one, but pulled her hand back at the last second.