CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Four hours later, Draven came back from the car with the picnic basket to the majestic oak tree where Indy had promised to wait for him. “Where did you go?” He placed the basket on the table and looked for her. A pop of blue topped with dark hair told him where she’d disappeared to. “I should have guessed.” He wagged a finger at the squirrel who chattered at him from the branches above his head. “Don’t you go raiding my picnic basket. I’ll be back in a second. I’m going to make sure my lady doesn’t try to stash one of your mini coo friends in her purse.”
“You are so handsome…”
He could hear her crooning to the mini coos as he crossed the grass. “I’m going to get jealous if you keep talking to the coos like that and not me.” Mischief flared in her eyes as she spun around toward him.
“You are so handsome, too, Drave. Such a handsome boy.”
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to happen, but her reaching up and scratching under his chin and saying that wasn’t it. “Brat.” He scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. “Our picnic is being eyed by a squirrel thief, baby. We need to rescue it, stat.”
“Okay.” She sighed and ran her hand over his lower back. “I can be persuaded to eat a little. Promise me I get to say goodbye to the coos before we leave?”
“I promise.” He lowered her from his shoulder and placed her on her feet, wrapping her into a hug. “Your new friends will still be there when we’ve eaten.”
“Best date ever.” She pecked him on the lips and sat at the bench, opening the picnic basket.
“Agreed.” Draven happily helped her to set out their food and dug in for one last Tupperware box. “The reviews said to bring something for the squirrels.” He handed it to her. “Peanuts,” he explained.
He’d eaten in too many fancy restaurants to count with women who were dressed to the nines, decked out in pearls and finery. Yet here in this little piece of paradise on a petting zoo, with the woman next to him in comfy shoes and purple Vans, his heart had found its happy place. “You know what I just figured out?”
Indy held a peanut shell in her hand and squeaked when an impatient squirrel snatched it from her fingers. She shook her head. “Nope, tell me?”
“I figured out that love isn’t always fireworks and drama. Sometimes it creeps in, makes itself at home, and stays in your heart.”
That sounded stupid.
Corny and stupid.
She stared at him for so long he was convinced it wasn’t just him who thought that.
“I’m not sure what you are trying to tell me.”
Told you it was stupid.
He had to make her understand. “Baby.” He cupped her cheek with his hand, making sure he had her full attention. “I never knew love could be like this.”
Her eyes widened as understanding dawned. “Love?”
He nodded. “I love you, India Fox. More than you know. There are things to figure out… but I don’t care. I just know I love you, and I want to be damn sure you know it, too.”
“Tell me you aren’t fucking with me?”
He reared back and narrowed his eyes. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because, Draven, you are hella slow on the uptake.” She tugged him back to her. “I’ve loved you almost my whole life.” She hiccupped. “And you pushing me away…” She blinked away a tear. “It devastated me.”
“You were sixteen, and I was an adult.” He brushed the next tear away with his thumb. “If I hadn’t pushed you away and joined the Navy to make sure I had to stay away from you, I’d have ended up in jail.”
He’d thought what she’d felt back then was puppy love . Similar to the title of the Olivia Michaels’s book he’d spied on her bedside table last night. He’d been wrong. Now he remembered that book had been called More Than Puppy Love , he decided he liked that title more than the other.
How appropriate. I should have known what we both felt was more than puppy love .
He knew he’d hurt her; just as he knew she was it for him. Damn, Trev had been right all along, Hallmark would be asking for the rights to their story any freaking minute. “I love you,” he repeated. “I swear I’ll never push you away again.” He tugged her into his chest, ignoring the squirrel who sat on the picnic table watching them as it stuffed a whole peanut shell into its mouth. The damn squirrel could have the whole basket for all he cared. She needed to know it. To feel it deep in her soul. He loved her. Period.
“I’m ugly crying all over your shirt.”
“As long as those ugly tears mean you believe me, then they aren’t ugly at all. They are beautiful, baby.” He kissed the tears away.
“They do.” Indy turned her head and captured his lips in a sweet, brief kiss. “I love you too, Drave.”
Thank fuck.
Relief and happiness almost took his knees out from under him. He leaned against the picnic table with her still wrapped in his embrace and breathed a slow breath. “I love you.” Now that he’d started saying it, he didn’t want to stop. It may be sappy, it might be ridiculous… but did he care? Not when India had just confirmed she loved him too, he didn’t.
Bring it on, world. She’s mine now.
“I love you, too.”
He kissed her once more and guided her back onto the picnic bench. “Food, and then you can say more sweet nothings to the coos.”
“Jealous?”
“Nope.” He handed her a chicken sandwich. “I get to take you home. They get to stay here.”
She snuggled into his side, munching on her sandwich. “Drave?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“You rock at this dating thing. Thank you.”
Thank fuck! I didn’t screw it up for once.
“I think my feet are going to be on strike from all the walking.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Draven saw her toe off her shoes and tuck one foot under her butt on the seat. Her classic ‘I’m comfy and happy’ pose. “I’ll rub them for you later or run you a bath.”
“I’m not complaining.” She leaned her head against the window with her face turned toward him. “Best date ever.”
“It doesn’t have to be over yet.” He made a snap decision. “We could go to Aces Bar and Grill for a drink before we go home?”
“I’ve peopled all day. Can we do a raincheck on the bar and just go home? Curling on the couch and relaxing with you sounds amazing right now.”
“Does Lizz count as people?” he asked. “Because she’ll probably be home when we get there.”
“She isn’t people,” she reminded him. “But can you deal with the teasing?”
“Yup, I’ll sic Momma on her if she interferes.” Before she could reply to him, a phone rang from somewhere down near her feet. “That’s yours. Mine’s in my ass pocket.”
“This better not be someone who needs something from me tonight, because I’m going to be mad if it is.”
He could see a weird expression cross her face when she got the phone out of her purse and looked at the screen. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s my dad.”
Of course, it was. “Are you going to answer it?” He whipped the truck into a parking lot and pulled the handbrake. He wanted his full attention on her and not on the road.
“I don’t know.” The phone stopped ringing and immediately started again.
As much as the thought pissed him off, he offered her the option anyway. “Do you want to talk to him in private? Because I can get out…”
“No.” She sighed heavily. “Please stay.”