15
They stood in a coffee shop and she had to rein in her impulse to punch the woman currently gushing all over Damien. A good solid jab to the throat might cure this bitch of her manners problem.
He was flirty, but in a general way. It was his nature, Mary had realized some time ago. But it was clear the woman took his nature as an excuse to keep it up.
Damien stepped away and the woman stepped closer. Mary watched, her head cocked, white noise in her head. She didn’t like being jealous. It sucked. It was ugly, and yet she totally was jealous.
To his credit though, Damien kept trying to find nice ways to tell this woman to back off and go away. Finally he stepped back, grabbed Mary’s shoulders and put her between them. Then Mary felt like she’d been given permission to step in.
“What Damien is trying very hard to say and you’re trying very hard not to hear is that he’s here with someone. That’s me.” She waggled her fingers in greeting. “If you walk away now, you can keep some dignity.”
He pulled her back into his body, encircling her shoulders in his arms. His heart beat so steadily she calmed a little. He kissed her temple.
The gusher looked a little surprised, her gaze going back to Damien.
“This is Mary. She’s my girlfriend. I’m here with her. I’m with her,” he repeated, and finally the gusher shrugged and wandered away.
Girlfriend? She thought to protest and realized she didn’t want to. Even if it wasn’t true. Was it? Oh man, now was not the time to have this internal panic attack.
“Thank you for saving me,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m sorry, that was so rude.”
Well, he’d learned from the time in New York. He’d dealt with it quicker. It wouldn’t be the last time either. She had to decide if she could find a way to deal with it.
“I wanted to punch her in the throat.”
He turned her, tipping her chin up. He didn’t care who was looking. In fact he hoped everyone was, because he wanted the world to know this was his woman. “It’s hot when you get this way.” He brushed a kiss over her mouth.
“Mm hm. I’m told this is part of the whole deal. I know enough at this point to be certain I don’t enjoy it. The private plane part is a thumbs-up, though.”
He laughed, tucking her against his side. Their coffee order would be up soon and then they could be on their way.
“Mainly that sort of thing doesn’t happen here. In town most people leave me alone. We grew up here. We’re locals. I go grocery shopping and that sort of thing and people are mostly respectful. I see old schoolteachers and that sort of thing. I’m sorry. I really am.”
She sniffed but said no more. In all the times they’d been together she’d never really shown any jealousy. Other women he’d been with had been jealous when they had no right to be. That had been annoying. This one though? He wanted to pump his fist in victory.
Their coffees came up and he grabbed them.
“Sometimes people do this sort of thing to Adrian at Tart. Jules kicks people out. I guess they do it sometimes at Erin’s café as well. Once, Jules actually jumped the counter to haul out some skank who flashed her boobs at Adrian. Unbelievable that some people have no self-respect at all.”
“Clearly you need to be with me to protect me at all times.”
She laughed. “Mmm hmm.”
“Come on. You ready for Sweet Hollow Ranch?”
“Bring it on.”
He got her back into the car as she sipped her coffee. He’d warned everyone to back off until he slowly brought her around. The last thing he needed was to have his family scaring her off. He’d gotten her this far, he wanted to be sure he got everything right. He wanted her to be in his life regularly.
He took her in the back way so that when they came around the last bend she’d see the river off in the distance along with his house. He wanted to preen and show off for her.
“Wow, this is so beautiful.” She looked around as they got out of the car. “Smells good too. So quiet.”
“It’s nice to be up here. You can see what’s happening elsewhere, but it’s quiet and off the beaten path. Come on in. We’ll drop your stuff off and decide what to do. You can look at the groceries I picked up as well to see if I need anything.”
She took his free hand and he calmed.
“Horses?”
“Yeah. They’re mainly Ezra’s thing. He loves them. My dad uses the ATVs, but Ezra rides out to check the orchards and fields. He’s got dogs too. Chickens. Pigs.” He opened up and ushered her in, her bags in the hand not in hers.
She stopped, her mouth dropping open. “Damien, this entry is stunning.” Letting go of his hand, she turned in a circle, checking the place out.
Flagstones and slate covered the floors. The entry was open to the second floor. Huge windows let the light rush in
“Thank you. Come in and see the rest.” He drew her upstairs. “Let’s drop your bags off in the bedroom.”
The floors up there were hardwood. Honey maple. He loved the warmth it lent the space. His bedroom took up half of the entire second floor. She went in first.
“I remember seeing a sitting room in some movie when I was a kid. I’ve always wanted one in my bedroom ever since.”
She motioned toward the two love seats and the floor-to-ceiling bookcases bracketing the large windows. “More than a sitting room. How you even manage to make it outside is beyond me. I’d be curled up on that couch all day long reading books.”
He made a mental note to be sure to keep a throw out there so she’d be warm while she did.
“The main room is through here.” A fireplace open to both the sitting room and the main bedroom served as a divider. His bed was custom, as was the mattress. He liked a very large bed, and this one fit the bill. It dominated the space.
She looked back at him over her shoulder. “This is a rock-star bed.”
He laughed. “Totally. What’s the point of being one if you can’t have a giant bed and a house you designed?”
She went to the windows to check the view. He came up behind her, one arm sliding around her waist. “That over there is Ezra’s house. His horse pasture. His is the house closest to mine. Orchards over that way. On the other side is where we grow the alfalfa. The main house is around that bend. You can see the roof from the guest room. Paddy is over that way and Vaughan on the other side. He’s got a pool. The girls love it as does Ezra’s damned Lab.”
“This is huge.”
“It is. When we first came here it was about a third this size. We had the alfalfa first. Then my dad picked up some more acreage a few years later and then when we broke, me and my brothers all kicked in and grabbed up the surrounding land when it came up for sale. It made sense to live here in the off-season. Close to family but not on top of one another. Then of course Vaughan got married and they lived here for a few years. I think he’d be pretty happy if he could get his ex to move back to Hood River so he could see the girls more often.”
“It’s nice that you like being around your family. By the way, I heard Paddy tossed some photographer out when he tried to take our picture. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to panic and not want to come see me play anymore.”
She paused and leaned into him again. “I appreciate the gesture. Seems to come with the territory. I know I don’t like it. But I appreciate your trying to protect me from it anyway.”
He wanted to get into it a little more, wanted to pursue this discussion about taking their relationship to the next level. But he sensed she wasn’t ready yet.
It was hard to be on someone else’s schedule. But if she was worth it—and he thought she was—it was what he needed to do.
“Want to see the rest of the house?”
“Yeah.”
He drew her into the bathroom where she stared, openmouthed. “Holy crapdoodle. Damien, this bathroom is a temple to hedonism. Oh my god.”
“In a good way?”
“Yes. Yes, definitely.” She peeked in the huge soaking tub and he noted her smile.
“See the benches? I’m going to have you sit there while I eat your cunt until you scream.”
She blushed.
“The shower has six showerheads. Two are removable. I’m going to use those to make you come too. The floors are heated so you won’t have to be cold walking around naked. The windows are treated so you can’t see in.”
“You’re a deviant, Damien.”
He caught her up, laughing as she did. “I am. You make me that way. All I can do is note all the places I want to f*ck you. I don’t see any place like I did before you.”
He kissed her, tasting her mouth, loving that he knew it and yet craved more.
* * *
Forehead to forehead, he let himself enjoy the very essential pleasure of being with her. “Kitchen?”
“Yes, please.”
He led her past the guest rooms and down the back stairs. “Screening room.”
She poked her head in. “I’ve had such media-room envy since I met Adrian and saw his. This one though? This beats his hands down. Wow.”
“I love to watch movies. It’s hard for me now.” He shrugged. Getting recognized was fun. At first. Now it just stood in the way of doing normal stuff like going to the movies. He could go in town, and he did from time to time. But generally, he was sent movies all the time and he liked holing up and watching them all day.
“I imagine.” She tucked her hand in his and he marveled, just for a moment, at how it made him feel. Calm.
“We’ll watch movies later then. Come on.” He tugged her down the hall and into the kitchen.
She didn’t say a word. He leaned against the doorjamb and watched as she slowly moved through the huge room. She poked open doors and peeked in his pantry. Covetous fingers slid over his countertops and the knobs on the stove and grill.
He noted the way her eyes had glittered as she opened the fridge drawers built into the center island. He hadn’t really cared one way or the other when they’d suggested them to him. But now he got it. He looked at his kitchen through her eyes and appreciated it on a whole new level.
“Even if you didn’t have a massive cock and a private plane, this kitchen would totally get you lucky.”
He laughed, pleased to his toes.
“I’m glad you like it. So you think you can cook in here then?”
She turned to face him, so much pleasure on her features. Her cheeks were flushed, eyes bright. “I’m not sure if I could leave this kitchen. This kitchen is like a wet dream. I want to make something right now. Oh my god, you have refrigerated racks for dough? How is this even a thing?”
“Am I going to have to get jealous of my kitchen?”
“It might be close. But for now you’re in the lead.”
He laughed, hugging her. “You up for a walk? Or some ATV’ing? Or horseback riding? Swimming? F*cking? I should qualify this with the fact that my family wants to meet you. F*cking is always at the top of my list where you’re concerned, but I don’t know how long they’ll leave us alone.”
“I want to ATV, absolutely. I love it. But I’ll be dirty and stuff after. Not really the way I want to look when I meet your family. So how about we walk?”
“I think that’s a fine idea.” He took her hand and led her out the front. She paused to look at the big swing.
“I like that. You know what I saw the other day? We went to the home and landscape show; don’t ask. The things I do for Jules. Anyway, they had beds for porches. Like on swings. It was the awesomest thing. Just to nap on the porch. Not very applicable in Seattle though.”
Boy, once you got her away from Bainbridge she turned into a chatterbox. He liked it.
“I think I could warm up to that. You and me out here on a lazy Sunday. Drinking coffee and reading the paper in bed. ’Course if we did it inside, I could have sex with you as well.”
“You do have a point.”
They started to walk up the road toward his parents’ place.
In the distance he heard a bellow and a string of curse words. It was Ezra, and if Damien heard right, the demon pig was on the loose again.
“Um.” He looked to Mary, who clearly had no idea what was happening. “There’s a pig on the loose.” He shrugged.
“A pig?”
“Ezra has pigs too. Anyway, he just took on a new one, a baby that had been abandoned, and he’s hoping the others will help this baby calm down a little. It’s, the pig I mean, a little, um, vicious.”
The pig came up and over the rise, trotting in their direction. Ezra came shortly after.
“Aww!” She knelt and the pig ran to her. “Aren’t you just a teeny tiny wee piggy baby?”
Damien had been poised to snatch her away from the demon pig’s jaws. But it turned out to be unnecessary.
Instead, the damned pig looked up at her and made a few squeaky grunts. She reached out and Ezra hissed, but instead of a bite, the pig got closer when she petted its head.
Ezra looked at Damien, surprise on his face. Mary sat down right there in the dirt and the pig got into her lap.
“Well, we now know Pork Chop isn’t always a demon pig from hell.”
“You named this sweet baby Pork Chop?” Mary’s tone was scandalized.
“That sweet baby bites! And poops.” Ezra saw that she didn’t believe it. “And is not nice,” he added.
“If you named me after meat, I’d bite too. I think her name should be Violet.” She got close to Pork Chop’s face and the pig gave her a few soft grunts. “She approves of the new name.”
Ezra sat down across from them. “I’ve been trying to get that pig to be nice for the last two months. You’re clearly magic with pigs, and drummers too.” He held his hand out and she took it with a grin. “I’m Ezra. You must be Mary.”
“I am. It’s very nice to meet you, Ezra. Damien talks about you all the time.”
“He does? Well, I hope you know Damien is full of crap a lot.”
She laughed and Damien just watched, sort of stunned, as she sat in the dirt, a pig on her lap and his gruff older brother seemingly just as charmed as the demon pig.
“It’s all been nice. I promise. What have you been doing to this sweet piglet that she’s been mad at you?”
“Existing, apparently.” He sighed. “Maybe it’s because she was mad that I called her Pork Chop. I’m afraid to be left alone with her to see if she reverts.”
Damien snorted. “The people at the shelter know Ezra is a soft touch. The pig was abandoned and they knew he’d taken in others, so they called him and he brought P—Violet to live here with the other pigs he’s got.”
“Aw. Violet, he gave you a home. This is your daddy. You need to be nice to him.”
Violet looked back to Ezra, not entirely sure that anything Mary was saying had any truth.
“I think you should give him a chance. There are other pigs here too. Better than being left alone with no one to care for you, don’t you think? Plus all these Hurley boys are awfully pretty to look at.”
Mary stood with Ezra’s help. The pig still cradled in the crook of her arm, she dusted off her ass with her free hand and Damien had to work not to hum his satisfaction. Damn, she had a nice booty.
“All I’m saying is that you should give Ezra a second chance.”
The pig looked to Ezra and grunted, clearly not convinced. Mary laughed and put the newly named Violet down. The pig trotted next to her happily. Ezra sent him a raised brow and Damien just shrugged. Hell, of course she was good with animals. He shouldn’t be surprised.
“Let’s go up to the house. See if she has similar powers with Mom.”
“Damien tells me you have horses?”
“I do. Do you ride?”
“I haven’t in many years. I used to when I was a kid, though. I love horses. So smart and strong.”
Loopy, Ezra’s dopey Lab, came loping up the lane toward them.
He yipped at Violet, who grunted but didn’t seem afraid. But when he saw Mary, the dog danced around her, barking happily.
She scratched him behind his ears. “Hello to you too.”
“That’s Loopy.” Ezra snorted a laugh. “Hey, Loop, this is Mary.”
Loopy, tongue out, head butted her a few times until she bent to grab a stick.
Loopy’s eyes lit and she barked several times. Mary threw the stick and Loopy ran after it, Violet in her wake as well.
“Jesus. You’re like Dr. Doolittle.” Ezra looked her up and down.
“I like animals.”
Which seemed an understatement.
“But you don’t have any at home,” Damien said.
“My mom has really severe allergies, and even when I moved out I was working all the time and it didn’t really seem fair to have them if I couldn’t give them the time they needed. Miles”—she looked to Ezra—“that’s my friend’s son, he’s sort of like my godson. Anyway, he has a menagerie and I do a lot of pet sitting when they’re gone.”
“Well, Ezra has plenty of animals you can love all over when you’re here.” Damien put an arm around her shoulders.
The dog came back several times and she threw the stick for her each time. Violet stopped chasing after a bit, content to trot along as they went up to the main house.
She’d never been nervous to meet someone’s parents before. His brothers had all been pretty nice. But she’d heard about his mother and wow, Sharon Hurley sounded formidable.
Mary saw the woman on the front porch and knew instantly it was Damien’s mom. He raised a hand to wave, but kept his arm around Mary’s shoulders, which made her feel a little better.
Sharon Hurley was long and lean like her sons. Her hair a deep brown, again like her boys. Her eyes flicked up and down Mary’s body, judging. She didn’t know if Damien had brought girls around before. She got the feeling that he didn’t.
“You’re Mary.” Sharon came down the steps and gave her a closer once-over. “Walk with me.”
Panic swept over Damien’s features, and instead of panicking her further, it only made Mary laugh. She patted his arm and held her hand out to Sharon. “Yes, I’m Mary Whaley. It’s nice to meet you.”
Sharon shook her hand and neatly pivoted them to walk in the other direction. Violet trotted along with them and Mary figured if Sharon got violent, she could sic the pig on her.
“You’re the first woman Damien has brought to meet me in five years. The last one was a twit. Lord above, you put some knockers in front of a man and he thinks he’s seen God. She had ’em. Even I was impressed.”
They kept walking. “This was where we lived in a tiny little trailer while we built the house. My husband is good at most things, including carpentry; that’s why it’s still standing today. What do you do? For a living, I mean.”
“I have a catering business and a supper club two nights a week.”
“What’s that? A supper club? I know what a caterer does.”
“People pay a subscriber’s fee to get a certain number of meals each year. I make dinner for them. They come eat and pay me for it. It works for me. I like to try new menu ideas.” She shrugged.
“How’s that working out?”
“I’m booked nearly a year into the future. I have a Wednesday dinner once a month that’s open to reservations so people can check me out to see if they like me enough to subscribe. Those are also reserved eight months in advance. Catering is good too. Helps when you have lots of friends who love your food.”
“And when they’re famous like my son and Adrian Brown.”
Mary turned, giving the other woman a hard look. “Certainly when your best friend’s husband can throw label party–type business your way, it’s helpful. But I had a business long before I met Adrian Brown. And long before I met Damien. I don’t need your son’s success to run my business, and any implication that I would is uncalled for.”
“You should be mad at me. That was rude. I wanted to see what you’re made of.” She indicated a bench under a big oak tree. “Sit. Please.” She glanced at the pig. “Is that the demon pig?”
“Violet’s just misunderstood. She’s going to be giving Ezra a second chance.”
Sharon laughed. “The music business has done a lot for my children. Far as the eye can see, other than the original piece of land, is because of their success. They’ve been able to travel all over the world. Makes them happy too. Mostly. But it’s also brought a lot of pain. Ezra, well, he’s had his struggles. Vaughan’s babies being raised in a home apart from their daddy. Paddy, well, he’s Paddy so he’ll go his own way. And Damien. I won’t let anyone hurt them if I can help it. I can’t always help it, which is the worst part of being a mother, let me tell you. Damien is the one who always wore his heart on his sleeve. And then after a few years in the business he sort of, well, he hardened up. Got himself a tough outer shell. Need one really to survive of course. But then he stopped bringing anyone around. Stopped dating. He just had flings.”
Mary stared out over the land. Violet rooted in the dirt nearby.
“You’re not a fling.”
“I started off that way. I want to be honest with Damien because I like him. I respect him. I did not intend to meet his parents and hang out with his pig.” She shrugged. “I don’t like some very pervasive aspects of his life. I don’t like cameras on my every move. I don’t like tabloids. I don’t like stumbling over one woman after the next that he’s been with either.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“He’s persuasive. He makes me laugh. He loves his family in much the same way that I love mine. He respects my life and my business. I tried to resist. Even when he first started to push for more. But he’s irresistible.”
Sharon laughed. “Of them all, he really is. When they were growing up their dad and I had to go down to the school at least once or twice a month. When you have four sons it’s sort of expected that you’ll have to deal with it at least once or twice. But my boys got an extra helping in the trouble department. We couldn’t keep sitters. Oh, all the teenage girls would be charmed, but by the time we got back from dinner they’d be weeping and swear to never set foot on our land again.
“Damien actually convinced a few to come back more than once. One of them even came back three times. So I can see why you’d be unable to resist his charms. He talks about you a lot. I like that you have your own life. I like that you’ve made yourself a success on your own. Would you sign a prenup?”
Mary started laughing. “Prenup? I’ve known Damien since June. That’s like three and a half months. We’re nowhere near marriage.”
Sharon nodded. “Come on down and meet my husband. I made him promise to stay in the house long enough for me to have a private conversation with you. I expect all the boys are worried I’ll chase you off. But you’re not that easy to chase away, I wager.”
She stood and Mary followed.
“I’ve got some freshly brewed tea. Want some?”
And just like that, Mary passed the Sharon Hurley test.