Needing Happily Ever After Page 5

  “What are you saying, Katie?”

  “Yes,” Damon added. “What are—”

  “We’ve actually decided to have a really small ceremony on Thursday. Just immediate family.”

  Next to her, Damon made a choking sound but he recovered quickly.

  “Thursday? That is awfully soon.” Anthony put a finger to his lips and seemed to mull over what she’d just said.

  “It is soon.” That was an understatement. “But like I said, it already took Damon so long to realize what a great catch I was, I don’t want to give him a chance to change his mind again.”

  “There’s hardly a chance of that,” Damon muttered.

  She turned to look at him, and his eyes reflected complete amazement. She winked and turned back to his father.

  “And if it all works out with your schedule, well, all the better, right? Because I really can’t think of a better place to raise a family, Mr. Banks. For our own kids one day to be able to grow up out here…well…” She drifted off, and stared out at the valley below that was showcased with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.

  Almost everything that had come out of her mouth that afternoon had been a lie. But not that.

  It really would be amazing to raise a family at ElkView. The house was phenomenal. It was large, sure. But not ostentatious. Despite its size, it felt cozy and she’d always felt comfortable there. Lots of timber and natural stone throughout, it had always reminded Katie of a ski lodge, without the ski hill.

  Still, despite the beautiful surroundings and knowing why she was lying, it felt awful. Certainly, Damon and his father had never gotten along very well, but he was a nice man and she didn’t like lying to him.

  “I think it sounds wonderful,” Anthony said after a moment. “Where is the ceremony to take place? Because if you haven’t decided on a location yet, I’d love to suggest the patio right here. The view is amazing and—”

  “Yes!” Katie jumped on the opportunity because clearly she hadn’t thought out any of the details yet. “It would be perfect to do it here.”

  “This is all so crazy.” Damon shook his head. “It’s happening so fast. I mean, I don’t want you to rush the wedding, Katie. I’m sure that Dad will be able to wait—”

  “Damon,” she interrupted smoothly. “If your dad wants to see us exchange vows, I don’t see what’s so wrong with that. And no one is rushing anything.”

  She smiled as sweetly as she could when Damon turned to look at her, shock written all over his face.

  “Katie, I just—”

  It was another instantaneous decision, but she did the only thing she could think of to keep him from ruining their whole deception right then and there.

  She kissed him.

  Katie’s lips. On his.

  Katie’s lips.

  She was kissing him.

  Right there in front of his father.

  It took Damon a moment—or two—for his brain to catch up to what was actually happening, but when it did, it caught up with a ferocity.

  Katie was kissing him.

  Damn.

  All these years just being friends, and not once—okay, maybe once…or twice—had Damon actually ever thought about kissing her. After all, you didn’t kiss your friends.

  But maybe you did?

  No!

  His brain was going off on a tangent—a wild one and one that could definitely use a little exploring when he was alone—but it would not serve him to forget exactly what was going on at that moment.

  But her lips were soft and she tasted like the tangy crispness of gin with a little lime.

  He lifted his hand to her cheek and cupped it gently. And just like that, the kiss was over.

  It probably had only lasted mere seconds, but it might as well have been hours because despite the fact that the kiss had been chaste and very G-rated, something had shifted. In a very big way. Katie had kissed him. And damned if he didn’t want her to do it again.

  No.

  He wanted to kiss her. Up against a wall where his tongue could explore every inch of her mouth. Where he could suck on her bottom lip, maybe nip it a little. Where he could feel her breath coming short and fast against his chest. Where he—

  “Damon?”

  Katie’s voice jerked him back into reality and the moment at hand.

  He blinked slowly and Katie’s face, different somehow now, came into focus.

  “Having the ceremony at ElkView will be perfect, won’t it?”

  The ceremony. The wedding.

  Her kiss had distracted him completely from what had just happened. Had they really agreed to get married in three days? That was very different than a pretend engagement. A real wedding was something completely different.

  “We have so much to do.” Katie was still talking. Something in her eyes flashed, as if she were trying to convey a message to him. Slowly, his brain caught up with what was happening and why they were there in the first place. “And it will be extra special because ElkView will be our home, too.” She flashed a smile and somehow Damon made the connection. He was going to get ElkView. He was going to meet his father’s ridiculous conditions and buy his childhood home. And it was all because of this woman.

  He shook his head in silent wonder and smiled. “That’s great.”

  “It really is.” Katie turned. “Thank you, Mr. Banks. It really does mean a lot.”

  His father waved her gratitude away. “I know it seems like a silly thing,” he said. “And you both must think I’m being ridiculous.”

  “Well—”

  “Not at all.” Katie cut him off swiftly. “You only want the best for ElkView. I completely understand.” She squeezed his hand. “We both do.”

  Somehow they managed to make polite conversation for the next ten minutes or so before Katie was able to extricate them from the situation after declining a refill of their drinks. And they’d just about made their escape when his father threw one last obstacle at them.

  “Are you both staying at your ranch, Katie?”

  “Oh no.” Katie laughed. “My mother is a little old-fashioned for that.”

  “I have a room at the Big Rock Inn,” Damon said.

  “That’s crazy. I have so much house here and you two should be together. I know you think some of my ideas are a little out there, but I’m not completely old-fashioned, you know? You should both stay here.”

  Next to him, Katie, who had somehow managed to stay calm and relaxed throughout the entire afternoon, stiffened and shook her head. “Oh no, Mr. Banks. We couldn’t—”

  “I know it might feel strange,” his father said, not looking at him at all. “So what about the cottage? It’s been recently redone and it’s really quite comfortable. There’s a full kitchen and really, it has everything you need.” The cottage, as they’d always called it, was really the pool house, or the guesthouse that had very rarely been used for actual guests.

  It was Damon’s turn to object. “It’s a really nice offer, Dad, but—”

  “But nothing. It’s far enough from the house that you’ll have your privacy and there’s lots of peace and quiet up here for Katie to get her studying done. Besides, with the wedding so quick, it doesn’t make sense to stay anywhere else.”

  As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t argue with that. And judging by the look on Katie’s face, she couldn’t either.

  “Well, it has been pretty hard to get work done around my place lately.” She shrugged and looked at Damon. “Maybe it’s not a bad idea.”

  “It’s a great idea. Here.” Anthony handed them each a key and grinned. Damon couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his father smile so much in one afternoon. “Now, I promise I’ll give you your space, but if you need anything at all, please let me know.”

  It wasn’t until they were in the truck driving out of the gate that Damon finally spoke. “We don’t have to do this, you know.”

  “This?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Katie
turn in her seat and stare at him but he kept his eyes on the road in front of him. Both for the safety of driving, and because he knew if he looked at her, he would want to kiss her again. And as much as that might be a momentarily good idea, it was definitely not a solid long-term plan. Not considering the mess they currently found themselves in.

  “By this, do you mean the engagement?” Her voice was tightly controlled, which Damon knew from experience was dangerous. “Or the fact that we just committed to actually getting married in only three days? Or maybe you meant that as of five minutes ago, we’re living together now too?”

  Her voice wavered and now that they were safely beyond the gates of ElkView, Damon pulled over and put the truck in park.

  “What exactly don’t we have to do, Damon? Because it seems to me that we’ve just committed to a whole lot.”

  Katie’s bottom lip quivered, but she bit it quickly. He knew her well enough that she was struggling not to cry.

  “Hey.” Damon turned and reached across the seat between them to grab her hands.

  Was that his imagination, or was there some sort of spark between them when he touched her? He froze momentarily, but shook the feeling off quickly. He had to focus and, more importantly, he had to remember that the kiss they’d shared earlier wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.

  “I meant it, Katie. We don’t have to do this,” he said. “Any of it. If it’s too much, we can just break it all off right now. Actually getting married wasn’t ever part of the plan.”

  She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t.”

  “I know it’s a huge ask and—”

  “Are you asking me?” She stared at him, her brown eyes wide with innocent question. “Are you really asking me to marry you? Is it that important to you? ElkView, I mean.”

  Of course. ElkView. She wasn’t talking about them. Damon shook his head. He didn’t even recognize what was happening to him. He never behaved like this with a woman, and Katie wasn’t even…well, she was Katie.

  “Is ElkView that important, Damon?” she asked again before he could respond. “Because if it is, I will do this. I’ll go all in. You know I’d do anything for you.”

  “And that’s why I love you.” He squeezed her hands. He had no right to ask her such a thing. No right at all. He was being selfish and he knew it, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from saying, “Thank you, Katie. It is important to me. So much.”

  She nodded and her lips curved up into a tiny, brave smile. “It’s nothing.”

  But it was everything, and they both knew it.

  “I promise that just as soon as it makes sense, we’ll have the whole thing annulled and it will be like it never happened.” He couldn’t be sure, but Damon was almost positive something flickered across her face when he said that. “And I’ll make it worth your while, too.”

  She laughed and pulled her hands away from his. He felt the loss at once. “Like you’ll pay me to marry you? Seriously, Damon. Come on.”

  “No.” He waved his hand. “Not like pay you pay you.” He shook his head and told her what he’d been thinking ever since she mentioned the idea to his father. “More like, I’ll invest in you. Get you the startup capital you need to start the business you’ve been wanting. I think it sounds like a great idea and—”

  “You’d do that?”

  It was his turn to laugh. “Are you serious, Katie? After what you’re doing for me? This is nothing.” He reached for her hand again and held it gently as he looked directly in her eyes. “Katie,” he said softly. “I’d do anything for you.”

  She looked at him as if she were trying to figure him out. A moment later, her face split into the biggest smile he’d ever seen. “This is amazing, Damon. Thank you. I have so many ideas I don’t even know where to start. Thank you so much. I’m so happy, I could just kiss you right now.”

  “Well, why don’t you then?”

  The smile on her face slipped a little. “What?”

  He shrugged, trying to come off casual when he felt anything but. “Why don’t you kiss me then? After all, we are getting married.”

  Katie examined him for a minute and just when he thought she might actually lean across the seat and do just that, she burst out into laughter. “Nice try, buddy. That’s a good one.”

  He laughed along with her before driving the rest of the way down the mountain to get his things and check out of the hotel. But for Damon, that’s where the joke ended because even though Katie was trying to blow off their earlier kiss as all part of the act, he couldn’t shake the feeling that for him, it had been anything but.

  Chapter Five

  Faith Turner was exhausted. Her sister Hope had only been gone a few days, on the ultimate honeymoon trip with her new husband, Levi, leaving her to run Ever After Ranch. A wedding planning company that Faith couldn’t be less qualified to run. Particularly because where her twin sister was a hopeless romantic, Faith was the exact opposite. She didn’t believe in love, or happily ever after, or any of the bullshit pomp and circumstance that went along with the farce that was an actual wedding.

  Not that Hope had cared when she asked Faith to move back to Glacier Falls to help her out when she was first diagnosed with cancer. She’d needed her sister, and that’s exactly why Faith was there. For her sister. And that was it.

  That was also the reason that she put up with Logan Langdon, who’d also been pressed into service to be her assistant—or general handyman, the title he preferred. And it was the only reason, because everything else about the man made her crazy and always had.

  “Faith!” She shook her head as, right on cue, he called out her name from across the barn. “Are you in here?”

  Of course she was. She practically lived in the barn these days. Her sister had restored and refurbished the building into a beautiful rustic facility that had become an increasingly popular destination for brides who wanted a mountain wedding experience. They were booked up for most of the summer with weddings. At least, Faith felt like it was most of the summer. Thankfully, her sister had taken pity on her before she’d left her in charge and hadn’t filled the schedule as full as she might have in a normal year.

  Faith didn’t even have a second to answer Logan’s call, even if she’d wanted to, before he stormed through the building, his cowboy boots clomping obnoxiously on the hardwood.

  “What’s up, Logan?” She looked up from the binder she’d been studying with all the details for that weekend’s event.

  “You’re not really going to do it, are you?” The underlying thread of anger in his voice took her off guard. He liked to spool her up, sure, but he wasn’t usually angry.

  Faith lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Do what?” She was pretty sure she knew exactly what had Logan riled up, but it was too much fun to mess with him. She really hated to miss an opportunity.

  Just as she’d predicted, his face grew red underneath the scruff of a beard that he’d just started to grow. Despite herself, she couldn’t help but think that it looked good on him. Logan shook his head and pulled the cap off his head before running his hands through his dirty-blond hair and pressing it back into place.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and Faith actually had to look away. The man pushed all her buttons, and had since they were kids. But damn, he was sexy. And she wasn’t blind. “You’re not going to let them get married here,” he continued. “No way.”

  “Who?” She was pushing it, and she knew it. But she never could stop herself when it came to messing with Logan. “Because I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but that’s kind of what we do here.”

  “Damnit, Faith! I’m not playing,” Logan roared. “There is no way you’re letting that bullshit billionaire asshole marry my little sister here.”

  There it was.

  Faith released her breath slowly. He really was more fired up than she’d expected. “Damon isn’t a bad guy,” she said carefully. “And I thought you liked him, Lo
gan. I mean, he’s been around Katie forever.”

  “That was before all this bullshit about getting married.”

  “So he’d be okay if he wasn’t going to marry your sister?” She tilted her head and grinned, but Logan didn’t seem to think it was as funny as she did. He growled and turned away. Faith watched as he paced across the floor to the kitchen. “He’s a good guy,” she continued. “At least from what I remember, and Katie said they’ve stayed in touch all these years and their friendship grew into something stronger. I think it’s kind of…I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Nice,” she finished lamely. After all, as far as love stories went, Katie and Damon’s wasn’t terrible. “Besides, it’s not really your choice. You know that, right?”

  Logan whirled around and pointed his finger in her direction. “It doesn’t mean you have to help them.”

  Faith dropped her head and sighed before pushing up from her chair and standing, her own arms crossed. “Yes, it does,” she said, knowing exactly what kind of response it would get. “She asked if she could get married here, and…well, Katie’s like family. And we have the opening. Of course she can.”

  Logan stalked back across the room and stopped short in front of her. He opened his mouth to speak, but Faith cut him off.

  “And it’s not just me who will be helping them.” In front of her, Logan’s face twisted, and she was fairly certain that if she looked closely enough, she’d see smoke coming from his ears as she continued. “Don’t forget that Hope and Levi put this on both of us. We will be helping them get married at Ever After.”

  It might have been a step too far.

  Logan took a step toward her, his fists clenched at his sides as he absorbed what she’d just said. Faith was ready for him to fire something back at her, some kind of smart-ass comment, or barb that she could easily deflect. But instead, he simply stood in front of her, his breath coming slow and only barely controlled before he shook his head and looked directly into her eyes. “I really thought that, despite everything, you of all people might understand this.”