Page 102 of Love You
“Come in the house,” she told Win.
Max carried a floral overnight bag, which Win assumed was Hilde’s, and put it in her bedroom. “I’m heading home, Mom.”
“Don’t be silly. I dragged you all the way here in the middle of the night. Stay over.”
Max gave Win a cool assessment and apparently determined he wasn’t a threat. “It’s best that I go now. I have a tee time at eight.”
“All right, dear, drive carefully.” She kissed him good-bye and as soon as he left the house said, “He couldn’t wait to get back to that girlfriend of his.”
“Darcy told me about that.” And now she was going to look at him the same way. As a cheater. “So you have no idea where she is, huh?”
“My guess is she used the opportunity of not having to babysit me to get out on a Friday night. It’s only eleven. I wouldn’t worry. You’re welcome to wait for her here, watch TV, whatever you like. But I’m going to turn in. I still don’t have all my energy back and frankly my son is exhausting.”
He winked at her. “You’re looking pretty spry to me, Mrs. Wallace. Next week we’re going rock climbing.”
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?”
