Chapter Twenty
Thanks for choosing to stay with us, and I hope you have a wonderful vacation.” Holly smiled at the guests she’d just checked in, and handed over the rack card for the Firefly Festival. The couple was from Virginia, come down solely for the festival. “Your room is right at the top of the stairs on the left, the Magnolia Room. Also, there’s a movie in the park tonight. Everyone comes out for it. I hope to see you there.”
“Perfect,” the wife murmured.
Holly handed over a map showing parking for the festival, and explained how to get to each lot. When the couple moved up the stairs, she took a quick peek at her watch. It was date night, and here she was, sitting in the middle of her parents’ bed-and-breakfast instead of at her cabin primping for Zack.
Which made her think of the lack of primping she’d done for Keith.
She’d looked nice for Keith. She just hadn’t gone out of her way to really stand out.
For Zack, she wanted to stand out.
For Zack, she wanted to be the only thing he saw tonight.
The front door opened and she fitted another smile to her face, expecting it to be the final guests they were expecting. Instead it was the man who hadn’t been further than a minute from her thoughts since he’d walked into her cabin Tuesday afternoon and declared he couldn’t stay away.
Hallelujah for small miracles, because she didn’t want him to stay away.
Yeah, it was stupid. She was already half in love with the guy. She didn’t need to fall the rest of the way just to watch him walk out of her life.
But how could she not say yes? To whatever he wanted?
He saw her sitting at the corner desk and stopped, and the look that came over his face turned her into complete and utter mush. His smile was slow. It said he’d been thinking bad, bad things when it came to her. And the heat in his eyes could singe anything it came into contact with.
Lord knew she was singed.
He wore dusty boots, his jeans hadn’t fared much better, and the navy T-shirt he had on clung to his chest and shoulders as if it was damp with sweat. Either he’d been working with Nick again, or he’d turned into some kind of caveman overnight.
She liked the look.
They hadn’t seen each other since Tuesday afternoon. She’d been keeping busy at the studio working on a couple new designs. If word came from either Chicago or Atlanta that there was interest, she wanted to have something fresh and new ready to go.
She’d also been working so hard just to avoid Zack.
Because she didn’t think she could be around him and “avoid” him any longer. Not after the way he’d reeled her in Tuesday afternoon. He’d barely kissed her when he’d been at her house, yet he’d made a very lasting impression.
The kind of impression that let her know his next kiss would come with more. She was ready for that. She’d thought long and hard about it the last couple of days, and yes, she wanted it. She wanted Zack.
Her heart pounded so hard behind her breastbone just from thinking about it, that she wouldn’t have been surprised to look down and see her shirt moving in sync with her pulse.
“Hi,” she said. She swallowed around a dry throat.
He gave a single nod. “Hi.”
Then his gaze drank her in from head to toe as if he hadn’t seen her in months. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She hadn’t expected to be here. “Mom called.” She forced herself to breathe normally. No sense letting him know she was this turned on merely by looking at him. “She needed me to handle check-ins while she ran into Pigeon Forge. There’s a sale on patio furniture. Apparently some of the chairs need replacing.”
Mundane chitchat was about all she had available right then. As well as a spiked temperature and increasingly damp panties. If she played her cards right, she was going to have sex tonight. And then she was going to have sex as often as possible for the next ten days.
“I thought you were working at your studio?” Zack asked. He moved farther into the room, his body honed and tight, and his movements not wasting an ounce of energy. He didn’t come close enough to touch, though.
She wanted to touch.
She gave a little shrug. “Duty called.”
Being here annoyed her for the simple fact that she’d explained to her mother yesterday morning that she was working on something important she wanted to show the entire family this weekend. Yet her mom had decided she needed to go shopping, and here Holly sat. Not working on her mirrors.
Not being important enough that her plans mattered.
“Don’t worry, though. I’ll be ready in time to leave,” she began. “You just won’t have to go out to my place to pick me up. I’ll change here.”
He nodded again. He kept looking at her like she was dinner and he hadn’t eaten in days.
Her phone let out a short buzz and vibrated on the desk, and she jumped, pulling her attention away from Zack. She hurriedly reached for it. She had an e-mail.
As she pressed the button, her hands began to shake.
“Is it them?” Zack asked. He stepped closer now, leaning over the desk to peer at her phone.
Holly scanned her inbox, her eyes searching for more than was there, then she let out a pent-up breath. “No.” Her shoulders slumped. “When I sent the portfolio Tuesday night, she said I’d hear something in a couple days.” She put the phone on the desk and looked up at Zack. “It’s been a couple days. Why haven’t I heard anything?”
Nerves had her a frustrated mess. Between waiting to hear back from Chicago, and waiting to see what would happen with Zack, it was a wonder she’d managed to get anything accomplished at all over the last two days. Renewed potential for a career had inspired her, though. So she’d put all her tangled-up energy into her work.
And if she hadn’t been pulled over to the house for the last few hours, she would have gotten even more accomplished.
“It’ll come,” he assured her. His mouth was inches from hers now. His lips somehow managed to look both soft and hard at the same time. “And then you’ll get to decide what you want to do. You’re in charge here.”
She nodded. She didn’t feel like she was in charge of anything.
Her eyes remained on his mouth. They had a date. Dates ended with kisses. Dates often turned into more.
“I need to shower,” Zack murmured.
She slid her gaze back up to his eyes. She needed to be in that shower with him.
“You’ll be ready in an hour?” he asked.
She nodded.
She was ready right now.
Just like the last time he crossed the park on movie night, everyone stared at Zack. Only this time, they weren’t staring because he was an outsider. Well, okay, maybe a bit because he was an outsider. But more because of the woman he held close to his side.
Holly walked next to him, one hand in his, and so near that their bodies occasionally brushed as they moved. She looked nothing like the prim innkeeper who’d been manning the desk at the B&B when he’d returned to the house earlier.
Now she had on a short, pale-pink dress that brushed the tops of her tanned thighs and was held up with tiny string-like straps. It had a high waist, and two rows of ruffles with three little pink buttons marching vertically between her breasts.
And those breasts.
Oh, hell. They were cupped and lifted on her chest, lovely creamy mounds peeking out above the material.
And they bounced with every damned step she took.
He’d already had so much blood run south, he wasn’t sure how he would make it through the movie.
“Still nothing,” she muttered at his side. Of course, as he was trying not to ogle her breasts, she once again had her eyes glued to her phone. She’d checked her e-mail at least five times since they’d left the house.
“You’re worrying too much,” he told her.
Her gaze lifted to his. “She said I’d hear from her today.”
“She said a couple days. And a couple days doesn’t always mean two,” he informed her. “Not for everyone.” He reached over and plucked the device from her hand. He wished she had an answer from the store owner in Chicago, but stressing over an e-mail she couldn’t control wouldn’t help matters. And it certainly wouldn’t go far toward having a good time tonight. “You’ll hear from her soon enough. Don’t you want to enjoy tonight while we’re here?”
“I do, but . . .” Her eyes grew panicked as she watched her phone disappear into the front pocket of his jeans. “Zack,” she begged.
He put his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Quit worrying and enjoy the evening.”
She eyed his pocket as if considering going after the phone.
He eyed her as if considering letting her go for it.
“Touch me and it’s over,” he murmured.
She blushed. A lovely shade of pink that almost matched her dress. It colored her cheeks and the tip of her nose.
But if she put her hands anywhere near the front of his jeans, he would toss her over his shoulder and be out of there in a heartbeat. And they absolutely would not come out of her cabin until morning.
“There’s your niece,” he said. He nudged his chin toward the girl standing half a football field away, one arm waving wildly. “Are we sitting with them?”
“Yeah,” Holly murmured. Her mind was clearly not on where they were sitting, or anything else about their date. She turned pleading eyes up to his. “Can’t I just check it one more time?”
“Not on your life.” He hauled her through the crowd until he got to her family. They were all there. Kyndall; Kyndall’s parents; Brian and his flavor of the week; Patrick, Jillian, and their boys; and Mr. and Mrs. Marshall.
Every last one of them watched them expectantly. He had Holly’s hand in his in a manner that spoke of possession. Not of friendship.
Nerves pinched his gut.
His own mother also sat nearby. She was watching too.
As was Ms. Grayson, whom his mom had ridden to the park with.
His mom was fitting in perfectly, having already made several friends since she’d been here, and had excursions lined up for every day of her trip. Lucky for him, the one person she seemed to enjoy spending the most time with was the town busybody. The same woman, from what he understood, who was the ringleader of Holly getting so many men chasing after her.
He didn’t like men chasing after her.
“Did you want to sit with your brothers instead?” she asked. She looked guilty as she glanced from her family over a couple blankets to where his brothers, Joanie, Lee Ann, and his nieces sat.
“It’s okay. We can sit here.” But when Candy and Kendra spotted him in the crowd, he found himself wanting to be with them too. Kendra was talking to her boyfriend, and they looked to be trying to decide where to sit, and Candy was standing beside them showcasing a load of boredom and holding a massive tub of popcorn.
Both girls waved at him, and he waved back. They’d been out at the construction site with Nick today, and had trailed around behind him as much as they had Nick.
“Come on. Let’s sit with them,” Holly urged, while at the same time Kyndall said shyly, “Will you sit beside me?”
Ah, shit.
What was he supposed to do? He looked down at the young face shining up at him. Yep. He couldn’t walk away from that.
“I’d love to,” he said. He glanced at Holly. “If it’s okay with your aunt. Wouldn’t want her to get jealous, would we?”
He dropped to the ground and tugged Holly down beside him while Kyndall giggled.
“I like that you two are dating,” the girl said.
Holly’s smile went a little too wide. “Where’d you hear that?”
Kyndall’s mother peered around from the other side of the girl. She shot Holly a pointed look, then lowered her gaze to where Zack’s hand still held Holly’s.
“Mom said you were,” Kyndall informed them. Her smile was angelic.
“As has everyone in town,” the woman added.
And yeah, Zack might have told his own mother that he and Holly were going out tonight. He’d assumed she would tell her new best friend, and that friend would then be free with the information. He needed the other men to know to back the hell off.
Kyndall’s mother reached a hand out to Zack and he had to turn loose of Holly to shake it. “We met a couple weeks ago. I’m Erika. This here is my husband, Rodney.”
Yet another blond Marshall stuck out his hand. He gave Zack the same look that Patrick and Brian had been known to shoot his way on occasion.
Don’t touch my sister.
Right. Only, he had every intention of touching their sister. Every square inch of her.
“We’ve heard it about ten times in the fifteen minutes since we’ve been here,” Erika informed them. “I think you two make a great couple, by the way.”
Rodney grunted, and Kyndall edged closer to Zack. Holly twirled a lock of hair around her finger as if embarrassed.
Then Candy and Kendra headed their way. “Can we squeeze in?” Kendra asked.
Zack’s heart did its own squeeze. They wanted to be with him. That felt way better than he’d ever imagined it would.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “But don’t you want to sit with your boyfriend?” he teased Kendra.
“Nah.” She plopped down on the quilt, followed by her sister. “I’m going to dump him anyway. I have my eye on another guy. One who’ll be in the ninth grade next year. I like older men.”
Holly chuckled and scooted over, giving the girls enough room to slide in next to him, and he shot her a grateful wink. So much for snuggling up tight during the movies. Maybe that would help him focus and not drag her off in the dark for a quick make-out session.
“Want some popcorn?” Candy offered the tub around. As she did, he watched Holly eye the front of his jeans.
“Leave it alone,” he told her.
Erika snickered from the other side of her daughter.
Zack pulled the phone out of his pocket to show it to Holly’s sister-in-law, ignoring the glare of every Marshall man in the vicinity, then tucked it back into his pants.
“You just checked two minutes ago,” he told Holly over Candy’s head. “You’re fine.”
Holly grunted in disgust.
“What’s she checking?” Kyndall had scooted so close her elbow poked him in the side every time she wiggled. She was way too cute, and he found himself a bit smitten with her.
He bypassed her question, not wanting to either explain the neurosis of her aunt or give away anything about the mirrors, instead spending the next few minutes talking with Kyndall and the other two girls. They discussed everything from best friends, to what they were all doing on their summer vacations, to reruns of Happy Days. Apparently Kyndall had just discovered the show on television.
“I like the older shows,” she told him very maturely.
“Me too,” Candy agreed. “My favorite is The Cosby Show. Bill Cosby is so funny.”
The girls had a way of making him feel way too old.
“Mom says tonight’s movie is a classic too,” Kyndall explained. “I’m sure I’m going to love it.”
The movie was Doc Hollywood.
It was not what he would call a classic.
Nor did he expect to love it.
Rumor was that it had been picked because of the squash festival in the movie. It was no Sugar Springs Firefly Festival—to hear it told—but there were enough similarities to warrant the showing.
He caught Holly staring at his jeans again, and leaned around behind the twins to put his mouth to her ear. He used the moment to steal a quick nuzzle, then smiled against her neck when he felt her shiver.
“You have it set to vibrate when you get e-mail, right?” he whispered after he finished toying with her neck.
She nodded.
She also breathed heavier.
He nibbled on her earlobe. “Then don’t worry about it. I’ll feel it.” He pulled back before one of her brothers decided to try to kick his ass. “And if you’ll behave and enjoy the evening, I’ll even let you know if it goes off.”
Her eyes narrowed on him.
“You can’t do the scary look, babe.” He winked at her. “So don’t even try.”
She made a face.
He laughed. All three girls laughed with him. And then the movie started.
Halfway through the movie, Candy and Kendra had shifted to the front of the blanket, stretched out on their sides, and Holly had made her way to his side. She snuggled in close and whispered, “Have you heard anything from your friend in Atlanta?”
He almost laughed at her. He was sitting there thinking about sliding his hands up under her skirt, and she was still stressing over not hearing anything about her mirrors.
“Yeah,” he told her. “She loved them.”
Holly reared back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Shhh,” he whispered when several people scowled in their direction. “There’s a movie playing.” He pulled her back to him and wrapped his arms around her so that her back was to his chest. It felt right to sit there with her like that. “Because nothing is official,” he added quietly once she’d settled back down. He spoke into her ear so no one could hear. “She wants to take a closer look, and then wants to show them to her boss. She’d love to see them in person.”
When Holly grew still, he suggested, “We could invite her up.”
He liked saying we. It also felt right.
“For a product with your uniqueness,” he continued, “I’m sure she’d make the drive.”
Holly turned her head to take him in as if she still didn’t believe his words. But then she shook her head. “We don’t have a room to put her in.”
He could give up his room and bunk with Holly. Which was actually a terrific idea.
But not one he was ready to suggest.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he said. He kissed her temple, and they settled in to watch the rest of the show.
As the credits began to roll, he couldn’t say what any of the movie had been about. All he’d been able to do was listen to Holly breathe, smell her flowery scent, and steal more nuzzles against her neck. Each time he did, the silk of her hair brushed across his face and he’d wanted more.
He wanted more now.
He’d been a gentleman all night, but the way her rear had been snuggled up next to him for the last forty-five minutes could have tempted a saint. Not to mention, he’d been semi-hard for her for most of the last two weeks.
He was hella frustrated.
She glanced at him as if aware he was watching her.
“What?” she whispered. Her voice had dropped. It was deeper. Softer.
It was middle-of-sex husky.
She was having the same thoughts he was.
Zack put his mouth to her ear once again. This time he didn’t nuzzle. He didn’t tease.
He demanded.
“Let’s go to your house,” he said. Yet, it wasn’t merely going to her house that he was suggesting.
“You guys want to come over?” Nick and Joanie stood in front of them now, with Cody and Lee Ann two steps behind. “We could play cards or something.”
“Yeah,” Candy and Kendra both chimed in. “That would be cool.”
Kyndall and her mother rose to begin gathering the trash the group had accumulated from the concession stand, while Zack watched Holly’s gaze dart to each member of the Marshall family and then to the Daltons. If they didn’t go over to Nick’s, everyone would assume—correctly—they’d be doing something else instead.
Would she let that happen?
She scanned over Zack’s features as if to be sure he was asking what he was asking. Yeah, it wasn’t cards he wanted to play tonight.
Then she turned back to Nick and gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry guys, not tonight.” She faked a yawn behind her hand. “I’m beat.”
Zack was on his feet, pulling her up in two seconds flat. “I’d better get you home then.” He looked at his brothers, and he ignored Holly’s brothers. “Sorry, guys. Maybe next time.”
Brian Marshall looked at him as if he intended to slash Zack’s tires so he couldn’t go anywhere.
“Ah, Uncle Zack, you’re no fun. Now Mom will think we need to go to bed early.”
Candy’s words froze him to the spot. Uncle Zack?
He looked at his niece. His mouth went dry. She made a silly face at him before turning to her sister, and both girls began helping Kyndall fold up one of the quilts. Cody seemed to be watching him carefully, as if waiting to see his reaction to the familial name.
Hell, he didn’t know how to react. She’d tossed it out as if she’d been saying that her whole life.
He wanted to hear it again.
“We can go over if you want,” Holly whispered at his side.
She understood. This was a big moment for him. But so was being with her.
He glanced down, taking in her sweet, understanding face as he weighed the situation. He was an uncle. Not just in name, but a blood relative. And he couldn’t decide between that and making love to the woman at his side.
Did that make him a bad person?
As if he’d made his own decision, Cody took a step forward and spoke to Zack alone. “Go on, man. You’re in. They’re crazy about you. I promise this isn’t the only time you’ll hear that word.”
What wasn’t said, but was understood, was that he was in with Cody too. They were good.
This was turning out to be one hell of a night.
“You’re sure?” Zack asked. Because he really did want to go home with Holly.
Cody nodded and clapped him on the back. “Just remember the deal. Don’t hurt her.”
Meaning Holly. Right.
If one of her brothers didn’t take him out, one of his brothers would. He got it. But he also didn’t intend to hurt her. He hadn’t lied, and he hadn’t made promises. She understood that.
But whatever this thing was between them, they needed time to figure it out.
He nodded, shook Cody’s hand, then called out a good-bye to his nieces. Both of them came over and gave him a hug. Yet another act that floored him. Kendra offered up a quick peck to the cheek. “I had a good time tonight,” she told him. “Way better than sitting with some lame boy.”
And then the lame boy called her name and she laughed with glee and rushed off to him.
Zack turned to Holly. She was smiling at him the same way Kendra had smiled at the lame boy. Like he gave her the warm fuzzies.
He liked that smile.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
She nodded. “I’ve never been more ready.”