All's Fair in Love and Chocolate (Marietta Chocolate Wars #1) - Amy Andrews Page 0,73

wanted to get away from Marietta and be by himself, it’d be a worthwhile option?

If he wasn’t here, she’d get a taxi to Marietta but her gut had told her to try here first.

And, as she stood in the doorway to the bar, her gaze searching for his dirty-blond hair, she spotted him sitting at the bar nursing a beer—just like that first time. Hell, even Mike was here.

Thank you, gut.

Relief hit her with a wave of light-headedness and she sagged against the doorframe. Okay. Deep breath. Now came the groveling. But first…she needed the restroom.

Five minutes later she entered the bar making a beeline for Reuben who didn’t look like he’d moved a muscle. He was still cradling his beer, staring into its depths like the answers to life, the universe and everything lurked in the amber fluid. A few people she knew from Marietta waved at her and when Mike spotted her he smiled.

“Hey, Mike,” she said as she approached, easing into the stool beside Reuben who turned and blinked at her, a frown scrunching his brow, looking at her as if she was a mirage or a figment of his imagination.

He looked like hell, his hair messy from some serious finger-combing, those tired lines from this morning a little deeper, his mouth pinched. But even looking like hell, he looked like the best thing Viv had ever seen and her heart just about burst out of her chest.

“Would you say,” she continued talking to Mike, “it’s okay for me to take this guy back to my hotel room and do dirty, unspeakable things to his body without fear of him chopping me into little pieces and poking them down the drain hole in the bathtub?”

Mike laughed. “Sure. There are still those rumors about his—” He crooked his little finger like he’d done last time.

“Oh, no.” Viv grinned. “I can categorically state they are untrue. Pass it around.”

“Will do,” Mike said and tapped his hand to his forehead in a quick salute.

“Vivian?” Reuben was still frowning, clearly not amused. “What are you doing?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Was I not clear?”

“Vivian.”

Oh crap…he was still pissed. Fair enough. She slid her hand onto his arm and the muscles beneath bunched under her palm as he tensed. She tried not to be discouraged.

“I love you.”

If she thought he’d just melt at her confession, she’d been wrong. If anything he stiffened more and his voice was as cool as the wind blowing off Copper Mountain. “You do, huh?”

“Yes.” She smiled tentatively. “I do. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it. But my whole life has been about my career and Delish and I had everything set out and I wasn’t bargaining on you. I wasn’t bargaining on anybody. So I didn’t know how to compute what was happening when all I’ve had to think about forever is my next job.”

Viv drew in a husky breath, wishing her mouth wasn’t so dry as she steamed ahead.

“And then I was sitting in Bozeman airport and my flight was about to be called and I was feeling so damn conflicted about leaving and I’ve never felt conflicted about leaving and I reached into my bag and I pulled out the music box and I wound it up and watched those ice skaters going around and I was back on Miracle Lake and then I was crying and I couldn’t stop because I realized I fell in love with you that day and I’d been blind to it and I was so dumb and I hurt you and I never wanted to do that but I hurt me more for being so blind and dumb and I don’t want to be either anymore.”

He didn’t say anything for a beat or two then a small smile quirked his lips. “Well…that music box was definitely worth every dime.”

Viv laughed at the understatement and his understated delivery and his smile got bigger and the weight started to lift from her shoulders.

“So…what does this mean?” he asked. “What about Houston? Your job?”

“I don’t know how it’s going to work,” Viv admitted. She hadn’t thought that far. “I just know I love you and I don’t want to go to Houston tonight. I’ll work something out with Harriet but right now, I just want to be with you. If you still want to be with me. If I haven’t blown it too much or—”

“Oh my, God, Vivian,” he interrupted and then he kissed her. Once. Twice. Three times.