Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Campbell
Five hours and a tea party later, I’m late.
In my defense, Kacey insisted she help me make the salad I brought to contribute to the food trough.
I couldn’t say no, and rushing a four-year-old doesn’t go well.
Then we decided to make brownies, and before those were done cooking, she wanted to try another kind of tea.
I told Mom to save the kitchen mess for when I’m done here.
Durban and I didn’t talk about where I’m sleeping tonight, and I don’t want to invite myself over, but also, another trip to “Billings” might rouse more questions than I can answer.
I pull into the distillery parking lot. All the cars and pickups are lined up at the edge of the lot by the trees. My stomach is pitching as I park. I shouldn’t be nervous, but I’ve never had to pretend I haven’t tasted every inch of a guy in front of those he cares and trusts the most.
Which also means that he doesn’t want those closest to him to know about me and him. Yet he invited me, and isn’t that as confusing as it is endearing?
I suck in a deep breath as I get out of my car, grabbing the bowl of food I brought. I know why we’re a secret. We have a good reason. I can’t stifle the part of me that wants him to announce us as loud as possible and damn the consequences, but that’s a me problem.
He didn’t react when Haven busted us, but one is different from all. And he did swear his brother to secrecy.
I start for the crowd, my nerves cranking tighter.
I could use a sounding board, but Jamison is still resting after having a baby, so I’m not bothering her with this.
Besides, she’d feel obligated to tell Iverson, and then where are we?
If Durban hasn’t talked to him, I’m not going to spill the beans.
I could call Avery, but she’s utterly pragmatic, and I don’t need to hear that I’m setting myself up to get hurt.
People mill around tables that have been pulled out of the tasting room. Guys hang out around a grill. There’s nothing but tall men in tight shirts with rugged facial hair. Did they multiply?
Durban breaks away from the group by the grill and walks toward me. The tangle inside my belly loosens, and my body warms, like it’s getting ready to feel his hands and mouth all over me.
“Hey.” The sun makes his dark eyes glitter.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“I’m just glad you’re here.” He says it like he means it. There’s no censure. I try to be on time, but I took a gamble today for my niece, and he’s not hanging it over my head. I could get used to this.
I tap the top of the bowl. “Kacey wanted to help me with this. We had a tea party today with Mom.”
His eyes warm, and I really like when that look is aimed at me. “Sounds like a fun afternoon.”
“Well, you know. It was a long drive back from Billings.”
The warmth in his gaze turns to heat, and I’m caught in the inferno. Flashes of last night, the whole weekend really, make my skin tingle. “I hope the trip wasn’t boring.”
“It was the mellow de-stressor I needed.” Definitely not a lie.
I handled the wedding couple and had a fun afternoon.
A ton of orgasms helped, but also a weekend of hanging out and talking with Durban.
I brandish the salad. “Mom wouldn’t let me come without making sure I have something to offer.
It’s a chop salad. Kacey wouldn’t let me touch the brownies we made because she wants to bring them home to her mom and dad. ”
The way his features soften at that sends my insides all wonky. Each of my ovaries is pointing toward my biological clock and tapping its heel.
I’ve long wanted what my sister has—a career and a good man who treats her like a princess—so much that I tolerated an arrogant, controlling man to get there. After the breakup, the importance of quality in a partner became crystal clear.
Durban would make a good dad. He’d be practical and understanding and— I cannot go down that road. Not yet. I need one win before I risk getting turned down by someone of his caliber.
“Didn’t think we’d have veggies otherwise?” His dimple makes an appearance, and it’s like my very own first-place ribbon. Not many people make him smile wide enough to show it.
“Definitely not Haven.”
“No. He always brings a dessert. The guy lives in fear that there won’t be any.”
I scan the crowd. “Did you hire a lot of new people?”
Myles and a tall, bearded man I don’t recognize are standing by Lane, Cruz, and Haven. Edna’s chatting with an older woman who’s pleasantly smiling and nodding. An icy blond is with Clem and another woman with red hair.
He points to the man next to Myles. “That’s Tate, Mae’s oldest boy.
” He swings his arm to the redhead. “His wife, Scarlett, and next to her is Myles’s wife, Wynter.
She was just a little older than Kacey when we were there.
” He reaches out like he’s going to put an arm around my shoulders, but he drops it.
“Come on. Let me introduce you to Mae. She’s talking to Edna. ”
As we walk by the group of guys, Haven lifts his chin. “Nice of you to make it back from Billings to join us.”
I hold back my smirk. “The getaway was nice.”
“Only nice?” Haven’s grin widens. “That’s disappointing but not unexpected.”
I laugh at the absurdity, but I peek at Durban. He’s shooting Haven a playful glare.
Myles steps forward. “Campbell, this is Tate, Mae’s oldest.”
I shake the older man’s hand. His smile is congenial, and I’m instantly at ease around him.
“She’s the planner for the Baldwin wedding.” Durban’s standing closer than a guy I just work with would normally, but I don’t mind. I like that he can’t seem to help himself. “And our Hawthorne Ranch liaison, who’s also a Hawthorne.”
“We’re hoping she’ll help us brainstorm.” Lane opens the lid of the grill, and the meat inside captivates all the guys.
“Me?” I ask, surprised.
“Not many other event planners in our network,” Haven says. “And Durban says you’re good.” His grin widens.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a muscle flex in Durban’s jaw, but I don’t look right at him. My blush will rage if I do.
“I’ll introduce you to Mae,” Durban says and steers me away.
When we reach Mae, she asks if she can hug me, and when I say yes, I’m embraced by the startlingly strong woman. She wrangled three young Hennessy brothers in addition to many other kids.
She chats with me for a few minutes about my job, delighted to hear about what I do.
Her attention is solely on me, and there’s no sense I’m falling short of whatever she expected.
Meeting Stanford’s parents was the opposite of this.
Their looks were full of judgment, and anything I said or did only added to it.
I can’t ever meet Durban’s mom or dad, but this introduction feels like more. It’s like he’s showing me off to someone important to him, even though she only filled three months of his life.
She’s not his mom, I’m not his girlfriend, and he hasn’t told me he wants anything different. This is just another dream of mine that is going to go to someone else.
Durban
When I pull into Iverson’s, Campbell’s car is there. I didn’t intend to come at the same time she’s visiting, but I like the happy accident. She didn’t come over last night after the gathering. Another night in “Billings” would make it too hard to explain.
The way she laughed with Mae and joked around with the guys left me wishing I could put a hand on her lower back or hook an arm around her shoulders.
Myles and Tate are happily married, and the other two Foster brothers don’t seem to be into Campbell, but I wasn’t feeling territorial. I just wanted to show her off as mine.
I can’t be falling for her this fast. I thought I was into Natalie after a couple of weeks with her too. Then she moved away, and what bloomed from our long-distance relationship was a deep appreciation for her brains and ambition, and a vast overestimation of how important I was to her.
With Campbell, everything is moving at lightning speed, yet I don’t know if I’m the only one in the storm. How do I know when it’s too fast?
I don’t need to. The wedding is Saturday.
Stanford and January are supposed to leave Sunday morning, and I can’t have Stanford getting his underwear in a twist, obsessing over his ex, and making his bride run to her parents.
When the land is officially signed over to William and Christine, then I can talk to Campbell.
I get out of my pickup.
Iverson meets me outside. “Finally going to meet the big guy?”
“I can give you more time.”
“Nah. Jamison is going stir-crazy. She was going to make rounds if you didn’t get down here soon.” We walk toward the house. “We would’ve been at Foster House yesterday to see everyone, but we both fell asleep when Tavis was napping.”
“Too bad you missed Mae.”
“Nope.” He opens the door for me. “Jamison made sure I called before they all left town, and they stopped by.”
I step in and am enveloped in cool air. It’s warm enough outside to run the AC, but there’s still a tinge of sunshine and huckleberry blossoms. I follow the cloud to the main area.
My gaze goes right to Campbell. She’s standing in the middle of the floor, rocking back and forth with a bundle in her arms. The blanket is blue and light brown, and a tiny mop of dark hair sticks out. She’s smiling at our nephew, then she looks up.
My world stops spinning.
She’s so damn beautiful, my chest aches with a yearning that’s as plain as a billboard. I want this. I want her.
But not too long ago, it’s what I wanted with another woman. Am I rushing things? Is my midlife crisis making deals with a pretty young woman and dumping all my upended hopes on her?
That’s not fair to Campbell.
A light smile plays across her lips. “Durban. Long time no see.”
It’s felt like forever. “Nice you could make it to the party last night.”
I pry my gaze off her and the Tilt-A-Whirl it creates in my chest.
Jamison is curled into the corner of the couch. Her hair is in the messiest bun I’ve ever seen, there are bags under her eyes, but she smiles like she’s exactly where she wants to be.
Kacey’s sitting on Avery’s lap in a recliner, poring over her cardboard books. Avery’s watching me with a blond brow cocked. Thea’s sprawled on the floor at Avery’s feet, her short dark hair sticking up in all directions.
I tip my head to them. “Avery. Thea. How was the drive?”
“Long,” Avery answers, her gaze jumping from me to Campbell.
Shit. Did everything I was thinking play across my expression? “You staying for a while?”
“Yes.” Avery’s eyes flash. “We’re moral support only. I’m not attending the wedding.”
Thea tosses her arm in the air, giving a thumbs-up in what must mean solidarity. “Team Campbell.”
“Me too.” Kacey puffs her lips out. That’s my girl. “I don’t like Stan.”
Campbell beams. “I have the best posse in the world, but you guys need to go to the wedding so you can tell me how awful January looks and how tacky Stanford’s outfit is. He’s going with a tux, refusing to wear the crisp black jeans and white dress shirt that January wanted him to wear.”
“Is it bad I was worried I’d miss the train wreck?” Avery asks.
Thea sits up and crosses her legs. “I don’t want that wedding to be a hot mess, for your sake,” she says to Campbell, “but I want January to be a hot mess.”
Tavis squawks and squirms. Campbell adds a little bounce to her side to side. “You want that too, don’t you?” she coos. “That’s why you’re my favorite nephew.”
“Until Durban or Haven give him some competition,” Jamison says with a yawn.
Avery cocks her head, her sharp gaze pinning me like a bug on display. “Planning to give Tavis some competition, Durban?”
Thea taps Avery’s knee. “That’s intrusive.”
“Sure is,” Avery answers, but her challenging stare remains on me.
Campbell has rocked herself so her back is to her sister. Her flushed cheeks are on display, and her gaze is darting everywhere but me.
I might’ve been bowled over by baby fever, but she’s not. Why would she be? She’s not even thirty, and she’s kick-starting a brand-new career. I’m seeing things that aren’t there again.
“No baby making is going on,” I say. I hold my hands out and close the distance between me and Campbell. “Mind if I hold the little guy?”
Her blush deepens, but she lets me take him. He’s a warm weight in my arms. The smell of baby powder mingles with Campbell’s summery scent. That’s stamped into my midlife-crisis brain now too.
Fuck. All the sex is scrambling my brain. I’m conflating it with the wedding festivities, and my mind is taking off on a tangent. I hold Tavis and remember his sister at this age.
“Ready for the luncheon tomorrow?” Campbell asks me. Just when I can’t believe that she’s brought it up in front of her family, she wiggles her fingers toward them. “They were going to boycott that too, but January was upset.”
“She’ll have no one at her precious lunch,” Avery says snidely, “while Can’t Stanford will have a full house.”
“January will die thinking about how Campbell would’ve filled that pavilion,” Jamison pipes in.
“I need to be in on all this drama.” Thea puts her hand on her chest. “I, for once, will not be causing the family drama.”
“I’ll be there,” I say and stuff away the dismay that I might not get Campbell alone like I thought. We’re so close, and she’ll have too much family there. But my gaze collides with hers, so she knows that I won’t just be hoping for sex. “Team Campbell.”