Darcy and the Single Dad

by Stacy Connelly

  It was Nick.

  She couldn’t turn around without bumping into memories. From the recent days they’d spent with his brothers, working to get the place ready for tonight, to the day he snatched her off the ladder, to the first time he kissed her. Thoughts of him were everywhere, and each time the bell rang, she glanced at the door, hoping he would show.

  “Darcy!” Sophia’s excited greeting snapped Darcy back into focus as the pregnant brunette gave her a quick hug. “This turnout is amazing! But I knew it would be. You’re going to be a smashing success.”

  “Thanks for the encouragement. I know a lot of this is curiosity about a new place in town—”

  “But your products are going to keep shoppers coming back for more.”

  “I hope so. I’ve dreamed about this for so long....” It was what she and her mother had always talked about—a place of their own in a town they could call home. And maybe there’d been a time when that would have been enough. But now Darcy wanted more.

  As if reading her thoughts, Sophia lowered her voice. “My brother’s an idiot, but don’t give up on him just yet.”

  As much as she longed to take her friend’s advice to heart, Darcy wasn’t the one who’d given up. Nick had. She’d become a risk he wasn’t willing to take and she had yet to tell him about the scandal surrounding her birth. If she told him the whole story, did she really think Nick with his reluctance to start any kind of relationship would react any better than Aaron had?

  Another shopper asked a question, and after that, she managed to keep her head, if not her heart, focused on her reason for moving to Clearville in the first place.

  Darcy wasn’t sure how many shoppers she greeted or free samples she handed out before she noticed a curvy blonde debating over the scented candles displayed on one of the round tables at the front of the shop. She’d been in Debbie Mattson’s bakery only a few times, but Darcy recognized the other woman, who gave a friendly smile as their gazes met. “Hi, I’m Darcy Dawson.”

  “Plain bagel with low-fat cream cheese,” the baker added, naming the order Darcy had placed a few weeks ago. “Occupational hazard. I might not remember a name, but I never forget an order.”

  “Well, you’re right. Darcy Dawson, low-fat bagel,” she said, foolishly wishing she’d ordered something a little more sophisticated, like a croissant or an éclair.

  “Sophia told me this place was going to be great, and now I see why she was so excited.”

  “She’s been very supportive since I moved here. I haven’t known her long, but I already consider her a good friend.”

  “She’s great. So is her whole family, but I’m guessing you already know that,” Debbie said with a sly glance. “Nick’s needed someone like you to shake up his world for a long time.”

  After the way she and Nick had left things, Darcy didn’t share the other woman’s confidence. Rearranging the candles on the pink-cloth-covered tables—groups of two, groups of three, a single, solitary row—she said, “I’m not so sure.”

  “Well, I am. I’ve known Nick my whole life, so trust me on this.”

  “Were you and Nick ever...involved?”

  Debbie’s laughter was too genuine to be anything but honest. “No. I’ve never had a thing for any of the Pirelli brothers. Well, unless you count the time Sam kissed me on the playground, but Sam kissed all the girls. And I mean all the girls. The three of them are like family. Dating one of them would be like dating my cousins—no mystery, no surprises.” Her eyes locked over Darcy’s shoulder and she murmured, “Speaking of surprises...”

  She turned in time to see Nick and Maddie walk in, each of them carrying a single red rose. Her pulse pounding, Darcy focused on Maddie because she thought it would be easier, safer, than looking at the little girl’s father. But then she saw Maddie’s bright smile and the pink T-shirt and black leggings she wore because those were the colors of her shop, and Darcy felt her heart break all over again. She’d fallen for Nick’s daughter as hard as she’d fallen for Nick.

  Father and daughter stopped right in front of her, and Darcy had no choice but to raise her gaze to meet Nick’s. Dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a denim shirt roll-cuffed to reveal tanned, muscular forearms, he looked gorgeous in a casual, unpretentiously masculine way. As the only man to have crossed the threshold to her shop since the doors opened, he should have looked out of place, but if he felt that way at all, it didn’t show in the confident strides he’d taken in her direction.

  “Darcy! We brought you flowers!” Maddie announced, holding out the rose for her to take and then wrapping her arms around Darcy’s waist in a hug the minute they were free. Gazing up at her from beneath her dark bangs, the little girl said, “Your store looks so beautiful.”

  “Thank you, Maddie. But it’s all because of you and your family.” Tapping the little girl on her freckled nose with the rosebud, she said, “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Hey, Maddie, I see your aunt Sophia over there, and I know she’s just dying to buy you some makeup.”

  A huge grin lit her face at her father’s words. “Makeup, Daddy, really?”

  “Really. Go check it out.”

  The little girl didn’t have to be told twice, sprinting off to the other side of the store, leaving Nick and Darcy alone. Or as alone as two people could be in a room full of curious people. “Makeup, Nick, really?”

  “Sophia promised she’d find some kind of clear lip gloss and some pink nail polish and I told Maddie it would only be for special occasions... And I’ve just opened Pandora’s box, haven’t I?”

  “Pretty much, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.” The smile she’d been clinging to faded away as she admitted, “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

  “Maddie wanted to. I wanted to. Congratulations. It looks like you have a huge success on your hands.”

  “It’s just a start.”

  “You’ll make it work.”

  If only he had that kind of confidence in the two of them, Darcy wished, only to see something new in his dark eyes. Something different. Something that made her blood course a little faster in her veins with a hope she was afraid to feel.

  “I know you’ve got a full house here, but I’d like to talk later.”

  “It seems like you said everything you had to say a few days ago.” Darcy had to give Nick credit. He didn’t flinch away from the accusation. His gaze stayed locked on hers long enough for her to see the deep regret. “Nothing’s changed since then.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Things have changed. I’ve changed.”

  Her scoffing laugh barely disguised the sob building in her chest. “Just like that? I’m supposed to believe it was that easy?”

  “No!” Nick’s exclamation caught the attention of the closest shoppers, and both Sophia and Maddie looked over with concern. Lowering his voice, he added, “I’ve spent the past few days facing what my life would be like without you. Believe me, there was nothing easy about it.”

  His gruff words went straight to her heart. She’d faced that same emptiness, that same loneliness. It wasn’t easy. But she couldn’t help thinking that maybe it was easier. Easier to end their relationship now than to end it weeks or months from now.

  “If you’ll just give me a second—” He winced and amended, “Third chance, I’ll prove it to you. I’ll spend my life proving it to you.”

  Darcy’s breath caught. He wasn’t saying what she thought he was saying. He couldn’t be. And yet the certainty and conviction on his handsome face left no room for doubt. “I can’t— I can’t do this right now.” She glanced around through blurry eyes, feeling as if the whole place was focused on her. “A group of us is going over to The Bar and Grille later to celebrate. If you want to talk then...”

  “I’ll be there,” Nick promised.

  Darcy nodded and crossed her arms over the nerves clawing at her stomach. She knew Nick would show. The only question was how long would he stick around once she told h
im the truth about her past?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nick had walked into The Bar and Grille with a plan, but like most of his plans, things weren’t working out the way he’d hoped. His goal had been to sweep Darcy onto the darkened dance floor the moment she stepped through the old-fashioned swinging doors. Holding her close while the band played would give him the privacy he needed to tell her about his conversation with Maddie as well as the call he’d made to Carol.

  It would also give him the chance to take her into his arms and tell her he loved her.

  But a crowd had gathered as he waited for her to arrive, and by the time she did, it seemed half the people inside had simply followed her from her grand opening to the bar, and she was surrounded by well-wishers and friends alike.

  This was her night, her big moment, and Nick didn’t want to take that away from her. He wanted her to enjoy herself, to have fun, to— Oh, who was he trying to kid? He wanted to steal her away, big moment or not, so he wouldn’t have to share her with the circle of people crowding around her.

  “Hey, Nick.” Dragging his gaze away from Darcy and her admirers, he glanced up in time to watch Debbie slide into the empty seat across from him. “You okay?”

  Realizing he was strangling his beer bottle in a death grip, he forced himself to relax and take a swallow. “Fine. Great,” he said as he met Debbie’s disbelieving gaze. “You know I never did thank you.”

  “Thank me?”

  “For the piña colada cake. For knowing what I didn’t even know I wanted.”

  She grinned. “It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. But all it takes is something—or someone—new to knock you right out of it.”

  Darcy had done more than knock him out of a rut. She’d righted his world and put him back on course. She’d saved him from a loveless future, and he’d nearly blown it. Please don’t let me have blown it.

  “Nick!” A hard slap to his back jarred him from his thoughts and announced Sam’s arrival. “And if it isn’t Little Debbie.” Bending down, Sam kissed the blonde’s cheek and flashed her a grin.

  “Seriously, Sam. You’ve been calling me that since we were in grade school, and I wasn’t little then, either.”

  “But you’re still sweet.”

  Nick shook his head as his youngest brother swung around the chair next to Debbie and straddled it. If any other man even thought of using a line like that, he’d end up getting his face slapped, but Sam’s teasing drew an instant smile from Debbie who, as everyone in town knew, could give as good as she got.

  “And you’re still full of it,” she shot back as her gaze drifted toward the dance floor. “You know, Will’s a sweetheart, but he’s a killer on a good pair of shoes.”

  Following her wincing glance, Nick caught sight of his brother’s young mechanic dancing with Darcy. In no time Will’s heel landed squarely on Darcy’s foot.

  “Someone,” Debbie said with a pointed stare at Nick, “should get off his butt and ask her to dance.”

  * * *

  Trying hard not to limp thanks to her throbbing toes, Darcy smiled at the young mechanic. “Thanks for the dance, Will,” she said. “I think I’ll—”

  “Dance with me.”

  The deep voice interrupted her ready excuse, and her aching feet suddenly stopped hurting. Darcy couldn’t be certain they were even touching the ground as Will stepped away with a tip of his cap and Nick pulled her into his arms. After their very first step, Darcy knew she wouldn’t have to worry about her feet anymore. But her heart... Oh, her heart was in serious danger.

  A couple bumped Darcy from behind, sending her stumbling against Nick. The sudden, unexpected contact of her breasts against his chest, his thigh between hers, sent a rush of heat flooding her cheeks. Trying to blame her reaction on embarrassment at her clumsiness, she gave a shaky laugh as she regained her footing. “You saved me from Will, but who’s going to save you from me?”

  A weighted silence followed her teasing question, and Darcy looked up to meet Nick’s gaze. “I’ve been asking myself that same question,” he said.

  Darcy’s feet were solidly beneath her once again, but that didn’t keep her from feeling as though she were balanced on a razor’s edge and just waiting to fall. “And?” she asked softly.

  “Turns out I don’t need to be saved from you. I’ve already been saved by you.”

  Her heart skipped a beat, but she wasn’t ready to follow its lead. Not yet. She’d already been twice burned, and she found herself shying away from the fire in his eyes. She couldn’t give in, couldn’t trust what Nick was feeling until he knew everything. “Nick—”

  “I talked to Maddie,” he said, quickly overriding her unspoken protest. “She actually thinks I’m a pretty okay dad.”

  “I think we all know you’re more than that.”

  “It’s taken me awhile, but I think I’ve finally started to figure out there’s more to parenting than responsibility. That loving Maddie doesn’t mean holding on so tightly. Sometimes, it means letting go just a little and trusting in that love to keep her close.”

  Her eyes widened as she realized what his words meant. “You told her about Paris.”

  “You were right. She doesn’t want to go. Clearville is her home, and she doesn’t want to leave.”

  The happiness in his crooked smile went straight to her heart, and she couldn’t help giving him a quick hug. “I’m so glad, Nick. But what about Carol? Has she dropped the idea of Maddie going with her?”

  “No. Unfortunately, nothing to do with my ex-wife is ever that simple. Had Maddie wanted to go, of course, that would have been the end of it as far as Carol was concerned. But now that Maddie doesn’t want to go, Carol’s threatening to get the lawyers involved again.”

  “Oh, Nick.”

  “I know.” His smile drifted away, replaced by a worried frown. “I can’t believe we’ll have to go through all of that again. Testifying in front of a judge. Asking my family to stand up as witnesses. Waiting for Carol to start slinging mud and trying to dig up dirt.”

  Dig up dirt.

  The words echoed through Darcy’s mind again and again. Oh, God. Why hadn’t she thought something like this might happen?

  Dig up dirt.

  Aaron had worried her past might cost him in the court of public opinion when it came time for him to run for office, but what if her past came to light in a real court of law? What if she somehow cost Nick his daughter?

  She stumbled, missing a step, and would have fallen if not for Nick’s arms around her.

  “Darcy, are you okay?”

  They’d come to a stop in the middle of the dance floor, oblivious to the couples still swaying around them. “I can’t— I can’t do this, Nick.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That night on your parents’ porch, you asked me if it was too much. Well, this is. Judges. Testifying. Custody battles.” Darcy shook her head. “It’s not really what I signed up for. I mean, I thought we’d have a good time, have some fun, you know?”

  Heart breaking, she watched as the cold mask slipped back in place on Nick’s face. The relaxed, teasing man she’d fallen in love with over the past few days disappeared behind the remote stranger she’d first met. That he was building up the walls she’d tried so hard to break down, using the old shields against her, laid her heart open, but it was the only way. The only way she could protect what Nick valued most. If her past cost him his daughter, she’d never forgive herself.

  “Fun, right... A couple of meaningless dates.”

  Hearing Nick repeat her words, lumping himself in with the likes of Travis Parker, a sob of denial clawed at her insides, franticly trying to break free. She had to go now. Had to end this. Now.

  “I’m not the kind of woman you need.” Laughter rang out from their table, and she glanced over where Debbie and Sam were still sitting. “You need—you need someone like Debbie.” What had the other woman said earlier? No mystery, no secrets... That was the kind o
f woman who could testify in a courtroom and help Nick’s cause.

  “What are you talking about, Darcy? Debbie’s a great girl and a great friend, but I don’t need her. I don’t love her! I love—”

  Desperate to escape, she darted off the dance floor, squeezing past locked couples and shoving open the first door she saw. Cool air hit her heated face, chilling the tears she couldn’t wipe away fast enough. Blinking rapidly, she came to a quick stop and swore. Instead of finding a back door, she’d trapped herself on an outdoor patio cordoned off with a wrought-iron railing.

  She couldn’t risk going back inside, couldn’t face the hurt in Nick’s dark eyes again without blurting out how much she loved him. Maybe if she waited, he would leave and she could sneak away like the pathetic coward she was.

  Not until the acrid scent of cigarette smoke drifted toward her did Darcy realize she wasn’t alone on the small patio. Glancing over her shoulder, she choked back a watery groan when she spotted Travis leaning against the building. Pushing away from the brick, he ground out his cigarette beneath his shoe before sauntering her way.

  “Seems like things aren’t working out too well with you and the doc.”

  Seeing the smug smile on his face, Darcy didn’t bother to hold her tongue. “Still better than they worked out for you and me.”

  “That’s only because you won’t give me a chance.”

  “A chance to do what, Travis? Spread more lies about me? Tell everyone who’ll listen about how you scored again with the easy city girl on the rebound?”

  Hoping Nick had already left or that she might find a way to sneak by him, she turned toward the door. But Travis caught her arm before she took her first step, spinning her back around to face him. Up close, she saw what she’d missed in the dim patio lighting. His eyes were bleary, and judging by his gin-soaked breath, he’d had a lot more to drink than he should have.

  “Let me go, Travis.” His grip on her upper arm tightened at her words, and a tremor of fear shook her nerves.

  “Better do what she says, Parker.”

  Relief rushed through Darcy as Nick stepped through the patio doors. Travis dropped his hand as he faced the other man, his body still blocking her from the exit. “Mind your own business, Pirelli. This is the second time you’ve butted in where you’re not wanted.”