Chapter 7

Two weeks later, Darcy was out shopping with her sisters-in-law—something they tried to do at least once a month. Everyone around her was chatting and making plans for the holidays. It was good. It was fun. She had her Starbucks and was looking at cute clothes. That was a good thing, right? She was enjoying herself.

Sort of, she thought with a sigh.

The elbow to her ribs nearly had Darcy jumping out of her skin and spilling her drink. She turned and glared at Anna. “What the hell?”

“That is, like, the tenth time you’ve sighed in the last five minutes. We’re supposed to be having fun here.”

“I am having fun.”

“No, you’re a total buzzkill right now. I was elected the one who had to come and talk to you about it,” Anna said quietly.

“Great.”

“Have you talked to him since you got back?”

It was pointless to pretend that she didn’t know who Anna was talking about. Nodding, she said, “We talk or text or Skype every day.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Darcy looked at her with disbelief. “Seriously? You have to ask?”

“Okay, fine. You’re on opposite coasts. I get it. But…that’s not a forever thing, right? He can come and see you, and you can go back and see him. Have you made plans for that?”

“No. Well…sort of. Or at least, I’ve been trying. He’s had pieces to finish, then I was waiting to hear on the job at the gallery. Thanksgiving’s coming up, and then there’s Christmas and…” She sighed. “Realistically, it would be after New Year’s before we could work something out. It’s so damn far away.”

“It is, I know, but if you’re really serious, you’ll find a way to make it work.”

It was the same thing she and Ben had been talking about—along with a lot of dirty talk and phone sex—but it didn’t make Darcy feel any better. If anything, she felt worse. If it were up to her, she’d hop on a plane this weekend to see him. Or she’d have him fly here to spend Thanksgiving with her. Actually, the more she thought about it, she had mentioned both of those scenarios to him, and he’d made excuses for each of them.

And some of the other ones she brought up.

She sighed again, and Anna smacked her in the arm. Hard. “Ow! Dammit, Anna!”

“Stop doing that, then! Seriously, if you want to pout or sigh or listen to sad songs while you doodle Ben’s name in hearts, then do it when you get home. Right now, you need to put on your game face, smile, and pick out a dress, because we all decided that we’re going to buy dresses for New Year’s while we’re here. So get moving!”

“We did? When? We’re barely into November, for crying out loud. And I don’t remember—”

“You were too busy moping and sighing over in the lingerie department,” Anna stated, and then they both started to laugh. After a minute, Anna wrapped her arm around Darcy’s shoulders and hugged her close. “C’mon, let’s go get our sequins on.”

“Oh, good lord. Sequins?”

“Nothing says New Year’s Eve like a sparkly party dress,” Anna said as she took Darcy’s hand and led her to the dress department.

Thirty minutes later, Darcy studied her reflection and thought she didn’t look half-bad. The jade-green dress was strapless with minimal beading, and it came to right above her knees. It hugged her curves, and as she did a turn in the 360-degree mirror, she had to admit that she had found her sparkly party dress. When she stepped out of the dressing room, her sisters-in-law—with the exception of Savannah—were all stepping out in their dresses as well.

“Doing this whole girly-girl thing normally annoys the crap out of me,” Anna said as she admired her reflection, “but now I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

Darcy nodded and smiled as her other three sisters-in-law—Zoe, Aubrey, and Brooke—joined them. “I know this is going to come out wrong,” she said as she looked at Zoe, who was trying on a dress in the same color as hers, “but I hate you.”

“What? Me? Why?” Zoe asked with wide-eyed bewilderment.

“You have a killer figure, and that color green looks amazing with your red hair,” Darcy said with mock disdain. “Therefore, I have to hate you.”

“Oh, stop,” Zoe said with a laugh. “You’ve got more curves than any of us, and your boobs haven’t had to deal with the trauma of having a child. You’re braless and look amazing. I’ve got some sort of wonder contraption on under this dress to hold the girls up.”

“Ditto,” Aubrey said.

Darcy looked over as Anna raised her hand too. “Not that I’m complaining. This contraption makes me look better than I ever did.”

Brooke adjusted the top of her dress and frowned. “Why strapless?” she murmured. “My whole life, I never had cleavage like this, and it just feels weird to be so on display. I need to find something else. Besides, I think Owen would freak out if I wore something like this in public.”

They all laughed, and Darcy couldn’t help but feel a little bit better. It was good to laugh. Then she looked down at her own breasts and remembered how much Ben had loved them—the way he’d touched them, kissed them, and… She sighed.

“I swear if you make that sound again,” Zoe began and then turned to Anna. “I thought you were going to talk to her?”

“I did!” Anna cried. She turned to Darcy. “Now what? What could you possibly be thinking as we’re standing here talking about boobs and bras that has you all mopey again?”

Darcy looked at each of them and tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. There was no way she was going to talk about how much she missed Ben’s touch right now in the middle of a department store fitting room.

“I…it was…I mean…”

“Oh God,” Brooke said. “It’s Ben. You’re thinking about Ben again, aren’t you?”

“Um, I don’t know,” she murmured. “Maybe.”

“For crying out loud,” Zoe cried with exasperation. “If I buy you a plane ticket, will you just go back to Washington already?”

“Yes,” Aubrey said before Darcy could come up with anything of her own to say. “I’d be willing to chip in for that.”

“Hey!” Darcy cried. “I haven’t been that bad!”

“No, no, she’s right,” Anna said sarcastically. “We can all remember what it’s like when you’re crushing on a guy.”

“Oh, and she’s totally crushing on him,” Zoe said with a hint of an evil grin.

“Big time,” Aubrey agreed, and Darcy had to wonder why she’d thought having sisters would be better than brothers. At least her brothers scared easily and never wanted to talk about her crushing on any guys.

“She’s a little distracted,” Anna said casually, “and needs to go and call him before we all take turns smacking her.” They all laughed. “Now go. We’ll do a little more shopping and meet up with you in the food court.” Then she sighed dramatically. “The sacrifices we’re willing to make for you.”

“Oh, knock it off,” Darcy said, having heard enough. “You are all just happy to be out of the house and away from the kids and loving the fact that my brothers are having to play babysitter for the afternoon.”

“That’s right,” Aubrey said with a big grin. “Girls’ day out!”

“Woo-hoo!” Brooke cheered.

“It is a beautiful thing,” Zoe agreed. “I find that Aidan is much more agreeable to just about anything I ask for after a day of being alone with his daughter.” She laughed. “He won’t even complain about how much I’m about to spend on this dress.”

Darcy couldn’t help but laugh at that. It was interesting and comical to learn about this other side of her brothers. And if anything, it made her love them that much more, which made her sigh, and Anna, Zoe, Aubrey, and Brooke all turned to her immediately with cries of “Go!,” “Just call him!,” and her favorite, “For the love of it!”

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” she said with a small laugh. “I just have to slip out of this dress and get changed. Geez.”

And as she turned to walk away, she heard Aubrey mutter, “Damn her and her perky boobs.” They all burst out laughing.

Darcy couldn’t help but laugh along with them and then remembered that this was why she’d wanted sisters.

* * *

Ben stared into the refrigerator and tried to will something to come out and make itself. He was tired and hungry and more than a little cranky because he was missing Darcy. She’d only been in his home for a short time, and all of a sudden, it was like he hated everything about living alone. All the things he used to enjoy about it—the peace, the quiet, the freedom to do what he wanted when he wanted—held little to no appeal.

As if reading his mind, his phone rang, and he saw Darcy’s face on the screen—a sexy picture he’d taken before she went back to North Carolina. Smiling, he reached for it and answered.

“Hey, beautiful.”

“Hey, yourself,” she said softly. “Whatcha doing?”

“Missing you,” he said honestly.

“I miss you too.”

“Where are you right now?” he asked, his own voice going soft.

“I’m at the mall with everyone—the girls. It’s our monthly shopping trip.”

“Monthly shopping trip? Really? That’s a thing?”

She laughed. “It really is. Once a month, we leave all the kids with my brothers and hit the mall.”

“For anything in particular or just to wander around?”

“Normally, it’s just to wander around. Today, we all found dresses for New Year’s Eve.”

“It’s November.”

“That’s what I said!” she exclaimed with another soft laugh. “But I found one, and it’s fabulous, and I also found some amazing lingerie.”

“You’re killing me,” he said as disappointment washed over him. He wished she was alone. Ben never would have thought himself the kind of man who got off on phone sex or that sort of thing, but something about this woman made him feel a bit wild and reckless like that. “Tell me about the dress. And do it slowly and in that sexy voice I love.”

She laughed. “Stop! I’m in the middle of the mall.” She paused. “But I will say this. It’s a jade-green strapless dress that has some sparkly beading on the top. And if I do say so myself, I look good in it.”

“You look good in everything,” he said automatically, but he meant it.

“Mmm, I wish I was home right now,” she purred.

“I wish you were here.”

“That would definitely be better,” she said with a soft sigh. “So I was thinking…”

“Uh-oh.”

“C’mon. I’m serious,” she said and then waited a moment. “Have you finished those pieces you were working on last week?”

“I did. The clients are coming to pick them up—one tomorrow, the other on Friday.”

“Okay, good.” She cleared her throat before going on. “So the book is done, you finished the two pieces you were working on, so really, your schedule is kind of open. You could come here to North Carolina and maybe spend Thanksgiving with me.”

“And your family.”

Another sigh, this one not so soft. “We’re kind of a package deal.” The laugh that followed was more out of nerves than humor, he knew.

“Darce, if I won’t spend the holidays with my brothers…”

“Christmas. You said it was just Christmas. This is Thanksgiving. Completely different,” she argued. “You could come here and stay with me.”

“I’m sure your father will love that.”

Her laugh was lighter this time. “Okay, maybe he won’t love it, but between the holiday and a house full of grandchildren, he’ll be distracted. The whole family will be in town, so even with all that, there are plenty of options for places for you to stay. My brother Aidan has an apartment over his garage that everyone has used at one time or another. We could take our turn there.”

The thought of seeing her now rather than waiting until after New Year’s had Ben ready to go and pack his bag right now. “I don’t know.”

“Promise me you’ll at least think about it.”

“I will. I promise,” he said and realized she was definitely sounding a bit more tense than she was when she first called. “So what are you wearing now?” he asked silkily.

She burst out laughing at that. “You’re such a perv!”

He missed seeing her laugh and smile. Missed the soft feel of her skin and hearing her sigh his name. But more than anything, he just missed her.

And although he wouldn’t admit to it right now, come hell or high water, he was going to see her.

Soon.

* * *

“Is this naughty? Because it feels naughty.”

“Do you want it to be naughty?”

Darcy stopped what she was doing and considered the question. “You know, I kind of think I do.”

“Then I guess this is naughty. Hand me that pillow.”

They had been working for the last hour to get the apartment cleaned and stocked up with food. Zoe had a habit of cooking a few extra meals for whoever was going to be staying there and making sure the pantry was well-stocked. And even though Darcy knew this, she had brought over several grocery bags of her own filled with goodies.

“I wish I had been a fly on the wall when you told your father what you were doing,” Zoe said with a smirk.

“Ugh…I wish I had been a fly on the wall instead of the one to tell him. It was beyond awkward.”

“You told Martha you were going over to talk to him, right? I figured she would have paved the way for you.”

“Oh, she did. That’s the only explanation I can think of for why he took it so well,” Darcy said, fluffing the last pillow.

Zoe straightened and looked at her quizzically. “You just said it was awkward.”

“It was.”

“Okay, I’m confused then. How can he take it so well and have it be awkward at the same time?”

“That’s what was so awkward. I mean, beyond having to say ‘Um, Dad, I’m going to stay with my boyfriend at Aidan and Zoe’s for the week because, you know, I already slept with him after knowing him for less than a week, and I’d really like to have crazy-monkey sex with him again.’”

“Oh God! You didn’t say that, did you?” Zoe asked with a horrified look on her face.

“Of course not! But it was implied.”

Zoe nodded in agreement. “Okay, that I can understand.” She looked around the bedroom and seemed pleased. “So what did he say exactly?”

“He sort of looked down at his mug of coffee and gave a curt little nod and said, ‘Okay. Just make sure you’re here on Thanksgiving.’ It was…weird.”

“I guess it could have been worse.”

“Oh, I’m not done.”

“Uh-oh.”

“You mean your husband didn’t tell you that he was there when all this happened?”

“What? No!”

“So was Hugh.”

“No!”

“And Quinn.”

“Oh God.”

“And you know what? Even Bobby Hannigan was there.”

“Wait, what? Why was Bobby there? I didn’t know he was in town.”

Darcy nodded. “He’s here for Thanksgiving—took the whole week off—and apparently, he’s staying with Quinn and Anna, and when he heard what was going on, as my honorary sixth brother, he thought he should be there.”

“That’s just crazy.”

“Tell me about it. The only one missing besides Riley was Owen. And if anyone could guarantee that he wouldn’t die of embarrassment, I’m sure he would have been invited too.”

“He’s gotten way better about his freak-out factor since he met Brooke. She’s really been a good influence on him. I think—”

“Can we please stay focused on me?” Darcy shouted with frustration.

“Sorry. So what did they say?” she asked hesitantly. “And how did they even know you were going to have that talk with Ian?”

Darcy leveled her with a look. “Really?”

“Damn. You’re going to have to talk to Martha about the way this family works. I can’t believe she called in your brothers.”

“That’s not what I meant. She told Dad that I wanted to talk to him about a man, and he called in the cavalry.”

“No!” Zoe cried and then started to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me. And I am so going to kill Aidan when I get back to the house for not telling me any of this.”

“Make it slow and painful, please.”

They walked out to the living room, and Zoe collapsed on the sofa. “So what happened? What did you say? What did they say? Is it even safe for Ben to be coming here?”

“Ironically, they were a little more upset with Riley than Ben,” Darcy said with a grin as she sat down.

“How? Why?” Pausing, Zoe let out a long sigh. “Why is nothing simple with this family?”

“They were all pissed that Riley sent me to Washington and then didn’t do more to get me home.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “You explained the snowstorm? How you gave up your seat so that mother and baby could get home?”

Darcy nodded. “Didn’t matter. Ultimately, they fixated on Riley, and personally, I’m relieved.”

“Sure, it took the focus off you and Ben doing it.”

Laughing out loud, Darcy had to admit that she loved how blunt Zoe was. “Hell yeah, it did. Thank goodness. Do you have any idea how awkward it’s going to be for Ben as it is?” She shook her head. “He’s already skittish about coming here. So if they can keep their anger and frustration focused on Riley for a little bit longer, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Is Riley aware of this? I have to think that he’s been blindsided by all this. Did Savannah even know about you and Ben?”

Shaking her head, Darcy looked away. “No. I, um, I really haven’t talked to her since I got home, and with her and Ben being friends, it just felt a little awkward to be talking to her about him.” She walked to the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator door. “What’s in the casserole dishes?”

Zoe came up behind her. “There’s a chicken pot pie, a lasagna, and a shepherd’s pie. I also made potato salad for you, and there are some cold cuts for sandwiches.” Then she looked at Darcy and gave her a sassy grin. “You could stay locked up in here for about three to four days and not run out of food.”

“Wow! You certainly think of everything. Thanks!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I would appreciate it if you did come up for air and at least let me meet the man who has turned this family upside down before they’ve even met him.”

“Oh, stop. This isn’t anything new. My brothers have been freaking out about my dating life since I was born.”

“Personally, I think it’s sweet,” Zoe said, closing the refrigerator door.

“That’s because you’re not the one under the microscope.”

With a shrug, Zoe grabbed her jacket and walked to the door. “What time are you picking Ben up?”

“I need to be at the airport by three.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “It will take me at least an hour to get there, so I need to freshen up and head out soon.”

“You’ve already got your stuff here, right?”

Nodding, Darcy suddenly felt her heart start to race. “I can’t believe in a few hours, he’s going to be here.”

Zoe simply leaned against the door and grinned.

“I’m nervous! Am I supposed to be nervous? Is that normal?”

Then Zoe walked over and hugged Darcy. “Yes, it’s normal, and it’s a good thing. Enjoy it.”

When Zoe turned and opened the door, Darcy quickly called out to her, “Thanks. For everything.”

“Anytime, Darce.” Then she let out a happy sigh as she looked around the apartment one more time. “This place? It’s been good for all of us. I know it’s going to be good for you and Ben, too.” And with a wink and a wave, she was gone.

* * *

The weather was almost balmy, and as Ben walked out of the airport terminal, he immediately regretted dressing so warmly.

Glancing at Darcy’s text, he noted that she would be pulling up in front of the baggage claim doors any minute. She was driving a black Nissan SUV, she’d said, so he kept his eyes peeled for it.

Anticipation. It had him by the throat.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of it. This wasn’t how he’d imagined his life. He had accepted the cruelty of his fate—losing his parents and living an isolated existence. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he’d come to terms with it. He’d even learned to handle the fame he’d acquired from his sculpting. Being in the spotlight wasn’t comfortable for him, but Ben was learning to deal with that as well.

But meeting Darcy Shaughnessy?

He shook his head.

Nothing had prepared him for that.

If anyone had told him three months ago that he’d be flying across the country to be with a woman, he would have laughed at them. And if anyone said he’d be doing it so he could be with her and her family for Thanksgiving? He would have told them they were out of their damn minds. Deep down, he still wasn’t sure this was a good idea.

But he had to see her. He was slowly going insane with missing her.

For the life of him, he didn’t understand what was happening to him. They’d really only been around each other for less than two weeks. In the grand scheme of things, that was nothing. True, for most of that time, they were together twenty-four hours a day, but still. They’d never gone on a proper date—hell, they’d never even left his house—and yet he felt they knew each other better than most couples who’d been together for years.

He missed their late-night conversations in bed where they were naked and tangled up together and just talking about their lives.

He missed watching her dance around the kitchen as she prepared a meal.

He missed her crazy, concocted spiced cookies.

He just missed her.

So much so that he was ready to start walking to go and find her and her damn black SUV.

In the blink of an eye, there she was. The vehicle came to a stop right in front of him, and everything in him instantly relaxed. She stepped out, came around the hood of the car, and launched herself right into his arms.

And damn if she didn’t belong there.

He kissed her as his hands cupped her ass and held her close, and if it wasn’t for a car beeping behind them, he would have kept on kissing her. When he lifted his head, they were both breathless.

“Please tell me you live close,” he growled as he lowered her feet to the ground.

“Not close enough,” she said breathlessly as they worked quickly to stow his luggage. “It’s about an hour. How was your flight?”

Small talk totally wasn’t his thing, but since they had a bit of a drive ahead of them, he went with it. He told her about his flight from Seattle to Charlotte, and then from Charlotte to here. He told her about the difference in the weather and grumbled about how much he hated traveling.

She looked over at him with a grin. “I promise to make it worth it.”

“Really?” he asked silkily.

She nodded.

“Although this trip was kind of a necessity.”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Really?”

He nodded. “I could have said that we would simply wait until after the holidays, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t wait to see you, Darcy.”

Her cheeks turned the loveliest shade of red, and he reached out and caressed her there. God, how he loved the way her skin felt. Like silk.

He couldn’t wait to get her into bed.

“I felt the same way,” she replied softly. “It didn’t feel like this day would ever get here.”

Ben chuckled. “I know. I thought I needed more time to get things done, but I ended up getting through it all really fast, and then I had nothing else to do but sit around and wait.”

“You could have come sooner. I would have totally been on board for that.”

He laughed again. “What about work? What has your brother had to say about all this?”

If he wasn’t mistaken, she groaned.

“That good, huh?”

“Okay, so here’s the thing. This job with Aidan? It’s temporary. I know it. He knows it, and he doesn’t even really need me. He’s helping me out until I find something that I want to do. And I appreciate it. I do. So taking the time off this week? It’s not a big deal. Except it is.”

Frowning, Ben twisted slightly in his seat to look at her. “You lost me.”

She sighed louder this time. Clearly, she was frustrated, but he also knew that sometimes she needed to talk things out—out loud—to help her get a little perspective.

“I’m twenty-five years old, and I have no career. I’m trying, I really am. I didn’t get the job at the gallery, and everyone’s like ‘How hard can it be to find a job?’ And you know what? It’s very hard! I hate it! Everyone thinks I’m being difficult, but I’m trying to get my shit together, and for the most part, I think I am. But this job thing? For some reason, I just can’t seem to find something that clicks.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” he tried to reason.

“Yes, it is. Don’t you see?”

Honestly? He didn’t.

“I am tired of being…this! I’m tired of living at home. I want to move out, get a place of my own, and that’s hard to do when you don’t have a job.”

“But you have a job.”

The growl that came out of her bordered on scary.

“Please don’t be obtuse,” she argued. “I need to find a real job. One with a future. One that I actually enjoy.”

“Not everyone loves their job, Darcy.”

The look she gave him pretty much confirmed that that was the wrong thing to say.

This was not the way he wanted to start their week together.

“Just hear me out,” he said as she opened her mouth to speak again. “I love what I do.”

“Not helping, Ben,” she huffed.

“Can you just listen and not comment for, like, two minutes?” Then he didn’t wait for her response. “Growing up, this was a hobby—sculpting, carving, making things out of the trees my grandfather cut down. I never thought it was going to be my career. I did pieces for friends and an occasional commission piece on referral, and I was making enough to get by. Then my folks died.” He shrugged. “And that’s when I knew I needed to get serious. I knew if I really pushed myself, I could help my brothers with school. And for a long time, I didn’t love it. Even though it was something I loved doing, I didn’t have any joy in it, because of the pressure and expectations I put on myself.”

“You don’t get it.”

“I do. I swear I do,” he said. “But maybe you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. The job you get doesn’t have to be the one that you’re going to have forever, and that’s okay. Not everyone knows what they want to do. Sometimes, you have to try a couple of different jobs or positions before you find the one that sticks. I lucked out. I know that and—”

“It’s not just you. It’s my whole family. Aidan always liked to build, and now he has his own construction company. Hugh has a head for business, and now he has a chain of luxury resorts. Quinn loved cars, and when he stopped racing, he started his chain of repair shops and restoration. Riley is, well, you know. And Owen…” She stopped and let out a soft laugh. “Damn, we all made fun of him for how much he used to obsess about the stars, and now he’s a well-known and respected astrophysicist.” She sighed. “And then there’s me.”

“What are you passionate about?” he asked softly and then smiled when she gave him a sexy grin. “Focus, woman. We still have about forty minutes until we get to your place, according to your timeline.”

“Okay. What am I passionate about?” She shrugged. “Art, business, the combination of the two, but I can’t seem to find a position that fits.”

“I don’t think that’s true. You’ve worked at several places that you enjoyed.”

“But it’s all been temp work.”

“Right.”

“I love baking,” she began. “But that’s something I do to relieve stress or because I’m bored or…hell, is there ever a wrong time to have extra cake or cookies in the house?”

He laughed softly and waited for her to continue.

“It’s not something I want to do as my job,” she went on. “I can run an office like a drill sergeant. I love doing the administrative stuff, setting up systems, and getting things organized.”

“It sounds like there would be thousands of jobs in that category.”

“Oh, there are,” Darcy agreed. “However, once things are set up, I get bored and want to move on. It’s pretty boring dealing with the day-to-day crap. I like a challenge, and in an office, once things are in place and everyone knows what they’re doing, it’s…ugh. I hate it.”

“I can understand that.”

“Although…”

She huffed softly as if she was deciding whether she was going to share this next bit of information with him, so Ben waited and swore he wouldn’t push. If she wanted to tell him, great. If not? Well, he’d have to deal with it and find a way to change the subject.

“Owen’s wife, Brooke, is an artist.”

“O-kay.”

“I was fascinated by what she does. It’s…it’s amazing. She paints, she draws, she… It’s all just incredible.”

He nodded, because he wasn’t sure what he could add to that.

“Anyway, while she and Owen were dating, I got to know her, and she would talk to me about the classes she taught at the community college and about how much she really wanted to work in a gallery and maybe someday show her work in one.”

Been there. Done that, he thought. Didn’t see what the big deal was.

“Anyway, she and Owen broke up briefly, and when they got back together and moved closer to home, she and I started spending even more time together. She loved talking about her paintings, and we would take day trips to galleries in the surrounding areas—we went as far as Virginia to the north and Georgia to the south. So we didn’t get to see any, you know, real galleries like the ones you’d find in New York City.”

Ben was sure there was a point to this story, but for the life of him, he couldn’t see where she was going.

“We would go into these places, and Brooke, she was always so passionate when we talked about her work, but when we talked to anyone at the galleries, she sort of clammed up and lacked confidence. By the third time she’d done it, I’d had enough. So I spoke up. And I always went prepared by having examples of her work on my phone.”

“So you acted as, what, her representative?”

A smile crossed Darcy’s face as she nodded. “One minute, I was kind of singing her praises, and the next…I don’t know…I just kind of turned into this person who commanded attention and talked about all the reasons why Brooke’s work should be on display.”

“And?” Ben had to admit, he was curious as hell to see if she’d made it happen.

“And Brooke’s paintings are now on display and for sale in about a dozen different places. There’s a gallery near Wilmington where she’s on display, and one in Virginia Beach, and one in Myrtle Beach. And then I got her into several boutiques and shops on the Outer Banks,” she said, clearly pleased with herself.

“That’s impressive,” he said, unable to hide his grin. “Very impressive.”

She shrugged. “I thought so.”

“So maybe that’s your thing. Maybe you should be doing that.”

Immediately, Darcy shook her head. “It was easy to do that with Brooke. She’s my sister-in-law. I didn’t have to go out searching for her—she was right there. I don’t have any idea how to find clients to take on so I could do this full-time. And besides that, I didn’t charge Brooke anything. She’s family, and I was happy to do it.”

The wheels in Ben’s mind began to turn, but he wasn’t going to get into it with her right now. “Tell me about where we’re staying. You’ve been a little vague about it other than saying it’s an apartment above your brother’s garage.”

“It’s nicer than it sounds,” she said. “One bedroom—”

“What size bed?” he asked as he began to tease lazy circles on the palm of her hand.

“King.”

“Good.” While his fingers teased her skin, he saw her cheeks begin to flush, and her breath began to quicken. “Is there anything we have to do tonight or tomorrow?”

“Um…”

“Do we need to food shop or anything like that?”

She shook her head.

“That’s good,” he said, his voice a little gruff as he leaned closer to her. “Because once we get to the apartment and get inside, I don’t want to have to do anything except strip you down and take you to bed and keep you there.”

“Oh.” It was a breathy sigh.

“Is that okay with you?” Leaning in even closer, Ben used his tongue to trace the shell of her ear.

“Keep that up, and I’m pulling the car over and we won’t make it to the apartment.”

He instantly straightened and looked at the clock. “Thirty minutes,” he said and then grinned. “But if you get us there sooner, I promise to make it worth your while.”

And with her foot pressed down a little harder on the gas, she got them there in twenty-three.