Chapter 40
Reese
“Fuck.”
I wish I could say my response was only in regard to Clay’s “condition,” but it was so much more. It was to seeing him, to hearing him.
To wanting him.
I was an idiot, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. The minute I’d heard his voice, it was like something lit up inside me. Like the part of me that I’d been missing for days had found its way back to me.
“That’s the deal, Reese. Take it or leave it.”
I glared his way. I didn’t like being put on the spot in front of everyone. Didn’t like how I couldn’t think of a way out of it easily.
Didn’t like how I didn’t want to find a way out.
“What if I don’t want to work with you?” I never said I’d make this easy on him. Besides, I needed to talk with him, without my family breathing down our necks.
He winked and smiled, those dumb dimples appearing. They, along with other parts of his body, had made appearances in my dreams the past few nights. I often woke way too turned on for my liking, considering I was still mad at him.
“Don’t try to flash those dimples at me to get your way.”
“They are impressive though.” Henley’s voice carried as she spoke. “Clay if you want to flash them this way, I’m game.”
I rounded on my cousin. “Stop perving on my man.”
She smirked. “I thought you said you were done with him.”
“I’m not.”
“She’s not.”
Now I stared Clay down. “You don’t get an input.” I started pacing and twirling Grams’ ring again, until it clattered to the floor.
“Oh, Reese,” Clay called out as we watched it roll under a table. “Would you look at that.”
I plowed my hands through my hair. “Shut up.”
There was too much going on. My family was chattering among themselves, but loud enough to hear, and now the gossip was flowing. It sounded like Ever was giving a minute-by-minute play of the time Clay and I spent together.
“Traitor,” I hissed her way, but she shrugged it off.
“Mr. Clay,” Abby’s squeal of delight echoed through the room as she burst from the back hallway, Seth several feet behind her.
“Mr. Clay, you came back.” She launched herself at Clay, and I had to admit watching him catch her with such ease made my heart stutter.
I wasn’t going to think about what it did to my panties either.
“Dammit,” Seth panted as he came up to Beck. “She’s quick.”
“It’s okay.” My lips tilted up in a slight smile as Clay and I answered at the same time.
“Nice going, Seth,” Ever said as she rolled her eyes. “You can’t even keep one small female under control.”
Beck’s best friend looked at mine, a grin tipping up his lips. “Oh, if I want to, I’m perfectly capable of keeping a female under control.”
What the fuck? And what the hell did he mean? Was Seth flirting? Whatever was going on had an added benefit, however, since I’d never seen Ever so completely at a loss for words. Well, at least that got her to shut up.
“Mr. Clay,” Abby cut in and snagged my attention back from an increasingly red-faced Ever, “Auntie ReeRee came home without you, and I was sad, but not as sad as her. I even saw her crying when Auntie Ever took me to get muffins yesterday.”
“I was not crying at the B&B,” I said vehemently.
It was also an abject lie. I almost scared off a guest yesterday with the way I looked. Flipping between anger and sadness the past few days had left me looking haggard and slightly deranged.
Beck slammed his hand on the bartop. “Dammit, Ev, you said you were going for a walk.”
Ever apparently regained her voice, but not her normal coloring. “We did. We walked into the kitchen and got some of Logan’s muffins.”
This time, it was his head that hit the surface.
Aunt Martha cleared her throat. “Can we please right this ship and get it back on track? Clay, we have some questions.”
Every one of my relatives started firing off questions, but I barely heard them. I watched and listened as Clay navigated each one. The offer sounded better than anything I could have dreamed of. His condition sounded amazing too. What woman wouldn’t want to work with the man she loved?
Only one question floated through my mind as I eased backward, completely ignored, and slipped outside.
Did Clay really love me?
“I knew I’d find you here.”
I looked up as Clay’s deep voice came from the path leading to my spot. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting him. Since walking out of the winery, I’d been waiting for his car to leave the lot.
“They finally freed you?”
I wasn’t sure if I was glad they didn’t keep him longer or thought thirty minutes was too long.
“That they did.” He held out his hand, Grandmother’s ring resting in his palm. “I didn’t make quite the sight you did when I retrieved it, though there was a whistle or two,” he added with a grimace.
The urge to chuckle was tempered by feelings of unease, so I simply took the ring and slid it on my finger. I would however talk to Ever and Henley, the likely whistlers, later.
“Your family is going to be a handful to deal with.” He dropped down next to me on the blanket. “That’s why I’m glad I’m going to be working only with you.”
“About that,” I started.
“No. That’s my condition.”
“Why?” I needed to know. Needed to hear him say something about how he felt. That last night in New York, I’d thought I known. Thought from the way he’d held me, danced with me, touched me, that even if he didn’t say the words, he felt as I did.
“I know I have a lot of explaining to do, about the deal, about Reginald, about everything, but there is only one thing right now that’s important.
” Unbuttoning his cuffs, he rolled up his sleeves, and I tried not to drool.
Really, I did, but he had exceptional forearms. When he noticed me staring, he winked and I warmed inside.
“My feelings for you were never a lie. I may not have given you the full truth about what was going on with the company, and I definitely lied to myself about my feelings, but every touch, every kiss, every time I made love to you was the truth.”
I pinned him with my stare, not daring to believe him but wanting it so much there was a physical ache inside of me. I should have heard the warning bells go off when he smiled.
“God Reese, you are too much.”
I sprang to my feet. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He jumped up and grabbed hold of my arm, pulling me into his chest. For a moment I struggled, but he reached down and cupped my face, keeping me immobile as he stared into my eyes.
“I know you hate those words, but those who love you, love you because of them.” He looked down at me, and I swear I saw something in those green eyes I’d seen as he rose over me in bed a few nights ago.
When I’d been so sure of how he felt. “I love you because of them.”
I stilled at his words. I love you because of them.
A part of me wanted to cut in, wanted to say something. Another part, the part that won out, simply wanted to hear what he had to say.
“Because they make you the woman you are.” Clay’s eyes sparkled in the sun.
“You see it as a negative, but what if it’s not?
What if ‘too much’ is because there could be so many words to describe you?
Too passionate. Too lovable. Too sarcastic, which, by the way, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Too big of a dreamer. Too focused.” Leaning down, he rested his forehead against mine.
Our breaths mingled as his mouth hovered over mine.
“The right person for you would revel in your ‘too much,’ Reese. Would bring it out in you all the time, because it’s exactly who you should be. ”
I closed my eyes, as I tried to gather myself.
I wanted to hear him say the words so much.
I opened my eyes and sucked in a breath.
Nothing about this relationship was what I’d call normal.
How could it be when we were so different?
Except nothing had truly felt wrong or off.
Everything, from our first interaction had felt all too right.
My lips quirked up. “And you think you’re that person, Clayton Montgomery?”
Tunneling his hand through my hair, I watched as he smiled, hearing the tease in my voice. “Oh, I know I’m the man for that, Reese Henley.” He lowered his mouth a fraction, so his lips brushed mine. “Your ‘too much’ is all mine, Little Trouble.”
With an unyielding grip on my head, he took my mouth, claiming what was his and always would be.
This was exactly what I’d been dying for since getting in that damn Uber.
To feel him against me again. To revel in the way his hardness was the perfect fit to my body.
To hear him moan as he whispered my name when his lips broke free from mine.
He ran his hands under my ass, lifting me until I wrapped my legs around his hips.
This was perfection, and I finally felt as if everything was going to work out.
Work out? How?
My hold on his hair loosened, reality coming crashing down on me. Clay must have noticed I’d stopped kissing him back because he pulled back the slightest bit. Both of us sucking in air as our mouths separated.
“Please put me down.”
The second Clay set me back on my feet, I took a step back. Then another and another, until I gained distance but still no perspective.
Everything I’d ever wanted I felt in that kiss. A place to be myself, arms that would hold me tight no matter what craziness I came up with, a kiss that said it would always be there waiting for me. I wanted it so badly, wanted to trust it, but could I?
Why not, Reese? You read my damn letter. Trust in yourself, darlin’ girl, because I always trusted you.
That letter had apparently unlocked Gramps’ voice inside my head. I’d missed him for so long, and right now, I could practically feel his arm around my shoulder, giving me the courage to be brave. Why was that so hard to do?
Because being brave can lead to gettin’ hurt, but it can also lead to greatness.
“Reese?”