Lush (27 page)
cook things. He thought about me, knew me enough to under-
10
stand I’d fi nd this incredibly moving. I could have resisted jew-
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elry. And it’s not the fi rst time. He brought the fi lé I made the 12
gumbo with before that too. He’s clever. And really, really good
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in bed. My god. He’s . . . Anyway. He’s good. We’re good. I
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don’t want to end it.”
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Daisy grinned. “So don’t. Let him prove himself to you. And
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if he does, the other stuff won’t matter as much. You’ll fi nd a
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way to deal with the distance and the media. Like Gillian does.
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Like I deal with Levi’s dumb society stuff. Like Jules deals with
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bossy Cal and bossy Gideon. I’m giving up my house. Levi asked
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me to move in with him.”
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Genuine happiness fi lled Mary to near bursting as she hugged
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Daisy. “When?”
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“Two hours ago. He came home after court. Well, came to
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my home and we— well, we
visited
. Anyway, after the visit he 25
said he thought it was silly that we were apart when we liked
26
being together. He said he wanted me with him every night. He
27
said he had spoken with one of his brothers, the architect, to
S28
convert one of the guest rooms into a dressing room. Like I have
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in my house. Only bigger because, well, you’ve seen his house.
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Anyway. He wants his house to be our house.”
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“And you said?”
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“Hello, do you think I’m dumb? I said yes.”
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Mary grinned so hard her face hurt. “I’m so excited for you!”
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“Me too. Scared a little, but mainly excited. I’ll keep my stu-
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dio space where it is. No sense in moving that. I love the light
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and the size is perfect. Plus I get to work with my grandmother
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around and that’s the best part. I’m in love. So much love my
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life is overfl owing with it. I’m really, really happy right now and 11
I’m so glad you’re happy too. You’re the fi rst person I told. There 12
was more visiting in a carnal sense to celebrate the answer, and
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then he had to go back to work and I came over here.”
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“This totally calls for something more exciting than leftover
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carnitas
! I have champagne.”
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“Yay!”
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“Shall we call over the troops?” Mary got up and began to
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rustle through her kitchen. “I’m making a feast. We need a feast
19
of celebration.”
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Daisy laughed, moving to hug her again. “You’re the best
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person in the world. I knew if I told you, you’d make me feel
22
even better, and you totally did. Thank you for being my best
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friend.”
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Mary sniffl ed. “What else could I be?”
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She called Gillian and Jules and told them to get over to her
26
place to celebrate some news. Both women said they were on it.
27
Damien called just after everyone had arrived and the cham-
28S
pagne had been poured and toasts had been made. She was giddy
29N
and slightly drunk.
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“Sounds like I’m missing something good.” She heard the
01
smile in his voice when he said it and realized she missed him
02
already.
03
“Celebrating with my friends. Daisy’s had some good news.
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You got home all right?”
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“Yes. I miss you already though.”
06
She took a chance. Later, if it didn’t work out, she could
07
blame the champagne. “I was just thinking that.”
08
“Come down. Spend some time here with me. Two days at
09
a time isn’t enough. Spend a week. Stay in my house. Meet my
10
family.”
11
“I can’t take a week off. I have supper club and various jobs
12
I’ve already booked.”
13
“How about if you come down here fi rst thing on a Monday?
14
Your Sunday Supper Club will be fi nished and then I can fl y you
15
back whenever your next job is. If it’s just a day later or whatever 16
I can even fl y you home, even for a few hours, and then we can
17
come back. Whatever. I wasn’t joking when I said I wanted to
18
hire you to cater for me. I want to do a big dinner for my family
19
and I can’t cook worth a damn. You can though.”
20
He was so charming, so earnestly wanting to be with her.
21
How could she not relent? “Are you sure? That seems like an
22
awful lot of work to fl y me up and back. Twice even.”
23
“Am I not being clear about how much I want to spend time
24
with you? I like fl ying. It’s fun for me, gets me hours in the air 25
and it means it cuts the travel time down enough to make it
26
doable.”
27
“Let me look at my schedule to see when I’ve got a stretch of
S28
time without jobs. I think it’s not going to happen until October
N29
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though.” She paused. “But I can probably swing a day or two.
02
If we left on a Sunday night after supper club and came back
03
Wednesday morning.”
04
“Yeah?” She pictured his smile and it warmed her.
05
“Yeah. And I’ll make the feast. You will not pay me for it.”
06
“Your time—”
07
She cut him off. “There are things I do freely because I care
08
about the people I do them for. Trying to pay me for them would
09
make me feel bad.”
10
He paused. “All right. That’s fair. Also a compliment, if I’m
11
not mistaken. Also, if I fl y up to get you, that means I have more 12
time with you and you have more time being here instead of
13
traveling.”
14
“You like getting your way.”
15
He laughed. “You’ve found me out.”
16
“All right. Let me get back to you on dates. I’ve got to run.
17
I’m glad you’re home safe.”
18
“I’ll talk to you soon then. Night.”
19
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28S
29N
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T
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hey stood in a coffee shop and she had to rein in her
17
impulse to punch the woman currently gushing all over
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Damien. A good solid jab to the throat might cure this
19
bitch of her manners problem.
20
He was fl irty, but in a general way. It was his nature, Mary
21
had realized some time ago. But it was clear the woman took
22
his nature as an excuse to keep it up.
23
Damien stepped away and the woman stepped closer. Mary
24
watched, her head cocked, white noise in her head. She didn’t
25
like being jealous. It sucked. It was ugly, and yet she totally
was
26
jealous.
27
To his credit though, Damien kept trying to fi nd nice ways
S28
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01
to tell this woman to back off and go away. Finally he stepped
02
back, grabbed Mary’s shoulders and put her between them.
03
Then Mary felt like she’d been given permission to step in.
04
“What Damien is trying very hard to say and you’re trying
05
very hard not to hear is that he’s here with someone. That’s me.”
06
She waggled her fi ngers in greeting. “If you walk away now, you
07
can keep some dignity.”
08
He pulled her back into his body, encircling her shoulders in
09
his arms. His heart beat so steadily she calmed a little. He kissed 10
her temple.
11
The gusher looked a little surprised, her gaze going back to
12
Damien.
13
“This is Mary. She’s my girlfriend. I’m here with her. I’m with
14
her,” he repeated, and fi nally the gusher shrugged and wandered
15
away.
16
Girlfriend?
She thought to protest and realized she didn’t 17
want to. Even if it wasn’t true. Was it? Oh man, now was not the
18
time to have this internal panic attack.
19
“Thank you for saving me,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m
20
sorry, that was so rude.”
21
Well, he’d learned from the time in New York. He’d dealt
22
with it quicker. It wouldn’t be the last time either. She had to
23
decide if she could fi nd a way to deal with it.
24
“I wanted to punch her in the throat.”
25
He turned her, tipping her chin up. He didn’t care who was
26
looking. In fact he hoped everyone was, because he wanted the
27
world to know this was his woman. “It’s hot when you get this
28S
way.” He brushed a kiss over her mouth.
29N
“Mm hm. I’m told this is part of the whole deal. I know
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enough at this point to be certain I don’t enjoy it. The private
01
plane part is a thumbs-up, though.”
02
He laughed, tucking her against his side. Their coffee order
03
would be up soon and then they could be on their way.
04
“Mainly that sort of thing doesn’t happen here. In town most
05
people leave me alone. We grew up here. We’re locals. I go grocery
06
shopping and that sort of thing and people are mostly respect-
07
ful. I see old schoolteachers and that sort of thing. I’m sorry. I
08
really am.”
09
She sniffed but said no more. In all the times they’d been
10
together she’d never really shown any jealousy. Other women
11
he’d been with had been jealous when they had no right to be.
12
That had been annoying. This one though? He wanted to pump
13
his fi st in victory.
14
Their coffees came up and he grabbed them.
15
“Sometimes people do this sort of thing to Adrian at Tart.
16
Jules kicks people out. I guess they do it sometimes at Erin’s café 17
as well. Once, Jules actually jumped the counter to haul out
18
some skank who fl ashed her boobs at Adrian. Unbelievable that
19
some people have no self- respect at all.”
20
“Clearly you need to be with me to protect me at all times.”
21
She laughed. “Mmm hmm.”
22
“Come on. You ready for Sweet Hollow Ranch?”
23
“Bring it on.”
24
He got her back into the car as she sipped her coffee. He’d
25
warned everyone to back off until he slowly brought her around.
26
The last thing he needed was to have his family scaring her off.
27
He’d gotten her this far, he wanted to be sure he got everything
S28
right. He wanted her to be in his life regularly.
N29
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He took her in the back way so that when they came around
02
the last bend she’d see the river off in the distance along with
03
his house. He wanted to preen and show off for her.
04
“Wow, this is so beautiful.” She looked around as they got
05
out of the car. “Smells good too. So quiet.”
06
“It’s nice to be up here. You can see what’s happening else-
07
where, but it’s quiet and off the beaten path. Come on in. We’ll