Charmer (Havenbrook #1)

Chapter 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

FINN

After round two where I had taken Willow nice and slow, trying to show her in every kiss, every roll of my hips how much I still loved her, I walked her to her house, our fingers linked between us. It’d been a long damn time since I’d done something as simple as holding hands—in fact, the last time had probably been with Willow.

Considering how much we’d shared in the tree house, it was no wonder we walked the path in silence until we got to her front porch, the soft glow of the outside light illuminating her face.

“Thank you,” she said, her finger hooked in my belt loop. “For tonight.”

“Anytime.” I curled my fingers around her nape, brushing my thumb along her jaw as I pulled her in for a kiss.

Our lips met with a spark, that always-evident chemistry between us coming to life as I slid my tongue along hers, pulled her body tight against me.

Jesus, how could I be ready to go again? This girl drove me absolutely fucking crazy in the best possible ways.

Panting, she broke away and dropped her forehead to my chest, her hands resting on either side, my shirt clutched in her fists. Well, one thing was for certain—she was just as affected as I was.

“You should go inside before I take you right here on the porch for anyone to see.” I ran my hands down the length of her back as her laugh puffed against my T-shirt.

“I know I should be scandalized by that, but is it bad that I’m actually considering it?”

I groaned, fisting her tank top at the small of her back and tugging her against me. Letting her feel how hard I was for her. “That’s just cruel, woman. Don’t tease a man in this state.”

She laughed, a tinkling sound, and looked up at me just as the front door swung open. Mac stood on the other side, mouth hanging open, eyes pinging back and forth between her sister and me.

“What the hell?”

My lips quirked up at the corner. “Hey, Mac. Havin’ a good night?”

“I… Um…” She narrowed her eyes before settling them on Willow and giving her what could only be interpreted as a “we’ll talk later” look. Then she walked away, leaving the door wide open.

So much for the whole against-the-house scenario.

“Seems y’all have some talkin’ to do, so I’ll leave you to it.” I pulled Willow close, pressing a soft, chaste kiss on her lips. Against them, I whispered, “’Night, Willowtree. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I walked backward, our fingers clasped between us until I couldn’t hold on any longer, and then I turned and strolled toward my truck near the front of the property. Leaving was the last thing I wanted to do. Hell, if I had it my way, she’d invite me into her home, into her room, into her bed. I’d spend the night with her, wake her up in the middle of the night with my lips on her, spend an hour inside her, then wake for the day with her in my arms. Pure heaven. Something we’d never had the luxury of doing, but something I wanted to experience almost as much as I wanted my next breath.

Someday. Someday, she’d trust me with that. Maybe. Hopefully. Especially after what we’d talked about tonight. Someday—maybe even sooner rather than later—we’d get to be a couple like that. I could stay at her place, or she could stay at mine. We’d wake up, head down to the Square, and grab breakfast at the diner. Everyone would look, of course. But she and I wouldn’t care. Hell, I’d be damn glad for all the gawking, because it’d mean Willow was my girl for the entire town to see.

So lost in my thoughts, I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone until I nearly tripped over Willow’s daddy. Dick stood off to the side, rage written all over his face. And, shit, wasn’t this just history repeating itself? The last time I had made this trek, he’d stopped me then too. Face as pissed as it was now, spitting fire and threats.

Difference was, I was no longer that scared, nineteen-year-old kid with a sick momma and not a whole lot of hope for the future. Now? Now, I had that hope in spades.

“Evenin’, Dick. What can I do for you?”

“What can you do for me? You can tell me what the hell you’re doin’ on my property before I call the sheriff to haul your ass off for trespassin’.”

I cocked my head. A voice whispered that I shouldn’t taunt the man, shouldn’t rub what I’d been doing in his face. But pride was a bitch sometimes, and the satisfaction of pissing him off was too good to pass up. “Been a while, but I think you’ll probably remember if you try hard enough.”

Dick delivered the reaction I had wanted, his face reddening, hands curled into fists at his sides. I could practically see the smoke emanating from the older man’s ears, and I couldn’t say I was even a bit sorry about it. While I wouldn’t go back and change the events that’d led to me leaving—because without them, my momma may not…probably wouldn’t…have been with us now—but I couldn’t help hating Dick for tearing Willow and me apart. For not even allowing me to tell her goodbye.

“I don’t know what you’re up to here,” he said, “but you best finish what you came for and leave. Before I make you. You remember how that goes, don’t you, boy?”

Boy? I hadn’t been a boy in a long damn time—since well before I’d left in the first place.

I laughed, a loud booming sound in the otherwise quiet night. “Guess you haven’t heard the news.”

“What news?”

Oh, this was going to make my year. Watching Dick’s face as I delivered the information that would ruin his precious little town—at least, in his eyes.

“We’re stayin’.”

“You’re what ?”

“C’mon now, Dick, I know you heard me. Despite you trying your damnedest to run us out with all that red tape nonsense and bullshit regulations, we’re not goin’ anywhere. We’re making Havenbrook home again.”

“You…you can’t do that.”

“Can and will. Drew and I are making one last trip to California to get packed up and bring Momma back with us.”

“No one here wants your kind in Havenbrook.” He spat the words like they were weapons.

I stared at the older man, waiting for the shame to come. But it never did. I knew my worth now, knew it didn’t rest solely on where I lived or what part of town I was from, or whether or not my daddy was in the picture. Knew it stemmed only from the kind of man I was. “Once upon a time, that might’ve hurt me, but I’m not a kid anymore, and preying on what you perceive as weaknesses isn’t going to do jack shit. I’m not quite as easy to get rid of as I was back then.”

“You think giving you fifty-thousand dollars to get the hell out was easy ? How much’ll it take this time? Seventy-five? A hundred?”

Anger mixed with regret swirled in my gut. Dick knew damn well the money hadn’t been why I had left—it’d been the threat of what would’ve happened if I’d stayed. If I’d gotten hauled off to jail, there would’ve been no way Drew could’ve taken care of things with our momma. And Dick had known it, had used it to his advantage, like the prick he was.

I had no idea why I’d tried to protect Willow from this man, tried to salvage their relationship. The man was an asshole, and it was about damn time his daughter realized that.

I stepped up until I was toe-to-toe with him, getting some pleasure in the fact that Dick had to tilt his head back to look me in the eyes. “You could promise me a million—hell, a billion —and it still wouldn’t do jack. Try to come up with some more bullshit charges for me. See what blackmailing me does. It would make my fucking year to go down that path with you. I’m stayin’, Dick. And there’s nothin’ you can do to stop me.”

With that, I turned and walked away, my head held higher than it had been so many years ago. But just like all those years ago, my stomach churned. Dick wouldn’t give up. Wouldn’t stop until he’d gotten his way, or he had something else to focus his efforts on. Seeing as how Havenbrook was about as hopping as Mayberry, there wasn’t much else for him to focus on. And seeing as I wasn’t going anywhere… Well, it was going to be a long rest of my life.

But one that was worth it a thousand times over if it meant I got to spend that life with Willow.