by Stacy Finz
She chuckled and headed off to bed. He wandered around the house for a bit. It was small and there wasn’t much to see but he’d always liked the cottage. It felt like a place that hugged you when you came home. If Darcy was still talking to him he hoped they could make their house together feel the same way.
He checked his phone again but it was useless. This time he’d screwed up for good.
*
It was after midnight when Darcy got home. Her mother had wanted her to stay the night but she’d rushed back to Glory Junction from Reno as soon as she’d learned that her grandmother was there alone. Her phone had lost its charge earlier in the day and she’d been keeping tabs on Hilde, using her mother’s cell.
She carried her packages up the stairs. Geneva had insisted on buying Darcy some new summer clothes and for the first time in her life, she hadn’t resented her mother’s choices. After a rather lovely shopping spree, they’d had dinner at a new, trendy restaurant, and had caught a movie. Then she’d made the thirty-five-minute trip home.
She turned on the light in her bedroom and found a naked Win in her bed. He jolted upright and rubbed his eyes.
“You weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow,” she said.
“Surprise!” He seemed a bit tentative, like he was checking her reaction to him being in her bedroom in her grandmother’s house with that amazing body of his on display.
It reminded her of her own visit to his studio apartment and she giggled. A God’s honest girly giggle.
“You haven’t seen them, have you?”
“Seen what?” She put her bags down.
He crooked his finger. “Come to bed and I’ll show you.”
“Does my grandmother know you’re here?” She let her eyes roam over him. All of him and he was pretty sure she purred like a cat.
“Yep. She’s good with it.”
Darcy didn’t doubt it. Hilde was no prude, that was for sure. She kicked off her shoes and started to join Win on the bed.
“Take off your clothes first.”
“Did we get the account?” She pulled her blouse over her head and watched Win’s eyes heat as he took in her lacy bra. Since they’d been seeing each other, she’d invested in much better lingerie.
“Yep. But I’ve got to talk to you.”
It sounded serious but for some reason she wasn’t alarmed. She finished undressing and crawled under the covers next to him. “Tell me.”
He rolled her under him and came up on both elbows so he wouldn’t crush her. “I love you. I know I told you I was crazy about you, that I wanted to be with you, but while I was gone I had time to think. And the realization hit me like a twenty-foot wave. I’m so freaking in love with you, Darcy, that I’m crazy with it. I think about you constantly, always want to be with you, and … you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’d never do anything to screw that up.” He slid off her and hung over the floor, searching for his pants. After fishing his phone out of the pocket, he tapped the FlashTag app on his screen and handed it to her. “It’s not what it looks like. It was just Madison being Madison. I told her I’m with you, that I love you. You believe me, right?”
He flopped onto his back and shielded his eyes with his hand.
She pushed a couple of pillows behind her head and inspected the pictures for a good long time. “What’s up with your hair in this one?”
“Huh?” He scooted up so he could have a better look. “I think it’s just the lighting. Well, are you pissed?”
She kept studying them. Madison definitely looked like she’d had one too many and Win was wearing his slightly bored look. Darcy had seen it more times than she could count at GA’s morning meetings while TJ prattled on about profits and losses.
“Say something, dammit.”
She blew a lock of hair out of her eyes. “There’s not much to say other than I’ve seen you take better pictures.”
“Nothing happened. I swear.”
She tossed the phone onto his side of the bed. “I believe you.”
“You do?”
It was mean but she sort of enjoyed the look of shock on his face. “Why would you lie to me? If you wanted to be with Madison, you’d just dump me. You’ve always been a player, not a cheater. No one has ever said that about you. And for as much as this town talks, especially about you, the word would be out by now.”
She picked the phone back up and pointed at the photograph. “What is that?”
Win squinted at the screen. “Some kind of raviolis in cream sauce.”
“It looks good. Really rich, though.”
“They were … and why the hell are we talking about food? Come here.” He pulled her on top of him. “I love you. Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all you’re going to say? Just yes?”
“Did you want poetry?”
Win seemed to contemplate the question. “Yeah, I sort of do. Tell me why you love me.”
She looked down into his face and melted into his blue, blue eyes. “Because you’re really good-looking?”
“Ah, come on, that’s bullshit,” he huffed, and she laughed.
“It’s simple: You make me blindingly happy, Win Garner.” He was the first thing she thought of in the morning and the last person she wanted to see at night. He was her everything. “At first, I was afraid to love you, afraid that you’d let me down. But I’ve also had time to think and something my mother told me made an impression. She said she’d felt as if she couldn’t be a perfect mother unless she cured me of all her insecurities. In a way, I was doing the same thing with you. I’d convinced myself that you were a bad bet, totally unreliable, because I was really insecure about myself. The truth is you’re the most reliable man I’ve ever known and you know what proved it to me?”
“What?”
“When Nana got sick. You were willing to make the call on her care so if things went south I wouldn’t blame myself.” Her eyes teared up and she wiped them with the back of her hand. “You did that for me. It was a selfless gift and I’ll never forget it. I love you, Win Garner. And I’m not afraid anymore.”
He jiggled his hand from side to side. “That’s not bad but I would’ve liked more. Maybe something about how the birds sing whenever I’m near.”
“Are you actually quoting a Carpenters song? I hate the Carpenters.”
“But you love me.” He waggled his brows, then peeled off her really good lingerie, and pulled her beneath him.
She found the light switch and in the darkness, they found each other. Their hands, their mouths, their bodies melded in the sweet summer heat. And somewhere in the distance she heard birds chirp and a cricket sing, and her heart soared.
Epilogue
There was enough food to feed an army—or the Garner family. Darcy kept adding dishes to the long picnic table Reggie Brown had left at the log cabin. Some kind of tortilla surprise Deb made, which kind of looked scary, to tell the truth. Pies from Nana and Hannah. A case of craft beer from Colt and Delaney. Mary and Gray had brought a big bowl of fruit salad. Besides a beautiful floral arrangement, Foster came with fresh bread. Boden a huge tub of chicken wings and Rachel brought cupcakes—the cute ones with the GA logo.
They were off in a corner, fighting about something. Darcy had no idea what had set them off but it appeared that the baker and bartender didn’t like each other too much. She was staying out of it, going for a drama-free afternoon if that was at all possible.
Josh grabbed a couple more folding chairs from the deck and put them around the table. And Geneva helped Darcy put out more settings as the guests arrived. Her father and his new girlfriend sat on the dock with their feet in the river. It was more than a little awkward to have both her parents and Max’s concubine (Geneva’s word, not Darcy’s) under the same roof but they’d all promised to behave.
Lucy and Ricky had jumped out of Gray’s truck and had hit the water, running. Darcy couldn’t blame them. Late August had brought rec
ord-high heat but it was shady under the trees.
If the bugs didn’t bite them to death, they planned to eat alfresco. Win had strung twinkly lights in the trees so when it got dark they could keep the party going. He’d piled wood by the fire pit for s’mores later. And Darcy suspected that by the end of the day, half of them would wind up in the river like the dogs.
The place needed a lot of work but with Win’s dad and brothers they could do much of the rehab on their own. Nana was trying to talk Win into adding a hummingbird garden to the yard. Darcy said they should just hire a gardener before they killed everything. But Nana promised to help. Every day she was looking stronger. Even her doctors were impressed with how quickly she was recovering.
As Darcy gazed around the property her throat clogged. It was such a happy home, a house she knew would hold a lot of memories.
Next month, she was moving in with Win and though there’d been no official proposal, they’d knocked around the idea of a spring wedding. In the meantime, Geneva was planning to stay at Nana’s house until she found something of her own. Max had bought her out of the mausoleum and Geneva was thinking of starting her own mortgage brokerage firm in Glory Junction. Darcy still didn’t know how she felt about that. But she and her mother were slowly mending fences and taking the time to get to know each other.
As for Win, Geneva still wasn’t a fan. She appeared to be the only woman in the Western world, besides Ricki, that is, who wasn’t bowled over by Win Garner’s charm. But Darcy had no doubt that she would eventually come around. The good news is that she’d given up on Darcy ever reconciling with Lewis. And for his part, Lewis had stopped calling. Last Darcy heard, he’d hired a really good IT person and someone to keep the books.
“Hey, VP, nice spread you’ve got here.” TJ draped his arm over her shoulder. Ever since he’d promoted her to GA’s vice president of operations he’d been calling her VP. As obnoxious as it was, she liked the ring of it.
“Thanks. It’s a good home, isn’t it?”
“Hell yeah, and for the price, this thing will appreciate tenfold.” He launched into a lecture about the worth of California real estate. Darcy listened politely, even though she’d heard this spiel at least a dozen times. Finally, she saw Deb in the distance and used needing to talk to her as an excuse to leave the conversation.
“Is he talking about real estate again?” Deb rolled her eyes, then gazed at the river. “It’s a sweet piece of property, though. And the house is perfect. You guys will get it all fixed up, put your own personal touch on it, especially now with the extra income.”
Darcy had gotten a nice raise and now that Win was taking on more responsibility at GA, he’d be making more money, too.
“It looks like we’ll be teaming up with Lucky Rodriguez on a few projects,” Darcy said. Win had made that happen and she thought the cowboy camp would be a great option to offer their clients. “I think it’ll really round out our portfolio to have the dude ranch at our disposal, don’t you?”
“Oh God, not you, too.” Deb laughed. “For a minute I thought you were my husband.”
“Great place.” Colt strolled over with a plate in his hand. Darcy had never seen a person eat so much or so often. He watched the dogs drag a stick from the river. “I think we should work on the dock first. There’s still enough time this summer to use it.”
That was a Garner for you. “Don’t you think the roof should come first?”
“Nah.” Colt looked up at the sky. “We’ve got time before the rainy season.”
Darcy shook her head. “Whatever Win wants to do.” But she knew he would side with Colt. He was champing at the bit to make the rickety old thing functional so he could launch his boats and kayaks from it.
“Hey, good-looking.” Win grabbed her around the waist and swung her in the air. “I’ve got the grill going and the wood chips soaking. How ’bout you and I disappear for a few minutes?” He didn’t wait, just tugged her away from Colt and Deb without caring that it was rude.
She looked at him suspiciously. “You’re not going to do something crazy like propose in front of all our family and friends?”
“Nah, I’ve got that worked out. It’ll be private, just the two of us. I promise.”
“Thank you.” She looped her arms around his neck and he lifted her and carried her away with her legs wrapped around his hips. “Where we going?”
“Somewhere where we can be alone, even if it’s just for a few minutes.” He took her around the side of the house and they sat on a log. “What’s the deal with your parents?”
Darcy shrugged. “They’ve promised to be good. So far, no plates have been broken and no curse words have been hurled. Mother was even cordial to the ‘concubine.’”
Win laughed. “As long as you’re okay with them being here. Because this is all about celebrating your promotion.” He waved his hand at the house and the property. “And about us. Our future. The future of our kids.”
She liked the sound of that. “We haven’t really talked about that.”
“Between us getting the FlashTag account, me buying the house, and you getting promoted to vice president, there hasn’t been much time to talk about anything. Let’s go on a vacation. We’ve earned it.”
“Will you make me hike and bike and climb mountains?”
“Not if you don’t want to. We could just hole up in a hotel in the wilderness and have sex twenty-four-seven.”
“Works for me.” She crawled into his lap and he wrapped his arms around her.
“Kiss me now and then we’ll go back and entertain our guests. Colt’s probably eating all the pie.”
He pressed his lips against hers and the warm pull of his mouth made her hot. His taste intoxicated her.
“Mm.” She closed her eyes, pressing against him.
“Give me your phone.”
“Huh?”
He grabbed it out of her shorts pocket and kissed her again. This time, long and slow, making her toes curl. And as they stopped to take a breather, he snapped a picture.
“Check it out.” He handed the cell to Darcy and she examined the snapshot.
As usual, Win looked like every woman’s fantasy. All blue-eyed and golden-tanned. His lips curved into that half smile that never failed to stir her blood. But it was the image of her that was surprising. Her face positively glowed and she was … beautiful. Radiant to the point of being unrecognizable. She stared at herself and smiled.
“Let me see that.” Win took the phone from her and tapped on the FlashTag app.
“What are you doing?” She tried to grab it away but he was typing.
“Showing off my hot girlfriend.” He hit the post button and handed her back the phone.
The caption read, Love you. Win.
“Love you right back,” she said, and threw her arms around him.
They kissed some more and returned to the party, arm in arm, through the trees, under a big orange Glory Junction sun.