CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“LOOK WHO WANDERED into my shop.” Bridgette came through the arched doorway from her flower shop after closing Thursday afternoon with Aurelia Stark, looking just as fresh and beautiful as she had first thing that morning.
Willow wiped her hands on her shorts, which were stained with flour, frosting, and grease from trying to repair her oven. “Girls, you’re right on time. My oven went wonky again, and the cupcakes came out funky. We have no choice but to eat them.” She locked the door to the bakery and hugged Aurelia. Her long, naturally wavy brown hair fell to the middle of her back. She was as petite in height as Piper, but curvy like Willow, and at twenty-seven she still wore some of the same clothes she’d worn when she was eighteen—today it was jeans with holes in the knees, white Converse, and a simple white tank top. And somehow she managed to look like a million bucks.
“You look incredible. Whatever you’ve done, it suits you.”
“Long story.” Aurelia made a beeline for the kitchen.
Willow and Bridgette exchanged a concerned glance.
“I’ve been texting you all week. What’s going on?” Willow grabbed plates from a cabinet and slid them across the counter.
“My phone is having issues.” Aurelia took a big bite of cupcake and set two more on the plates for the girls.
“Bummer. What happened?” Bridgette nibbled on her cupcake.
“I think it has something to do with being thrown at a moving car.”
Willow nearly choked on her cupcake. Aurelia’s phone always took the brunt of her bad days.
“I know, right?” Aurelia stuffed more cupcake in her mouth. She glanced at Willow’s ring, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Holy crap. So it’s really true? You and Zane? You guys own the Internet right now. They’re running the pictures of you two in Lake George with different headings every day.”
True and becoming more real every day. Willow had made a point of avoiding the Internet since she and Zane had gotten together. She didn’t need to see what she already knew, and the Internet cheapened everything. Between gathering recipes for the set breakfasts, keeping up with the bakery orders, and Zane preparing for his filming and working on his screenplay, which he hadn’t stopped tweaking since he met Sam, the past few days had flown by. And the nights? They’d made love into the wee hours of the mornings. Willow was running on pure adrenaline, or as her mother had said when she’d come by that morning, she was living on love. Willow couldn’t deny the way her heart soared every time she and Zane were together, or that he hadn’t ogled a single woman since he’d made his feelings toward her clear. Or the way his laugh made her stomach flutter, his kisses turned her inside out, and seeing his stuff in her apartment made her never want him to leave.
“It’s really true,” Willow finally answered. She and Aurelia had been close in high school, but Willow realized that while she’d clued her in on other meaningless crushes throughout those years, she’d never told her about her crush on Zane.
“Wow. So does that mean you’re moving to California? What about the bakery? Oh my God, you can’t move that far away. Your mom would go crazy.” Aurelia spoke a mile a minute, and she grabbed Bridgette’s hand. “What about Bridge? No. You can’t do it, Willow. You can’t leave Sweetwater.”
“Oh my gosh, Aurelia!” We aren’t even really engaged. “We haven’t even set a wedding date.” Willow had been trying not to think about how all those things would play out. She couldn’t expect Zane to move to Sweetwater, but she wouldn’t want to move away from everyone she knew and loved, and her business. She was getting way ahead of herself. He hadn’t proposed to her, no matter how much Zane wanted it to be real. Or how much she fantasized about it. He’d handed her a gaudy ring under a cloud of trickery. They were only playing house. That was the bottom line. She drew in a deep breath, feeling strangely relieved and sad at once.
“So where is he?” Aurelia asked. “He starts filming next week, right? Is he out rehearsing?”
“He’s been rehearsing like a maniac. He finally took a break and went to hang out with Ben.”
“How is Benny boy? Believe it or not, I miss that pain in the ass.” Aurelia and Ben had a love-hate relationship. She finished her cupcake and grabbed another. “You meant it when you said I could eat these, right?”
“Ben’s great. Still the luckiest man on the face of the earth where investing is concerned, and yes. Eat all you want. Please.” Willow was used to Aurelia bouncing between topics. She’d done it her whole life.
“Can we please get back to the phone throwing?” Bridgette pleaded. “I have to pick up Louie soon. Harley bought him a Spider-Man bike, and he’s giving it to him tonight.”
“Have you nailed that big, sexy hunk yet?” Aurelia asked.
“Tsk! No. He’s just a friend.” Bridgette bit into her cupcake. “Besides, I think he has the hots for Piper.”
Willow’s ears perked up. “Seriously?”
Bridgette nodded. “He’s always asking about her.”
“You guys,” Aurelia said conspiratorially. “They used to call him the muff marauder. The guy is packing major heat.”
“What?” Bridgette squealed. “Muff marauder? I’ve never heard that.”
“Oh yes. Heaven Love made out with him when she was in twelfth grade.” Aurelia turned her arm over and ran her finger from wrist to elbow.
Bridgette’s eyes widened, and she inhaled her cupcake.
Willow laughed. “Oh my.”
“No shit, right?” Aurelia agreed.
“You guys are pigs,” Bridgette teased.
“Hey, I’m being serious,” Aurelia said. “It’s not my fault he’s blessed with a godlike penis. Zane, too. Don’t you remember Frances whatshername saying he was hung like a horse?”
Willow held her hands up. “Okay. Stop. I can’t talk about my man’s manhood.” She scooped frosting from a cupcake and sucked it off her finger, trying to drown the image of Zane with any other woman.
“That’s confirmation right there,” Aurelia said. “And, Bridge. Jesus, girlfriend. Go get laid already.”
“Don’t bother, Aurelia,” Willow cautioned her. “Half the single men in town would give anything to take her out, and Bridge acts oblivious to them all.”
“I’m not oblivious,” Bridgette insisted. “You see things that aren’t there. But enough about that. What happened with Kent?” Kent was Aurelia’s on-again, off-again boyfriend.
Aurelia plunked down on a chair with a loud sigh. “First of all, he had a small pecker. Not that I really care that much about it, but it should have tipped me off. Guys with small dicks have all sorts of crazy shit in their head. They’re always trying to prove their manhood. I finally had enough of his nonsense. He grated on my last nerve, and I ended it. The phone throwing was just a momentary lapse in judgment.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and showed them the shattered screen. “I pretty much just carry it like a security blanket. You know, to remind myself to stay away from men. Or at least guys with small peckers.”
“Lordy.” Bridgette hugged Aurelia. “I’m so sorry. What can we do to help?”
Aurelia shrugged. “Nothing. I’m thinking about moving back here and starting over. Clean slate and all that.”
“Really?” Willow’s mind zoomed ahead twelve steps. “Would you consider reopening the bookstore full-time?”
“I’m not sure of anything right now. Since my grandfather was put into a year-round care facility and my grandmother decided she won’t be coming back, we need to give Mick Bad, the attorney who bought the bookstore, a decision one way or another. You know his apartment is above the store, and I’m sure he’d like to have that space to actually live in. I don’t know what to do. I’ve worked at Pages since college, and I love it. But I can’t be around Kent. He makes me want to throw more than my phone.” Pages was the largest bookstore chain on the East Coast, and Aurelia worked in their flagship store in New York City.
“I have an idea I’ve been tossing around,” Willow said.
“I know all about Willow’s fantastic plan, which I love, by the way. I’m going to take off and pick up Louie so we don’t miss Harley.” Bridgette wrinkled her nose. “Who, thanks to you guys, I won’t be able to look at again without wondering about the muff marauder. Ew. Geez. This should be fun.”
Willow and Aurelia laughed.
“Sorry, Bridge,” Aurelia said. “After you put your little guy to sleep, do some recon and report back. I want details.”
Bridgette shook her head on the way out the back door.
“She’s so cute it kills me. If I move back here, my first job is going to be to make sure she gets some action.” Aurelia folded her arms on the counter and rested her head on them. “What should I do, Willow? What’s your idea?”
“Selfishly, I wish you’d come back to Sweetwater and consider going into business with me.” She watched confusion setting into Aurelia’s features. “Think about it.” Willow waved her hand in an arc, as if she were presenting something. “Books and Bites, or Pages and Pies, or Sweetie Pies and Great Reads.”
“I know nothing about baking, and my family doesn’t own the bookstore anymore. Mick’s been nice enough to let me run it when I’m in town, but it’s not mine.”
“I know. That’s why I think we should consider buying it back from him.”
Aurelia sat upright. “You’re serious?”
“Totally.” Hope swelled inside her.
“But what about you and Zane? What if you get married and move away? I can’t run a bakery.”
“I know that, too,” Willow conceded. “I don’t have all the answers. It’s just something I’m kicking around.” I don’t have any answers.
“I can’t do anything yet anyway, no matter how much I want to. I have to go back this weekend and get my head together. If I decide to move, I have to give notice at Pages, deal with my apartment lease, and deal with tiny pecker once and for all. Ugh. I wish I could just crawl up in the corner with the rest of those cupcakes and go into a sugar coma.”
Willow swallowed hard. A sugar coma sounded just about perfect. If anyone needed to get her head on straight, it was Willow. She was wearing a rented ring from the man she had no doubt she was in love with, but how could their lives ever mesh? Their worlds were on opposite sides of the country. Could they ever be more than just a two-week fantasy?
Her phone vibrated with a text, and Zane’s name flashed on the screen, chasing her anxiety deeper into her chest. I’ll pick you up at seven. Can you pack a picnic?
“Romeo?” Aurelia asked.
“Yeah,” she said a little breathlessly. A picnic. Her big, cocky, smart-ass actor wanted to take her on a picnic. She’d never stood a chance around him. Not all those years ago and definitely not now.
“WHY DO I have to be blindfolded?” Willow clung to Zane’s arm as he helped her from the car. “I mean, in the bedroom, sure, but on a picnic? Did you become a cult member while you were out today? Are you taking me to a secret ritual? Because if you are, I’d like to eat before I’m burned at the stake. No one should ever die hungry.”
Zane laughed and gathered her in his arms. “Do you have any idea how happy you make me? I love your sense of humor.” He kissed her lips. “And I love this sexy little picnic dress.” He ran his hand up her thigh and kissed her again. “Knowing I can bring the blindfold into the bedroom is just the frosting on the cake.”
Her lips curved up in a seductive smile. “You can bring frosting into the bedroom, too.”
“That’s been on my list ever since you made me a birthday cake when I was seventeen.” He grabbed the picnic basket from the car and wound an arm around her waist, guiding her through the gates of the airfield. He’d been too wrapped up in preparing for his role and, thanks to Willow’s encouragement and Sam’s nudge in the right direction, polishing his screenplay. He hadn’t had nearly enough time to do special things for Willow. He knew their lives were only going to get busier, and he was going to make damn sure that no matter how crazy their schedules got, Willow knew that she was his priority.
“Where are we? It feels . . . weird. I don’t hear the water.”
“You’re very inquisitive.” He nodded a greeting to the pilot of his private plane. “Okay, Wills, we’re going up a number of steps. I’ve got you.” He guided her left hand to the metal railing.
“That’s cold. You’re very mysterious.”
Chuckling, he helped her into the plane and led her to a seat. She wiggled her butt, settling into the plush leather. His eyes followed the hem of her skirt as it bunched up around her thighs.
“This is super comfy.”
He leaned over, speaking in a low voice even though they were alone. The pilot was preparing the plane for takeoff. “You’d better stop wiggling like that. Blindfolded with the world’s most gorgeous gams there for the taking is not a power position.”
“Can anyone see us?” she whispered.
“Nope. It’s just us, sweet girl.”
She curled her fingers around the arms of the chair, trapped her lower lip between her teeth, and spread her legs. His cock came to a full salute.
“I think you’re wrong, Z.” Her voice was liquid heat. “Very, very wrong.” She crossed one gorgeous leg over the other.
He groaned, taking the seat beside her, and slid his hand between her thighs. “Surely you don’t think a little leg crossing will keep me from making you come, do you?”
She grabbed his hand, keeping him from moving any higher. “Tell me where we’re going and maybe I’ll let you.”
He waited for the engines to rumble to life. She curled her fingers around his hand.
“Zane?”
Fear threaded through her voice, spurring him into action. He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. “I’ve got you, baby. You’re okay.”
The plane started down the runway, and she began to tremble. Panic showed in her erratic breathing. “Zane?”
He pressed his cheek to hers, holding her around her shoulders. “I’ve got you, sweetheart. I promise you’re safe.” The nose of the plane lifted, and she made a frightened sound. He took off the blindfold, and her eyes were squeezed shut.
“Baby, haven’t you ever flown before?”
She shook her head, her fingernails digging into his hand. “You know how rarely I leave Sweetwater. Have I ever said, ‘Hey, I’m flying off to wherever’?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “No! I haven’t. Why do you have to do things so big? I thought we were going on a picnic.” Her voice escalated. “Please take me back, please.”
Shit! This was not the reaction he’d hoped for. Framing her face in his hands, he said, “Open your eyes, Wills. Focus on me.”
She shook her head.
“Willow, I promise you this will be worth it.” I frigging hope it will. “Look at me, baby. Now.”
Her mouth pinched tight, and she opened her eyes. The fear in them nearly brought him to his knees. “Good, baby. Just keep looking at me. You’re fine.”
“This isn’t a picnic.” Her voice escalated.
He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “It will be.” The plane veered to the right, and she grabbed at him.
“Zane? He’s going to crash. He’s going down!”
“No, Wills. He’s turning. This is my plane, my pilot. I promise you the plane is in excellent condition, and my pilot is the best there is.”
“You’re all set.” The pilot’s voice called her attention up to the front of the plane.
“I’m going to reach over and open the shade, okay?”
She nodded, clutching one of his hands tightly as he opened the shade and the lights of Sweetwater came into view.
“Sweetwater, baby. That’s your little slice of heaven right there.”
She leaned over, fingernails carving half-moons into his skin. But he didn’t care. The light rising in her eyes was worth every bit of the sting.
“Oh my gosh. It’s so beautiful.” She laughed, and tears he knew she’d been holding back trickled down her cheek.
He wiped them away, exhaling a relieved breath. “Sit by the window, baby.”
She shook her head. “Too nervous to move. You stay there.”
He moved the arm of the chair and pulled her against him, kissing her cheek as she gazed out the window. “See the lights of the chapel? And the dock?”
“Look!” She pointed at boats in the distance, the tips of their sails lit up like stars.
“In a few days, Hollywood is going to crash into Sweetwater, and I’ll be working sixteen hours a day. When it feels overwhelming, I want you to think of this moment. This view of Sweetwater. Not the temporary craziness.”
Tension formed around her eyes. He took her in a languid kiss, letting her know he was right there with her. “Don’t worry, baby. Nothing will change between us. I promise you that.” He pointed out the window to distract her from the reality he’d just mentioned. “Can you spot your apartment?”
Her eyes trailed over the landscape, while his landed on the twinkling red lights he and Piper had hung from Willow’s balcony. They’d wound red lights around a wooden sign in the form of “W+Z.” Piper had been much more accepting of him since Louie’s birthday party, and he was glad for it. Of course, she’d given him hell about not having his own tools. Clearly another trip to the hardware store was in order.
“Z.” Her beautiful green eyes met his, clear and full of love.
“I know I do everything big, and you think you’re a small-town girl. But you’re my small-town girl, Wills, and I don’t ever want you to miss out on anything.”
Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks, and a soft laugh escaped as she touched her lips to his. “I love you, Zane. I seriously love you so much I ache with it.”