I did put time into the lipstick because a bad application of red was never good.

Then I hit the kitchen with dusk falling and only about ten minutes before everyone showed, which kind of sucked.

I wanted more time with Toby.

He was leaning with his hips against the sink, a beer still in his hand, but on the island there was an open bottle of red with one of Izzy’s wineglasses, which was squat, flat at the bottom of the bowl and had little bees embossed on it. That glass was filled with a healthy dose of vino.

I gave half a second of attention to the wine and a lot more to the look on Toby’s face which showed he dug the outfit.

Openly showed that.

Like he openly showed he liked what he saw in the bathroom, openly shared verbally he thought I was gorgeous, and earlier, without hesitation or even a nuance of bullshit, he stated he was into me.

It wasn’t about dancing around anymore, but that didn’t mean games couldn’t be played.

Tobe was playing no games.

Toby Gamble was no player.

As he said, this was happening.

And as I knew before, when a Gamble man found what he wanted, he wouldn’t fuck around.

He was not fucking around.

Okay, damn.

Why did I feel like crying?

I didn’t cry.

I was Adeline Forrester.

A Forrester Girl.

We were made of sterner stuff.

At least I was (Iz and Mom cried all the time, but there was still iron under all that fluff).

To stop myself from crying, I handed him shit.

“You can’t kiss me, my lipstick is perfect and it’ll get all over you,” I declared.

“Addie, do you think I give that first fuck you get your lipstick all over me?” he returned.

He had to be stopped.

At least for a few hours.

“You know, your brother, my sister, the two folks who helped raise you, Deanna, Charlie and my son are gonna be here in ten minutes. This whole thing with us is as new to them as it is to us, so we need to get a lock on acting like we want to jump each other’s bones.”

“I got a lot in me, babe, you normally, but especially you as you look right now, I think that’s impossible.”

Totally worth putting in the effort for Toby.

I swiped up my wineglass. “Try. Now did you turn on my lights?”

“Yup.”

I took a sip of wine and it was delicious (Tobe had a way with picking wine that was uncanny since he didn’t drink it).

I swallowed and demanded, “Show me.”

He grinned, pushed from the sink, came my way and slung an arm around my shoulders, guiding me out of the kitchen.

I slid my arm around his waist.

Whoa.

We fit.

Prefect.

With Dapper Dan trailing, we walked outside, across the porch, down the steps and into the drive.

Dapper Dan took off to explore.

I looked at the house.

It wasn’t dark yet, though the sun was setting.

It still looked fantastic.

It was simple and bright and was already giving a warm golden-red glow to the house.

My arm around Toby pulled him tighter to my side.

“I feel like calling Margot and asking her to wait half an hour so Brooks can see it in all its glory,” I said.

“Yeah, it doesn’t suck,” Toby replied.

I turned to press my front down his side and got his neck twisted and his beard tipped down so he could catch my gaze.

“It’s perfect,” I said quietly. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, honey,” he said quietly back, the look of wanting to jump my bones completely gone, a new look I had to admit I liked even more on his handsome face.

“Thanks for the groceries too.”

“Warning, that’s the first, it won’t be the last.”

I stiffened.

“To—”

He turned into me so we were front to front, slid his other arm around me and tipped that beard even farther to put his face in mine.

“No. Just no, Addie. We’re not gonna start this and fight about that. We’re not gonna be in this, and still fight about that. You’re gonna get your feet under you. We both know that. It’s not always gonna be bad for you financially. But I’m loaded. You know I am. I’ll probably always have more than you in that way. And you have to get over it and do it right now. It is what it is. I’m not gonna give my money to charity so we can be on an even playing field. I’m gonna use it how I wanna use it and you’re gonna let me. The end.”

Not the end.

“Can you see it from my perspective?” I asked.

“No, because it isn’t that way. If I was in your spot, I would hope I’d be a big enough man I wouldn’t let something like that get in the way of me having something more important. Maybe something will happen so one day we know. Though I hope not, and not because I don’t want you to be comfortable, but because I kind of like being well-off and not having to worry about money. But for now, this is how it is and where you gotta be is trying to see it from my perspective. If I can, and I want to, why would you not let me do for you what I can because doing it makes me happy?”

He had a point.

And it was a good one.

And if it was the other way around, I’d want to buy him groceries (and other) to leach out the stress and make life smoother.

“Just don’t buy me any yachts,” I replied and got his grin and a squeeze of his arms.

“We’re landlocked, baby. Not sure how a big yacht would fare on Shanty Hollow Lake.”

I stayed where I was in his arms, my arms around him, which made my wineglass too far away, but I liked where I was, so I left it where it was, but I looked to the house.

“And just to say, I’m spoilin’ the shit outta Brooks for Christmas,” he carried on, making me turn my head back to him. “And I’m doin’ the same for you. It’d help out a lot if you gave me your list for Santa.”

Okay, I’d given in on the other.

But this was pushing it.

To communicate that, I snapped, “Are you kidding me?”

“Not even a little bit,” he replied.

“You do know that if I get something for you, which I wasn’t going to because I couldn’t, but I can now, it’d be using your money to buy something for you.”

“I don’t need anything.”

“Precisely the point!” I cried.

“Adeline,” he growled.

And I straightened in his arms because that wasn’t a turned-on growl.

That was a WARNING!-Toby’s-getting-seriously-ticked growl.

He went on doing it. “My mother left when I was three.”

Uh-oh.

I’d taken him to a bad place.

I knew all about his mom. He hadn’t told me, Iz had.

But I knew all about that stupid woman.

Damn.

“Tobe,” I whispered.

“My first living memory is sitting on my ass in our living room, watching my father sob the day she took off.”

I pushed close and kept whispering. “Honey.”

“You know the reason Iz is it for Johnny?” he asked.

“She’s beautiful. She’s adorable. She makes breakfast with a canary on her shoulder like a Disney princess.”

This was all true.

Even the canary.

“That and she’s gonna stick.”