WATERCOLOR WISHES: Love Along Hwy 30A, Book Four

by Chambers, Melissa

  “Let’s do this.”

  Dane drove them inland to the haunted hayride which got creepier and creepier the farther they drove into the dark woods. They found the place and parked, and as they walked toward the line of people, Dane pocketed his hands. “Are you getting a little scared?”

  “No, of course not,” Marigold said, her heartbeat starting to quicken. When he kept going past the line directly toward the hayride, she hesitated. “We have to pay first, don’t we?”

  He held up his phone. “I already got our jump the line tickets.”

  She smiled, giving him a point for preparedness. “Nice.”

  They piled onto the hayride, scooting in close as the ride filled up. Passing the staged scenes of circus freaks and axe murderers, Marigold found herself scooting in closer to Dane’s side, and he didn’t seem to be arguing. If she’d have known a haunted hayride could draw such quick intimacy, she’d have suggested them for dates long ago.

  They came to a stop and all got off the ride in front of a myriad of stuff to do including a pumpkin patch, a big slide that dumped the rider into a tub of corn, and a station with a fortune teller.

  “Wanna do the hay maze?” Dane asked.

  Marigold stood there looking at this handsome man who seemed like the greatest guy on the planet, and who actually seemed to like her. He could totally be playing her for business or even just for sex. But she really didn’t think that was the case…and she really wanted to kiss him.

  She gave him a smile, turning on her flirt. “Or, we could just explore a little in the woods.” She headed that way, acting like she was looking for ghosts and goblins, but with other things on her mind. The crunch of sticks and leaves behind her signaled he was following her, which made her stomach go upside down for a quick second. “I wonder if there’s anyone in here we can scare,” she said in a low voice.

  “Somebody waiting to scare us?” he asked.

  “Mmm hmm,” she said, grinning to herself, because she was so setting this up for a kiss. She needed to keep her guard up, but one little kiss wouldn’t hurt. It’d been so long that she’d forgotten what a man’s lips felt like on hers. She just wanted a little taste.

  “I think they’re all on the other side. We have to settle for scaring each other,” he said.

  She turned around and faced him. “You don’t scare me, Dane Knight.”

  “Oh yeah,” he said, his voice getting deeper which sent a chill up her spine, regardless of the warm fall evening.

  She bit her lip. “Nope.”

  He moved toward her. “You sure about that?”

  She stepped back, her boots crunching the ground. “Oh yeah.”

  He came forward again. “I bet I can scare you, even right now when you’re expecting it.”

  “I dare you to try,” she said, unable to wipe away the grin. She was so not cool.

  He backed her against a tree, making her feel very Bella Swan in the first Twilight movie. His hand rested on her hip, sending her stomach into orbit. He leaned down, his mouth hovering close to hers. “Boo,” he said, his voice velvety smooth.

  His lips met hers, soft and heavenly. God, just the idea of a man’s lips she liked on hers had seemed like it had become an impossible feat. But here they were in the woods in this strange little town, so isolated from the rest of the world, lips attached, moving together for the sole purpose of pleasure. His hand rested on her hip, the other cradling the back of her neck, strong and capable. It felt so good she let her head relax back. It’d been so long since a man had taken care of her physical needs in even the smallest way that the idea of this subtle allowance made her impossibly vulnerable in the most wonderful way.

  “Ahhh!”

  The two of them jumped a mile as a little girl appeared in front of them, hands up in the air like paws trying to claw at them.

  Marigold grasped her chest. “Oh my God.” The girl giggled and ran off.

  Dane met her gaze, running his hand through his hair. “I think she wins the contest.”

  “For sure,” Marigold said, and they headed toward the parking lot.

  “So, what’s next?”

  “I’m easy,” she said, and then winced. “I mean, I’m up for anything. Well, not anything. Most things. Some things. Not, like, badminton. I wouldn’t be up for that.”

  “Oh, I’m totally up for badminton.”

  They stopped at his car and she stared at his beautiful face, his blue eyes and soft lips which she desperately wanted on hers for the rest of the night. “Do you want to get some food and come back to my place and watch a scary movie?” she asked. “Might as well keep the theme going.”

  He opened the car door for her. “Sounds like a plan.”

  As he walked around the outside of the car, her body started to light up. Was this the night after all these years that she would finally break her dry spell? And with that gorgeous thing? He got in and started the car, every move he made somehow interesting to her now. His hand on the gearshift as he backed out of the space, his exposed neck as he craned his head to watch behind him, the muscles in his arm working as he put the car in drive.

  He smiled over at her. “What?”

  Busted. “Nothing. Just, I don’t have a backup camera either.”

  “Yeah, this car is ancient. I need a new one. Just haven’t messed with it.”

  They drove to a strip mall with a Chinese restaurant and ordered food for an army. When they got to her place, they unloaded it all and she showed him two bottles of opened white wine, both just missing about a glass each. “Do you have a preference? Fiona brings them home from work. She can’t serve them after they’ve been open a few days.”

  “Those are some decent brands.”

  “Yep. That’s what happens. Someone orders a glass of the good stuff, then the rest of the bottle goes to waste when nobody else orders it for a couple of days.”

  He pointed at one of them. “Let’s go with that one.”

  She considered the bottle. “Good choice.” She poured the wine into two glasses, leaving a little in the bottle on the table, and then took her place next to him on the couch, settling in. She grabbed the remote. “All right. What’s it going to be?” She scrolled through the streaming options. “Ooh, have you ever watched these old Twilight Zone episodes? They are so freaking weird.”

  “I watched the movie once as a kid with my mom. Have you seen that?”

  “With that little monster on the wing of the airplane?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, that was totally creepy. Let’s watch the show.” She put it on, and they ate, having fun with the acting and the generation that was so different from theirs. She settled in with her wine, tucking her feet up underneath her. He gauged her. “Doesn’t that hurt your knees, to sit with your feet like that?”

  “No,” she said with a chuckle.

  He stared at her, and she could feel the kiss coming all the way in her core. His lips were sweet and tingly with the wine, and so was his tongue which she was so happy to be getting to know. They hadn’t made it that far in the woods with the little girl scaring the crap out of them.

  She found her hand moving to his thigh, a natural reaction that she hadn’t had in more years than she could count. He kissed her chin, working his way up her jawline to the side of her eye and then her forehead. She’d had moments like this one with guys who she hadn’t felt a thing for, or who she did, but she was confident the level of interest wasn’t returned. But Dane kissed her in a way that said this could be something…dare she think it…real?

  Steps toward the door and fumbling keys had Marigold breaking away. She gripped his knee and whispered, “She wasn’t supposed to be coming home tonight.” As soon as she said it, she realized she’d given herself away. She’d lured him to her home with the intentions of getting him back to her bedroom, of course, but she had been trying to at least put up the façade that this was happening organically.

  The door opened and Fiona blinked as she made out Ma
rigold and Dane on the couch. “Oh, crap. Sorry. I’ll just…” She turned toward the door and hiccupped. “Fuck.”

  She looked rough. “No, come on in,” Marigold said. “Do you want some Chinese food?”

  Fiona let out a huge sigh. “No, thanks. Hey Dane. It’s Dane, right?”

  “Yeah, hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just irritated,” she slurred.

  “Come sit down,” Marigold said, patting the armrest of the chair next to the sofa.

  Fiona plopped down and sat there for a second, staring off into space. Just when Marigold was about to ask her a question, Fiona pointed at her. “You know, women are always saying stuff like, ‘I’m going lesbian. Men are sooo complicated.’ But women are just as complicated as men. Probably even more complicated.” She drug out her words like she was struggling to say them, and it was clear to Marigold that she was drunk as a skunk.

  “Amen to that,” Dane said under his breath.

  Fiona pointed at him. “Right? Am I right?”

  He glanced at Marigold and then back down at his wine glass like he was getting himself into trouble.

  “You know, take Dane here,” Fiona went on. “If the two of you had sex tonight, and then tomorrow he begged you for more, wouldn’t you expect that he’d want to do it again tomorrow night, too?”

  Marigold’s face was so hot it could melt a snowman.

  “Dane, would sex three times with Marigold be too much?” Fiona held up three fingers, one of them floating down.

  “Uh, no,” he said, and Marigold put her forehead in her hand.

  “See!” Fiona shouted and then attempted to snap. “This is what I’m talking about,” she slurred. “Men are easy. They like to have sex. They don’t care who it’s with.”

  Dane held up a finger. “I actually do care who it’s with.” Marigold couldn’t help a smile.

  Fiona looked exhausted with him. “What I mean is you would treasure this woman’s body and soul. Not treat it like a toy you played with once and then discarded for something more fun…and taller.”

  Marigold could do nothing but giggle now. She met his gaze. “Would you discard me for something taller?”

  “You know what I mean. I’m making a yoof…yoof…” Fiona snapped.

  “Euphemism?” Dane asked.

  She pointed at him. “Yes. That.” Marigold was pretty sure that was not the right word here, but she didn’t argue.

  Fiona leaned forward and picked up the bottle of wine. “What’s crazy is I hadn’t even decided if I liked her yet. I mean, I liked her when we did it the first time, but then when we did it the second time, something clicked for me, and I was like, yeah, I like her. Then she comes in the bar tonight, and I’m like hell yeah, I like her. But then this Amazon woman comes in like eighteen feet tall, and Bobbie’s enthralled. They left together, right in front of my face. I swear it was like…” She swatted the air like she was slapping someone, and then looked at the wine bottle in her other hand. “What is this? I don’t even want this. I’m going to bed.”

  She tried to haul herself up out of the chair and then gave up, closing her eyes. Marigold got up and put the bottle on the table. “Come on, Princess Fiona. Let’s get you to your bed.”

  “I’m fine right here,” she said, slouching in the chair.

  Dane got up and slid his arm around her back. “Come on. I’ll get you back there.”

  “I don’t want to go back there. Bobbie was back there this morning. It’s gross. I haven’t changed the sheets.”

  “We’ll take her to my bed,” Marigold said.

  Dane slid his hand under Fiona’s legs and picked her up. Fiona glanced up at him. “I love men again. I wish you were straight. You’re such a good guy.”

  Dane followed Marigold to her room with the plastered Fiona where Marigold pulled the covers back and Dane laid Fiona in the bed. Marigold pulled Fiona’s Mary Janes off her feet then covered her. It took about two seconds before she was asleep.

  Marigold put her hands on her hips. “I think I better stay back here with her in case she needs to throw up.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. I can stay, too, and help.”

  “No, but thanks. I’ll be fine.” She followed him out to the living room where he went for the empty plates on the coffee table. “Leave them. I’ll clean all this up. I need to stay awake for a while to make sure she’s okay. It’ll give me something to do.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yep,” she said, giving him a closed-mouth smile, pressing down her disappointment. She opened the door for him. “Thanks for taking me to the haunted hayride. I had a lot of fun.”

  “I did, too, especially in the woods.”

  She averted her gaze, this cute boy bringing out the fifteen-year-old girl in her. “Mmm hmm.”

  He took her hand in his and pulled her closer to him. “I would never discard you for a taller toy.”

  She grinned. “That’s so nice to hear.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “What about you?”

  “Well, if we’re talking a real doll house, then I’m not so sure.”

  “Oh, so I see. That’s the deal breaker.”

  “Pretty much. I always wanted one as a kid but I never got one.”

  “Well, you definitely deserve all the things you want.”

  “You don’t know that. What if I’m a horrible person and deserve a big kick in the pants?”

  He smiled at her, that little dimple on his chin making her knees wobbly. “Somehow I don’t think that’s the case.” He stepped closer to her, causing her belly to flurry, and kissed her…this time sweet and soft like he meant it.

  He pulled away. “Good night.” Their hands broke apart and she watched him walk away, the view beating any tropical paradise.

  She floated back inside and shut the door behind her, staring at it. Maybe Fiona coming home was some sort of sign for Marigold to back off. She liked Dane way more than she had at the beginning of the night. But this was what she did. She fell hard for guys, had sex with them, and then they weren’t around much after that. This was the pattern she had broken by going celibate. The idea of her being able to sleep with Dane as some sort of reawakening of her sexuality and then just walk away and be cured was starting to seem ludicrous.

  The distinct sound of Fiona’s dinner and evening drink exiting her body through her mouth jolted Marigold back to reality. She winced as she headed into her bedroom. Definitely not the way she’d planned on spending this evening, but as far as her own choices went, it was probably for the best.

  8

  Dane couldn’t swear it, but he’d be willing to bet he slept with a smile on his face last night. Marigold had brought out a side of him he hadn’t seen in a long time. He hadn’t had pure unadulterated fun like that since before Erin.

  Marigold made him feel like a kid and a man all at once. He could be silly and stupid, but then she still looked at him with interest, like she wanted to do more than play.

  Before Marigold, Dane hadn’t been able to imagine an easy relationship, one where he wasn’t always looking for his footing or waiting for the hammer to fall. It was still way early, but just the idea of something like that made him feel like he could breathe clean air again.

  He held his phone, staring at it like it was his lifeline to her. He knew she had the day off today, but he didn’t know if she had plans. They hadn’t discussed it. He wanted to see her again, badly. He texted her.

  How did last night go? Is Fiona okay?

  He waited for the ellipsis to appear at the bottom of his phone, but it didn’t, to what he realized was his extreme disappointment.

  He took a shower, put a load of clothes in, and read a chapter in his book, but he couldn’t focus. He checked his phone for what must have been the tenth time, and his heart lifted when he saw a text, but then it dropped when he realized it wasn’t her. It was his friend Jesse.

  Come eat lunch on me if you can. Testing some new foods
.

  Dane figured that was as good of an offer as he was going to get today, so he grabbed his keys.

  Jesse was behind the bar when Dane got there. With its casual, laid-back Grayton vibe, Jesse’s bar had come to feel like home to Dane over the years…not to mention Jesse was his closest friend besides Ethan.

  Jesse wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. “There he is. Where were you last night? I texted you to come by. There was a girl here I was talking to who I thought you might like.”

  “If she was cool, why didn’t you go for her?”

  He shrugged. “I think I’m burnt out on women.”

  “Uh oh,” Dane said.

  “It’s not even fun anymore. They come in here and sit, and you flirt for a while, go home if you’re feeling it, then there’s either bullshit to deal with or they go back to where they came from.”

  “What about local women?”

  Jesse grunted with a shrug. “Everyone’s so busy doing their own thing. All of us who own businesses work them all the damn time. When do we have time to have a life?”

  “Mmm,” Dane uttered.

  “You want a beer?”

  “Just a Coke, please.”

  Jesse shot soda from his drink hose into a cup. “You know as well as I do that the local women are all either attached or busy as hell.”

  Dane took the drink from him. “Actually, I sort of met someone.”

  “A local?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Would I know her?”

  “She owns that gift shop in Seagrove called Apples to Oranges.”

  He squinted. “Maybe I know it. I think I’ve seen a sign from the street. Is it tucked behind that restaurant that’s been shut down for a while?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “What’s she like?”

  “Fun,” Dane said, his chest lighting up at the idea of her.

  Jesse grinned at him, pulling his messy hair out of his face. “Oh, fuck. You’re in love.”