The Romeo Arrangement

“Love, love, love it,” she muses again. “You’re sure you didn’t learn this stuff in California?”

“Nope. All Wisconsin, born and raised. Give me a little time to play around with that last idea,” I say, flipping the wheel in different directions. “Maybe something else will come to me.”

Amy hugs me. And when I say hug, I mean Hug with a capital H.

Apparently, Dallas people mean it when they express their gratitude.

Sure, it’s a little harder to breathe, but I’m not complaining.

It’s rare to encounter folks who are this open and real with their emotions.

“I’ll order everything this afternoon and call you to come see it when it’s done!” Amy tells me, giddy at the thought.

“Got any ideas for an old, faded red truck hood?” Alicia says.

I shrug. “Without seeing it, I’m just throwing out ideas, but how about a headboard?”

Alicia’s eyes grow wide. “Oh, my God! My son would love that, too. I promised we’d get rid of the teddy bears in his room. He’s nine now, and far too old for them.”

“Make him a clock, too, sis,” Amy says. “I only need one hub cap.”

“For sure. Let’s see how things will look,” I say, picking up the coffee maker we’d moved earlier.

We spend roughly the next hour setting things in place and laughing, talking about other areas in the house Amy wants to change.

“Can I get your number, Grace?” Amy asks at the end. “I won’t bombard you, but I might have questions when I get everything ordered and start working on things.”

“Me, too?” Alicia asks.

“No problem.” I can’t believe how happy I am right now.

Could I ever make this work?

If Ridge helps me deal with Clay, I get Dad settled, and I line up enough work in this area through word of mouth…could I actually make a life here?

The thought of having another place to call home hasn’t entered my head since we left the farm.

But now, I wonder…

The guys return as we’re swapping numbers. Amy instantly pulls Jess over to the drawing and starts explaining everything to him.

“Whoa,” Jess muses, slowly glancing my way. “You hit the nail on the head with this. My wife would be dead to the world without coffee and wine.”

Amy elbows him playfully and they both laugh.

With the Berlands and Mills chattering away excitedly, Ridge grabs my hand and gives it a firm squeeze.

The look he gives me says it all.

His proud blue eyes instantly catapult me to cloud nine.

We leave a short time later.

As we’re driving away from the house, he says, “You really enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s been a long time.”

“You just decorated my house and did a damn fine job,” he tells me.

I laugh. “I meant hanging out with people. Women. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed that.”

“You didn’t have lady friends back home to visit?”

My eyes sink to the road. He doesn’t realize how hard it was to keep friends. Not when Dad and his situation with Clay has eaten so much of my life since college.

“I knew people, sure, had a few friends, but the way things were…” I swallow the harsh lump building in my throat.

It really wasn’t safe for anyone to get close for long. Especially the last year, living on pins and needles.

“No, I never got to visit with them much,” I say glumly.

“Won’t happen here. You made two new friends today, woman,” he says, flashing me a million-dollar grin.

I smile back because I can’t resist, even knowing friends aren’t really something I can have here, either. Hard to plan a life when there’s no telling where we’ll wind up, after all of this is said and done.

“I still don’t quite follow the plan, Ridge. Not everything.”

“My plan right now is to make that stop at the drug store,” he tells me.

I try my best not to flush and fail miserably.

Of course he’s after those condoms.

My cheeks burn, my heart races, and common sense tells me that I really shouldn’t keep having sex with him. Even if every screaming bit of me wants to.

“I meant the plan with Clay…” I look at him carefully. “Calling his bluff. We’ve done that. We’ve got people with their eyes peeled, so now what?”

“Bebe’s working on gauging the reaction to the press releases confirming our engagement, which will piss him off. He’ll be hard-pressed to try anything too major with the town spotlight glaring, eyes out everywhere for those media jackals I warned them about. Chances are, this shit just makes him angrier.”

“Angrier?” Ice runs through my blood. “Why are we trying to piss him off again?”

“Assholes like him hate backing down from a fight. Especially if he’s been thwarted before, blocked from snatching what he thinks he’s entitled to. Clay won’t give up easy. Eventually, he’ll make his way here to take care of business himself. We’ll be ready.”