Small-Town Cinderella (The Pirelli Brothers) (8 page)

“Thank you, again, for the shoes.”

Drew frowned as Debbie nestled them back into the box. At first, she’d really seemed to like the gift, but now he wasn’t so sure. He could have simply offered to pay for the shoes—that would have been the logical decision, but he’d wanted to do something more. Something that would make Debbie smile.

When he’d first walked in and seen her with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, a dusting of flour on her cheek, ten years had disappeared in a blink. Just seeing her looking like the adorable teenage girl he remembered had eased some of the pressure from his chest, the uncomfortable weight having settled there since the night of Darcy’s bachelorette party. This was the Debbie he knew, the Debbie he was comfortable with, and he’d thought maybe she was right. Maybe the attraction he’d felt, the desire, had been nothing more than a lingering case of wedding fever and things between them could go back to normal now.

He’d even felt a little relieved at the thought, at the rational explanation that would keep his life moving forward on an even keel. And then she’d touched him....

Desire had slammed into his gut, knocking the breath from his lungs. All from her stroking her thumb across his mouth, and he knew he was only fooling himself if he thought life would ever be the same. He wanted her more than any woman ever before. Still coming to grips with the unexpected yet undeniable reaction, he’d tried to play it cool. Was still trying to play things cool when he glanced over her shoulder and saw a familiar-looking flyer stuck to the whiteboard beside the wall phone.

“What is this?” he demanded as he pulled the piece of paper out from beneath a teaspoon-shaped magnet.

Debbie gave a casual shrug as she placed the lid back on the shoebox. “It’s an invitation to karaoke night with the singles’ group. I thought it sounded fun.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! You still haven’t changed you mind about—” Biting his tongue, Drew cut off the rest of his words. Debbie didn’t know he’d overheard her wish the night of the bachelorette party and blurting it out now would not be the way to tell her. “After what happened last weekend, you’re going out with that crowd again?”

“
Nothing
happened last weekend,” she retorted, and was it his imagination or did she stress that first word a little too much?

Feeling the need to defend himself for turning away from the almost kiss, he said, “You had too much to drink. You weren’t in any kind of shape to—”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she interrupted. “I did get carried away, but I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t drink, and I’ll be perfectly sober when I decide who takes me home.”

The flyer crinkled as his fingers tightened into a fist. No one was taking her home but him! “Debbie—”

Huffing out a sigh, she grabbed the now-wrinkled paper from his hand. Color brightened her cheeks and annoyance deepened her eyes to sapphire. “Give me a break, Drew! I’m just kidding. I want to go out and have some fun. I want to listen to horrible renditions of ‘My Heart Will Go On.’ I’m tired of my whole life revolving around work. I’m not like you. I’m not—”

“Not what?”

She sighed again. “It doesn’t matter. This isn’t about you. It’s about me, and how I feel like my life is passing me by!”

“You’re twenty-six years old! Your whole life is still in front of you.”

“Is it? I turned twenty-six last month, and you know what? My dad never made it past twenty-five. I bet he thought he had his whole life in front of him, too, but then it was gone. Like that.” She snapped her fingers in his face, but despite the defiant angle of her lifted chin, he could see the sorrow and lingering sadness in her gaze.

“Debbie, it’s not the same thing.”

“I know he had a dangerous job in a dangerous place, and I live and work in safe little Clearville, but that doesn’t change knowing that life is short. And for the first time, I have the chance to go out and live it. Karaoke might sound stupid to you, but it’s something I want to do. For me. Just because I can.”

Listening to Debbie, that feeling was back—the urge to step out from his own comfort zone. To say the hell with playing it safe, to looking before he leaped, to weighing risk against reward. Maybe this was his opportunity, too, to go out and live life to the fullest. With Debbie by his side...because he couldn’t imagine another woman who would inspire him to take such a chance.

His mind made up, he stepped closer, crowding her against the stainless-steel countertop until she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. “You aren’t the only one who wants to have a good time, sweetheart, and you aren’t the only one who signed up for the singles’ group last weekend.”

Her jaw dropped so comically he couldn’t help reaching beneath her chin to guide it shut. He should have been better prepared, but her smooth skin against his work-roughened fingers packed as much punch the second time, and when she shivered in response... The faint tremor nearly knocked him to his knees, and he jerked his hand away before he embarrassed himself.

“What—what are you talking about?”

Playing it cool when he was feeling anything but, he answered, “Turns out I’m feeling hungry for the taste of adventure, too. I can’t promise I’ll sing any Celine Dion songs.” Reaching out, he flicked the edge of the invitation she still held. “But I will see you there.”

He backed out of the kitchen with a smile, enjoying the stunned look on Debbie’s face. He figured he should escape while he still could before she came to her senses and smacked him upside the head. Or maybe before
he
came to his own and did it himself.

Karaoke? He
hated
karaoke. But he couldn’t remember a night he was looking forward to more.

Maybe it didn’t make any sense, but he still couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. Debbie wanted a man who could take her by surprise? Well, he was pretty sure he’d succeeded. He had her off balance, but he was willing to bet he’d captured her curiosity, too. The longer he could stoke that flicker of interest and anticipation, the better.

His conscience dug at him a little, a reminder of the unfair advantage he had—having overheard Debbie’s at the bachelorette party—but he pushed the concern aside. He would tell her the truth...just not yet.

Chapter Six

“S
o do you think he’ll be here tonight?”

The words had been echoing on such a constant loop since Drew had left the bakery the night before that it took a moment for Debbie to realize they weren’t just in her head. Glancing over to her right, she met the curious gaze of a brunette who looked to be in her early thirties. Recognizing her, Debbie said, “It’s Marcy, right? You were here for the meet and greet.”

The other woman nodded. “I figured I’d give it another shot even though last weekend was a bit of a bust. Well, for everyone but you. So is he coming tonight?”

“I don’t—”

“Oh, come on! Don’t pretend you can’t remember the tall, dark and gorgeous guy who couldn’t take his eyes of you?”

Tall, dark and handsome... The night of Darcy’s bachelorette party, that was exactly the way she’d described her fantasy guy—the one who was supposed to take her by surprise and fill her life with romance and excitement. Funny, wasn’t it, that those same words so perfectly described Drew?

“He, um, said he would be,” she responded.

“Thought so by the way you’re looking over at the door every thirty seconds.”

She wasn’t, was she? Debbie mentally groaned. Okay, so physically Drew met the criteria of her perfect man, but as for the rest— “I really don’t think he’s my type,” she told Marcy.

The other woman gave a snort of laughter. “In that case, I’d be afraid to see who
is
your type.”

Debbie fought back a sigh. The whole point of joining the singles’ group was so she could meet someone new and exciting...but wasn’t there something different about Drew lately?

The Drew she knew—the Drew she
thought
she knew—wouldn’t have kissed her on the balcony the night of Nick and Darcy’s wedding. He would never have gotten so carried away by the moment that he forgot where they were or that half the town was gathered on the other side of the French doors. Never would have picked her up off her feet, kissed her and carried her off to his SUV.

And the Drew she knew wouldn’t be walking into The High Tide on karaoke night, looking gorgeous enough in a pair of dark jeans and slate-gray sweater to stop her heart and steal her breath...

No, this just wasn’t the Drew she knew at all.

His dark eyes scanned the corner of the restaurant reserved for the singles’ group, and she could tell the moment he spotted her. He stopped looking, stopped everything, freezing as their gazes met and held, and she could almost believe he was struck by the same jolt of attraction that she felt for him. He smiled then, the tilt of his lips a little wry as if he too was surprised he’d shown up.

“Oh, no,” Marcy murmured at Debbie’s side, “you two aren’t into each other at all.”

Debbie didn’t try to explain to the other woman something she didn’t understand herself. But as she watched Drew stride toward her, she couldn’t help wondering if she was so wrong about him...could that mean he was so right for her?

“Well, someone’s gotta get this party started,” Marcy said with a nod toward the DJ manning the karaoke machine. “You’re singing, too, aren’t you?”

For a split second, Debbie broke her focus from Drew and glanced over at the blue television screen waiting for the first brave soul to step up to the microphone. “I haven’t decided on a song yet.” A huge three-ring binder sat on the table, offering just about every well-known and not-so-well-known single ever recorded.

“Ah, don’t overthink things. Just go for it,” the other woman advised with a wink as she pushed away from the table just as Drew approached, and Debbie had to wonder if the brunette was still talking about finding the right song.

“Don’t tell me I already missed your solo.” Sinking into the chair beside her, he leaned back, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He looked totally relaxed and comfortable, as if the two of them were buddies hanging out at the bar, while she felt ready to jump out of her skin.

Was she only imagining that Drew felt something more? Setting herself up to fall for a guy only to have him tell her they were better off friends? It wouldn’t be the first time.

She swallowed hard, but the ache in her throat and the pressure in her chest didn’t go away. Bad enough Robert had dumped her following their one night together. How much worse would it be if Drew did the same thing?

Maybe she should quit while she was ahead. So she and Drew had shared a few kisses. It didn’t have to mean anything. She could keep those good memories and not have to worry about them tarnishing later.

Drew moved closer as the music kicked up and Marcy started to sing—a decent rendition of Adele belting out that they could have had it all. His dark eyes snared hers as he said, “Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

Had she? Caught by her own indecision, Debbie wished she had some kind of sign from Drew that she wasn’t alone in this longing.

“I’d hate to think I missed you promising that your heart will go on.” He raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Or were you waiting for me?”

Debbie managed a laugh. “Waiting for you? I didn’t think you’d even show.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, leaning in until she could feel the warm caress of his breath against her ear. “You did.”

“What makes you so sure?” She made the mistake of turning to face him as she issued her challenge, and her breath caught as she realized his face was mere inches away, his mouth within easy kissing distance.

“You’re wearing my shoes.”

Her face heated, and she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t been thinking of him as she’d dressed for the evening. Couldn’t pretend she hadn’t been thinking of him almost nonstop since Nick and Darcy’s wedding. Striving for some semblance of cool—without giving away her sanity-saving need to retreat—Debbie leaned back in her chair. “Seeing as you gave them to me to replace the ones I bought, I think that makes them mine now.”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart. I’m still willing to bet you were counting on me showing tonight.”

“Yeah, well, I’m starting to think I’m not the betting type.”

“Oh, we both know that’s not true. You’ve always been the type to take risks.”

“Me?” She laughed again, this time the sound filled with unbelief. “Since when?”

“For as long as I’ve known you. You were always the one to go against the pack, to speak your own mind, to stand up for the kids in school who wouldn’t defend themselves. I think you were the only one of Sophia’s friends to stick by her when all that business with vandalism at Hope’s shop went down.”

Five years ago, his sister had been convinced by a friend of hers to sneak into The Hope Chest—the local antiques store owned by Hope Daniels. Sophia hadn’t known her supposed friends had planned to rob and ransack the place once they were inside. Nor had she known that Hope was staying in the small apartment above the shop. The older woman had been injured when she’d gone down to investigate the break-in. The rest the teens had scattered, but Sophia had stayed behind until the paramedics arrived to help Hope, even though it meant getting caught red-handed and taking the blame.

“I knew Sophia wasn’t responsible for that. She never would have done anything to hurt Hope.”

“A lot of people probably believed that, but none of them were as vocal about their faith in her as you were. Sophia always appreciated that. So did the rest of us.”

The rest of us...
Drew meant the rest of his family. In many ways, the Pirellis had been like family to Debbie since her mother had become ill and especially after her death. They looked out for her, inviting her to family get-togethers and holiday parties as if she was one of their own. As an only child, she’d often envied her friends’ large and loving family. A family just like the one Drew no doubt wanted for himself—sooner rather than later.

“I never saw any of that as taking a risk, but even if it is, I’m not—”

“Willing to take a chance on me? On us?”

Us...
Debbie swallowed. She’d asked for a sign, and that was a pretty big one, lit up in glowing green letters that had her hormones wanting to charge full speed ahead. But still she hesitated. “I don’t think— We don’t want the same things, Drew.”

“And yet we’re both here tonight.”

“I’m not talking about tonight. I’m talking about the future. I’m not interested in settling down right now. I don’t want a relationship. I just want to go out and have fun and be free to live
my
life.”

Tilting his head, he studied her until she fought to shift under the intense scrutiny. “Weren’t you the one to remind me that you can’t count on the future? That you never know what might happen today?”

Debbie didn’t know why she’d brought up her father the other day. She rarely talked about him. He was little more than a memory, and she’d never been certain if the memories were her own or just stories told so often by her mother that they’d become almost real.

For other people, turning twenty-six might not have been such a milestone, but it had hit her hard. Hard enough to make her question what she was doing with her life. Or, more specifically, what she
wasn’t
doing with it.

As long as she could remember, she’d lived with the awareness that life was short. Yet somehow she’d still let some of the best years—her teens and early twenties—pass by while she struggled just to get through one day and onto the next.

She half expected to see pity in Drew’s dark gaze, but instead saw only understanding, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and why she’d set out on this mission to seize the day. And rather than trying to talk her out of it, he was waiting...for her.

But that wasn’t possible. Was it?

“You want me to take a chance on us, but there is no ‘us,’ Drew,” she pointed out, almost desperately. “There’s me and the woman I really am, and then there’s you and the kid you still think I am.”

“I admit it took a while for me to see how much you’ve changed. You’ve been my kid sister’s best friend for as long as I’ve known you, and it was easier for me to keep you in that role. Safer.”

Right! Debbie barely swallowed a sarcastic laugh. Like she posed any danger to a man like Drew. No matter what he said, she was the girl next door, not the femme fatale. All the karaoke in the world wouldn’t change that.

“You’re wrong, though, if you think I still see you as a kid or that my feelings for you are platonic. And you’re wrong if you don’t think I want to kiss you right now more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Her pulse pounded so wildly in her throat, she couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe.
Simple, straightforward, honest.
The words she’d used to describe Drew the other day still rang true. If he said he wanted her...

“It’s your turn,” he said softly.

Her turn to do what exactly? To spill her feelings like he’d just done? Or maybe... Debbie dropped her gaze to his lips as she wondered if his words were an invitation to do what she’d wanted to do since he’d sat down beside her.... Her heart was still pounding, but over the raging beat, she heard someone call her name. Blinking, she jerked out of the fantasy of kissing Drew and realized half the people around her were staring at her. “My—what?”

“Come on, Debbie!” Marcy called out. She still held the microphone but was pointing it in Debbie’s direction. “It’s your turn.” The brunette’s grin was broad, and Debbie could see her name printed in bold letters across the screen.

A wave of sheer panic washed over her. Oh, no. She couldn’t do this. All those people staring at her as she opened her mouth to sing... What if she screwed up? What if her voice went flat and the words came out all wrong? Or worse, what if she froze and couldn’t make a sound? Heat crawled up her face, and she didn’t think she could breathe, forget trying to sing. Suddenly light-headed, she struggled to pull in a gasp of air. “I don’t think—”

“Don’t think,” urged Drew. “Just go up there.”

The irony of Drew’s advice was enough to shake off some of the terror. “Funny, coming from you. When do you ever act first and think later?”

His grin was wry as he pulled her off the stool and to her feet. “You’d be surprised. Now go do this.”

A tiny stage had been set up in the corner of the room, complete with a spotlight ready to showcase her utter humiliation. “Drew—”

His large, warm hand gripped the back of her neck and kissed just long enough to leave her breathless and just short enough to leave her longing for more. “I promise you, I will be thinking about that later. Now go knock ’em dead.”

* * *

“That was so much fun!” Debbie grinned as she stepped out into the night air, her arms thrown out wide as she spun to face him. “I can’t believe you didn’t get up and sing!”

“Maybe next time.”

Whether she realized it or not, tonight hadn’t been about him. This had been her night, and man, had she shone. Drew still couldn’t understand why she’d hesitated to go up on stage. How had he not known Debbie had such an amazing voice, and watching her on stage
watching
him as she performed—

He’d never seen a sexier sight.

It didn’t matter that the songs had been pop tunes—“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” her opening number and a theme she clearly embraced. What counted was seeing the light in her eyes and the confidence she gained as she broke away from the past and reclaimed a piece of herself that she’d lost along the way.

“Marcy was really good, too, wasn’t she?” Debbie asked as she waved at the brunette from across the now-deserted parking lot. The two women had pretty much closed down the place, and only a few cars remained. “Kurt asked her out,” she said of the sandy-haired man walking with the other woman. “I think they make a cute couple.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Drew wasn’t really interested in which of the singles had paired up that night. He was just glad the other guys had given Debbie a wide berth after he’d sat down beside her. After he’d kissed her, they’d backed off entirely.

If he’d known that was all it would take— Hell, he should have kissed Debbie a long time ago, and not just as a way to warn off other single guys.

Her eyes had deepened to sparkling sapphire and her hair gleamed almost silver in the misty moonlight. A pair of white jeans hugged her hips, and she was wearing a red sweater that reminded him of the candy apples from his youth. Debbie might not care for the description, but just looking at her had his mouth watering for something sweet. Her gaze softened as she gazed over at Marcy and her new potential boyfriend, Kurt.