CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  BECK

  I couldn’t believe we’d pulled it off. In less than two weeks, we’d put together a fully functioning festival, complete with vendors, entertainment, and even an auction to raise funds. And all of it was going to Everly. As soon as I’d enlisted Addison’s help, it’d been a whirlwind. She’d whipped the town into a frenzy, and everyone had been all too ready and willing to do whatever was needed to help Everly, exactly how I knew they would. I just wished she could see it.

  If these past ten days had taught me anything, it was that I couldn’t handle being away from her, and yet I was still getting my fix every night. There was no way I was going to let her move to Washington. At least, not without me.

  Yes, this festival was to show her all of Starlight Cove adored her, and yes, I’d had plans drawn up for a house-slash-business—that just so happened to fit perfectly on an unused section of the resort property—but in the end, it was her choice. If she decided to take the money and move back to Washington, I wasn’t going to stop her.

  But I would be going with her.

  There was no me without Everly.

  She’d brought out the best in me, found a crack in the wall I’d surrounded myself with and slipped inside. Then sat right down beside me like she’d always been there.

  I was tired of living in fear. Tired of perpetually anticipating the worst-case scenario—and not just preparing for it, but counting on it.

  Everly was the best this world had to offer, and somehow, some way, she’d become mine. And tonight, I was going to lay that all out for her.

  “I really can’t believe I’ve never heard of this festival before.” Everly leaned close, her hand encased in mine as she glanced around at the Cupcake Festival we’d put together in a matter of days. “I feel like I’ve been living under a rock.”

  I cleared my throat, forcing back the cringe because I hated that this was probably making her feel even more left out, but it was only for a few more hours. And after nearly two weeks of watching my every move and protecting this secret, I wasn’t about to blow it now.

  The same couldn’t be said for the rest of the Starlight Cove residents enjoying the festivities. The only way we’d been able to get the town to agree to secrecy was to promise them a year of free coffee and a free meal—on a date of their choosing…Mabel was adamant about that—at the diner. Besides an offhanded remark from Everly asking if it was just her or if everyone in town was suddenly acting sketchy, I didn’t think she’d noticed.

  Now, though, it’d be impossible for her not to. Every single person who walked by glanced between us, then down to our joined hands, then not so subtly shot me a wink, all while grinning like idiots. Every. Single. Person.

  By the time we’d made our way through most of the festival, gorging ourselves on cupcakes, and headed toward the lawn where a band was set up in front of the gazebo, I was sure every resident in Starlight Cove had blown our cover.

  “Why is everyone winking at you like they know you’re about to get laid?” Everly turned to me, her brows raised. “Are we acting out Chapter Twelve, and you decided to tell everyone else but me?”

  Sweet fucking Christ, this woman was going to kill me. There was nothing I wanted more than to take her to some dark alcove and fuck her outside, my hand capturing all those sweet moans that were just for me. But that would probably be a bad idea since I was the one who’d put on this whole thing. Though, who was going to know?

  With a groan, I tugged her behind a huge tree and pressed her up against it, caging her in. I lowered my face, brushing my lips against hers before sucking her bottom one into my mouth. “You are too fucking tempting, you know that?”

  “Yeah?” She tucked her fingers into the waistband of my jeans, so close to my already-straining cock. “You going to do something about that?”

  I glanced out at the festivities going on around us, then down at Everly’s dress—easy access—then up to her eyes, finding the same hunger reflected in them as I was sure shone in mine. “Hell yes, I am. But we gotta be—”

  “There you are,” Addison called from far too fucking close for my liking, considering the monster hard-on I was rocking.

  “Fuck.” I dropped my forehead to Everly’s shoulder as I tried to will my cock down.

  She breathed out a laugh, running her hands through my hair. “Are things a little…hard for you right now?”

  “Very funny.”

  “I thought so.”

  “What are you doing?” Addison asked, stopping right next to us. “It’s your turn.”

  Thankfully, my cock was mostly behaved, so I stepped back, grabbing Everly’s hand as we faced my sister. “My turn for what?”

  “The auction, obviously.” The bachelor auction she’d sworn would be the biggest fundraiser of them all because, and I quote, “There are a lot of horny old women in this town, and I’m not above exploiting that.”

  “What about it?”

  She shot me a look that was both imploring and scary as hell. “You’re up.”

  I sure as hell was not up because I was not a bachelor. We might not have said the words, but I was Everly’s, plain and simple. “No, I don’t think I am.”

  “Yes, you are,” she said through gritted teeth, a forced smile on her face. “Remember that thing we’re raising money for?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you want all the money we can get, right?”

  I clenched my jaw so tightly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Everly could hear my teeth grinding. “Yes.”

  “Great!” she said with false brightness. “Then get up there and give these people whatever it is they find so enticing about you. Personally, I don’t see it.”

  “Well, I should hope not. You’re my sister.”

  “You’ve got five minutes, or I’m making you go out there shirtless.” And with that, the little witch walked toward the gazebo where a line of guys stood waiting their turn.

  “So…” Everly said. “You’re auctioning yourself off?”

  “I wasn’t aware I was.” I scrubbed a hand down my face and exhaled a heavy sigh. I could think of twelve thousand things I’d rather do than auction myself off for the “horny old women” of Starlight Cove, despite the cause we were raising money for. “I’ve gotta go talk to her.”

  “Oh. Sure, okay,” she said, surprise and…hurt? evident in her voice. Fuck. I was going to kill Addison for this. “I’ll just…hang out and watch the crowd go wild until you’re…done.”

  “I’m just going to go tell her to find someone else, okay?” I cupped Everly’s face, brushing my thumb across her lower lip. I couldn’t tell her yet what this festival was for or why Addison was pushing for every dollar we could get. So instead, I leaned in and kissed her, brushing my tongue against hers and pouring everything I felt into it. Saying without words how much she meant to me. How much I loved her. How every bit of this was for her.

  Everly

  Well, tonight certainly hadn’t gone how I thought it would.

  Finally, Beck and I had been able to connect, when it’d been nothing but hit or miss for almost two weeks. I missed him fiercely, and that in and of itself was what had made my decision so easy.

  Besides the fact that I’d grown to love this life I’d carved out for myself here, I couldn’t move back home to Washington because Beck wasn’t there, and I’d be miserable without him.

  I’d even told my parents as much earlier today. I’d called them and finally laid it all on the line, telling them that I loved them and I missed them but that my life was here now. It’d been unnerving, but as soon as the words had come out of my mouth, I could hear the truth in them. It was as if a giant weight had been lifted off my chest, and I could finally breathe again. Why the hell hadn’t I been standing up for myself all the time?

  As I was telling them all the reasons I wanted to stay, I’d realized I loved this life I’d built here in Starlight Cove because it was mine. And maybe the reason I hadn’t felt like I belonged here like I did in my hometown had more to do with the fact that I wasn’t bending over backward to please everyone else and instead was focusing more on my own happiness. And I was totally and completely okay with that. It was time for a little selfishness.

  So after my stellar afternoon when I’d finally made the decision to stick around and figure out how I was going to make the amount of insurance money I was getting work, now I was facing my boyfriend auctioning himself off for a date with someone else.

  Okay, so we’d never had the boyfriend/girlfriend discussion, but I’d assumed since we were sleeping in the same bed and he spent most nights inside me, that meant we were sort of a thing. And if we were sort of a thing, I really wasn’t all that excited about the possibility of him going out on a date—or whatever it was they were auctioning off—with another person. Especially the hungry-looking vultures surrounding me. Actually, even if we weren’t a thing, I really wasn’t all that excited about it.

  While I watched Beck and Addison facing off in a yelling match—I was too far away to hear what they were saying, but their body language spoke volumes—I made my way toward the gazebo. And then, because I was a masochist, apparently, there I stood as they auctioned off bachelor after bachelor, my stomach knotting tighter with each one that passed.

  Since I was close enough to the melee, Addison joined me after a while, and we watched as people threw more money at the bachelors than I’d expected—anywhere between a couple hundred up to almost a thousand for Levi. The bad boy of the McKenzie brood stood in the gazebo, arms crossed and face a mask of disinterest as the bids kept flying.

  “You must have some sort of magic over your brothers,” I said to Addison. “First Beck, and now Levi? How’d you get them to agree?”

  She waved a hand through the air. “You don’t need to worry about Beck. Just a little prearranged opportunity that’s going to go for megabucks. As for Levi, I gave him three free passes to skip family meetings to be used at his discretion.”

  “Wow. You guys really went all out for this. What’s the cause again?” I asked, realizing now that I hadn’t seen any flyers about it whatsoever.

  “What’s that? Oh, sorry, looks like they need me back there! I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” Addison said before scurrying off toward the gazebo where only a few more men stood, Beck among them.

  And yeah, I didn’t care what this “prearranged opportunity” was. It was with my boyfriend—whether he knew it or not—and I wasn’t having it.

  The closer it got to his turn, the tighter the knot grew in my stomach. He was clearly not happy with it, his face set in a grim line, arms crossed and jaw clenched while Ford propped an arm on his shoulder, laughing like he was having the time of his life. I couldn’t sit by and watch someone else bid on him, but since I hadn’t exactly expected this, I only had twenty-three dollars in my purse. Hopefully they’d take an IOU or let me run to the ATM so I could cash out.

  Finally, it was Beck’s turn, and he stepped up—or rather, Addison shoved him up. He stood in the gazebo, looking about as excited to be there as Levi had. He wore his usual uniform of a T-shirt and jeans, but gone was his standard backward baseball cap. Instead, his hair hung loosely, the tousled locks hanging over his forehead, and my fingers itched to push it back. Itched to wipe that look off his face. Itched to remind him he was mine and I was his and, together, we were everything.

  From the beginning, his entire persona should have put me off. We were opposites in every way, but somehow, we’d connected and it’d felt inevitable. Like magnets clicking together. I hadn’t realized it then, but that first day when I’d stepped foot into the diner, everything had slotted into place. It was the beginning of my new life. A new life I’d created for myself—it wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t easy, but it was mine. And the only thing I needed in it, without question, was him.

  “Our next bachelor is none other than Beck McKenzie. You probably know him best for serving the greatest coffee in Starlight Cove, not to mention those amazing blueberry scones.” The auctioneer gave an exaggerated wink to the crowd. “I think we all know why we’re here, and you’ll get it. Don’t let that scowl fool you! Beneath the angry glower is a sweet man who would do anything for those important to him, and I think tonight is proof enough of that.”

  The bidding started then and grew rapidly. So rapidly, I hadn’t had a chance to jump in before another bid was tossed out. And another and another.

  “Your man is quite the draw,” Mabel said, stepping up to my side.

  “What?” I asked distractedly, sliding my eyes to hers before moving them back to watch two ladies—one of whom was Charlotte, the beautiful woman from the bank Beck had sweet-talked for me. “Sorry, Mabel, I can’t really talk right now.”

  “It’s very sweet, what he’s doing. Don’t you think?” She elbowed me in the side again. “After the you know what that I’m not allowed to talk to you about.”

  It was then that I noticed she was pointing her phone in my direction, clearly filming a Facebook Live.

  “Going once,” the auctioneer called, and I snapped my head around.

  I shot my hand up to bid, only the problem was I hadn’t heard what the last amount was, so I shouted the first number that came to mind. “Five hundred dollars!”

  Mabel gasped beside me and tugged on my shirt sleeve. “What are you doing?”

  “Bidding,” I said. I narrowed my eyes at the cougar from the bank and dared her to bid against me.

  Apparently, I needed to work on my stink eye, because she raised her hand to increase the bid, and I swore under my breath.

  “But you can’t bid!” Mabel hissed.

  I raised my hand to up the bid again, trying my hardest to ignore Mabel, which wasn’t easy, considering she was a distraction just by breathing.

  “It totally defeats the purpose!” she said. “You can’t bid on your own stuff to help your own thing!”

  “What?” Exasperated, I turned my attention to her, having no clue what she was talking about.

  “I didn’t— I mean, it’s just—” Mabel stumbled over her words, shaking her head and trying to backtrack. And in the ten seconds she’d had my undivided attention, the bidding must’ve continued, because suddenly, a gavel sounded.

  “Sold, to Charlotte,” the auctioneer called.

  “Fuck,” I said under my breath, my shoulders slumping.

  “Oh dear. That is definitely not family-friendly. I’m just gonna scooch,” Mabel said. “But don’t worry, sugar. He’s just auctioning off a little piece of deliciousness.” And then she scurried off into the crowd like she hadn’t totally ruined my plan.

  Yeah, a little piece of deliciousness that was all mine.

  I’d just lost the man I was absolutely, unequivocally, head over heels in love with to a beautiful older woman. A woman who’d probably lived in Starlight Cove her whole life and didn’t forget things like shutting off her curling iron, and probably didn’t need a keeper because she remembered to eat three meals a day, and she also no doubt knew how to drive a stick. So that was just fantastic. A cherry on top of my shit sundae.

  “Everly.” Quinn stepped up next to me, sounding slightly out of breath. “Hey.”

  “Hey, Quinn,” I answered distractedly, my eyes focused on Beck where he stood, arms crossed and scowl firmly in place. He scanned the crowd, his gaze landing on me. His face softened and he dropped his arms, taking a step in my direction before Addison and Charlotte blocked his path.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, and I focused on her, desperate for the distraction because I couldn’t watch him make date arrangements with another woman.

  It took me a minute to realize she wasn’t asking how I felt about the man I was in love with going out on a date with someone else and that she was actually talking about the life-changing fire I’d been in that’d set off this entire thing.

  “Oh, fine. Well, as fine as I can be. I’m still trying to get everything in order, but I’ll figure it out.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that.”

  “How about you?”

  She blew out a heavy sigh and shook her head. “Honestly? Really damn tired of misogynistic old men.”

  A surprised laugh gusted out of me. “One of those days, huh?”

  “One of those years. All I want to do is go home, take a bath, and have a glass of wine.”

  “That sounds amazing, but it’s a far cry from a festival. What’re you doing here?”

  “It’s my master plan to get in the good graces of said misogynistic old man.” She shrugged and tipped her head toward the gazebo. “I thought maybe throwing some money toward a Starlight Cove cause might shine a light in my favor. I’m just glad I made it before this was over. But who knows? Maybe I’ll meet my future husband.”

  I cringed because there was only one bachelor left, and she wasn’t going to like who it was.

  “What’s that face for?” she asked.

  “Um, well—”

  “And the last bachelor up for auction tonight is none other than Starlight Cove’s favorite flirt, Ford McKenzie. You know him best for shooting a salacious grin and a wink your way, but he’s also good with his hands, if you know what I mean.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Quinn said under her breath. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, repeating over and over, “This is for the greater good, this is for the greater good…”

  “Anything that’ll stick it to a misogynist,” I agreed.

  “I need to look on the bright side. I already went out with a guy who took me to the McDonald’s drive-thru before sneaking me into his parents’ basement—that was just last month, by the way—so surely a date with Ford can’t be any worse than that. Right?”

  “Probably not?” I said, though it came out as more of a question.

  Still, Quinn squared her shoulders, faced the gazebo, and totally obliterated every other bid when she called out, “Two thousand dollars.”

 

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