Plus…he was pretty easy on the peepers.
* * *
Darcy was nervous as she and Ford walked up the stairs to her apartment later that morning.She’d dropped her phone in the abduction, so she didn’t have a way to know if Cruz had been trying to reach her.Plus, she knew the apartment was a mess.If he was home, he’d be worried.
Crew and the herd had formulated a lie for her to share with Cruz to protect them all, and while she hated lying, she knew it was a necessary thing to keep them all safe.
But it turned out Cruz wasn’t home.
“I want to pick up first in case he comes home,” she said.“And find my dang phone.”
Ford found it, and while the screen was cracked, it came back to life when she plugged it in.They made quick work of the broken lamp and upturned furniture, shutting and locking the bedroom window and righting the bed linens.
The front door creaked as it opened, and her heart jumped into her throat.
Ford looked out of the bedroom door and said, “It’s Cruz.”
“Darce?”her brother called.
“In the bedroom with Ford.”
“Good.I need to talk to you both.”
“Oh man,” she whispered.
After she and Ford had cleaned up, she’d started packing.And not just one bag for a few days, she wanted to take as much as they could, so they’d brought some plastic tubs and a few duffel bags borrowed from the guys.
She hadn’t told Cruz she wanted to move out fully.
“It’ll be all right,” Ford whispered as he moved from the doorway to her side, ever the protector.
Cruz stopped just inside the doorway.Instead of the scowl she was expecting, followed by another lecture, he looked sad.
“I wanted to catch you before you headed off for work,” he said.
“I’m not going in today,” she said, clearing her throat.“The farmhouse fire caused a lot of damage, and I wanted to help clean.”
He glanced at Ford.“Everyone is okay, though?At the farmhouse?”
“Yes,” Ford said.
“Good.”Cruz rubbed the back of his neck.“I stayed with Greg.He told me I was a jerk, and I was going to lose you if I didn’t pull my head out of you-know-where.”
“I always liked Greg,” Darcy quipped.
Cruz made a face.“He’s also a jerk, so he’d know one when he saw one.”
Ford gave Darcy’s upper arm a gentle squeeze.“I’m going to carry some things down to the truck and give you two some space.”
“Thanks,” she said.
When they were alone, she watched the play of emotions across her brother’s face.“I’m sorry.For every damn thing I said and how I acted.I’m sorry I was trying to take your choices from you, or make you live the way I think you should.The truth is, I wasn’t just worried you were going to get your heart broken, I was scared you were going to leave me behind.”
“You’re not losing me just because I found my soulmate.You’ll always be my brother and we’ll be close, I’ll make sure of it.”She crossed the room and hugged him tightly.“Ford doesn’t want to push you out of my life, he wants to be part of our family.”
“I’d like that.”
She walked back to the bed where she’d been packing her kitschy collection of salt and pepper shakers into a cardboard box.He joined her.
