A Maverick to [Re] Marry

by Christine Rimmer

  Amy blotted up delicious muffin crumbs with her fork and ate them. “Yes. That’s right. I’ll be staying over at his place. At least for tonight.”

  Eva put her hand on Amy’s arm and gave it a squeeze. “I’m so grateful the two of you are working so hard on the party. It’s going to be such fun, I just know it.” She giggled.

  Amy couldn’t help it. She giggled right along with her. “I do, um, like him, Eva. I still do like him a lot.”

  “He’s a good man,” said Eva.

  “He is, yes.”

  “I’m so glad you’re giving it another chance with him.”

  Amy drew back a little. Eva would keep her confidence, absolutely. But still, she’d made such a big deal with Derek about keeping things just between the two of them. “Friends, Eva. Derek and I are friends.”

  “Of course, you are,” agreed Eva. “And friends have sleepovers, now don’t they? I’m seeing a lot of sleepovers at Derek’s in your future and I am very, very happy about that.”

  Chapter Eight

  Derek was waiting on his front porch when Amy arrived that evening.

  He ran down the steps and pulled open her door. “I thought you’d never get here.” His hair was still damp from a shower, his cheeks freshly shaven. He was and always had been the best-looking guy she’d ever known.

  She reminded him, “We said six. I’m right on time.”

  He didn’t argue, just grabbed her hand and pulled her out from behind the wheel. Right there by the car, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her until her head spun, after which he bent to slide one arm under her legs and scoop her up against his chest.

  She let out a laughing cry. “Derek!”

  “Let’s go inside.”

  Still laughing, she hooked one arm around his neck and pointed through the back window of her Audi. “I’ve got my overnight case and all the party stuff we need to bring in.”

  “Later for that.” And he kissed her again—kissed her and went on kissing her as he carried her up the steps and into the house. He kicked the door shut with his boot and took her straight to his bedroom, where they remained for the next two hours.

  At a little after eight, they put their clothes back on and went out to unload the car. They brought everything in and then got dinner ready.

  It was after nine when they finally started working on the signs for the casino and the scavenger hunt. When those were done, they wrapped party-favor prizes. Midnight had come and gone by the time they carted their finished work into Derek’s spare room, where it would remain until the day of the party.

  “Tomorrow, we’ll figure out all the questions for The Nearly Newlywed Game,” she said as they left the room. “We need twenty for Eva about Luke and twenty for him about her.” He pulled the door shut behind them and took her hand. “They need to be funny questions, kind of hard, but not too hard...” He wrapped their joined hands behind his back, which brought her right up tight against him, and gave new meaning to the word hard. All the breath left her body and a thousand fluttery creatures took flight in her belly.

  “No more party talk tonight,” he growled as he nuzzled her ear.

  “Poor baby.” She went on tiptoe to feather a line of kisses down the side of his throat. “You must be exhausted.”

  “Yeah. We should go to bed.”

  She had zero objections to that suggestion. He kept a firm grip on her hand as he turned for the open door to the master suite.

  Once inside, he started peeling off her clothes.

  “You know, Derek. Suddenly, you don’t seem the least bit tired.”

  And then he kissed her and she forgot everything but the glory of his touch.

  * * *

  Sunday morning after breakfast, they came up with The Nearly Newlywed Game questions for Eva and Luke.

  As they made sandwiches for lunch, Amy got a text from Eva. “She wants us to come to dinner at the farm tonight. Six o’clock.”

  “I’m in.”

  Amy texted back that they would be there and returned to slicing tomatoes for turkey-on-rye.

  But Derek took the knife from her and turned her to face him. “I want every minute I can have with you.”

  She wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “Didn’t we already agree to that?”

  “We did, but tonight when it’s time to come home and whoever else Eva invited notices you’re going with me, don’t chicken out on me and suddenly decide you might as well just stay at Luke and Eva’s. I want you with me.”

  Her heart kind of melted. “No, I won’t back out. When it’s time to go, I’ll follow you home.”

  He brushed his warm lips against hers. “That’s what I needed to hear.”

  * * *

  The evening was a lot of fun. It was just the four of them and Bailey, who was thoroughly charming when he chose to be. They had Eva’s amazing roast chicken with herbed potatoes and a chocolate trifle for dessert.

  Eva and Luke were so cute, exchanging random quick kisses, holding hands every chance they got, sitting extra close to each other on the couch, two people truly together and deeply in love.

  Watching them, Amy felt just a little bit wistful. To be in love like that, to be half of a private world inhabited by two—she and Derek had been like that once. No other guy had ever made her feel the way he had, that she was the only one he’d ever wanted, the only one for him.

  Which was why she needed to be careful with him, not let herself get too carried away. Now and then, she would catch herself about to reach out and touch him, wanting to lean close and whisper something tender in his ear.

  But she didn’t. Throughout the evening, she and Derek kept to their agreement. They played it friends-only, with zero PDAs.

  Amy had brought the two lists of Nearly Newlywed Game questions. She gave one to Luke and one to Eva. “We’ll need these back tomorrow, if possible, so we can get going on making a proper display for this game. There will be two sets of boards, one set without the answers, so everyone can read your questions and guess the answers, then another set to put out when we announce the winners. Those will have your answers on them. I’m putting you two on the honor system,” she warned. “I want your word you won’t share your questions with each other or cheat on the answers.”

  “Don’t be scared, you two,” Derek advised with a grin. “It’s just that Amy takes her party planning seriously.”

  As if there was anything wrong with that. “Yes, I do,” she said, “and I’m proud of it, too.”

  Eva put up a hand like a witness swearing an oath. “I do solemnly promise to answer all my questions myself and not to help Luke with his no matter how hard he begs me.”

  “Excellent.” Amy turned her gaze on Eva’s fiancé. “Luke?”

  He put up both hands. “Okay, okay. I promise, too.”

  Bailey grumbled, “I gotta say it. Amy, when it comes to this party, you’re definitely scaring me.”

  She pinned Luke’s brother with a severe frown. “Don’t you start in, Bailey Stockton. Party planning is a tough job and you are one of the groomsmen, which means you really ought to be helping Derek and me pull this thing together.”

  Bailey, who’d taken the leftover seat at one end of the sofa, bent at the waist and thunked his head against the coffee table. “Anything but that.”

  Everybody laughed as Eva got up to get the coffeepot in case anyone wanted one more cup.

  When it was time to go, Amy slipped away to run up to her room and grab a change of clothes for tomorrow. She and Derek thanked Eva for the great meal and headed for the door.

  “Good night, Luke,” Amy said. “Bailey...” She turned to give Bailey a smile.

  He glanced from her to Derek and back again. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. The speculative look on his face said it all.

  Which was fine.

  To be expected.

  People were going to notice that they were together. And they’d agreed on how to deal with that: no PDAs and
continued denial till after the wedding.

  And then?

  She’d been thinking about that. A lot. And she really did hope that after the wedding they could talk honestly about the future, about ways that maybe they might really try again.

  But as for now, Amy did love a good plan and so far, this one seemed to be working just great.

  She was having the time of her life with her secret ex-husband and every hour that passed had her feeling more certain that this time, they would get it right.

  It was going so well.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  * * *

  Monday morning, Derek woke next to Amy.

  He rolled over and gathered her close, spoon fashion. “Derek...” He could hear her sleepy smile in her voice. She snuggled right in with a happy little sigh and drifted back to sleep.

  In a few minutes, he had to get up. It was his turn to open at the saddlery and he needed to be there by eight.

  But a few minutes went by and a few more after that, and he lay there in bed with Amy in his arms, her hair a shining, red-brown tangle across the white pillow, her breathing shallow and slow.

  What was it about her? He couldn’t really put his finger on it. She was bossy, strong-minded and really smart. Maybe too smart for a small-town cowboy like him. She made him laugh. She made him think—about what he wanted and how to get it.

  She made everything better, somehow.

  No other girl had ever compared.

  He was beginning to face the truth that if he didn’t have Amy, well, he probably wouldn’t have anyone. Not in the way that really mattered, the forever way, the way Collin had Willa, the way Luke had Eva.

  All these years, he’d been telling himself he was slowly getting over her, that at some point, it would happen. He’d look in the bathroom mirror one morning and see a man who didn’t love Amy Wainwright anymore.

  But now, here she was, back in town. And miracle of miracles, back in his bed.

  And all he could think about was how he was going to keep her here, his own bossy little angel, sleeping beside him for the rest of their lives.

  * * *

  Collin’s crew cab was already parked in front of the saddlery when Derek got there at 8:10.

  “You’re early,” Derek said when he found his partner sitting at the table in the break room, a full mug of coffee in front of him.

  Collin pointed at the chair across from him. “I was hoping we might have a chance to talk before the kid comes in.”

  Derek brewed himself a cup, though he’d already had two back at the house. He was stalling, putting off the inevitable just a little bit longer.

  But it only took so long to brew a pod of coffee. He set the mug on the table and dropped into the chair. “Okay. Got a problem with my work or something?”

  Collin barked out a dry laugh. “You wish.” He aimed a brooding look at his full cup, but didn’t pick it up. “So. Amy Wainwright?”

  “Saying her name with a question mark after it doesn’t count as an actual question, Collin.”

  “She’s a nice girl. I always liked her. I got nothing against her.”

  “Yeah? So, then what’s this about?”

  Collin tipped his head thoughtfully—and then went on as though Derek hadn’t spoken. “Her father was kind of a douche nozzle, though. Snotty rich guy. Had to get back to the land, or some such, but always kept himself above the rest of us.”

  “Jack Wainwright wasn’t so bad.”

  Collin scoffed, “Really? You’re going to defend him?”

  Derek rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Whatever it is you’re trying to say here, you need to just come out with it.”

  Collin did sip his coffee then. “We never talked about that night of the bonfire, the night you got wasted and told me all your secrets.” Collin stared across the table at him, dark gaze unwavering. “Don’t worry. I never said a word to anyone about any of it and I damn well never will.”

  Derek’s gut kind of felt like a big boot had kicked it. “I always wondered how much I told you.”

  “You said that you and Amy thought she was pregnant and so you’d gotten married, but then it turned out she wasn’t pregnant. You said that the original plan was for Amy to go off to college and since there was no baby after all, it was back to the plan. She was moving to Colorado to go to school and you expected you’d be getting divorce papers in the mail. You said that you loved her and you always would, but you hated her, too, for walking out on you.”

  Derek swore. “I had no right to say that she walked out on me. I told her to go.”

  “But you didn’t think she’d really leave you, did you? You thought she’d fight to keep your marriage together.”

  “I’ll say it again. I told her to go.”

  “You were wrecked over her. That girl ruined you. I didn’t understand then, how deep she’d cut you. But now I have Willa. If Willa ever did something like that to me, I don’t rightly know if I would ever recover.” Collin fell silent. He stared into the middle distance.

  Derek almost dared to hope his friend had said all he meant to say.

  No such luck.

  “Guys like you and me, we go from girl to girl. And people judge us. They think we haven’t got deep feelings. But could be it’s the opposite. Maybe our feelings run too damn deep and if we ever give in and give a woman everything, and she turns around and leaves us...” Collin let that thought finish itself. He asked, “You sure you want to go tempting fate all over again?” Derek just looked at him. Collin didn’t need an answer anyway. He already understood. “I know. I do. She’s the one for you and at this point, while it’s good between you, before it gets down to where the rubber hits the road, you can’t walk away. But you need to remember how good you are at leaving. You need to remind yourself what a natural talent you have for letting go. It’s what you know how to do. Don’t let your bad habits rule you. Don’t fold before the game’s even over. Step up and just say it. This time, when you’re ready to run, tell the woman straight out that you love her and you want her to stay.”

  * * *

  After Derek left for the saddlery that morning, Amy went back to Sunshine Farm. She had work to catch up on and spent most of the day at her computer.

  When she went downstairs to make a sandwich at noon, Eva joined her in the kitchen.

  “Here are both your questionnaires.” Eva handed them over. “They’re all filled out and ready to go—and don’t give me that look. Luke gave me his to give to you, but I have not even glanced at it.”

  “Good.” Amy took them.

  Eva let out a wry little laugh. “Bailey may have had a point last night. The good Lord have mercy on anyone who messes with your plans.”

  “Nothing wrong with careful planning. Just watch. This party is going to be amazing.”

  “I know it will be—and I keep forgetting to tell you that Friday night, after you left the Ace, Viv asked me if you needed help with anything.”

  “Not a thing. We’re so on it. And I have kept in touch with her. Just this morning, I texted her a suggested playlist for the band.” In her back pocket, Amy’s phone rang. It was the ringtone she’d assigned to her dad and she ignored it, letting it ring until it stopped. She answered Eva’s questioning glance with, “It’s my dad. I’ll call him back later. Right now, I need lunch.”

  “How about a roast chicken sandwich with mayo, walnuts and cranberry sauce?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  * * *

  That evening after a beautiful hour in bed together, Derek said that he and Collin had talked. “Turns out, I did tell him pretty much everything that night I got so drunk.” He put a finger under her chin and tipped her face up so she was looking at him. “I’m sorry I broke my promise not to tell anyone.”

  She lifted up higher—enough to press a reassuring kiss on those fine lips of his. “Well, when I left, I kind of gave up my right to ask for your silence. You wer
e on your own and I’m really not upset that you told him. I think it was good that you had someone to talk to. And Collin clearly knows how to keep a confidence. I mean, you didn’t even know he knew.”

  He chuckled, a rueful sound. “True.”

  “Did he...warn you off me?” Should she even ask him that? Probably not. But she really wanted to know.

  Derek’s silence lasted just a moment too long. “He was just being a friend, you know? Showing his support.”

  She got the message. Derek had said all he wanted to say. Pushing him to reveal more wouldn’t be right. She left it at that, tucking her head in under his chin as he pulled the covers up closer around them.

  * * *

  Amy spent that night and the next and the next after that at Derek’s.

  Their nobody’s-business, one-day-at-a-time relationship was working out so well. She spent four or five hours a day at Sunshine Farm, being with Eva and keeping on top of her work with Hurdly and Main.

  In the early evening, she would meet Derek at his house. They would have dinner and put in some work on the party, after which they would watch a movie or play video games—sometimes not finishing either and having glorious sex instead. Eventually, they would go to bed, where yet more gloriousness ensued.

  Every moment with him was better than the moment before and she never wanted it to end.

  Which they would have to talk about.

  Eventually.

  But at this point, they were living firmly in the now and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Wednesday night, they finished the party prep. There was literally nothing more to do until setup on Saturday.

  Thursday, they met at his place at two in the afternoon. They tacked up a couple of horses and rode out across Circle D land to a private spot on Rust Creek, a bend in the stream where the water ran slow and deep.

  They hobbled the horses. And in the shade of a river birch, they spread a blanket and stripped down to their birthday suits. The water was cold and they laughed and splashed each other, chasing each other back and forth across the slow-moving stream. He dunked her twice and she managed to shove him under once, just to prove that she could.