Needing Happily Ever After Read online

  “Hey, short stuff. Where’ve you been?”

  Katie whirled around to see the owner of the pretentious truck standing next to a picnic table. Her heart flipped a little, the way it always did when she saw him. It was hard not to react to his striking looks. His thick black hair and deep-green eyes sat atop a tall, strong frame that had dwarfed Katie since he’d finally sprouted past her in the seventh grade. His skin had a sun-kissed glow, as if he’d spent the last few months in the Caribbean, which she knew he had. The scruff on his chin and cheeks was new, and it suited him. He looked both familiar and dangerously different than the last time she’d seen him.

  Damon crossed the distance between them in only a few long strides and with zero regard to the hot coffees she held in her hand, wrapped his arms around her in a tight bear hug. Somehow she managed not to spill the drinks as he squeezed her, but the paper bag didn’t fare so well.

  “You smell good,” Damon said into her hair. “Like honey and…honey buns!” He pulled back from her, his handsome face lit up in such a hopeful smile that Katie couldn’t help but laugh. She held up the crushed paper bag with Damon’s favorite treat from Sweetie Pies and shrugged.

  “You really are the best.” He winked as he snatched up the bag and took a coffee from her tray.

  “I know it.” She laughed. It was good to see him. Really good.

  “And that’s why I love you.”

  They’d told each other a million times over the years that they loved each other, but it felt different this time. Katie tried not to dwell on it, or how dramatically their relationship had changed since a simple phone call only a few days earlier.

  Together, they walked to an empty picnic table and sat on the top of it, looking out over the falls.

  Damon didn’t waste any time digging into the paper bag she’d brought him. “Hey, this is all squished up.”

  She shot him a look and he laughed as he shoved a piece of the bun in his mouth. “Still delicious, though.”

  They sat in silence for a few minutes while Damon ate his bun and Katie sipped at her coffee. Finally, when he was finished, he licked each of his fingers. “Thank you, Katie.”

  She shrugged. “No biggie. I know you like them and I was walking past, so I—”

  “That’s not what I meant,” he interrupted her, his voice serious. She turned to look at him, and there was no trace of humor in his eyes. “Thank you,” he said again. “For agreeing to all of this.”

  Her stomach flipped as she once again was reminded of exactly just what she’d agreed to when he’d called, desperate and needing a favor. “It’s not a big deal, Damon. You’d do the same for me.”

  “I’d do anything for you.” He grabbed her free hand and squeezed. “You know that, right?”

  “Of course.” She giggled in an effort to relieve some of the seriousness of the moment. “It’s all good. Really.” She meant it.

  “Agreeing to marry me is a very big deal, Katie.”

  Well, when he said it out loud like that… Damn.

  She shook her head and kept the smile on her face. “Right,” she said slowly. “But we’re not really getting married, Damon. It’s just an engagement.” She couldn’t help but glance at her bare left hand, a move that Damon acknowledged with a raised eyebrow.

  “Don’t worry about that,” he said in reference to her empty finger. “I’ve got all the bases covered there. And no, we’re not really getting married. Of course not. That’s crazy! As if we’d ever actually be together.”

  He laughed so loud and so heartily that Katie couldn’t help but feel offended. Of course, he was right. They were best friends, always had been. Still, was it really so crazy to imagine that they could actually be together? Maybe it was. Maybe that’s how Damon really saw it. After all, he was ridiculously wealthy, insanely gorgeous, and everyone loved him everywhere he went—which was pretty much everywhere. And she, well…she was a small-town girl who’d never left and didn’t have any aspirations to leave. She was a simple girl, and always had been. Sure, she wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t particularly special either. Petite, with long brown hair and brown eyes, she largely thought that she was pretty forgettable altogether and not at all like the tall, slim blondes and redheads that Damon usually had on his arm, according to his social media.

  “It’s not that funny,” she muttered under her breath as she yanked her hand from his and took another sip of her coffee.

  “Katie cakes.” He used her old nickname and tilted his head to one side. “You know I didn’t mean it any way except that we’re best friends. You’re like my sister. That’s all.”

  “The sister who’s pretending to be engaged to you,” she said pointedly. “So you better be nice to me.”

  When the smile slipped off Katie’s pretty face, Damon instantly felt bad. He had a knack for putting his foot in his mouth sometimes, and he hardly even recognized when he was doing it. At least, not until it was too late. When they were younger, Katie had been really good at letting him know when he’d crossed a line or gone too far, and they’d had some kind of unspoken understanding about where that line was. But it had been years since they’d spent that kind of time together, and maybe he was a little out of practice.

  “I am nice to you.” He reached for her hand again and pulled her closer. “And I will be nice to you, I promise. In fact, I’ll be the best fake fiancé you’ve ever had.”

  That made her laugh again.

  When Damon’s lawyer had informed him of the stipulation when it came to buying ElkView Ridge, that the buyers had to be a family or have a reasonable intention to have one, Damon’s initial reaction had been one of anger. But he hadn’t reached his level of success by allowing himself to be thwarted by such easily navigated roadblocks. It hadn’t taken him long to come up with a plan. A fake engagement was the easiest route to take, and what better fake fiancée than the woman he’d known his whole life and always had his back?

  Of course Katie had agreed. Even when he told her that she couldn’t tell anyone the truth. Not even her mom. He felt bad about that one, but it had to look real. His father had to believe that they were in love and going to be married. It made perfect sense, too. After all, who knew him better than Katie?

  No one.

  They could pretend to be in love for a few days, a couple of weeks tops. And when the papers were signed, and ElkView was his, they’d stage some sort of public breakup and go back to being best friends. No one had to get hurt, or ever know the truth. And most importantly, no one would have to actually get married to satisfy his father’s stupid requirements.

  “So what do we need to do with this whole…” Katie waved her hand. “Engagement thing? Is there anything special, like going to see your dad or anything? I mean, I suppose he’ll probably want to meet his son’s fiancée?”

  “He has met you. A million times.”

  “But not as your fiancée.” Katie pressed her lips together in an obvious attempt to look serious. “That’s different. Very different.”

  “True.” Damon nodded as he mulled that over.

  “Maybe we should have a dinner or something? We can show everyone how madly in love we are and how it took us so long to realize it, blah blah blah.”

  “That’s not a bad idea.”

  “I know.” She grinned. “I’m very smart.”

  He laughed. “You are. That’s why I chose you.” He winked and she smacked him playfully on the arm.

  “You chose me, did you? I suppose you had a lineup of women ready to be your fake fiancée?”

  “There was never anyone but you.” He narrowed his eyes and attempted to look as seductive as possible, but both of them dissolved into laughter.

  Damn, it was good to see Katie again. He’d missed her more than he realized.

  “Speaking of being smart,” she said when she managed to swallow back her laughter. “I told my family about us last night.” Damon almost choked on the sip of coffee in his mouth. “I didn’t tell them the tru
th,” she added quickly. “Don’t worry. But you know how Levi and Hope got married and took off for their honeymoon? They left today, actually.”

  He nodded. Katie had filled him in on what was going on with her cousin and Hope Turner. Just like everyone else in Glacier Falls, Damon had the same response to hearing about their marriage: it was about time.

  “Well, we were all having dinner last night and talking about Faith taking over the wedding business at Ever After Ranch, and…well, I kind of threw it out there that you might need a date for your impending nuptials to…well, to me.” She smiled so brightly, her eyes sparkled.

  Katie always had been a bit of a shit disturber. They’d gotten into their fair share of trouble together, and it could be argued that a lot of it was her idea. Okay, most of it was her idea. “What did they say to that bomb being dropped?” Damon couldn’t even imagine Debbie Langdon’s response to hearing that her daughter was going to be married to her childhood best friend when they hadn’t actually seen each other in a few years. But the one thing he could imagine was that she might not be completely thrilled.

  Katie shrugged. “Lots of questions of course, but I spun it perfectly and told them that we’d always been in love and neither time nor distance could make us change our minds.”

  “Wow.” Speechless for a moment, Damon leaned back and took a deep breath. “That’s good.”

  “Right?” She took a sip of her coffee. “Incidentally, our wedding date,” she held her fingers up in air quotes, “is July eleventh. It was one of the only dates Faith had available in the coming weeks, and I thought it would give us enough time to do what we need to do and then—”

  “Break up?”

  She nodded. “Exactly.”

  “You’ve got it all figured out, then.” Damon shook his head a little and stared out over the waterfall that crashed to the rocks below. It was mesmerizing, even from a distance. “I guess I should set up a dinner with my dad then.”

  “The sooner the better, right?”

  He nodded and was silent for a few minutes. “I went by ElkView today.”

  “You did? And?”

  He could feel Katie looking at him, but he didn’t take his eyes off the waterfall. “I didn’t go past the gates,” he confessed. “I could have punched in the code and at least driven up the drive to see what it looks like. I mean, I don’t even know what kind of condition it’s in.” He chuckled, because he knew it didn’t matter. ElkView could have fallen into complete disrepair, and he’d still want it more than anything else in the world. The fact that his dad wouldn’t even consider offering it to him without fulfilling the stupid stipulation of the sale was maddening. And only made him want it even more. Not that he’d admit that out loud. “I chickened out at the gates,” he continued. “I didn’t want to run into him. Not yet.”

  “But you’ll be okay with dinner? Maybe we should just stick to drinks.”

  Finally, he turned to her. “That’s not a bad idea at all. Drinks seems safer.”

  “And shorter.” She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

  “And shorter.” He couldn’t argue with that. “Okay, I’ll set it up and I’ll get my lawyer to work up a contract for the purchase. Maybe we can take care of it all at once.” It was a long shot that the transaction would go quite that smoothly, but there was no harm in hoping it would.

  “Well, you never know.” Katie reached out and patted his thigh.

  It was a simple touch, and she’d touched him a million times in the past, so it could only be because of the messed-up situation that they were about to get involved in that he felt a flash of heat in his leg where she’d touched him. Still, Damon’s eyes fixated on his jeans for a moment before he remembered what he needed to do.

  Next to him, Katie was chattering on about organizing an actual dinner with her family, because they definitely were not going to be satisfied with only drinks when it came to this situation. But Damon was only half listening when he put his coffee down next to him and jumped up off the table.

  “Where are you—”

  “Katie Langdon?” He interrupted her in a loud, booming voice.

  Instantly, she was paying attention. Her head swiveled around to see who else was in the park and whether Damon’s loud voice had caught their attention. It had. He’d made sure of it. He waited until her gaze flipped back to him and then he dropped to one knee.

  “What the hell are you doing,” she hissed as he reached into his pocket.

  “Katie,” he began again, making sure to keep his voice nice and loud. “I’ve known you for most of my life, and for all of that time you’ve been at my side. You are the most beautiful, sweetest, and sassiest woman I know, and I love you.” Damon took a breath and pulled the ring out of his pocket. He’d picked it up in the city two days earlier. It was a beautiful, huge sapphire surrounded by diamonds. It was big and sparkly, and completely untraditional, and he knew she’d love it. He held up the ring and Katie’s hand went to her mouth. He took a deep breath and focused on her eyes. “Katie, will you do me the honor of being my fiancée?”

  Of course she nodded, but Damon waited until she said yes, and then wanting her to say it a bit louder for their impromptu audience, he raised his eyebrows and gently gestured with his head.

  “Yes!” she yelled. “Of course I will.”

  Damon grinned as he got to his feet and slid the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit. Without missing a beat, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her hard, his lips grazing her cheek as he whispered into her ear. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you, but I wanted it to look real.”

  He could feel her smile against his face. “You almost made me cry. That was really sweet.”

  Damon pulled back so he could look in her eyes. “I meant every word.”

  Chapter Three

  Things were moving quickly. Just the way Damon liked them. After all, the sooner they took care of the purchase of the property, the sooner things could go back to normal, whatever normal was. As much as he liked to expedite things, even Damon was surprised when the news of his very public proposal to Katie reached his father in a day’s time.

  Just like his son, Anthony Banks didn’t like to waste time, and the invitation for drinks came almost immediately after that.

  Damon would have preferred it to be his idea. Or, if he were being honest, Katie’s idea, considering she’d actually come up with it first, but he wasn’t about to say no to his dad on the principle of the fact that they hadn’t initiated the meeting, and he’d agreed to bring Katie by the next afternoon.

  He’d rented a room at the Big Rock Inn, because neither he nor Katie had given the details of their engagement much thought until he’d arrived in town. And he didn’t want to be too much of an imposition. Besides, word on the street was that Katie’s big brother, Logan, was pretty pissed about the whole thing, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to spend too much time in close proximity with her family. At least not yet.

  The day before, after making things official with Katie, they’d spent the rest of the afternoon together catching up. It was always so easy to be with her and even though there was this huge, big thing between them, it didn’t feel that way. It only felt…good. No matter where Damon had traveled, and how many great people he’d met along the way, he’d never met anyone quite like Katie. Definitely no one who got him the way she did. She’d always had the craziest knack for being able to cut through his bullshit and get to the real him. Even when they were kids and he’d been the new kid in class. Sure, he was only seven, in first grade, but still, he’d stood out from the rest of his classmates because instead of moving into town like everyone else, his dad had insisted on building a massive estate up on the hill, and putting a gate on it to keep everyone out. In a small town like Glacier Falls, it had set them apart—and not in a good way.

  At least not for Damon.

  The other kids hadn’t accepted him right away, calling him Ritchie Rich, and leaving him out of the games at
recess. Looking back, it was all minor stuff, but for a little boy, it certainly hadn’t felt minor at the time. Sure, he probably could have handled it in a million different ways. But he’d chosen to act out. His target? The cutest little girl in class with the long, dark braids that always waved in his face when she walked past him at the coat hook.

  It had started innocently enough, with him tugging on her hair every chance he got. And then, of course, he found more and more opportunities to pull her braids because of the response he got from it. Katie would shriek and glare at him. Sometimes she’d tell him to stop or call him rotten. Her response changed, but what didn’t change was the reaction he got from the other boys every time he picked on Katie. They’d laugh and elbow one another in the ribs, and when Damon started throwing erasers at the back of Katie’s head, too, the boys slowly started to include him in their games at recess. For a little bit, he’d been included. And it felt good. It didn’t take long for him to escalate his behavior with her and steal her cookie at recess break.

  It had been the wrong thing to do.

  Or the right thing, depending on your perspective.

  As it turned out, Katie was a tough little girl, and she could put up with a lot. But the one thing she would not tolerate was the theft of her homemade, chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. She’d socked him squarely in the face. Damon had dropped the cookie, but not before crying out in pain. There’d been blood, tears, and ultimately a trip to the principal’s office. Damon had the very distinct memory of Katie sitting across from him in Mrs. Gervais’s office, slowly eating her homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookie while he held a scratchy paper towel to his bloody nose and never once taking her eyes off him, the slightest victory smile on her face.

  It was in that moment that they had become friends. Because as far as Damon had been concerned, anyone who would fight for a cookie was probably going to be a better friend than one who only wanted to hang out with him if he was mean.

  After that, they’d been inseparable and their friendship only grew deeper as the years went on. When they were teenagers, they used to get teased about spending so much time together, and more than once they were mistaken for boyfriend and girlfriend. But they’d never so much as kissed. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed Damon’s mind more than once. After all, Katie was so pretty, and she made him laugh and…but it had never been worth the risk. Teenage relationships hardly ever lasted, and their friendship was way more important to him than a few months of making out.