Page 48 of Trick or Tease

GARRETT

A s soon as she reached for the flowers, I stepped forward. The mask made it impossible to see clearly, but I caught the exact moment she jumped back, her eyes going wide with shock.

I pulled off the clown mask and held out the bouquet toward her.

“You really think it’s a good idea to scare me if you want to talk?” she asked, but I caught the amusement in her voice despite her attempt to stay stern.

I was going to pour on the charm. That was one thing I knew I had in spades.

“For most women, no,” I admitted, taking a cautious step closer.

“But for you? I figured you would appreciate the attempt. I’ve been hiding from you all week, and I’m done with that.

” I waved the mask. “I’m taking off the mask, literally and figuratively. ”

She shook her head, but I saw the corners of her mouth twitch upward. “Okay fine, I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath, knowing this was my one shot to get it right. “I’m in love with you, Sabrina. Head over heels, can’t think straight, completely gone for you. And knowing that I hurt you, that I betrayed your trust when you were brave enough to let me in, it makes me sick.”

Her expression softened slightly, but she didn’t move to take the flowers.

“I spent years thinking I knew what I wanted,” I continued, the words pouring out of me. “Success, money, respect in the corporate world. But none of that scared me the way this does. The way you do.”

“I scare you?” she asked quietly.

“You terrify me,” I said honestly. “Because for the first time in my adult life, I found something that actually matters. Someone who makes me want to be better than I am. And the thought of living without you in my life? That’s the only thing that really scares me now.”

I saw her walls starting to crumble, saw the way her shoulders relaxed just slightly. I couldn’t stop now. I had to keep going.

“The partnership papers, giving you ownership in the farm, isn’t about me trying to buy your forgiveness.

That’s me making sure you never have to worry about someone like me coming in and destroying what you’ve built.

You deserve security, Sabrina. You deserve to know that this place, this life we’re creating together, is yours to keep. ”

She was quiet for a long moment, studying my face like she was trying to decide whether to believe me. I could see the walls going back up.

“I love you,” I said again, softer this time.

“I love your passion, your stubbornness, the way you fight for what matters. I love that you see the potential in everything including me, apparently. I don’t deserve another chance, but I’m asking for one anyway.

I’m a selfish bastard. I want you. Period.

I know that makes me an asshole but I’m being honest.”

She smirked. “Asshole. Dick. Prick.”

“All accurate,” I said, unable to keep from grinning despite the seriousness of the moment. “But I’m your asshole. Your dick. Your prick. If you’ll have me.”

She rolled her eyes, but I caught the way her lips twitched like she was fighting a smile. “You’re really going to stand there and claim ownership of me after everything you’ve done?”

“No,” I said quickly, stepping closer. “I’m asking you to claim ownership of me. I’m asking you to take a chance on a reformed corporate lawyer who finally figured out what actually matters in life.”

“Reformed?” She raised an eyebrow. “That’s a pretty strong word for someone who was planning to sell your family’s home out from under me less than twenty-four hours ago.”

I winced. She wasn’t going to make this easy, but then again, I didn’t deserve easy. “You’re right. Reformed might be premature. How about actively reforming? Under new management? Still working out the kinks?”

“The kinks,” she repeated flatly.

“Poor choice of words,” I admitted, my face heating up as I remembered exactly what kind of kinks we’d explored together in the old house. “What I meant was?—”

“I know what you meant,” she said, and this time she definitely smiled. Just a small one, but it was there. “Keep groveling. It might be working.”

Relief flooded through me. She was listening. She was engaging. She hadn’t walked away or told me to fuck off again.

“I quit my job,” I said. “Well, technically I got fired after telling my boss to go fuck himself and watching him fall face-first into horse crap, but the point stands. My corporate lawyer days are over.”

“And what are you planning to do now? Become a gentleman farmer?” There was skepticism in her voice, but also something that might have been genuine curiosity.

“I was thinking more along the lines of small-town lawyer,” I said. “Help people fight the kind of corporate bullshit I used to dish out. Set up a practice here in Greenleaf, maybe help other family farms protect themselves from vultures like Ron.”

She studied my face. “You’d really do that? Give up everything you worked for in the city?”

“Sabrina, I didn’t give up anything,” I said, and I meant it completely. “I found something better. I found home. I found family. I found you.” I held out the flowers again. “I found the woman I want to spend the rest of my life making happy, if she’ll let me.”

She looked down at the bouquet, then back up at my face. “Those are beautiful flowers, Garrett. But flowers die.”

My heart sank. “Sabrina?—”

“I’m not finished,” she said firmly. “Flowers die, but partnerships don’t. If you’re serious about this, about us, about staying here and building something real, then prove it.

She finally stepped forward and took the flowers from me. The moment her fingers brushed mine, I felt like I could breathe again for the first time in days.

Her touch was magical. Healing. It made me want so much more.

Everything. I wanted all of it.

“You’re an idiot,” she said, but she was smiling as she said it.

“The biggest,” I agreed, reaching up to cup her face in my hands. “But I’m your idiot, if you’ll have me.”

She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t pull away. “You’re going to have to work for this, you know. Trust isn’t something you can just fix with flowers and legal documents.”

“I know,” I said, stroking my thumb across her cheek. “I’ll work for it every day for the rest of my life if I have to.”

She rose up on her toes and kissed me then, soft and tentative at first, then deeper as I pulled her against me. She tasted like forgiveness and new beginnings, like everything I’d been searching for without knowing it.

When we finally broke apart, I pressed my forehead against hers. “Does this mean I get to keep you?”

“We’ll see,” she said, but she was grinning now. “Ask me again in about fifty years.”

That’s when we heard clapping behind us. We turned to find Billy and Lucy standing nearby, both of them beaming like proud parents.

“About damn time,” Billy called out. “I was starting to think I would have to lock you two in the haunted house until you worked this out.”

Lucy was practically bouncing with excitement. “This is the best possible ending to the season. Partners in business and in life!”

I kept my arm around Sabrina’s waist, not ready to let her go.

“They act like locking us in the house would be a punishment,” Sabrina joked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucy groaned. “Whatever you two freaks do in there is your business.”

“Did you sign the papers?” I asked Sabrina.

“Nope.”

“Sabrina, please,” I said.

“Let’s sign and then we are celebrating,” Billy said.

We made our way back to the house, the four of us walking together just like we used to. The partnership papers would make this new relationship between the four of us official. It would bind us together not just as friends and family, but as true partners in every sense of the word.

I had stopped at the liquor store in town earlier that morning, picking up a bottle of champagne on the off chance that Sabrina would actually forgive me. It was probably presumptuous as hell, but I had been desperate enough to hope for the best while preparing for the worst.

The papers were still out on the table. The four of us sat down.

“Okay,” Billy said, pulling out a pen. “Let’s make this official.”

I watched as he signed his name with a flourish, then passed the pen to Lucy. She practically bounced in her seat as she added her signature, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Your turn,” Lucy said, sliding the papers toward Sabrina.

Sabrina picked up the pen and hesitated for just a moment, looking around the table at all of us. “You’re sure about this? Once I sign, you’re stuck with me.”

“That’s the idea,” I said softly.

She looked at me for a long moment then nodded once. I watched as she bent over the papers and signed her name. Sabrina Lamb, part owner of Hogan’s Hill Farm.

We were business partners. I hoped one day we would be more than that.

I took the pen from her. This was it. This was me choosing this life, this family, this woman, over everything I thought I wanted. I signed my name next to hers. It felt like coming home.

“Done,” I said, setting the pen down. “We’re officially partners.”

Billy whooped and pulled the champagne bottle toward him. “Time to celebrate!”

The cork popped with a satisfying sound. Lucy cheered as Billy poured the fizzy liquid into our glasses. It wasn’t the most expensive champagne I ever had, but it tasted like victory.

“To partnerships,” Billy said, raising his glass.

“To family,” Lucy added.

“To second chances,” Sabrina said, looking directly at me.

“To home,” I finished, and we all clinked our glasses together.

“So,” Billy said after we’d all taken a few sips, “what’s our first official act as partners?”

“Planning next year’s festival,” Lucy said.

“And what about Christmas?” Sabrina asked.

I leaned over and kissed Sabrina’s cheek. “I was thinking we could go up to the house and take down those, uh, decorations.”

Billy groaned. “Please don’t tell me you actually think we don’t know what you’re doing.”

“What?” I asked innocently. “We need to take down the decorations.”

“Yes!” Sabrina said. “We most definitely do.”

I couldn’t help but grin at the way Sabrina’s eyes lit up at the mention of going back to our old hideaway.

Even Billy and Lucy’s teasing couldn’t dampen the surge of anticipation that shot through me at the thought of having her alone again, of being able to touch her without the weight of lies and secrets between us.

Lucy giggled into her champagne. “Just please, for the love of all that’s holy, make sure you actually take down the spooky stuff this time. I don’t want to accidentally walk in on you two surrounded by fake tombstones and skeleton hands.”

“We’ll be very thorough in our cleanup efforts,” I said solemnly.

“I did not need that mental image,” Billy groaned.

Sabrina stood up from the table, still holding her champagne glass. “Come on, partner ,” she said. “Let’s go handle those decorations.”

I practically tripped over myself getting up from the table. I took her hand and nearly dragged her up the hill to the house.