And Then One Day (Magnolia Sound Book 4)

by Samantha Chase

  His heart was beating wildly and he acted before he could second-guess himself.

  Then he beeped the horn.

  And beeped it again.

  And then a third time until several people began opening doors and peeking out behind their curtains to see what kind of idiot was being so loud so early in the morning. But he didn’t care about them or what they thought; there was only one person he wanted to see.

  Only one person whose opinion mattered.

  He climbed out of the truck and walked around to lean against the hood while he sipped his coffee and waited for his girl.

  Courtney slowly opened her door and looked out, her eyes going wide. She looked around as she stepped out of the room. “What in the world are you doing? Are you crazy?”

  He drank in the sight of her–tousled hair, no makeup, a threadbare tank top, and flannel shorts, and she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Straightening, he nodded. “I am.” Several people hurled curses at him while others slammed their doors, but he wasn’t fazed.

  She spotted the trailer and did her own cursing. “I’m going to kill Hunter when I see him!”

  “Don’t be mad at him. He didn’t tell me where you were.”

  “And yet, here you are,” she said dryly.

  “Yeah, but…Scarlett called and told me. Then I had to go wrestle the trailer away from Hunter. But you should know he put up a good fight and is completely on your side.”

  “Well…I guess that helps.” She turned to walk back into her room when she stopped. Her gaze on his truck narrowed. He knew exactly what she was seeing and could tell she was confused. “What…why is all that stuff in the truck?”

  Suddenly calm, Dean placed his travel mug on the hood of the truck and walked over to her. It took every ounce of self-control not to reach out and touch her, but he refrained.

  For now.

  “If I had to choose between staying here in Magnolia without you or moving away so I could be with you, I’d choose moving. If you’re going to Raleigh, then that’s where I’m going too.”

  She didn’t smile or even blink. “You’re forgetting something.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded. “No one asked you to move. Hell, no one invited you to move.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked and sounded like her usual sassy self and he felt the first rays of hope.

  “Is that right?”

  Another nod.

  “Hate to break it to you, but I’m going to be where you are and we’re going to make this work.”

  “Why?” she cried. “Why are you even doing this? We all know you only let me stay with you because of your obsessive need to take care of everything and everybody! You felt sorry for me because I’m weak and a mess and…”

  He couldn’t hold back any longer. Reaching out, he grasped her shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he hissed. “I didn’t do it because I thought you were weak or couldn’t take care of yourself. I did it because you’re important to me. Because I love you!”

  She gasped and looked up him in shock. “What?” she whispered.

  “I am so in love with you, Courtney Baker,” he said, carefully pulling her closer. “I was so afraid to say it sooner, but as everyone keeps pointing out to me, I’m overly cautious. But I’m not afraid anymore, and I’m sorry for not saying it sooner, for not letting you know how much you mean to me.”

  “Dean, I…”

  He didn’t let her finish because he knew he’d already made a mess of everything by not talking. There were things he needed to say–things he needed to specifically say to her–that couldn’t wait.

  “You are everything I have ever wanted,” he said earnestly. “Most women don’t stick around because I’m so involved with my family and looking after them, but you understood that. For the last several weeks, you never put any demands on me or tried to tell me not to help them out. You know me. You know everything about me but more than anything, you accept me.” He paused, slowly wrapping his arms around her waist.

  “Dean…”

  “I thought I was doing okay,” he went on. “I thought I was happy with where my life was at. Then you kissed me and I realized just how wrong I was. But more than that, you came home with me and eventually stayed with me and turned my house into a home. You gave me something to look forward to every day. You gave me a purpose.” His voice cracked. “I would count down the minutes until I could get home and see your smiling face.” He rested his forehead against hers and was thankful when she didn’t pull away. “Last night was hell for me. I went home and realized I have nothing without you. So…please let me go with you. I promise to do better and that I’ll never lie to you again.”

  “Dean…”

  “But you really do need to take better care of your car–that’s not something I’m ever going to stop saying,” he explained. “You need to be safe and I want to spend every day of the rest of my life taking care of you to make sure you stay that way.”

  “OH MY GOD!” she cried. “Can I please say something?”

  “Hey! Can you guys speak up?” Someone called out. “If you’re going to wake people up, then you need to speak loud enough for us to hear why!”

  “Um…maybe we should take this inside,” she said, glaring in the direction of the voice.

  “Okay,” he agreed and smiled when she took him by the hand and led him into the hotel room. Once the door was closed, she pulled her hand from his. “So…”

  She walked several steps away from him before turning around and facing him. “I don’t know how to believe you,” she finally said, and he saw the sadness in her eyes, and heard it in her voice. “I feel like these last several weeks were based on a lie.”

  “No, they weren’t,” he replied softly as he walked toward her. “We started long before your car broke down, Court, and we both know it. The car was just the nudge we needed to admit it.”

  Staring at him, she let out a long breath. “You can’t say that. If I hadn’t kissed you that night, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

  “Here in this spot exactly? Probably not. But you need to know I still would have picked you up the night your car got stuck and I still would have brought you home with me.” He closed the distance between them. “And I would have done my damnedest to seduce you.”

  With a snort, she laughed. “No you wouldn’t have. You would have fought it and I still would have kissed you first.”

  He knew she was only partly teasing. “Here’s the thing, Court,” he reached for her hands. “You are far braver than I ever was and probably ever will be. I’m both in awe of you and a little intimidated.”

  “Seriously?”

  Nodding, he said, “Yeah. You go after what you want, even when it’s hard. You’re moving to a completely different city–one that’s hours away from your friends and family–because it’s what you need to do. You’re totally this kickass woman and…” Pausing, he shook his head before meeting her gaze. “And I don’t know what it is that I can bring to this relationship because I need you far more than you need me.”

  “What? How can you even say that?” Her expression finally softened toward him, and for the first time since he showed up, he felt optimistic. “You are the most thoughtful and caring and giving person I’ve ever met!”

  “But you don’t need me, Courtney,” he said slowly. “If I walked away right now, you would go on and make this move and be okay. You’d find a job and totally be the best at it and meet a guy who would spend every single day wondering how he got so lucky.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “No. It’s really not.” He squeezed her hand. “But if you walked away right now, I would be utterly and completely lost. There would be no love or laughter in my life.”

  “Oh, stop. You know that’s not true. You have an amazing family…”

  “Who I’ve let be the center of my whole world for far too long. I want something–someone–for me! I want you, C
ourtney. Please. I’m so sorry for…for everything. For lying about the car, for not asking you sooner not to move away…but mostly, for not saying something sooner about how I felt. I should have told you a long time ago–before the wedding, before the rehearsal…”

  He never got to finish because his arms were full of Courtney as she pressed up against him and kissed him. His arms banded tighter around her as he kissed her like his life depended on it.

  And it did.

  He maneuvered them–or maybe she was the one maneuvering them–until they fell onto the bed. They rolled around until he had her pinned beneath him. Breaking the kiss, he looked down at her. “I love you, Court. Now and forever. And if moving is what you want to do, I’m serious about going with you.”

  “You can think about that right now?” She pressed up against him in a most provocative way. “We can talk about that a little later, right?”

  “We can do whatever it is that you want,” he vowed.

  “I want you to make love to me,” she said, her voice all sultry and sexy.

  “Damn, how did I ever get this lucky?”

  “Is that something you really want to discuss right this minute?” Squirming beneath him, Courtney pulled the tank top she was wearing up and over her head.

  Hell, he probably couldn’t utter a single word if someone put a gun to his head.

  Sitting up, he whipped his own shirt off. She smiled up at him and he loved how she managed to look both sweet and sexy at the same time.

  “Dean?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I love you.”

  Greatest way to start the day. Ever.

  “Do you have a hotel in Raleigh booked?”

  “No.”

  “Is there anything we need to pick up before we go?”

  “No.

  “Do we need to get on the road soon?”

  “Nope.”

  He sighed. “Um, Court, we kind of need a plan here. I thought we were heading out today.”

  She was way too comfortable to even think about getting up and moving. With her head on his shoulder, her hand on his bare chest, and their legs tangled together, this was pretty much bliss. “I never said anything about leaving today. There’s no plan.”

  “Oh.”

  Slowly, she lifted her head. “Oh? You sound disappointed.”

  “Well, I sort of planned on leaving town in a blaze of glory,” he said casually. “I called my father and told him not to expect me in again. Ever. I packed up my house. I submitted all the receipts to Mason late last night and made him write me a check for all the work we did on the house…and I threatened to kick Kyle’s ass just because he was annoying me. So…yeah. Blaze of glory. Lingering here in the hotel just feels like I’m hiding out and afraid my entire family is going to retaliate and try to talk us out of leaving.”

  She put her head back down. “Good. Let them do that.” With a yawn, she closed her eyes.

  “Wait, you want them to talk us out of leaving?”

  “Yup.”

  “But…why?”

  “Mmm…because this is home,” she said sleepily. “And I’ll find a job eventually, right? In the meantime, I can do billing for the garage or wait tables at the Mystic Magnolia…” Another yawn. “Or…I can flip houses. I did a really good job on Scarlett’s.”

  He laughed softly. “Oh, you’re going to flip houses? All by yourself?”

  “Well…maybe not completely by myself. You can help.”

  Placing a kiss on top of her head, Dean chuckled. “Gee, thanks.”

  “But that reminds me, you said Mason cut you a check, right?”

  “Uh…yeah.”

  “Where’s my cut?”

  Laughing out loud, he hugged her close. “Tell you what, how about we take the money and go away for the weekend? Anyplace you want.”

  “Hmm…anyplace?”

  He nodded.

  “What if all I want is to go home to your place?”

  “Then we’ll take the money and use it to pamper ourselves–massages, a nice dinner out, that sort of thing.”

  “Or…” she countered. “We can take it and invest in another house that we can totally renovate together for ourselves.”

  “I think you’re overestimating how much Mason paid me…”

  Kissing his chest, she snuggled in close. “It was just a suggestion.”

  Dean was quiet for so long that she figured he had fallen asleep. Opening one eye, she looked up and saw him staring at the ceiling.

  “Hey, you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, just thinking.”

  “About…?”

  “Another house.” Then he sighed. “If we’re staying, I’d probably want to go ahead with the expansion on the garage–you know, the second location.”

  She nodded.

  “That’s going to take a lot of time. I’m not sure I’d be able to do them both.”

  Lifting herself up again, she smiled. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you into anything. We were just joking around. Maybe sometime down the road we can do that, but…the garage has to come first.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded again. “Absolutely. I know that’s your dream and I never want to be the person who robs you of that.”

  He kissed her soundly. “Damn. I really am the luckiest guy in the world.”

  “Oh stop. If you’re the luckiest guy, then I am certainly the luckiest girl.”

  Groaning, he guided her head back to his shoulder. “We’re not going to be that couple, are we? The ones who are all about telling everyone how in love they are?”

  “If any two people deserve to do that, it’s us!”

  With another kiss on her head, he said, “Yeah. You’re right.”

  Courtney was just about asleep when he said her name. “Yes?”

  “What time is checkout?”

  “I asked for the late checkout so…one o’clock? How come?”

  “Because I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open and would love to sleep for a bit before we go home.”

  Home.

  Yeah. She really liked the sound of that.

  Epilogue

  Three months later…

  “Okay, I’m not trying to say that you’re not pulling your weight, but…”

  “Oh, I’m totally not pulling my weight,” Courtney said, glancing at her phone.

  “Are you telling me you don’t even feel bad about making me do all the work?” Dean asked. “Need I remind you how this was all your idea?”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “Court, come on. This is crazy.”

  Sighing dramatically, she slipped her phone into her back pocket. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”

  “How about you go get the iPad from the truck so we can see if we’re on the right track? I’ve been taking measurements and I can’t keep track of it all in my head.”

  They were looking at a house on the Sound side of town that Dean got a lead on for them to possibly flip. At the time she had originally suggested it, she’d only been partially kidding. Now the thought of them doing it for real was kind of exciting.

  Except…there was no way they would be able to afford this house. It didn’t need any extensive renovations, but it was a little outdated. A good refreshing was really what it needed, but even with that it had to be over their price range. The location was great; it was right on the water…if it was in their range, it would almost be too good to be true.

  She walked out to the truck and grabbed the tablet before going back inside. Dean wasn’t where she left him. Walking through the living room, she went to the kitchen and didn’t see him. He wasn’t in any of the three bedrooms or the garage. “Dean?”

  “Out here!”

  She stepped out the sliding glass doors onto the deck and still didn’t see him. “Out here where?”

  Then she saw him walking along the long dock down on the water. It was easily a hundred feet long and there was a small gazebo at the e
nd with benches to sit on. Why was he heading out there? Was he checking on whether or not any of the wood needed to be replaced?

  “Court!” he called out. “Come down here and check this out!”

  Walking down the stairs to the grass, she couldn’t help but laugh. They already had so much going on that she didn’t know why he was even considering this project. The work for the second garage for Jones Automotive was starting next month. Dean and his father had opted to buy a piece of property on the south end of town and build something new rather than renovating an existing building. They were easily looking at around six to eight months for it to be finished. Once they were ready to sign the papers and get things started, he had explained to her how all of his money was going toward the business, so…again, why was he even thinking of this place?

  At the end of the dock, she found him sitting on one of the benches with his legs stretched out in front of him. He reached out and gently pulled her into his lap.

  “This is some view, huh?”

  She nodded. “It really is. This is sort of like the setup Mason and Scarlett have at the new place.”

  “Yeah, but they have a slip for the boat. This is just to enjoy the view.”

  Wrapping her arms around him, she rested her head against his. “This all looks to be in really good shape.”

  “The dock’s fairly new. Maybe three years old.”

  They sat in companionable silence for several minutes before she asked, “Dean?”

  “Hmm?”

  “What are we doing here? This house doesn’t need much and it’s got to be way out of our budget.”

  “What if I told you it wasn’t?”

  “Then I’d say something was seriously wrong with it–like bad plumbing or water damage or mold or all the electrical is bad…”

  “The plumbing and electrical passed inspection. There’s no water damage or mold. Just a little house that needs some TLC.”