He groans. "You really know how to torture a man. Tomorrow, then."
"Tomorrow."
"Looking forward to it," he says, giving me an intense look that nearly melts my panties off my body right where I stand.
I start to walk away. I don't look back, mostly because if I look back I won't keep walking, and a woman should be allowedto keep a little dignity on the same public street where she just kissed a man senseless in front of the entire pharmacy.
I feel Finn's eyes on me until I finally round the corner and disappear from his view.
CHAPTER 23
FINN
Itook the call from Merritt Land Partners an hour ago, and it's still sitting in my chest when I knock on Darcy's door.
The parcels are assembled. The capital's lined up. The resort I've been sketching on napkins for two years is sitting on a drafting table in Denver now, whole, waiting to be real. There's just one condition. Their investors aren't backing a brand, they're backing me. On the ground. Running the build.
Years, not quarters, the lead partner said. Twice, so I'd hear it.
And now there's a window I need to act within, because another buyer is circling the Breckenridge land. For a year I've been telling everyone the land isn't going anywhere. Turns out the land has other ideas.
I said I'd get back to them. Then I ironed a shirt with my own two hands for the first time since my father’s funeral, and now I'm standing on Darcy's apartment welcome mat with my heart going like a speeding train.
She opens the door, and Colorado falls away.
She's in a dress I haven't seen before, simple and elegant, but I register it the way I'd regard the frame on a painting, becauseher face is the real star of the show. She's lit up. Eyes sparkling, mouth curved in a smile that makes me want to hug her and pounce on her at the same time.
There's no wall between us right now, nothing held back or measured out. Just Darcy, happy to see me, like that's the most normal thing in the world.
"Hi," she says.
"You're stunning." It's the only coherent thought I can push off my tongue. "Wow."
God, I'm smooth around her. But she just laughs, and reaches up to fix my shirt collar, then adjusts the lapel of my jacket. I stand there and let her fuss over me because her fingers brushing warm and soft against my neck are the best thing that has happened to me all day.
"You look very handsome tonight," she says.
"I'm trying to impress my date." I catch her hand off my collar and kiss her knuckles, watching the pink come up in her cheeks. I want her so badly it's a low hum under everything, steady as a generator. "You ready?"
She nods, then I take her hand in mine and lead her carefully down the stairs to my car waiting at the curb. I chose one of the family vehicles, a gleaming black Maybach that's more understated than my sports car and not as rustic as the vineyard's old pickup truck.
"Nice ride," she says as I assist her into the passenger seat. "If this is part of the 'impress your date' effort, you're getting all A's so far."
I grin, my hands resting on the sleek door. "We're just getting started."
I close her in, then round the hood to climb in behind the wheel. She's watching me with rapt attention now.
"You haven't told me where we're going tonight."
"Nope."
She tries to guess while I head away from Main Street and the downtown. When we pass the Mattichogue water tower, she goes quiet, working it over. A few minutes later, we make the turn onto the road that leads to the vineyard.
"What's going on?" She swivels a confused look at me. "We're going to your family's place?"
"I'm taking you to dinner," I say, turning on to the private drive that leads straight toward the Bardot estate's main house. "Dinner tonight just happens to require crossing my mother's territory. Stay low, move fast, and try not to make eye contact with Evan. You'll only encourage him."
She laughs, but I catch the anxious way she nibbles her lower lip. I park the Maybach, help Darcy out, then we enter the main house together, where we do not stay low or move fast. Unfortunately for everyone present, eye contact with Evan is immediate, because my family has arranged itself around the big kitchen looking extremely casual, which means they watched us approach the whole way up the drive. Mom's at the marble-topped island with her sleeves rolled, handwashing dishes even though her top-of-the-line dishwasher is sitting neglected. Evan's on the sofa with his leg up, phone out, angled for a clear view of the door.
