by Darcy Burke
She lowered the hose. “Sorry. You look really nice. Why aren’t you at the rehearsal dinner?”
“I’m on my way.”
She frowned. “This is not remotely on your way.”
He chuckled as he moved toward her. “Ah, Maggie, I will never get tired of looking at these little worry lines.” He smoothed his thumb between her eyes and drew it up over her forehead. Then his touch was gone, and she had to keep herself from swaying toward him.
She shook herself. “Why are you here?”
“Because I can’t stop thinking about you. Wanting you. Loving you.” He lightly touched her upper arms. “I pick my family and you.”
Had he said loving? She couldn’t form words and just stood there staring at him like an idiot.
He wrapped his hands around her biceps and stroked her warm skin. “It was never about you. It seemed like it was—to both of us. But I was worried they would hate me, not you. I would never let them hate you. Not when I love you so very much.”
She let out a sound that was somewhere between a sob and an inhalation of disbelief, but she quickly clapped her hand over her mouth.
He moved closer until he was all she could see and smell and touch—if she wanted to. And oh, how she wanted to. But she didn’t. Not yet. She was too afraid this was all a dream.
“I . . . I love you, too.”
He exhaled with what sounded like relief. His lips curved up. “Thank God. Derek said you probably did, but you broke up with me, so I wasn’t sure.”
She looked up at him and allowed herself to fall into his gaze. “I thought it was the right thing to do. You’re dealing with a lot.”
His hands stilled against her flesh. “So, you didn’t really want to break up?”
She shook her head. “No. Like I said, I was just trying to do the right thing.”
His arms came around her, and he snatched her up against his chest. “You are the most amazing woman. I am completely yours—to have, to hold, to do whatever you want with.” His lips covered hers in a searing kiss.
She clutched him tightly, her body awash with sensation and longing and a joy she’d never known. They kissed like it was the first time or maybe the last. God no, she hoped it wouldn’t be the last. No, she knew it wouldn’t.
She broke away, gasping. “I don’t understand how this is going to work. What about your family?”
“What about them? I’m not hiding anymore—not who I am and not who I love. I came to take you to the rehearsal dinner with me.”
She pushed away from him. “No, no. I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can.”
She waved her hand at him and then bent to pick up the spray nozzle. “No.” She walked the hose back to the spigot on the house. “I love that you want to take me public, but not at the rehearsal dinner.”
He walked behind her. “Why not? It’s a joyous occasion. They’re inclined to be in a good mood.”
She wound the hose around its hook. “Which is why it’s a terrible idea. I don’t want to ruin Derek and Chloe’s moment.”
“Derek knows you’re coming.”
She snapped her head up to look at him in surprise. “He does?”
Kyle nodded. “He might not know exactly who you are, but I prepped him . . . a little. He’ll support me. And so will everyone else.”
She finished winding the hose. “Including your parents?”
He took her hands in his. “Maggie, trust me. It’s going to work out.”
She shook her head. “I do trust you, but I can’t do this tonight. Look at me. I am so not ready for a dinner.”
“So go upstairs and change. I’ll help.” His gaze dropped to her breasts. “Although, I enjoy this look. Very, very sexy.”
Heat pooled in her core. “Stop it. You’re not helping.”
“I’m not?” He sidled closer to her and kissed her jaw, bringing his hand up to cup her breast. His thumb and finger teased her nipple until it was rock hard. “Oh yeah, I could get used to this access.”
She skipped away from him toward the house. “You need to go. You’re the best man now. You can’t miss the rehearsal dinner.”
He followed her inside. “I’m not going to. And I’m sure as hell not going without my date.”
She scooped up the glass of chardonnay she’d poured earlier and took a hearty, bolstering swallow. “What exactly do you plan to do? Just waltz in and introduce me as Alex’s therapist?”
“No. I’m going to introduce you as my girlfriend, Maggie Trent, aka Magnolia the Amazing Landscape Designer Who Totally Saved Our Bacon.”
She couldn’t resist a smile at that. “I didn’t do it to score points.”
“I know you didn’t, and I’ll make sure they’ll know it, too.” He came toward her, his heart in his eyes. “Tell me what I have to do to get you to come. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll scream your name from the mountaintops and tell everyone who cares—and even those who don’t—how much I love you and how I can’t live without you.”
She sucked in a breath, her heart feeling as though it were fifteen sizes too large for her chest. “You can’t live without me?”
He shook his head. “I tried. For three miserable days. I can’t do it.”
He’d been miserable? So had she. But misery could do things to him that it wouldn’t necessarily do to her. “Did you gamble?”
“No, but I thought about it. A lot. I even went to a GA meeting.”
“You did? That’s great.” She held up her hand. “Wait. Here we go again. I can’t be your counselor.”
He cupped her face. “You can’t help who you are, and that’s an extraordinarily caring person who tends to react emotionally. That I get to be at the center of that is incredibly humbling and makes me feel like the luckiest person on earth. You aren’t my therapist. You’re my partner. At least that’s how I see you. The question is whether you can get that out of your head. Can you see me as just a man and not a project in need of fixing? Can you see past my compulsion, my addiction, and all of my other imperfections?”
Partner. She’d never had one of those before. She liked that. “No, I’m the luckiest person on earth. You aren’t perfect, but who is? Certainly not me, and yet you make me feel like I’m Wonder Woman. Without the golden lasso.”
He grinned. “I’d sure like to see you in a Wonder Woman outfit. Think we can make that happen?”
She laughed, the sound building from her chest and warming every part of her. “I’m not sure I’d fill it out the same way.”
He ran his hands under the hem of her tank, skimming them up her rib cage until he’d pushed the fabric to her breasts. “I beg to differ. You’d fill it out just fine.” He stroked his thumbs over her nipples, sending shocks of desire ricocheting through her.
She looked at him through narrowed eyes. “We are never going to make it to the rehearsal dinner if you don’t stop that.”
His hands stilled. “Does that mean you’re coming?”
She arched a brow at his choice of words, and he responded with a wicked smile.
He drew the tank over her head. “Upstairs. Now.”
She spun on her heel and dashed to the stairs. “I need to get dressed. You stay here.”
“Not a chance.” He chased her up to the bedroom and tackled her to the bed.
She already had her shorts undone and was wriggling out of them as he kicked his shoes off. She tore at the buttons of his shirt, but his fingers knocked hers away. “Careful,” he said, “I need to put this back on. Don’t even think about sabotaging tonight.”
“Then you better shut up and make this quick if you want to get there.”
His mouth crushed down on hers in the hottest kiss she’d ever received. She helped him push his shirt off and giggled as he took extra care to lay it gently on the floor. He wasn’t so meticulous with his jeans, thank goodness. He pulled them off as fast as possible, taking his boxer briefs with them. But before he dropped them, he snagged a condom from the pocket.
She reached between them and stroked his cock as he worked to get the condom on.
“Will you stop?” he said. “Now who’s not helping?”
She giggled. “Sorry, it’s been a few days.”
“More than that.” He stroked her folds. “God, you are so wet.”
She pushed up into him, losing all semblance of humor as desire pulsed through her core. “Kyle,” she breathed, needing him.
He plunged into her, sheathing himself to the hilt for a long, delicious moment before he began to move. His fingers continued their maddening work, focused intently on her clit, driving her so fast to the brink of orgasm. It was good they had to be fast, as she didn’t want to prolong this. She wanted satisfaction, and she wanted it now.
He pummeled her with swift, almost brutal strokes, but she wanted every single one of them with a ferocity that might’ve scared her if she hadn’t had the emotion to match her lust.
She pulled his head down. “I love you so much.” She kissed him, drawing his tongue into her mouth as surely as she was drawing his cock into her body, her heels pressing against his ass. Her orgasm shattered through her as he gripped her hip and drove into her hard and deep.
He pulled back from her kiss and shouted his own release, his muscles clenching. They rode the storm until sanity seemed to finally reenter the room. He rolled away from her and flung his arm over his forehead. “Damn, Maggie.”
She was already bounding out of the bed and heading toward her closet. “What should I wear? You’re in jeans . . . but it’s at least semidressy? Sundress?”
“Whatever. I can’t move.”
She laughed. “You better, because I’m not going alone.” In her partially organized closet, she hesitated. What was she thinking? Just because she and Kyle were good—way better than good—could she really intrude on their family event right now?
She ran her fingers over a few dresses but didn’t pull anything out. A few minutes later, Kyle came in fully dressed.
“Hey,” he said, “can’t decide?”
She shot him a timid look. “Lost my courage.”
“No, no, no.” He gathered her into his arms. “You have plenty of courage, and if you don’t, you can have some of mine. Everything is going to be fine. Worst-case scenario, they throw me out of the family and it’s their loss. I have a family right here.” He tipped her chin up and looked into her eyes. “Right?”
She’d never loved anyone more than in that moment. “Right.”
“I love you, Maggie Trent, and tonight everyone is going to know it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
THE PERSON WHO met them at the entry of the winery informed them that dinner was already being served. Now their entrance was going to be especially conspicuous, not that Kyle wanted to sneak in. Okay, maybe he wanted to sneak in, but wasn’t it better to just rip the Band-Aid off?
He squeezed Maggie’s hand. “Ready?”
“No.”
He pressed a quick kiss on her cheek. “We’ll be fine.”
He led her up the stairs to the event space and paused when they reached the top. The room was large, with a massive stone hearth and windows on two walls that offered a panoramic view of the vineyard and the sun sinking behind the hills in glorious reds, oranges, and purple. Two long, rectangular tables took up more than half the space.
Derek, seated at the head of one table, caught sight of him and smiled. He gestured for them to join him—there were two empty seats on his left, while Chloe was on his right.
Kyle took in the array of people—Archers, Chloe’s friend and family, and a handful of other people, including George, an old family friend and the bartender at The Arch and Vine. Maybe thirty people in total. Way more of an audience than he wanted for announcing the identity of his new girlfriend. He didn’t want to hide her, but he also didn’t want to create a spectacle if his family reacted poorly.
He guided Maggie to the table and leaned down to whisper. “I’ll introduce you after, when it’s just my family. If that’s okay.”
She nodded quickly, and he guessed she would’ve been happy to put it off indefinitely. But they both knew that wasn’t an option. The longer they waited, the harder it would be and the more unfair it was to his family to be kept in the dark.
Chloe smiled at them as they took their seats. “Magnolia, I’m so glad you came.”
“Please, call me Maggie,” she said, tossing Kyle a glance.
He nodded imperceptibly. They should get to know her as Maggie.
Sara was on the other side of Chloe. “Does this mean you’re ‘official’ now?” She looked between Maggie and Kyle with a sly smile.
“Yes,” Kyle said. “Maggie and I have been seeing each other for a few weeks.” Was that all it had been? It felt so much longer. In fact, he had trouble imagining what life felt like without her in it. That wasn’t precisely true—he’d gotten a good look at that the past few days, and he’d hated it.
Sara grinned. “Awesome.” She held up her glass of white wine in a toast.
Derek poured red wine for Kyle and Maggie. “Cameron opened the library for tonight—this is a three-hundred-dollar bottle of wine.”
“Is that all?” Kyle asked, taking a sip. The pinot noir was delicious, and more importantly, it took the edge off his nerves. He took a deeper drink.
A server brought them salads. “I’ll catch you up to the entrée, no rush.” She smiled. “Cracked pepper?”
“Please,” Kyle said, as Maggie shook her head.
“So, how’d you guys meet?” Derek asked.
Shit. He exchanged worried glances with Maggie. “Uh, it’s a good story. I’ll tell you later. When there are less people.”
Derek arched a brow. “Sounds interesting. Or maybe R-rated.”
Maggie let out a laugh that drew a few heads to turn. She blushed. “Uh, no. But that was funny.” She looked down and attacked her salad.
They managed to make it through dinner and keep the conversation light, deflecting incriminating questions with humor and in some cases outright evasion. Derek watched them with curiosity but didn’t press for information.
During dessert, people made toasts and told stories about Derek and Chloe. Kyle shared the infamous story of their tenth birthday party, which had been filmed for the reality show. In it, the Archers’ backyard had been turned into a mini-carnival, complete with pony rides. Derek had been one of several guests, but he’d stolen the show when he’d freaked out while riding a pony—which he’d only done after Kyle had bet him a hundred dollars. That was before they’d become friends. Derek had fallen off the pony into the swimming pool in spectacular fashion.
“It wouldn’t have been such a dramatic display if you hadn’t pretended you couldn’t swim,” Kyle said.
Derek laughed. “I had to get back at you somehow, right? You were supposed to get in trouble.”
“I did! Plus, I had to pay you a hundred bucks.” Kyle hadn’t realized it, but apparently he’d always had a penchant for gambling, even at ten years old.
“Which I then had to donate to the local animal shelter—my mom wasn’t too happy with me either.”
“But it made for awesome TV,” Hayden said, laughing.
After a while, people began to make their departures. Kyle stood up and tapped a spoon against his glass. “Could the Archer folks hang out for a few minutes?”
Sara looked at him with wide eyes. “Are you making an announcement?” Her gaze flicked to Maggie.
Kyle got her meaning and laughed. “Yes, but not that one.”
“Oh.” Sara looked somewhere between relieved and disappointed.
As people left, Kyle drew Sara over to the windows. “I’m about to become the least popular that I’ve ever been. I hope you won’t hate me—”
Sara crossed her arms and squeezed her muscles in a sensory response. “You’re freaking me out.”
“Don’t. It’s not the end of the world—in fact, it’s the start of a whole new one. For me.”
Put like that, Kyle wondered how that could happen, too. But then again, they’d vilified him for moving to Florida and enjoying a life there, so he really thought that anything could happen.
At last, they were alone—just the Archers, plus Chloe and Dylan.
Dad came over to the windows, where they’d all gathered close to Kyle and Sara, though Evan hung back a little, which wasn’t surprising. “What’s this about, son?”
Maggie had been chatting with Tori and now made her way to Kyle. He took her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.
“I wanted to officially introduce you all to my girlfriend. You met her as Magnolia, but she prefers to go by Maggie. Maggie Trent.”
Kyle scanned their faces and could instantly see who recognized her name: Sara, Derek, Tori, and Mom, who’d gone completely pale. Thankfully, Sara was next to her, and she took her hand in a firm grip.
The room was silent for a moment. Liam was the first to speak. “Why was that a bombshell? I feel like the only one on the outside of the joke.”
“There’s no joke,” Hayden said darkly, apparently remembering the name at last. “Maggie Trent was Alex’s therapist.”
Dad’s inhalation sounded like a gunshot. “Kyle. What are you doing?”
Kyle felt Maggie tense and squeezed her hand. “I went to Maggie for help in finding who had sold Alex the drugs he took. She was very helpful, actually.” He glanced at her, hating the uncertainty and fear in her eyes, but pressed onward. “I’ll admit I wasn’t predisposed to like her, but life has a funny sense of humor, and not only did I like her, I fell in love with her.”
Mom covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. Sara put her arm around her shoulders and drew her close. She gave Kyle a stern look but quickly softened it. “You didn’t mean to.”
Kyle frowned, his hackles rising. “And I’m not sorry for it, either.”
Liam held up his hand. “Let me get this straight, you fell for Alex’s therapist and now you want us all to congratulate you and welcome her into the fold?”
Kyle wasn’t sure if Liam was asking a legitimate question or being a smart-ass. He would’ve assumed the latter, but his tone was practically genuine. “I’m introducing my girlfriend. I get that you all need time to get used to the idea of who she is, but it shouldn’t matter. She isn’t to blame for Alex’s death. None of us are.”