Charmer (Havenbrook #1)

Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

WILLOW

My plan had gone straight to hell. Though, really, that wasn’t necessarily true. I hadn’t intended to stop seeing Finn entirely, but I definitely also hadn’t intended I’d be sneaking off to all sorts of illicit locations just so we could slip in some kisses and mild groping.

It was like we were teenagers all over again. Next thing I knew, we’d be driving out to Old Mill Road and fogging up the windows of his truck like we’d done dozens of times before.

Though I couldn’t say I’d mind. Fogging up the windows with Finn had always been worth it back then, and it sure as hell would be worth it now. The man had definitely learned a thing or two while he’d been gone, and I was basking in the near-constant glow from being on the receiving end of it.

I wasn’t going to think about that now, though, as I sat at my desk in the middle of the day waiting for my family to show up for our weekly lunch date. I could go my whole life without having to explain my flushed complexion to my momma or gran, so thinking about Finn was strictly off-limits.

My office door swung open, making me startle as if I’d been…well, as if I’d been thinking wholly inappropriate thoughts in a work setting.

Mac popped her head in. “Hey. Nat call yet?”

I cleared my throat and willed my red cheeks to recede. At least it’d been Mac who’d happened on me first. My sister knew every steamy detail of my encounters with Finn—and had ripped me a new one for not telling her about them immediately—so my train of thought would come as no surprise.

“No, not yet.” As soon as the words left my mouth, a trill came from the computer, indicating an incoming video call.

“Perfect timing.” Mac tossed her purse on one of the chairs before scooting around next to me and perching on top of the desk.

I clicked to answer the call and waited for our youngest sister’s face to fill the screen. Ever since Nat had moved away—which had been the day she’d graduated high school—we’d done these weekly chats. The Haven women—my gran, momma, and sisters—had always gotten together for weekly luncheons, and had done so for as long as I could remember. Seemed it was the one tradition Nat didn’t hate.

Of course you’d never catch her actually at one of those luncheons, and she always timed the calls so she could avoid talking to the whole group. I was pretty sure it wasn’t our momma or gran Nat had an aversion to, though. If I had to bet money on it, I’d guess Nat called at those particular times to avoid Rory—those two mixed about as well as oil and water.

“Hey, bitches. What’s up?” Nat said before I could greet her.

“Blue this time?” Mac asked, leaning down and squinting at our sister’s mass of hair. “Shit, Nat, if you keep this up, you’re not going to have any hair left to color.”

Through a smile, Nat said, “Bite me.” She pulled her long hair back and did some sort of magic so it settled into a perfectly mussed up-do. “Sorry I missed our call last week. I had skydiving lessons every day.”

I just closed my eyes and shook my head. I’d learned long ago there was no talking Nat out of anything she had her mind set on. And apparently this month she was set on death-defying activities.

“How was it?” Mac asked, her voice laced with barely concealed interest. “I’ve always wanted to try it.”

“ Amazing . ’Course, it helped that the dude I was strapped to was a tall, built, hunk of delicious man meat. Let me tell y’all, you’ve never had sex until you’ve had it after falling thirteen thousand feet through the air. My God , the orgasms he gave me. Yes, plural .”

While I certainly wasn’t a prude like Rory, I also wasn’t quite the loose-lipped, free spirit Natalie was. She loved talking about what she was getting up to and who she was getting up to it with, and couldn’t go a call without giving us a play-by-play.

“Yeah?” Mac grabbed a handful of the candy-coated chocolates I kept on my desk and popped a couple in her mouth. “Whose place did you go to?”

“Why the hell would we wait until we got to one of our places? We were in a field in the middle of nowhere. Rode that man right there like he was a damn horse.” Nat leaned closer to the screen and waggled her eyebrows. “He was definitely built like one, if you know what I mean.”

That tugged a smile to my lips as Mac barked out a laugh.

“You still seeing him?” Mac asked, but I couldn’t concentrate on Nat’s answer.

Not when a certain someone stood in the outer office speaking with Avery and snagging my attention. A certain someone who’d just happened to have his hand tucked in my panties the night before.

“Well, well, well,” Mac said. “Things are about to get interesting.”

“What?” Nat asked. “What’s happening?”

“Shut up and listen.”

I wanted to tell them both to shut the hell up and maybe get out. But instead, I just sat there and stared at Finn like I was a starry-eyed teenager all over again. He wore a tight-fitting T-shirt—the same gray one he’d worn on his first day in town if I wasn’t mistaken—with threadbare jeans and work boots. In his arms, he carried a bright pink square box.

He smiled at Avery, then stepped around her and right into my office. “Afternoon, ladies.”

“Who is that?” Nat hissed from the screen.

“Hope I’m not interruptin’ anything, but I wanted to pick up that paper you needed me to sign, Willow.”

Well, that was a bold-faced lie I hoped no one else saw through. We’d been done with the signatures for a long time. Never mind that I hadn’t asked him to stop by at all.

“Swung by The Sweet Spot on the way and grabbed some cupcakes. To thank y’all for your help gettin’ everything up and runnin’ with the bar.” He glanced away to nod toward Avery before locking his eyes back on me.

Lord, why did my sisters have to be there right then? I wanted to pull him into my office, lock the door, and kiss the living daylights out of him.

“Oh my God.” Nat again, the loudmouth.

I realized I was just staring when Avery cleared her throat at the same time Mac nudged my shoulder. “Um, anytime. It’s my job to help.”

He stared at me for a moment, his gaze so heated I felt it from my head all the way to my toes and every erogenous zone in between. Then his lips tipped up on one side, and he gave a quick nod before sliding the cupcake box onto my desk. “All right then. I’ll catch y’all later. Have a good day.”

And out he strode, waving to Avery as he went. I barely caught sight of the smirk my best friend shot me since I was too busy watching Finn’s ass as he walked away.

“Would someone tell me who the hell that was already?” Nat asked, her voice sharp and exasperated.

“Funny how he never did pick up that mysterious paper.” Mac glanced down at me with a smirk and plucked the cupcake box from the desk. “Let’s see what he brought. Ooh… gingerbread ! Pretty sure The Sweet Spot only has that in?—”

“November,” I said, my mouth watering. Gingerbread was my absolute favorite, but it was a specialty cupcake the bakery only carried once a year. Which meant?—

“Swung by my ass,” Mac said. “Finn had to have placed a special order for these. That man is sweet on you, Willow Grace.”

“ Finn ?” Nat asked. “As in Griffin Thomas, one of the trouble twins, the guy who broke our dear sister’s heart and made our daddy nearly lose his ever-lovin’ mind? That Finn?”

Mac inclined her head in acknowledgment. “The one and only.”

It was a good thing Mac was speaking for me, because I was still stuck on the fact that this wasn’t a last-minute thing like Finn had made it out to be. He’d planned to get these for me. Had made a special effort to do so. On top of that, he’d had to have figured out they were my favorite in the first place.

Damn. I was trying really hard not to swoon my pants off for my soon-to-bail-again ex-boyfriend, but it was getting harder and harder when he did things like this.

Since our encounter at his bar, he’d done exactly what he’d promised me he would—he’d worked on showing me it was different this time. It’d started with a lunch of my favorite sandwiches magically appearing on my desk the following day when I hadn’t had time to run home for a break. And then he’d taken it upon himself to make sure those heavy as hell tables at the cafe stayed where they were supposed to, even though it’d been a constant fight up until then. Now, this. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be halfway to falling for him all over again just in time for him to leave.

“Ho. Lee. Shit ,” Nat said. “I was gonna ask y’all about the rumor the Thomas boys bought the old soda fountain to renovate it, but I guess I don’t have to anymore.”

“Who’d you hear that from?” I asked, finally finding my voice.

I was pretty sure I already knew the answer, but it was an easy question to ask and one my sister would answer. Nat and Nash—the person currently helping Finn and Drew renovate—had been thick as thieves growing up. From what I knew, they’d stayed pretty close even as my youngest sister had traipsed all over the world the past several years. There was little doubt he’d been the one to fill her in, but I was desperate to keep the conversation from Finn and me.

“Nash, obviously, and quit tryin’ to change the subject. My biggest concern when I called was finding out if Daddy was losing his shit over those two being back, but I think we have more important things to talk about. Like the fact that one of those boys just brought you cupcakes.”

“Oh, he’s bringing her a helluva lot more than just cupcakes if you know what I mean,” Mac said, taking a huge bite of one of the caramel buttercream-topped beauties.

“Is that right?” Nat narrowed her eyes at me. “Somethin’ you wanna tell me?”

“Not particularly.”

“Maybe it’d help if you were more specific in your questions, Nat,” Mac offered. The traitor. “Maybe askin’ if she’s been havin’ any secret sleepovers with a certain someone would get you further.”

“I hate you,” I mumbled under my breath, elbowing Mac’s thigh.

“ No !” Nat’s eyes widened, and she shot forward, her face crowding the screen. “Oh my dear sweet sparkling baby Jesus in heaven, tell me everything !”

Before I could even register we had company, Rory stepped into my office, followed by our momma and gran. “Tell you everything about what? And why don’t I ever get video calls? I never even get phone calls.”

I snapped my head up and slammed my laptop shut, effectively cutting off Nat’s call. There was absolutely no way I was going to let her stay on the line while my momma, gran, and the person set on this earth specifically for the task of making me look bad were in the room. My youngest sister would shout out the details because she gave zero shits about that kind of thing, despite the fact that it wasn’t her story to tell.

I would have to text her later and apologize, though I knew that wouldn’t suffice for long. She would blow up my phone until I finally gave in and answered. And then the pestering wouldn’t stop until I spilled every dirty detail of what was happening, had happened, and what would happen between Finn and me.

“Nothing. No one.” I pushed back my chair and stood, smoothing out my skirt. “Y’all ready to go?”

Mac snorted quietly. Out of the side of her mouth, she whispered, “Smooth.”

I elbowed her in the side and slipped around to the front of my desk, greeting my momma with a kiss on the cheek.

Momma sighed. “I wish Nat would try to time her calls a little better so she could catch all of us. Honestly, that girl doesn’t think sometimes. If we hadn’t stopped over to see your daddy first, we could’ve chatted with her.”

“Next time.” I grabbed my purse and shuffled in behind as my momma and sisters filtered out of my office, offering my elbow to my grandmother. “Hey, Gran,” I said, bending to press a kiss on her cheek.

“Afternoon, honey.” She wore a bedazzled track suit—she must’ve owned a dozen, each one more hideous than the last—her short, dark hair perfectly coiffed from the salon she went to every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to get styled. As she looped her hand through my elbow, she pursed her lips. “Talked to Maxine earlier today.”

Maxine, the owner of said salon, and Gran had been best friends for going on seventy years now. And Lord, were they trouble when they got together.

“Oh, yeah? What’d she have to say?”

She hummed low in her throat and slid a look at me out of the corner of her eye. “Apparently, one of the Thomas boys placed a special order for some of her granddaughter’s specialty cupcakes.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm. Say, wasn’t that a box of The Sweet Shop’s cupcakes on your desk?”

I nearly swallowed my tongue, my heart speeding into a gallop. I’d been worried this whole time about Finn giving us away, but in the end, it’d come down to me turning as red as a tomato in front of my gran and spilling every single sordid detail.

Gran tsked. “Need to give you some lessons on being discreet. For shit’s sake, girl, you might as well be wearing a billboard that says I’ve been up to no good .”

My eyes grew wide, and I stumbled a bit as we made our way down the hallway toward the front door. The others led the way and were, thankfully, oblivious to our conversation. I opened and closed my mouth half a dozen times, but nothing came out. What the hell could I say, really?

“See? That’s what I mean.” Gran shook her head. “Worst poker face I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve lived a long damn time, Willow Grace.”

I swallowed. “I know you have, Gran.”

“Yes, well. About time you got up to some nonsense. Last time was right about ten years ago if I remember right.” She shot me a side-eyed glance, even as I attempted to pretend this was fine. Totally fine. Completely, one hundred percent fine . “Oh, relax. I won’t tell your daddy. That son of mine could stand to get the two-by-four removed from his ass and have a little fun.” She patted my arm and gave me a wink. “Just stick with me, honey, and I’ll teach you a thing or two.”

Of that I had no doubt.