Love Me Or Lose Me (4 page)

Thomas looked at her and all the wise notions she had faded away. She’d been the one to rule out any more kissing until they straightened things out, but she found herself leaning across the space between them. He actually leaned further back toward his door. She followed, which had her practically falling out of her seat. Thomas took advantage of her precarious position and tugged her onto his lap. She not only let him, she twisted and wiggled until her ass was cradled by his thighs. The hard ridge that pressed against her left butt check made her wish they had more room to fool around.

When her lips finally connected with his, they both moaned. Equal parts of frustration and desire brought hers out. Their tongues stroked and teased as their gloved hands clutched at each other.  Darcy was burning up and it had nothing to do with the fact that the heat had kicked in.

“This isn’t going to solve anything,” she murmured as he kissed along her jaw to her neck.

“I know, but I don’t want to stop. Do you?” He slowly slid down the zipper of her jacket.

Darcy started to shrug her shoulders in an attempt to help him slid her coat off. He got it to her elbows when she felt his phone vibrate against her hip. They both froze, their ragged breaths filled the air. She closed her eyes and waited, knowing what was about to happen.

~* * *~

Thomas felt her stiffen and regretted bringing the friggin' phone with him at all. If it wasn’t so late he would have just ignored the call, but if someone was calling him at two in the morning there was probably a good reason. There better be, because he knew just by answering he was risking losing any ground he might have gained.

“Darcy, don’t get mad, but I should probably take this.” The second the words were out of his mouth, she scrambled off his lap and back onto her seat.

“Whatever,” she murmured as she tugged her jacket back on and yanked the zipper up.

Thomas heard the dejection in her voice and hated that he’d caused it. This wasn’t how he had planned on the night going. He slid the phone from his pocket and a quick glanced showed his cousin’s number on the incoming caller display. He pressed the connect button even though he wanted to through the phone out the window.

“Kenny, someone better be dying.” He really hoped someone wasn’t, but anything less important would just piss her off.

“I just came from the court house. Our fathers thought you should know that Andrew Ryerson was picked up on assault charges. They think this will help move along the division of property between the Ryerson heirs. Your father wants you back here ASAP.” Kenny sounded like he’d had one too many cups of coffee.

“They’re probably right. Tell my father I’ll try and call him tomorrow.” Thomas had already told the old goat he wasn’t coming back until he fixed things with Darcy.

Darcy glanced over at him with wide eyes. Why was she surprised? He came to show her he wasn’t the workaholic he’d been pretending to be for the past few months. This would be a good place to start.

“Can you at least tell me what you think we should do about the assault charge?” Kenny pleaded on the other end of the line.

“I’m in the middle of something and can’t this at least wait until morning?” Thomas asked. He wanted to get back to Darcy and something like this could take hours.

 “Actually I have to appear with Andrew in front of the judge at
ten a.m.
, that doesn’t give me much time to decide what to do,” Kenny explained.

Kenny was a good lawyer, but he still lacked the confidence he needed. If he relaxed, he’d be just fine. For the past few weeks Thomas had been pushing him to trust in his skills. He figured with him gone Kenny wouldn’t have any other choice.  Kenny was still rambling on, but Thomas was only half listening because Darcy had shifted the Jeep into gear. She headed up the road to Scarlett’s house.

He covered the phone with his hand and said, “What are you doing?”

“I’m tired, so why don’t you deal with whatever the problem is and try to call me tomorrow.” She got out of the car and ran into the house before Thomas had even finished getting his door open.

He thought about chasing after her for a few seconds. Damn it, there was no doubt in his mind he’d just taken a major hit in his campaign to get her back.
Try to call.
Hell, he’d call first thing tomorrow and hopefully when or if she answered, she’d give him a chance to explain. He wasn’t going to ask her to forgive him just yet that would only come with time. But now that she was gone, he picked up on the panic in Kenny’s tone. It was enough to convince him he really did need his help. He slid into the car and dropped his head to the back of the seat slamming his palm again the steering wheel.

“Do you have the files handy?” He had them on his laptop back at Cale’s place, but he wasn’t logging in unless it was a dire emergency and this probably wasn’t.

Chapter Four

“You got really lucky that mom is off with her book club this week.” Scarlett walked over to the table with two plates in her hands.

She laid a plate of French toast topped with strawberries and a swirl of whipped cream in front of Darcy, then sat down and put the other in front of herself.  It was their mother’s idea of comfort food. Obviously Scarlett thought she needed some coddling. She wondered how her sister would feel if she pointed out how much like their mother she was.

“She does love to travel.” Darcy took it as a blessing that she hadn’t inherited the wanderlust gene.

“I promised to hit a few races with her this year,” Scarlett said between bites of her breakfast.

They’d all hit the circuit with her at one time, but Scarlett had been so bored she swore on her eighteenth birthday that she’d never go again. Now ten years later at twenty-seven she’d had a change of heart and decided to give it another go. Darcy figured there had to be a story behind her decision. Either she’d gotten sick of turning her mother down or maybe Scarlett was looking for something she wasn’t finding at home.

“Are the guys going too?” Darcy wondered out loud.

“Hell no!” Scarlett shook her head. “In fact, I’m not even telling them until after I leave. Then I’ll call and ask them to water my plants.”

“So it’s not so much spending time with mom, or enjoying the races, as it’ll be getting away from the domineering oafs we have for brothers.”

Scarlett nodded. “I need to get away from them before I do something crazy.”

“You could always come visit me. I could show you around the city, and we could take in a show or two.” Darcy had invited her many times, but now maybe she’d actually take her up on the offer.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. Maybe once you and Thomas work things out I’ll come visit for a week or two.” Scarlett got up and carried her plate to the sink.

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Darcy finished her breakfast, but before she could get up and bring the empty plate to the sink Scarlett came over and took it.

“If you hurry up and work out your issues with Thomas, you two could be gone before Mom gets home.” Scarlett’s tone told her she was teasing, but Darcy took a few seconds to consider the idea.

“She’d skin me alive if I left before she got back.” Darcy hadn’t seen her mother in the past six months, and her mother had made sure to point it out during their bi-weekly phone call.

The last four times they’d talked her mother must have sensed something was wrong, because she’d asked if everything was all right. Darcy had lied and reassured her that everything was okay. Once she found out Darcy was staying at Scarlett’s while Thomas stayed with Cale, her mother wouldn’t fall for it. She’d be understanding to a point, then she would set out to fix everything. Darcy hadn’t had an issue with discussing her problem with Scarlett, but she really wasn’t looking forward to explaining it to her mother.

“Besides after last night, I don’t think we’ll be rectifying anything soon.” Darcy wasn’t ready to admit that they might not be able to work it out at all.

She had to hold onto the hope that there was a chance, however slight, they could find a way to get back to where they had once been. After all, he had come after her. Then again, last night he’d chosen to take that call. Sure, it could have been important, and she would have felt terrible if someone was hurt and he didn’t know.

Scarlett’s smile fell, but not for long.

“Well, since you two aren’t going to be spending the day making up you can come with me.”

“And where are you going?”

“I need to go to the post office. After that, we can sneak off and do some shopping. We'll just make sure to accidently leave our cell phones here."

"What are we going shopping for? Anything specific?" Darcy asked following her sister down the hall.

"Can you keep a secret?” Scarlett laughed and grabbed her hand yanking her towards the door that led out to the garage.

“Duh, dumb question."

Whatever her sister was hiding, she seemed pretty damn happy about it. The bubble of excitement must have been contagious, because Darcy felt a sudden giddiness she hadn't felt in really long time. Once in the garage they came to a stop in front of the stairs that went up to the loft storage area.

"No one can know about this yet. I'll tell them when the time is right." Scarlett let go of her hand and bolted up the stairs with Darcy was hot on her heels.

The area reminded Darcy of one of the working lofts she'd gone to in the city, except less roomy. The ceiling was just tall enough for the two of them to stand up right with a few inches to keep them from bumping their heads. Their brothers wouldn't be able to go up there without being contortionist, which is probably how Scarlett had been able to keep her secret.

There wasn’t much to see, and that surprised her. Along the side of the room there were plastic shelves stacked with containers, and some of those plastic drawer units people used to keep organized. Two work benches were sitting in the middle of the room on a tarp that had been spread across the floor. They were covered with what looked like a dirty sheet.

Scarlett flipped on the light then walked over and lifted the blanket off the table. Darcy gasped. Two mirrors were lying there. They had beautiful mosaic designs around the edges. One was done with pink and purple clear shiny stones, and the other was done with dark brown and neutral beige shades of tile. She walked over and reached out to touch one, but pulled her hand back at the last second.

“It’s okay. You can touch it." Scarlett demonstrated by running her hand along the side of the lighter shiny one.

“Where did you get these?” Darcy asked, hoping she could buy a couple of her own.

“I made them.” The pride in Scarlett’s voice was totally justified.

“Oh my God! Where did you learn how to do this? Why the hell didn’t you tell me? Jesus, Scarlett, these are amazing. Why can’t we tell anyone? Do you have anymore? Can you make me one?” Scarlett laughed and Darcy stopped talking.

“Good lord. Let’s get out of here before one of the guys show up. I’ll tell you everything on the ride over to Butterwick.”

Darcy followed her down the stairs. “Why are we driving all the way over to Butterwick? There are plenty of good stores and a post office right here in town.”

“Trust me there’s a good reason for everything,” Scarlett said as they headed for her four-wheel drive SUV.

~* * *~

Thomas had spent most of the night on the phone with his cousin, which hadn’t gone very well at all. That was reason enough for him to be a little testy this morning, but he had even better reasons. Darcy hadn’t answered his calls this morning, so he decided to go see her in person. It was only a little after eight in the morning and she was already gone. He had no idea where the hell she would have went. Her brothers were just as clueless, but they pointed out she was with Scarlett so she’d be back. For the past four hours her brothers had done their best to distract him, but nothing was working.

“You’re going to wear out my floor if you keep pacing.” Cale held out a soda and he accepted it.

He joined her brothers in the living room. “I’m driving myself crazy wondering where the hell they could have gone so early in the morning?”

“Us too.” Jarrett’s jibe wasn’t anything more than playful teasing, but it irked Thomas all the same.

“Scarlett has always been an early riser. Maybe they went to the nursery to get more flowers or something.” Rhett was probably right.

“You need to chill out. I’m sure they’ll be back soon,” Jarrett said and both Cale and Rhett nodded in agreement.

“I thought when you two snuck off last night things would be all settled this morning.” Cale’s comment had Rhett and Jarrett’s full attention.

“You went to see her last night?” Rhett didn’t sound happy to hear it.

 “She send you packing?” Jarrett’s teasing laughter hit it mark.

“Fuck off. Things were going fine until my stupid ass cousin called.” Thomas knew it was useless to try and keep anything from them. It would all come out in the end anyway.

“Man, tell me you didn’t answer.” Thomas didn’t answer Rhett right away, which was an answer in itself.

“You fucked up again, so what’s your next move?” Cale asked as he pressed the button flicking through the TV channels.

He looked at each of her brothers hoping some kind of inspiration would strike him. Cale looked comfortable and relaxed sitting in his leather recliner. Jarrett and Rhett had each claimed a corner of the matching sofa. Both of them had their feet propped up on the coffee table. You could tell they were a bunch of bachelors just enjoying the day. Someday that would change and a woman— hopefully as lively and high-spirited as Darcy— would come along and wreak havoc in their lives.

“Well, she’s running again so I don’t really know.” Thomas dropped into the only empty chair, a beat up leather arm chair that had definitely seen better days.

“Scarlett won’t let her get far, and she’ll make sure she comes back. Shouldn’t you have some kind of a strategy on how you’re going to handle things?” Jarrett asked as he snatched the remote from Cale’s hand.

“I’ll figure something out.” Thomas just hoped he’d do it before she told him to get lost.

Jarrett settled on a fishing program before turning to him. “Maybe we can help?”

“How do you figure we can help him? Shouldn’t we be on Darcy’s side?” Cale had a point, one Thomas had tried to make himself the other day when he’d showed up unannounced.

“Do you love her?” Rhett asked and Thomas nodded. “Are you going to do your best to make this up to her?” Again he nodded. “Do you plan to take care of her, as much as she’ll allow?”

Before he could answer Cale spoke up. “I don’t mean to be a jerk, but actions speak louder than words. Thomas you took the first step by coming after her, but you were glued to your phone and laptop until just before the sun came up.”

“Look, I know I fucked up before.” Thomas ran an uneasy hand through his hair. “I don’t want to be the guy who works himself into an early grave, or ends up spending his life alone. There will be rare occasions like last night when I may have to work a late night here or there, but I’m not going to let them be a regular thing.”

“Tell her that.” Cale’s smile gave him a little encouragement.

“I would. I was going to, but I got interrupted. I planned to try again this morning.” There was no need to say she’d snuck out on him before he could.

“What you need is a quiet night alone. No phone, computers, or other interruptions.” Jarrett was on the right track.

“Nice food, soft music, maybe even some candlelight. Women like that shit.” It was pretty obvious from his tone that Cale didn’t.

Rhett dropped his feet to the floor with a thud. “The question is how the hell are we going to pull it all together and get her there, wherever there is going be?”