by SJ McCoy
She laughed and slapped his arm. “Are you saying I need to wear something more modest?”
“No! I’m saying I’d rather you weren’t wearing anything at all. But …” He blew out an exaggerated sigh. “If you insist that we have to go out, then that outfit is perfect. You look amazing, but then you always do.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to keep feeding me lines, you know. I’m a sure thing.”
He laughed. “They’re not lines. You should know better than this by now.”
Her smile was much softer when she looked up at him. “I do know, but we can still play, can’t we?”
He slid his hand down over her ass and squeezed. “That’s what I want to do—play with you—but you insist that we must go out instead.”
She swatted at his hand again with a laugh. “And I also told you that there’ll be plenty of time for that when we come home.”
“Home.” He nodded happily.
He squeezed her hand as they walked down Main Street toward the resort, and she looked up at him. “Can you see yourself feeling at home in this town as well as in our house?”
“I can. In fact, I kind of already do. It’s a great little place, and everyone’s so friendly. All my favorite people in the world are already here.”
“Mine, too. But I need you to know that you’re my most favorite person of all. What matters to me now is being where you are.”
He loved the way she smiled. She was starting to relax, not just with him, but with the reality of where they were going. “I want to be where you are, too.”
“Do you want to just stay here then?”
She pursed her lips. “I guess we could. I’d need to go home and get more clothes and get my things for work, but … yeah … I’d like to stay.”
He grinned. This was going better than he’d dared to hope. “Very well, then. We can go back on Monday or Tuesday. I’ll drop you at home while I go back to Laguna. I need to go to the office and stop by my house, too. I need to get more clothes and make sure Carmen is going to be okay if I’m not back for a while.”
He felt her tense and had to wonder what he’d said wrong.
“What is it?”
She frowned. “I don’t want this to sound how it’s going to sound. I don’t want to feel the way this feels … but who the hell is Carmen?”
He had to laugh. “I’m so sorry. Carmen is my housekeeper. She’s been with me for over twenty-five years. She’s wonderful. You’ll love her.”
“Oh.” She didn’t look as relieved as he’d hoped she would with that explanation.
“Don’t think I’m a lazy, no-good man who can’t take care of myself. That’s not the reason she stays with me.”
“What is then?”
He shrugged. “She’s good people. It’s a good job for her.”
“So, you hired her out of the goodness of your heart?”
“No. I hired her because I needed someone to watch Zack when his mother left us.” He didn’t know how this would sound to Izzy, but he needed her to understand. “She started out as a babysitter. When I became more successful, she moved in as a full-time housekeeper. After Zack left home, I kept her on because … well, because she’d become part of the family. And the rest of her family depends on her income.”
Izzy smiled. “Sorry. That’s wonderful. You’re wonderful. I didn’t mean to be critical. You just gave me a shock. I’ve never heard about her before.”
“I’m sorry. She’s been on vacation for the last few weeks. She’s been helping her daughter with the new baby.”
Izzy nodded.
He smiled at her. “Were you jealous?”
“No!” Her eyes flashed as she denied it. But then she pursed her lips. “Okay, I’ll admit it. Yes, I was. I just wondered who this woman was who you needed to check was okay before you move in with me.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “And now you know. She’s someone I feel responsible for, not someone I need to check in with. And hope you also know that there isn’t anyone you need to feel jealous about. There never will be.” He landed a kiss on her lips. “I love you, Izzy. You’ve stolen my heart.”
She smiled up at him. “You’ve stolen mine, too.”
“And I don’t plan to give it back.”
~ ~ ~
It was already busy when they got to the Boathouse. Izzy smiled as she let Diego forge them a path through the crowd to get to the bar. It reminded her of the first night they’d met. She noticed how people got out of his way to let them pass then. Powerful. She shook her head. That was how she’d seen him. And it was kind of how he was, but not in an overbearing way.
He turned and looked back at her. “Are you okay?”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. “I’m great.” She was, too. She didn’t resent him taking the lead. She didn’t feel as though he was treating her like the little woman. He was just being who he was. And she loved who he was.
When they finally made it to the bar, he put his arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Champagne?”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“It’s what we drank the night we met.”
She laughed. So, he’d been remembering that night, too? “Sure.”
Kenzie, the bartender, got finished serving the guy beside them. “What can I get you, sugar?” she asked before she even looked up. When she did, it was obvious that she recognized Diego. “Oh, hey, gorgeous! It’s good to see you.” She turned and looked at Izzy. “Oh! And you, too!” She grinned. “I didn’t know the two of you were an item.”
Diego tightened his arm around Izzy’s shoulders. “Neither did Miss Isobel the last time we were here.”
She laughed and shook her head at Kenzie. “Ignore him. He’s full of himself.”
Kenzie laughed with her. “He is. But he has reason to be. There are going to be a lot of disappointed ladies around here. You snagged yourself a hot item, girlfriend.”
Diego looked a little wary. Was he worried that she might feel insecure? She raised an eyebrow at him. “Nah. He’s the lucky one, and he knows it.”
Diego and Kenzie both laughed at that, and Kenzie high-fived her across the bar. “That’s what I like to see, a woman who knows her worth.” She looked at Diego. “I hope you know what you’ve got.”
He dropped a kiss on Izzy’s lips. “I do. And I don’t plan to let her go.”
“Aww. You guys are too cute. What can I get you, though? We’re slammed, and much as I’d like to stay and chat, I need to keep moving.”
“A bottle of Veuve Clicquot Grand Dame,” said Diego.
Kenzie grinned at him. “Coming right up.”
“You remembered,” said Izzy.
“Of course, I did.”
She smiled. “We were celebrating Audrey’s new beginning that night. She was just starting to get right with herself. We didn’t know that she was about to meet Ted.”
He looked into her eyes. “You didn’t know you were about to meet me, either.”
“No. But it seems like the champagne did.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“We were laughing about their slogan—let life surprise you. I know life took Audrey by surprise that night in the form of Ted. But damn if you haven’t surprised me even more.”
He grinned. “You don’t think you’ve surprised me? You don’t think I’m surprised at myself? In fifty-seven years on this earth, no woman has affected me the way you have.” He took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips. He brushed them over the inside of her wrist and sent shivers chasing each other down her spine.
She looked up into his eyes. “That still has the same effect on me as the first time you did it.”
His eyes shone with amusement. “But now you believe that I mean it—that it’s not just some move.”
She nodded. “I do.”
Kenzie set a bottle and two flutes down on the bar. “Here you go, guys. Enjoy.” She looked at Diego. “On your tab?”
Izzy looked around. “Do you want to stay here or go and see who we can find?”
He gave her the glasses while he got the bottle and took hold of her hand.
She let him lead her outside onto the deck. It was much quieter out here. The band would be playing later, but for now, just a few people were sitting at the tables.
He led her to a picnic bench right at the edge of the deck, by the rail overlooking the water. She watched as he opened the bottle. She’d been right about him on that first night. He was one of those guys who just did everything well, made everything look easy. He grinned as he filled the flutes and handed one to her.
“What?” she asked. “I know you. You’re looking far too pleased with yourself. What are you up to?”
He tried to look innocent, but he didn’t pull it off. “I’m not up to anything. But I do want to ask you to drink a toast with me.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“That first night, I asked you to drink to new beginnings with me, but you refused.”
She nodded. “I compromised with you, though. I drank to new friends.”
He ran his hand down the back of her arm until it cupped her elbow and drew her closer to him. “You did. And I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful that we’ve become friends. But you know I want us to be so much more than that.”
“We are.”
“We are, but we’re not yet everything I want us to be.”
Her heart felt as though it might beat out of her chest. Was he asking … was he saying that he wanted them to be …? She looked up into his eyes.
He was. There was no mistaking the love in his eyes. He loved her. She knew it; she could see it. He’d done everything he could to prove it to her. And now those big, brown eyes were pleading with her. Asking her to say that she wanted it, too.
He raised his glass and held it out to her. “New beginnings?”
She held his gaze and nodded. “New beginnings.”
~ ~ ~
Diego took a drink of his champagne and set his glass down. He’d almost asked a different question. He believed that if he asked her now, she’d say yes. But it wasn’t the right time yet. He needed to make it special. He needed her to know not only how much he loved her but also how well he understood her. He knew her hang-ups, and he needed her to know that he planned to spend the rest of his life helping her past them.
“There you are!” He turned to see Zack and Maria coming out onto the deck. “Kenzie said you were here, but we couldn’t find you.”
Diego smiled at his son, glad that he hadn’t asked Izzy that other question. He wanted Zack and Maria to be there when he did. Them and Ted and Audrey. All the people who he considered to be family—and everyone he wanted Izzy to know as her family, too. “We were making the most of the quiet before we get the party started.”
Zack laughed and looked at Izzy. “I hope you like to dance? It’s tough to keep up with him when he wants to party.”
Izzy laughed and patted Diego’s cheek. “No worries there. He’s the one who needs to keep up.” She picked up her glass and slipped her arm through Maria’s. “Come on, let’s go find everyone, shall we?”
Diego winked at Zack as they followed them back inside. “She’s not kidding, you know.”
“I didn’t think she was. I get the feeling that you and I are going to spend a lot of time trailing after those two in the years to come.”
Diego nodded happily. “I believe we will.”
They found Ted and Audrey sitting with her kids, Ally and Brayden, and a bunch of Zack’s friends. Diego smiled when he saw Austin. “You made it then?”
“I did.”
Diego looked around at the others who were sitting with them. He knew Zack’s best friend, Luke, and his fiancée, Angel. Roxy, who worked at the lodge, was there, too, with her fiancé, Logan, who was building Ted’s house.
Colt, the deputy who’d worked with Manny to help Zack finally take Morales down, was sitting in between his lady, Cassie, and Austin. He greeted Diego with a smile. “Have you heard from Manny?”
“I have. You need to help me. We need to do everything we can to convince him to stay when he comes up here.”
Colt grinned. “I’m down with that. Manny’s awesome.”
Maria nodded. “I love that man.”
“Hey!” Zack gave her a stern look, but there was laughter in his eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you?”
Maria laughed. “You can tell me as often as you like, but it’s not going to change the fact that Manny is a great guy.” She waggled her eyebrows at the other girls and added, “Or the fact that he’s one sexy silver fox.”
Zack threw his hands in the air. “What am I supposed to do?”
Diego chuckled. “You might just need to admit that with age comes a certain something that you younger guys just can’t compete with.”
He’d only meant to joke with the guys, but as he said it, he wondered what Izzy would think. He held his breath as he caught her eye, hoping that she wasn’t going to be mad at him.
He needn’t have worried. She was smiling and nodding. “I hate to admit it, but he’s right.”
His heart buzzed in his chest. She wasn’t just playing along with the conversation. She was reassuring him. He hadn’t thought he was someone who needed reassurance—about anything, from anyone. But it meant the world to him that she understood the one reservation he’d had about her.
“I take it he’s a bit of a ladies’ man?” asked Austin.
“No.” Diego and Zack spoke at the same time and then laughed.
“He’s not,” said Diego.
“Even though the ladies would like him to be.” Zack gave Maria another mock scowl as he said it, but she just smiled sweetly at him and shrugged.
“He’s been too busy with work most of his life to bother with women,” said Diego. “But apparently, he’s thinking about taking early retirement.”
“What does he do?” asked Izzy.
“He works for the FBI. He’s been the Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento field office for the last few years.”
“He’s a great guy,” said Colt.
“I remember him,” said Austin. “I didn’t make the connection when he called me about finding a short-term rental, but he’s the guy who was here to help you, right, Zack? The one I met when you bought your place.”
“That’s right.”
Izzy was watching the conversation, and it made Diego realize that he’d never told her what had happened with Zack. She knew that the two of them hadn’t seen much of each other for years, but she didn’t know why or how the situation had been resolved. He shuddered at the thought of it. He’d spent all those years hoping and praying that he wouldn’t lose his son.
“And he’s moving here, too?” she asked.
Diego grinned at Zack. “It seems I might have the same problem you do, and Izzy hasn’t even met him yet.”
She slapped his arm. “I thought you were God’s gift to women, and no other guy could compete?”
He laughed. “I am. It’s poor Manny I’m worried about, having to fend off your advances.”
She laughed. “He’s got no worries. I just like to keep you on your toes.”
“Don’t I know it.”
~ ~ ~
It was after midnight by the time they made their way outside with Audrey and Ted.
“Well, that was fun,” said Audrey.
“It was,” Izzy agreed. “Who’d have thought that first time we came here that things would work out like this?”
Diego slung his arm around her shoulders. “I hoped they would.”
She laughed. “Nope. Not buying that. Your hopes that night only went as far as the next morning.”
He gave the others an innocent look. “Do you even know what she’s talking about?”
“They do. But they’re far too polite to admit it.”
Ted smiled at her. “I can vouch for the fac
t that it wasn’t very long before he was hoping that things would work out this way. And he’s not the only one who’s happy that they have.”
He was such a good guy. She went and kissed his cheek and then hugged Audrey. “I’d say we’re all happy about it.”
Audrey nodded. “We are.”
“Do you guys want us to get the cab to drop you off?” asked Ted.
Diego looked down at her, but Izzy shook her head. “I love that we can walk home from here.”
He winked at her, and she knew what he meant—she’d called it home again. And it made her happy to realize that she saw it that way already.
He put his arm around her shoulders as they crossed the square. “It was a great night, don’t you think?”
“It was. I love that everyone hangs out together here. You and Zack, Ted and Eddie. Audrey and Ally and Brayden. Back in Ventura, they’d come over to her place all the time, but they rarely came out with us.”
“It seems to be the way here. I like it, too. You and Maria seem to have hit it off.”
She smiled. “Yeah. She’s a sweetheart. I can see why Zack adores her.”
He laughed. “She said the same thing about you.”
“She did? What that you adore me?”
“No. That Zack does.”
“He does?” She’d had a few laughs with him this afternoon and tonight. She knew he didn’t have a problem with her, but to hear that he adored her made her happy.
“Of course, he does. You’re adorable. And he can see how happy you make me.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “He can see how much I love you.”
She looked up into his eyes. “I hope he can see how much I love you.”
Chapter Eighteen
When the plane landed at the Santa Paula airport, Diego took hold of Izzy’s hand. “Do you want me to come with you? We could get your things together today then head back to my house later. I only need to go into the office for a few hours. I could do that in the morning and then we can go back to the lake tomorrow afternoon.”
“No. It’s okay. Let’s stick with the plan. I need to do some work today.” She smiled. “And I won’t get around to it if you’re with me. And besides, if you go into the office today, then we can go home in the morning.”