“I’m hoping I’m one of them,” she teased.
“You’re at the top of the list,” he said with a wink and a smile. “But seriously, what is something that you really want to do while we’re there?”
“I think I would love to see a real Broadway show and just walk around and look at all the Christmas displays.” The thought of it was starting to get her excited. “Maybe a carriage ride in Central Park or shopping at Macy’s at Herald Square?”
“Such a girl,” he said, but he was still grinning.
“That’s right. Sugar and spice and everything nice.”
That had him laughing again. “That is you and a whole lot more, Darcy.”
“You think so, huh?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. You’ve got the sugar part down pat.”
“You mean because I bake?” she teased.
His eyes went dark and serious, and if there were time, she’d pull over and crawl right into his lap. She loved that look and where it normally led.
Shaking his head, he said, “No, because you taste so sweet.” He let his words sink in. “And trust me, I’ve tasted every inch of you.”
She swallowed hard and forced herself to keep her eyes on the road.
“And as for the spice?” he went on. “I can’t even begin to describe what that side of you does for me.”
Her pulse rate kicked up a notch.
“And everything nice?” she prompted.
“Baby, you are so much more than that. Nice is too mild of a word for what you are. You’re everything that is good and sweet and kind in this world.”
She had to do something to break the tension or they’d crash. Giving him a sassy look, she said, “You didn’t think that about me when we first started working together.”
A bark of laughter was his first response, and it did exactly what she needed it to do—it broke the tension. “And you didn’t think that of me, either.” He paused and studied her face. “I’ve never been so glad to be wrong in my entire life.”
“Me too,” she agreed.
They drove for several minutes in silence, and when Darcy saw the first sign for the airport, she had to fight the urge to turn the car around.
But she didn’t turn around.
And they didn’t talk anymore.
The silence was oddly comforting.
And when she pulled up in front of the terminal, Darcy did her best not to cry. Ben pulled her in close and kissed her until she was breathless.
“It’s going to be good, right?”
She nodded.
“We’re going to make it a good week,” he said firmly. “And before we know it, we’ll be together in New York and having the world’s greatest time, right?”
She nodded.
“Okay, then,” he said, pulling away. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with.”
Within minutes, he had his suitcase on the curb and was holding her again.
Tucking a finger under her chin, he forced her to look at him. “One week. We can do this.”
“I know.”
“And it will all be worth it.”
Rather than argue, she nodded again. “I know.”
“I can’t wait to experience the Big Apple with you as my tour guide, Darcy Shaughnessy. I have a feeling it’s going to be amazing.”
She couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t often that Ben was so enthusiastic about anything, so the fact that he was trying so hard for her meant a lot.
“Yes, it is. I know it.”
Chapter 10
Ten days later, Ben was seriously losing his shit.
The crowds. The noise. The constant everything. This was not a situation he was comfortable in, and no matter how much everyone kept telling him to smile and relax, he couldn’t. It was impossible.
“You’re doing it again,” Darcy murmured beside him.
He didn’t need to ask what she meant. He knew. “How much longer do we have to be here?”
“Ben, we got here seven minutes ago. Relax. All these people are here to see you.” She looked around the room and smiled. “Laura said it’s twice the number of people they were anticipating, and it’s all for you!”
“I think the open bar has something to do with it.” It was supposed to be a small cocktail party with his publisher and a couple of “industry” people. Looking around the room, he could tell it was much more than that.
“Oh, stop.”
A weary sigh was his only response. He was tired, he was hungry, and he hated being on display. What he wanted was to be back in his workshop with country music playing in the background and his tools in his hands. Was that too much to ask?
“Ben! Darcy! There you are!” His editor, Laura, was weaving her way through the crowd toward them. “I have some exciting news.”
“Ooo! Yeah!” Darcy said giddily, practically bouncing on her toes, and it was all Ben could do to hold in a groan. He had a feeling the news wasn’t going to be exciting to him.
“You see that gentleman over there in the gray suit?” Laura asked. “He’s with HGTV. He’s very interested in talking to you about doing a series with them. It wouldn’t be like a typical show. It would be more like six episodes at a shot where you walk the viewers through some special projects, and we do that two or three times a year. Preferably around the holidays. I don’t have all the specifics but—”
“No,” Ben said firmly.
Both Laura and Darcy turned and looked at him, but he wasn’t going to be swayed.
“I’m not interested. Tell him no.”
“But, Ben—” Laura began, and Darcy whispered something to her until she nodded and excused herself.
Doing his best to stay calm, he stood perfectly still as Darcy came to stand in front of him.
“Ben, you at least need to talk to the man.”
He shook his head. “Why? I already know I’m not interested. What makes you think I’m going to want a television crew and cameras watching me work?” He stopped and raked a hand through his hair in frustration. His suit was suffocating him, his skin itched, and his feet were killing him. How much more was he supposed to take?
“We can negotiate a deal that’s not so intrusive,” Darcy countered. “Remember Mark Sawyer who we talked to last night, with the woodworking magazine? We were discussing photo essays and how—”
“When did you do that? I never talked to him about any photo essay.”
“It was while you were talking with Laura and your rep. Anyway, we were talking and—”
“Darcy, stop,” Ben said. “Just stop.”
The look she gave him was patient, but he could see the tension building in her posture. Didn’t she get it? This wasn’t his thing. It was never going to be his thing. He had met every demand they had thrown at him, and he’d smiled and waved and played nice, but now he was done.
“You’re passing up some amazing opportunities. If you would talk to them, you’d see that. I know you wanted to take some time off, and you will. We’ll negotiate it into your contracts, and when it’s all said and done, you’ll be able to take even more time off. It’s a win-win.”
“No, it’s not,” he said through clenched teeth. “And what is this ‘we’ll negotiate’ stuff? Last I checked, this was my career we were talking about.”
All signs of his relaxed and patient girl were gone, and in her place was the intimidating one he had first brought home with him.
Bring it, he thought to himself.
“Yeah, it is your career, but you’re refusing to participate in it right now. But you know what? I can. I can stand here and talk to anyone in this room and make them see how amazing you are, and I can even get them to agree to whatever crazy-ass terms you want. Why? Because I have confidence in you, and I can make them work for it.”
“Oh, so now it’
s you with the talent and not me?” he countered incredulously. “Like I need someone to sell me because my work doesn’t speak for itself?”
“Ben, that’s not what I’m saying.” She sighed. “Stop twisting my words. Can we please—”
“You know what? No. We can’t. I’ve had about all I can take here tonight. You can stay and schmooze and kiss people’s asses and do your best to tell them I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. But it won’t matter, because no matter what deal you come up with, no matter what deal you try to pitch, I’m not going along with it. I want to go to my workshop and sculpt. I don’t want to be on TV, I don’t want to be in a magazine, and believe me, had I known that this was what I’d have to deal with, I certainly would have never agreed to do the book.”
When he turned to walk away, she reached out and grabbed his arm. “You can’t leave! All these people are here for you!”
He cocked a brow at her. “Are you sure? Because for a few minutes, it seemed like you thought they were here for you.”
She huffed with annoyance. “Stop doing that! That’s not what I said.”
People were starting to stare, and she quickly pulled him over to the side of the room. “Please stay. There are some people that it’s very important for you to see.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” he snapped. “None of this is important to me. Do you want to know what is? You. You’re important to me. My art, my home? They’re important to me. Standing here drinking with strangers isn’t!”
“If I’m so important to you, then do this for me,” she pleaded, and that almost got to him. It almost made him change his mind.
“I guess that’s the difference between the two of us. I would never ask you to change who you are or put you in a position where you were uncomfortable for my sake,” he said, his voice deadly calm.
Her lips moved like she was going to talk, but nothing came out.
“Surprise!”
Ben turned and found both of his brothers standing there with giant smiles on their faces.
What. The. Hell.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who had done this. Who had overstepped her bounds and gone and arranged something he had specifically said he didn’t want.
And without a word, he shoved past his brothers and out the door.
The icy winter air hit him in the face like hitting a brick wall, and in that instant, Ben knew he had overreacted. Yes, he was frustrated, and yes, he was annoyed with this dog and pony show, but that didn’t mean he had to take it out on Darcy.
Or his brothers.
He walked several feet away from the gallery entrance and let out a long, weary breath. How the hell had his life gotten so out of control? The book, this trip, his life… Nothing was going the way he wanted it to, and now he had pretty much screwed up royally.
“Want to explain what happened in there?”
Ben slowly turned around and faced Jack. “Where’s Henry?”
“He’s inside doing his best to charm Darcy so that maybe she’ll forget what an asshole you are.”
Yeah. He deserved that. Raking a hand through his hair, he shivered from the cold. That’s what he got for storming out without a coat. Jack clearly knew what he was thinking, because he was smirking.
“The adult thing to do is go back inside and apologize,” Jack said, sticking his hands into his own coat pockets. “Or you can stay out here and pout.”
“Jesus, Jack, give me a break already.”
“Oh, I should give you a break? I drove for hours to get here, Ben. I left my fiancée at home so Henry and I could surprise you, and before we can say more than one word to you, in typical Ben fashion, you’re pitching a fit about something.”
“Typical Ben? What the hell does that mean?” Ben demanded.
“It means when things don’t go your way, you walk away. Now, I don’t know Darcy at all other than a brief phone conversation with her, but she seems like a nice woman. What the hell she’s doing with you, I don’t know.” He paused. “But I’ll give you this little bit of advice, and then I’m going inside, because it’s freaking cold out here. Go in there and apologize. Even if you don’t think you were wrong, apologize. You made a scene, you embarrassed her, and somehow, I doubt she was the problem.”
“So you get a fiancée and suddenly you think you can dole out relationship advice?”
Jack snorted a laugh. “Dude, I know I can. I may not be an expert, but even I know not to be the guy who creates a scene that embarrasses my girl.” He clapped Ben on the shoulder. “Think about that.”
And then he turned and walked into the gallery.
“Well, shit,” Ben murmured as another chill racked his body. Hanging his head, Ben turned and walked inside. He immediately spotted Darcy talking to Laura and his brothers on the far side of the room. With a sigh of resignation, he made his way over.
He didn’t look at either of his brothers.
He didn’t acknowledge Laura.
His gaze zeroed in on Darcy, and he saw the defiance in her eyes as he got closer. Good. He wanted her to be pissed off, wanted her to make him work at apologizing.
“Excuse us for a moment,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward the hallway that led to the gallery owner’s office.
“That was rude,” she griped as soon as they were alone. “But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You know, you could’ve—”
But he didn’t let her finish. Ben captured her lips with his and kissed her like his life depended on it.
And it did. Because without her, he didn’t have one. At least, not one that was worth living.
He kissed her until they were both breathless and she melted against him.
Slowly, he maneuvered them until her back was against the wall and his forehead rested against hers. “I’m a complete and total jerk, and I’m sorry. I took my frustration out on you, and that wasn’t right.”
She sighed and looked up at him. “I get it. I know you’re hating this, but it’s not too much to ask for you to play nice. At least for a little while.”
“You should have told me you invited my brothers,” he said carefully.
“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.”
He couldn’t help but smirk at her snarky comeback. “Maybe I don’t like surprises.”
One corner of her mouth twitched too. “Maybe you need to get over that.”
He drank in the sight of her—her dark hair done up in a messy-yet-stylish bun, the smoky eyes, the red lips. If they were alone and in this position, his hands would be under her little black dress right now.
But they weren’t.
But now he had definite plans for later.
“Maybe you need to stay close to me to make sure I don’t screw up anymore,” he said seriously.
Her smile grew. Just a little. “Maybe you need to behave and trust me when I tell you that you need to do something.”
This game was kind of fun, he mused. “I don’t know if I like having you in control. That’s normally my role.”
And her smile grew a little bit more. “You can have control anyplace else you want. But here? Let this be my turf.”
Yeah, he had some plans for later.
“How much longer do we have to stay?” he murmured against her lips. “Because I can’t wait to see what you’re wearing under this dress, and I want to be in control of finding out.”
She purred against him and made him go hard as a rock. “You’re going to have to hold that thought, because we’ve got at least another hour here and then a late dinner with your brothers.”
“Darcy,” he whined. She was killing him.
Standing up on her tiptoes, she kissed him thoroughly.
“You’re totally not helping.”
“I wanted to give you more to think abou
t,” she whispered softly and then nipped at his earlobe. “Now let’s go and be social and have a nice dinner with your brothers.”
And as she pulled him out into the crowd of people, Ben did his best to paste on a smile and bide his time until they were alone.
* * *
When they finally walked into their hotel suite after midnight, Ben was mentally exhausted. The rest of the cocktail party had been fine—he had spoken to the HGTV rep, he’d talked to about a dozen other people, and he’d been polite to them all.
Of course, he’d let Darcy do most of the talking.
And dinner with his brothers had been fun. It had been a while since the three of them had gone out to dinner for the hell of it, and Ben hated to admit it but he’d had a good time. They were staying in the city tonight since the drive back to Boston was long, and they had all agreed to meet up for breakfast.
They’d caught him at a weak moment, and when Darcy had flashed him a beguiling smile, he would have agreed to anything.
Ben leaned against the door and watched as she made her way around the room—slipping off her shoes, taking off her earrings, and letting her hair down from that sexy little bun she’d had it up in all night. His fingers twitched with the need to go to her and help her remove all those items, but he was biding his time.
She stood by the window and stretched. The little black dress rode up her thighs, and his mouth began to water. He knew she was doing all this for his benefit, and he’d give her a few more minutes to tease him and then…
She was his.
“It’s like Christmastown down there,” she said softly. “All the lights and displays, and I can see the tree at Rockefeller Center from here.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “If it snowed—even a little bit—it would be perfect.”
“I thought you said you never wanted to see snow again after the storm we had,” he said, pushing off the door and going to her.
With a throaty laugh, she watched his approach. “That was said in the heat of the moment. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, it wasn’t so bad.”
Ben wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. When he lifted his head, he said, “I’m pretty damn thankful for it myself.”
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