“I’m not sure, so dance with me to keep me from overreacting.” She smiled up at him, but it wasn’t his girl’s smile. It was a troubled smile, and it reached into his gut and fisted around his insides even as her lush curves moved against him, creating sensation overload on both ends of the spectrum.
“You’re killing me here. Did Patch say or do something inappropriate?” Patch had worked for Zane for the past six years, and he trusted him explicitly.
“No.” She rested her face on his chest.
That should be enough to take away the worry, but it wasn’t. “Sweetheart, look at me.”
She lifted her beautiful green eyes, and it was all right there, clear as day. Hurt and confusion. He took her hand and stalked toward the bar.
“Patch, are you okay to find your way back?”
“I’ll make sure he gets home okay,” Piper offered.
Harley glared at Patch. “I can give him directions.”
Piper rolled her eyes.
She was a big girl and could deal with that situation. Zane needed to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering Willow. He cut a path through the crowd and pushed out the door. The brisk night air heightened his senses.
“Talk to me, Wills.”
A breeze swept off the water, and she pushed her body closer to his like a heat-seeking missile. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. A quick sweep of the parking lot told him she’d walked to Dutch’s. He headed up the hill, away from the marina.
“I’m not sure where to start.” She shoved her hands in the front pockets of her jeans.
“How about with whatever ticked you off, because you’re sending me mixed signals and we don’t do mixed signals. We do black-and-white. No matter how messed up whatever it is gets, we talk about shit.”
She pulled away, and he grabbed her hand, lacing it with his, and tugged her back to his side.
“You don’t get to pull away when I have no idea what I did wrong.”
She stopped walking and glared at him. “You told me the focus group demanded this whole thing.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And they didn’t. Patch told me, Zane.”
“What are you talking about? Patch knows they said I had to clean up my rep. He must have been messing with you, but I don’t know why he would.”
She tugged her hand free, and he snatched it back.
“I lost you once over miscommunication. I’m not losing you again over bullshit, Willow.”
“You’re not losing me.” She stormed up the road. “I just want to understand.”
“Help me out here, Wills. Give it to me piece by piece, okay? The focus group said I had to clean up my reputation. That’s one hundred percent true. I came up with this plan to stage an engagement—”
“You came up with it. With me,” she huffed.
“Yes. With you. We’re on the same page. What’s next?”
“Ugh!”
He hauled her against him. Her jaw was tight, her brows pulled together, and he was afraid to let her go. “Willow, baby. I have loved you since you first stormed off in a huff. You were fifteen when you learned to do that hip-jaunt-scowl thing you do. I knew then that I wanted that sweet side of you and the fierce, determined, demanding side. I wanted all of you then, and I want it even more now. So if you think I’ll give up because you get angry, you’re wrong. I don’t care how rough things get, or how many times I look like I’m thickheaded. Because I am thickheaded. I’m not giving up on us, so please, spell this out for me.”
Her eyes warmed. Thank fucking God.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you thought up the fake engagement?”
“I told you they demanded I clean up my act.”
“The. Fake. Engagement. Specifically.”
“The . . .” Holy shit. Had he omitted that he’d come up with the idea? “It wasn’t intentional. I never said the focus group came up with the fake engagement, did I? I’m a lot of things, but since we said we would be one hundred percent honest with each other, I haven’t lied. And I’m not lying now.”
Her shoulders dropped, and she sighed.
“Think about it, Wills. Did I ever say they demanded anything other than that I had to clean up my rep? Because if I did, I deserve to be reamed. And maybe I do anyway for being so focused on getting you to agree that I forgot to mention that part. Or for being so wrapped up in trying to win you over ever since, that I never clarified. But I promise you that I didn’t purposefully keep it from you. Why would I do that?”
“Patch said you told him that if I wouldn’t do it, you wouldn’t go through with it,” she said less angrily.
He reached for her hand. “May I?”
“Yes, of course.”
He took her hand, and they headed down Main Street. “What Patch said is true. I couldn’t stand the thought of spending day after day with anyone else.”
She stopped and toed off her sandals. “These things kill my feet.”
“You don’t need them. You could be barefoot and wearing rags and you’d still be the most beautiful woman on earth.” He picked up her sandals and pressed his lips to her cheek. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to mislead you.”
“Z, I don’t want to worry that you’re tricking me. You’re too good at it.”
He pulled her against his side as they walked past the hardware store. “And I don’t want to worry about losing you, which is why I will never trick you again. I love you, Wills. I wasn’t trying to deceive you. Well, at first, the whole cupcake gig was a trick, but not this. This was a mistake.”
“Can we keep walking?”
“Until the cows come home.” He didn’t care that he had to be on set at seven in the morning, or that he needed to study his lines one more time. All of that was meaningless if he lost Willow. “I promise I’ll pay closer attention to everything I say.”
“I know it wasn’t intentional,” she said softly, looking at the engagement ring with a thoughtful expression. “But it still hurts to think any amount of this was a trick. I kind of want to be the girl you wanted all along.”
He felt flayed open knowing he’d caused that pain, and Sam’s question rang through his mind. What’s your purpose? She was right there beside him, and in that moment his world shifted, as did his goal.
“You are that girl, Wills. You’re my only girl. You know the truth, baby. If you hadn’t agreed, I wouldn’t have done a damn thing to clean up my rep. Remember at the resort when you needed the tequila to get the courage to kiss me? Maybe this ruse was what we both needed to let go of everything else. We’re right for each other. We’re each other’s only one. We always have been.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes, and when they reached the fairgrounds, they crossed the street and sat on the bench overlooking the lake and all the tents and trailers. He’d entrenched himself in reality with Willow, and it was a struggle to muster the desire to dive back into acting again. For the first time since he’d left Sweetwater all those years ago, he felt grounded and happy. Truly, deeply happy. He didn’t want anything to come between him and Willow, least of all a mistake of omission.
Willow rested her head on his shoulder, and the broken pieces of his heart began to heal.