No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 62

PENN

Darcy wasn’t makingthis easy on me. I had a notion she was using humor to try and hide the way she was truly feeling, but after last night, I was sure she wanted to get to know me in the same ways I was trying to get to know her.

“So, not Noreen then?” she responded after I threw a grape at her.

“Nope, not Noreen. You,” I replied.

Darcy touched her hand to her chest. “Me? What about little ole me?” she asked, toying with me.

“Everything,” I said, surprising even myself. I was ready to chuck myself into the creek for what I was letting happen. I was breaking every rule I had ever set for myself. I was the stupid guy from the Netflix romantic comedy who had fallen for the small-town girl. My world was rocked; my life was changed.

Darcy squinted her eyes. “So, my sex was just that good that now your entire motive for being in Aveline has changed? I’m just that amazing?”

I watched her face, looking for any sign of humor or understanding or anything, but I couldn’t read it. She was making me nervous, making me feel like no matter what way I went in answering that I would be wrong.

“No.”

She gasped. “Well, it was terrible for me, too!” she teased.

I chuckled. “I didn’t mean no. The sex was great, but not just that. It’s more that I realized how much that store means to you. I don’t have to have a restaurant, but the hardware store means everything to you.”

I watched Darcy’s chest rise and fall, her eyes studying me, checking me for truth. “And that matters to you?”

“Yes, of course it does. Haven’t you been paying attention?” I moved a little closer to her, hoping she wouldn’t push me away and wouldn’t tell me last night was a one-time thing. “You are the most infuriating, quick-witted, obstinate woman I have ever met...and I am absolutely crazy about you.”

“Have you been reading Pride and Prejudice?” she asked before her eyes flitted to my lips.

I backed away, exasperated. “Yes, but that’s not the point . . . ”

She chuckled and pulled me closer by my shirt. I could feel the heat of her breath on me, the smell slightly sweet from the grapes, and she licked her lips. “I kind of like you, too.”

And then we didn’t wait another second. Instead, we connected. Our lips parted and tongues met, and I knew that no matter what happened, whether Darcy and I ever became more than what we were in this moment, whether I stayed or left this town forever, I had made the right decision.

Aveline deserved to be preserved, and Darcy was worth changing all my plans.

I had enough money saved up to be comfortable while I figured out what my next move would be. Taking some time off was not the worst thing in the world. I had been a workaholic since graduating from college, and now, in my thirties, I was starting to realize work wasn’t all there was to life. I needed to learn how to live, and when Darcy and I decided we wanted to get to know each other better, I figured Aveline was the perfect place to teach me what it meant to love my life.

I had been in Aveline for a couple of months, falling for Darcy in the most incredible way. I felt like a teenager again, sneaking kisses in alleyways, having pillow fights in our underwear, and discovering the little details about her that I wondered if anyone else knew. I liked that I knew how she took her coffee, that she stuck her tongue out just slightly when she was concentrating hard, and she twiddled her thumbs whenever she was nervous. I had never known those things about a person before, and to be honest, I had never wanted to. There was something about Darcy, though, that made me want to know everything about her. Commitment-phobia was in my past because I was offering myself to her with zero fear of the consequences. I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t even want to, because if I tried, I was afraid it would all disappear.

I had been back home to grab more of my clothes and essentials, see my parents and explain what I was doing—to their dismay—and give my brother the low down on Darcy and Aveline, but then, I came back to the room I had indefinitely checked out at the Green Gables Inn. I was sitting in the chair one evening, watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory, when Finn called.

“What’s up, Finn?”

“Hey, man. How’s it going over there in tiny town? Are you moving there permanently yet?”

I paused the TV. “No. I think I’ll head back home next week. Come back on the weekends until I figure out what I’m going to do. I could see myself living here, though, even if Darcy and I just end up as friends.”

“You like it that much?” He sounded surprised.

“Yeah, I actually do. I don’t know how the people here do it, but they make you feel like you belong.”

“Hmm,” Finn replied.

I chuckled. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just, I’m surprised. Normally you would go running from a place like this, from a girl like this, and yet, here you are, wanting to plant roots. I just feel like you’ve grown up in the last month. You’re no longer the eternal bachelor.”

I laughed out loud. “Yeah, I can’t explain it either. I’ve spent over a decade avoiding getting to know any woman on an intimate level, and now I want to go to dinner with her parents and find out what she was like as a kid. It’s creeping me out, to be honest, but I can’t get enough of her.”

“I love it, bro. You deserve someone who can pull that out of you. Just one question, though. Does she still call you Penny Bear?”

I scoffed. “God, no. That part of her has disappeared completely. I’m chalking it up to nerves or something.”

“Let’s hope so. Any word from that dick Prescott?”

I had barely even thought of Max since I quit. “Nope, nothing. I did see Corbin was promoted to my position. He posted it on Facebook.”

“Of course he did,” Finn replied. “Screw that guy anyway. Listen, you know if you need a job, I’ve got you covered. You can sell insurance remotely, and you’ve already got your bachelor’s, so it would be easy to get you set up.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate you. I’ll let you know.”

“Right on. Hey, Penn?” Finn paused. “You seem happier than I’ve ever seen you. For what it’s worth, I think you belong there, too.”