“You looked so hot up there,” Gavin whispered, his lips brushing against her ear and setting off a reaction she felt in all her most important places. “I loved seeing you in your professional mode.”
It was all Ella could do to remain standing, to remember she had a room full of employees to consider, that it would be hours yet before she could be alone with him. She covered the hand he had flattened over her abdomen and realized he was still wearing the sweater she’d given him.
Any second now the video would end, the lights would come back on and their employees would see her standing in Gavin’s arms as if she belonged there. Did she belong there? She sure hoped so. Did she care if people saw them? Not really. As the video came to an end and the audience burst into applause for Cameron and Lucy, Ella took a deep breath and tried to relax before the lights came back on.
Just as they did, Gavin’s arm dropped from around her, and he took a step back, making the decision for her. She appreciated his respect of her professional space, but part of her wanted him to make a big public declaration. She wanted there to be no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were together, that he was hers and she was his.
But were they ready for that after only a week together? Hell, she’d been ready for years now, but it was probably too soon for public declarations. They’d get there when the time was right, and the thought of that, of the whole town knowing she and Gavin were a couple, was just another thing to look forward to.
With the formal part of the program over, everyone lined up for the buffet dinner of barbecued ribs and chicken, potatoes, salad, coleslaw and corn bread. The menu was as much a part of the tradition as the meeting itself. When Ella first started working in the office, she’d suggested changing up the menu, an idea that had been greeted with shocked silence from her family members.
At dinner, Ella asked Gavin to join her at a table full of employees and their spouses. The family always spread out among the employees at these events, but tonight they wanted to take the pulse on the new line. The ladies at her table were all abuzz over the new products, a thought that made Ella chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Gavin asked, leaning in close to her.
“They’re ‘abuzz’ over the product news my dad shared with them. I crack myself up.”
He smiled. “That’s funny. So when do we get to try out this new product line? Don’t you need focus groups? How do I volunteer?”
She drove her elbow gently into his ribs. “Knock it off. We’re in public.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
She gave him a meaningful look. “Yes, you are.”
“Oh, do tell.”
“Not now. Not here.”
“How much longer do we have to stay?”
“Until it’s over.”
Groaning, he took a drink from his beer bottle. “I’m never going to make it until then.”
After dinner, a DJ got everyone up and dancing. Ella stood off to the side with her sisters, Wade, Colton, Lucy and Cameron. “So what’s the buzz on the new product line?” Ella asked with a smile. It would be a while before that joke got old.
“Lots of questions, a few raised eyebrows, but otherwise no real outrage,” Hannah said.
“Same at my table,” Cameron said. “Mildred asked if she could test them out for us.”
That sent the rest of them into fits of laughter.
“I’ll never get that image out of my head,” Colton said.
Lucy ran a soothing hand over his back. “It’s okay, honey. She was probably just kidding.”
“God, I hope so.”
Hunter and Megan joined them. “What’s so funny?” Hunter asked.
“Mildred wants to try out the new product line,” Ella said.
Hunter’s face went totally blank.
“He’s in shock,” Megan said bluntly, setting off another wave of laughter as she fanned his face.
“We need to be more mature about this if we expect the others to buy in,” Wade said.
“Maturity is so totally overrated,” Charley said. “Take him, for example.” She nodded to their brother Max, who was sitting alone at a table, an untouched beer in front of him while he stared off into space.
“I was surprised to see him here tonight,” Hannah said. “I thought he was staying in Burlington until the baby arrives.”
“Chloe told him she’ll let him know when she’s in labor,” Colton said. “Otherwise, there’s no reason for him to be there.”
“Wow,” Hunter said. “What the hell?”
“Will tried to talk to him this week,” Cameron said softly. “He’s not talking about it. Not even to Will.”
Ella’s heart ached for her brother, who’d always been happy and lighthearted and fun to be around until recently. Seeing him so down and despondent broke her heart. Hopefully after the baby arrived he’d rebound and be able to put his focus on the baby rather than on the relationship that wasn’t working.
After several fast songs, the DJ slowed the tempo with “A Thousand Years.”
Gavin approached her, took her hand and led her from the group without a word to anyone. His sexy, possessive gesture did funny things to her insides, which only continued when he wrapped his arms around her and left no room for doubt that they were together with the way he held her close to him.
Ella felt every eye in the room on her and them as they moved together to the song that summed up the depth of her love for him.
“Relax, babe,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve been dying to hold you all day.”
What else could she do when he put it that way but relax into his embrace?
The dance floor filled with other couples, including her parents, Will and Cameron, Hunter and Megan, Colton and Lucy, Hannah and Nolan as well as employees and their spouses. Surrounded by family and friends, Ella felt less on display but no less overwhelmed to be dancing in public with Gavin for the first time as his girlfriend or significant other or whatever they were to each other now.
Because the DJ knew exactly who he was working for tonight, the next song was one by the Beatles, “The Long and Winding Road.”
“Another song that suits us,” Gavin whispered, setting her on fire with his husky words, the scrape of his whiskers against her neck, the scent of his cologne and the tight squeeze of his arms around her. Between them, his arousal pulsed against her belly, reminding her of what to expect when they got home. She couldn’t wait.
Lost in the song, the moment, the magic of being in his arms, she was instantly aware when his body filled with tension.
Ella raised her head off his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s he doing here?” Gavin asked in a much harsher tone than she’d heard from him before.
“Who?”
“Ed Sheehan.”
“He works at the tree farm. Why?”
“Since when?”
“I’m not sure exactly when he started,” Ella said. “A couple of years maybe?”
“He’s the guy I fought with that night at the bar. He said—”
“I remember,” Ella said, sparing him from having to repeat the hateful words and filled with fury over what Ed had said to Gavin.
Gavin released her so suddenly she nearly stumbled.
“I . . . I can’t be in the same room with that guy. I’m sorry.”
He stunned her when he turned and walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by her employees, parents, siblings and their partners, all of whom looked on in surprise and dismay.
Ella started to go after him, but something stopped her. First of all, she couldn’t leave. This event was her responsibility, and it wasn’t over yet. Second of all . . . She’d gone after him for the last time. He’d chosen to leave, to walk away from her. It would have to be his choice to come back. She couldn’t continue to make that choice for him.
“Um, what just happened?” Charley asked after Ella walked off the dance floor.
“He saw Ed Sheehan here.”
“So?”
“Apparently, Ed told him we wasted our time in Iraq, which led to the bar fight last summer.”
“Oh damn. I didn’t know the fight was with him.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Tell Landon to fire him,” Charley said emphatically.
“Is it wrong that I want to do that?”
“Hell no, it’s not wrong. We lost our brother-in-law over there. How anyone in this town could say such a thing to Gavin, of all people, is beyond me.”
“What’s wrong?” Colton asked when he joined them.
Charley filled him in.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Where’s Landon?”
Their younger brother was across the room, surrounded by some of the store’s youngest female employees.
Colton rolled his eyes. “Look at him.”
“Why are you rolling your eyes?” Charley asked. “A year ago you would’ve been right there with him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Colton said as he went to retrieve Landon.
Ella watched Ed, talking and laughing with some other guys from the farm, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him. He was a big, burly guy with muscles on top of muscles, and though Gavin was no slouch in the muscle department, he was lucky to have walked away relatively uninjured from a fistfight with Ed.
Colton returned with Landon, who was pissed about being pulled away from his female admirers.
“Tell him,” Colton said, giving Landon a final push that landed him in front of Ella and Charley.
“Tell me what?” Landon asked, one eye over his shoulder at the women as if to make sure they didn’t get away.
“Ed Sheehan,” Charley said.
“What about him?”
“Remember the fight Gavin was in last summer?” Ella asked.
“In the bar on 114?” Landon asked.
Colton and Charley looked to her to fill in Landon.
“That’s the one,” Ella said. “He fought with Ed after Ed told him we’d wasted our time in Iraq.”
Landon’s amiable expression hardened. “He said what?”
“That we’d wasted our time in Iraq,” Ella said again, each word causing her the same pain it had to have caused Gavin at the time. No matter what your thoughts were on the war, saying that to someone who’d lost his only sibling there was so far outside the boundaries of propriety it wasn’t even funny.
Landon turned away from them and crossed the room to the table of employees from the Christmas tree farm. He pointed to Ed and indicated he should follow Landon.
With a shrug for the other guys, Ed got up to follow Landon through the main doors to the parking lot outside.
Colton crossed the room to the doors to keep an eye on what was happening outside through the window to the right of the entrance.
Filled with anxiety, Ella watched Colton, knowing he’d be through the doors in an instant if Landon needed backup. Hopefully, Ed would go quietly without causing more trouble.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Landon came back inside, his face flushed from the cold and the confrontation. He nodded to Colton and then crossed to where Ella and Charley still stood together.
“He’s history,” Landon said bluntly.
“Did you tell him why?” Charley asked.
“Yeah, and I reminded him that my brother-in-law was killed over there, and no one in this family or the Guthrie family wants to hear his opinions or employ someone who’d say what he did to Gavin.”
“What did he say?” Ella asked.
“That we’re all a bunch of warmongers, yada yada. I didn’t listen. I told him to get lost and stay away from us and our property.”
“Thank you, Landon,” Ella said. “I know it’s a tough time of year to be down a worker.”
“We don’t need his kind on our payroll.”
“No, we don’t.” She gave her brother a kiss on the cheek. “I appreciate you handling that.”
“No problem.” He smiled, and she could see he’d already shaken off the unpleasantness with Ed. “Can I get back to my ladies now?”
“By all means,” Ella said.
“There may be hope for him,” Charley said as they watched him return to the women who’d waited patiently for him.
“Our baby brother is growing up,” Colton said.
“If you did, there’s hope for him, too,” Charley said, drawing a snort of laughter from Ella.
Colton bent at the waist and picked up Charley, swinging her in circles, making everyone around them laugh at the way she pounded on his back.
“Put me down, you immature idiot!”
Ella stood back to keep from getting knocked over by their foolishness.
Colton put Charley down right in front of Tyler Westcott.
Charley sputtered at Colton and pushed her hair back from her face, looking up to see Tyler standing there watching her, an amused expression on his handsome face. He really was adorable, Ella thought, wishing Charley would give the poor guy a chance.
“Hi, Charley,” he said, nodding to Ella and Colton.
“Tyler. What’re you doing here?”
“I brought my mom.” He nodded to Vivienne Westcott, who waved at them from across the crowded room. She worked in the bakery at the store. “She doesn’t like to drive at night.”
“Oh,” Charley said. “That’s nice of you.”
“Would you like to dance?” Tyler asked.
“I, um, well, ah . . .”
Ella nudged her sister to remind her that Vivienne was watching.
“Sure,” Charley mumbled, nudging Ella back.
“Great,” Tyler said, beaming. He was tall with really nice wavy dark hair and blue eyes that stood out even behind a set of black-framed glasses that made him look smart and sexy at the same time.
They walked away together, Charley turning to glare at her siblings over her shoulder. Had she been expecting them to bail her out?
“I like him,” Colton said.
“I like him, too,” Ella replied.
“If he likes her, I also feel sorry for him.”
“Stop it. She’s awesome, and when the right guy comes along, she’ll lose her claws.”
“We can only hope so. I’m going to find Lucy. Are you okay?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t blame Gavin for being upset to see that guy here.”
“I don’t either.” She did blame him, however, for leaving the way he had, but she’d take that up with him when she got the chance. If she got the chance. No, when . . . Definitely when.