“And you’re having trouble picking?”
“Yes and no. See, they picked me after they saw my work at the show you guys set me up with. That show had my classic work. The definition of who I’ve been publicly as an artist. But I want to include something different and daring for me. But should I? Or should I stick to safe over daring?”
“Safe is average,” Chris says, stepping into the doorway. “Decide if you want to be average, and you have your answer.” He disappears into the hallway.
Sara lifts a hand. “There you go. Your answer.”
“Well the thrust is that I’m not feeling like playing it safe or being average. As proof, I’m not only here instead of at the winery, I agreed to move in with Nick.”
“You did? Wow. Yay! That’s huge.”
“It is and it was also an easy decision thanks to you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You. You said: What if tomorrow never comes? Those are my new words to live or die by.”
She smiles and stands up, exiting the office. I pull up the Forum paperwork in my email and fill it all out. I enter ‘An Eye for an Eye’ as my final piece. I then text Nick: I did it. My entry for the Forum is complete.
He surprises me by texting back a picture of ‘An Eye for an Eye’, I didn’t know he’d taken: Did this masterpiece make the cut?
I smile and type: Yes. It did and why do you have that picture?
His reply is instant: Reminding myself to be the same kind of badass you are today.
I smile, warmed inside and out by this man in ways I didn’t know I could feel warm. As for being a badass, Nick is the ultimate badass, while Macom is the ultimate asshole. I try not to think about how that might look when the two meet. Because they will meet, no matter what painting I place in that show. And they will clash, no matter how I try to stop them. And I’m not sure Nick is capable of war and peace. I’m pretty sure it’s all war to him.
And Macom aside, God, it’s sexy.
Our Thursday morning court date has arrived, and I’m a nervous wreck. I can’t paint and I’m done with my show pieces, so I work out with Nick, and even a hard run doesn’t calm me down. Nick’s attempts at distracting me in the shower, are completely effective, but the minute we’re dressed, my nerves are back. He dresses in a navy blue suit and I pick a blue and silver tie to match and then help him knot it. My dress is black, with a tapered waist and flared skirt. My shoes, classic pumps. I have no idea why I picked black when funeral black is the last thing I need to be wearing today, but it’s too late. It’s what I have.
“Let’s go on to Sonoma when we’re done today,” Nick says, leaning on the door frame.
“I thought we were going to wait until tomorrow? What if something goes wrong today?”
“It won’t. It’s going to go well. And rather than flying, we’ll drive. It’s not far and we’ll have the BMW when we’re there.”
“You don’t want to drive my broken down Mercedes?”
“Nothing against your broken down Mercedes. But I prefer the BMW.”
I laugh. “Okay then. Let’s pack.”
“You don’t have to pack. You live here now. But I do, because I live there now, too.”
“Yes. You do. You need things there. Your things.”
His lips curve and he says, “You’re my thing. But I’ll take some stuff anyway.”
“I’ll help you,” I say, and for the next few minutes, I busy myself gathering items for his suitcase, and packing up the few items I want to carry back and forth with me. Once we’re done, we load up the car.
And then for the first time all week, Nick and I leave in one car, him behind the wheel of the BMW. By the time we get to the courtroom, my palms are sweaty. “Relax, Faith,” Nick says, after opening my car door and helping me to my feet. “I’m an arrogant bastard for a reason. I’m good. Really damn good and we’re going to win today.”
“But we’ve talked about this. But what if someone is angry you got me out of this nightmare and they lash out at you? What if I’m the reason—”
“Stop,” he says, his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t start fretting over me. I pack a big punch. Anyone who comes at me is going to feel a hell of a lot of pain and they know it. I got this, sweetheart, and I got you. Okay?”
“Yes. Yes, okay.” I flatten my hand on his lapel. “You are a bad ass.”
He rewards me with a curve of his delicious mouth. “You inspire me.”
I manage a laugh. “I’m not sure that is the way a woman wants to inspire a man.”
“If a woman doesn’t inspire her man, he’s not her man. Now. Come see me in action.”
Literally thirty minutes later, Nick and I step out of the courtroom, and the bank has approved the buyout, I’ve inherited the winery, and Nick has shut down every attempt my bank made to stop it from happening. “I don’t believe it,” I say, as soon as we’re in the car. “It’s done.”
“You doubted me?”
“No. I did not doubt you.”
“Sounds like you doubted me.” He leans over and kisses me. “And that, I do believe, earns that sweet little ass of yours a spanking.”
“Hmmm. Promise?”
“Oh yeah, sweetheart. I promise.” He settles back in his seat. “Let’s go to Sonoma.”
A few minutes later, we’re on the road, and life is good. Almost too good to be true.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Faith
“We’re here, sweetheart.”
I blink and open my eyes. “Nick?”
“Yes, sweetheart. Nick. You fell asleep. We’re home.”
I blink again. “Home?”
“Sonoma.”
“We are?”
He strokes my hair. “Yes.” He smiles. “We are.”
I sit up and look around to find we’re parked in the driveway of my house. And instead of the warmth and happiness “home” should create, there is an instant ball of nerves in my belly made better by only one thing: Nick. “We,” I say, glancing over at him, “because we’re really doing this thing, right?”
“We’ve been really doing this since the moment we met.”
He leans over and cups my head in that way he does and kisses my forehead. “Come on. Let’s go inside and get settled. And I vote for taking you out to lunch and a trip to the grocery store or I’ll starve this weekend.” He grabs his jacket from the back seat, where he’d apparently put it during the drive, and then exits the car. I grab my purse from the floorboard, where I’d left it when we’d gone into the courthouse. Slipping it over my shoulder, I exit the car and join Nick at the trunk and the minute I’m beside him, the intimacy between us seems to take on a living, breathing, life of its own. It thickens the air, wraps around us like a warm, soft blanket that I want to snuggle inside of and never leave.