Fortune for a Week, page 14
“Yeah?” she asked softly.
“Definitely.”
Something smoldering passed between them.
Sofia smiled and seemed like she was at a loss for words. Her gaze fluttered down to the cup in her hands, and she lifted it to her lips and sipped her cider.
Then she turned and began sifting through a tray of earrings. She picked up the pair of delicate silver earrings shaped like leaves, simply elegant yet beautiful, just like her. She held them up and gazed at herself in the mirror that was on the jewelry case before returning them to the tray.
“Those are pretty,” he said. “Would you like them?”
“Oh my gosh, no, thank you,” Sofia said and walked away from the booth. “And speaking of expensive gifts. I can’t believe you bought that hat for Jackson. Please tell me he didn’t ask you to buy it.”
“He didn’t. I told him to pick one out. That was all on me.”
“I wish you wouldn’t have done that,” she said.
Harris shrugged.
“Thank you,” she added. “It was unnecessary but very much appreciated. You made a little boy very happy.”
She stopped suddenly and turned to face him. “I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”
“What kind of wrong idea are you talking about?”
She sighed and looked him square in the eyes. He could see her mind working. “How do I say this?”
“Just say it,” he said.
“When we were in Vegas, I remember you saying something about women who dated you for what they could get.”
Harris’s brows lifted.
“I’m not like that, Harris.”
“I know you’re not. You haven’t asked me for a thing. You even turned down the diamond wedding band when we were—”
“Shhhh!” she hissed, looking around them, assessing who might’ve been close enough to hear.
He realized in that moment that he didn’t really care who knew they were married. Would it steer her away from the annulment if someone found out?
But he wouldn’t do that to her. He wouldn’t force her hand. He wanted her to realize that she wanted this marriage as much as he did.
Because he did.
Did he?
He blinked at the thought. Digesting it. Giving the inner voice that always urged him to cut and run when a woman got too close a chance to warn him this wasn’t right.
But it was not pushing him away.
If anything, it was suggesting that staying married to Sofia Gomez might be the right thing to do.
Might.
Maybe.
“Let’s go sit down for a moment.” He gestured toward an empty picnic table under a tree.
He held her hand while she lifted one boot-clad foot over the bench, sat down and settled in.
He sat next to her. They were so close, their knees were touching under the table.
“I was engaged to someone who, it turned out, was in it for the money,” he confided. “I thought she was the one. But a few weeks before the wedding, she let it slip that she didn’t want kids. She said if we had them, she’d want a surrogate and a nanny to deal with the little monsters.”
He shook his head, the words still stinging after all this time. “She was more interested in my money and the Fortune name than in building a family. I called off the wedding. I guess, after that, I became a lot more guarded. It was harder to trust people.”
Sofia gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry, Harris. That must’ve been hard.”
“It was,” he admitted, glancing at her. “I’m telling you this because that experience opened up some kind of internal radar. Believe me, I know when a woman is dating me for what she can get. You are not that kind of woman.”
Sofia gazed at him. “No, I’m not. In fact, sometimes it’s difficult for me to accept gifts from people. I’m really sorry that happened to you.”
Harris shrugged.
“If anything good came out of it, I realized how important family is to me. Losing my parents as a kid altered my life forever.”
Sofia inhaled an audible breath.
“After they died, I thought that the only way I’d get that sense of family back was if I built one of my own. Amanda, my ex-fiancée, didn’t want that.”
Sofia was quiet for a moment before speaking. “I can understand that. Family is everything to me, too.”
“Harris Fortune,” said a familiar female voice.
Harris glanced over his shoulder and saw his sisters, Priscilla and Zara, grinning as they approached. He groaned inwardly, already dreading the inevitable questions.
“Hey, big brother,” Priscilla called out at him. “Looks like the rumors are true. Look at the two of you. You’re so cute together.”
“Oh, hey, you two,” Harris said. “I think you know Sofia Gomez Simon. Sofia, these are my sisters, Zara and Priscilla.”
“How did I not know you were dating?” Zara added, her smile mischievous.
“Well, that’s because…” Harris looked at Sofia, trying to gauge how much he should divulge.
“We are enjoying each other’s company,” she said.
Simple and truthful.
Priscilla and Zara exchanged delighted glances. He shot them both a look, a silent warning not to push too far. That’s when he noticed that Priscilla was wearing a money belt and carrying a sign that was now hanging down by her side, and Zara was holding a Polaroid camera.
“What do you have there?” Harris nodded to the sign.
Priscilla held it up. It said, Kiss Under the Falling Leaves and Help Raise Money for a Good Cause.
“What are you two up to?” Harris asked.
Priscilla glanced down at the sign. “We are raising funds for the Emerald Ridge Thanksgiving Fund. One hundred percent of all donations go to the Emerald Ridge Food Pantry to help provide traditional Thanksgiving dinners for those in need.”
Harris reached for his wallet and pulled out five twenty-dollar bills. He handed them to Priscilla.
“Thanks,” she said. “That’s very generous, Harry.”
Priscilla stepped toward them and held up a small bouquet of brightly colored fall leaves attached to a fishing pole.
“What’s that?” Sofia asked.
A wicked grin spread over Zara’s face. “For every donation, you get to kiss under the fall leaves. It’s our take on kissing under the mistletoe—Fall edition.” She held up her camera. “And you get a souvenir picture. Since you gave such a generous donation, Harry, I’ll give you two pictures. One for each of you. Ready?”
Priscilla held out the fishing pole so the leaves dangled over Harris and Sofia’s heads.
“You okay with this?” he whispered to Sofia.
“Anything for a good cause,” she said, her face lighting up.
Harris pulled Sofia into his arms. He dipped his head and captured her lips in a tender, slow kiss. He heard the zip of Zara’s camera as she captured the moment on film…twice.
In the background, the sound of hoots and cheers erupted around them, but Harris didn’t care. When Sofia didn’t pull away, everything else faded away.
That was all that mattered.
She was all that mattered.
The feel of her in his arms.
The warmth of her kiss.
For one timeless moment, they were the only two people in the world, except for the faraway sound of Zara saying, “Um, I guess I’ll leave your pictures here. On the table.”
When they finally pulled apart, both of them slightly breathless, his sisters were gone.
Sofia grinned. “Well, if it wasn’t already, I guess our secret is out, Harry.”
Harris chuckled, leaning his forehead against hers. “I think it’s safe to say the whole town knows now. And I’m okay with that.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
On Sunday evening, Sofia pulled into her driveway as dusk was putting the day to bed. She had delivered the kids to Dan in Waco, which was the halfway point between Emerald Ridge and Austin. The drive back alone had been mostly peaceful, with the radio humming low in the background, but her mind had been a riot.
Handing off the kids always upended her nerves. This time it was even more complicated now with Harris in the picture. She turned off the minivan’s engine and stared at the soft, amber glow of the porch light.
Home at last.
Her sanctuary.
The kids would be with their father until Wednesday, when she met Dan in Waco again to collect them.
In the meantime, she and Harris would be alone. Just the two of them and the promise of him moving into the guest room when Connie arrived tomorrow night.
As she slid out of the van, Harris stepped out onto the porch, his broad frame silhouetted against the doorway. The sight of him standing there sent a strange flutter through her.
He smiled, and that warm, easy grin of his set loose a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
“Hey,” he greeted her, stepping forward and wrapping her in a tight hug as soon as she reached him. “I missed you.”
Sofia leaned into him, inhaling his familiar, sexy scent—sandalwood and leather. His arms were strong around her, grounding her. After the tense exchange with Dan, this was exactly what she needed.
After she and Harris stepped inside and closed the door on the world, she followed Harris into the kitchen, where he picked up a gorgeous bouquet of fall flowers—orange and yellow roses surrounded by rust dahlias and mums, with eucalyptus and other greenery.
“These are for you,” he said.
She buried her nose in them. “That’s so sweet, Harris. Thank you.”
He handed her a glass of red wine. “How did the drop-off go?”
Sofia sighed and sipped the wine. It tasted like figs, blackberries and vanilla, with a hint of clove and a mustiness that suggested it was probably expensive. She let the smooth, velvety flavor coat her tongue before answering.
“It was…fine, I guess. I told Dan that you were staying in the casita for a few days because it was bound to come up when the kids mentioned you fixing the deck.”
“And how did he take that?” Harris asked.
Not well.
Sofia shrugged. “He doesn’t really have a choice in the matter.”
After they’d settled the children in the back seat of Dan’s car, he’d said, “I need to talk to Mommy for a minute.”
He’d mansplained the dangers of having a strange guy hanging around, followed by a lecture about how important it was for her to set a good example for her children.
Then she’d showed him the photo of the blonde sitting on his lap that Jacinta had texted her, and asked if his girlfriend would be hanging around while the kids are with him.
Dan had gaped at the picture. “How did you get this?”
“It doesn’t matter, Dan. I hope you’ll apply the same rules while you have the kids. At least both of us know the Fortune family. I have no idea who this woman is.”
Then he’d turned the tables and played the martyr, saying, “Mmm. So, you’ve snagged yourself a Fortune. I guess he can give you all the things I never could.”
She’d wanted to say no amount of money could buy her what she wanted…what she needed in a relationship…but he hadn’t understood that before the divorce. Why would he understand now?
So, she’d simply told him she needed to go, gave another round of hugs, kisses and I-love-yous to the kids and headed back to Emerald Ridge.
The exchange with Dan had unfolded quietly, in civil tones. To the uninitiated, it might’ve seemed like a pleasant conversation.
That, in a nutshell, summed up why their marriage had failed. It was a pretty package hiding a whole lot of ugliness inside.
Harris was watching her, studying her as if he was trying to read between the lines.
She didn’t want to talk about Dan and invite his specter to elbow its way between Harris and her tonight, but she felt like she owed it to him to say, “I’m not hung up on my ex-husband, Harris. I’m not in love with him. That ship capsized a long time ago. He’s the father of my children. The kids were happy to see him and excited to spend some of their break with him. That’s all that matters.”
Harris nodded. The subject was settled. He gestured to the French doors. “Come out here. I have a surprise for you.”
He had worked so hard the past couple of days. Yesterday, before they’d gone to the fall festival, he’d stained the deck. He’d mentioned that it would need twenty-four hours to dry. She couldn’t wait to see it.
The blinds that covered the doors were closed. Harris reached out and opened one of the doors a crack. The aroma of some kind of meat sizzling on the grill drifted in. Her stomach growled in appreciation.
“Are you grilling steaks?” she asked.
“I am. Come out here while I take them off the grill. They’ll need to rest for a few minutes before we eat.”
“A steak dinner is a fabulous surprise. Thank you.” She rose on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips. He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.
“I hope the grill wasn’t in too bad a shape,” she said. “It’s been a long time since anyone fired it up.”
Since long before Dan had moved to Austin.
He grimaced. “Yeah, it had seen better days. I picked up a new one.”
“Oh, okay.” Visions of a small, stainless steel portable grill flashed through her mind. He would be able to take it home with him when he left… The thought of him leaving whooshed through her, leaving a wake of sadness.
She blinked it away. They had more than a week before the end of their ten-day trial. She was not going to think of endings and spoil the evening.
“Close your eyes,” Harris commanded softly. He was facing her, his back against the door, his hand perched behind him on the door handle.
“Why?” Sofia asked. “What are you up to?”
“To get the full effect of your surprise, you need to be out on the deck.”
“What…?” She laughed.
“Just trust me.”
Of course. He probably wanted her to see his handiwork from the best angle. So, she went along with it, closing her eyes and letting him lead her outside.
When they were there, he said, “Okay, open your eyes.”
She did, and her mouth fell open.
The refurbished deck looked gorgeous under the soft glow of the lights that Harris had strung up. How had he known she’d always wanted market lights? She looked at him, but the words lodged in her throat.
She looked back at the deck. The wood gleamed, freshly stained and smooth, a testament to Harris’s hard work.
A grouping of wrought-iron furniture—tasteful and elegant—and a cozy, porch bed-swing hung off to the side under a brand-new pergola erected near a bronze fire pit. None of this had been there when she’d left for Waco this morning.
Neither had the table. It was beautifully set with her dishes atop a new tablecloth of warm autumn hues, along with a small vase of flowers similar to the ones Harris had handed her when she’d gotten home, and flickering candles that cast a soft, romantic glow graced the center of the table.
All she could do was gape at it.
It was like one of those television shows where the owner goes out for the day and a team of designers comes in and transforms the place.
“Harris…what did you do?” she gasped, finally finding her words. “How did you…?”
“Surprise,” he said.
Sofia smiled, her heart swelling with affection for this generous man.
He was too generous.
“Harris, this is gorgeous, but it’s too much. I appreciate the gesture, but the furniture…it’s not in my budget. We’ll have to return it.”
Harris shook his head. “It’s a gift, Sofia. You don’t have to worry about the cost.”
“No.”
“Yes,” he said. “Final sale. No returns.”
She doubted that, but…
“You’re spoiling me,” she complained, setting down her wineglass on the table and crossing her arms, her voice gentle and a bit hesitant.
“Good. You deserve to be spoiled,” he replied, gathering her into his arms, his lips hovering a breath away from hers, sending a thrill of want and need coursing through her. “It gives me pleasure to spoil you.”
She opened her mouth to protest, to say something about not wanting to seem like she was in this for his money—but the look in his eyes stopped her. Plus, they’d already had that discussion at the fall festival.
“Thank you, Harris. This is exactly the patio furniture I would’ve picked out myself. How did you know?”
“I just knew,” he said with a wink, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
Dinner was delicious. Harris had gone all out, grilling a thick, juicy T-bone to perfection, alongside roasted asparagus, baked potatoes and a crisp garden salad. But more than the food, it was the quiet moments—catching each other’s gazes across the table, the easy conversation—that made the night feel special.
They joked about being an old married couple. But tonight felt like their “real” first date. At the fall festival, the kids had been with them.
So, this really was the real first date.
Harris raised his glass to hers. “To new beginnings.”
“Cheers,” Sofia murmured, feeling a sexy warmth spread through her body. Not just from the wine, but from the way Harris was looking at her, like she was the only person in the world.
They were alone…no kids in the house…no family barging in.
She hadn’t felt this way in so long. She hadn’t realized just how much she missed the simplicity of two people being together and enjoying each other’s company. She felt seen and cherished for who she was, not for who the other person wanted her to be.
After dinner, Harris said, “I hope you saved room for dessert.”
“I’m stuffed,” she groaned, holding up her hands. “I can’t eat another bite.”
Harris chuckled. “Everyone has a separate dessert stomach. No matter how full you are, there’s always room for dessert.”
She raised an eyebrow, amused. “Is that so?”
“Yep. I got tiramisu for us.”
Sofia groaned again.
