Let Me Love You (10 page)

It didn’t occur to Joey until he was sinking into the abyss that when he did lock lips with Lucy, she’d think she was kissing Dane.

This was
not
the second date he’d envisioned.

Lucy lowered herself into the dark, holding on to the rope with one hand and sliding her palm over the rock with the other. It was surprisingly smooth beneath her fingers. The air was cool, but not cold, and for reasons she couldn’t explain, she completely trusted that the harness would hold her weight.

Dane descended above her, slowly lowering himself until he caught up. The walls arced away from her, and the room quickly opened up into an enormous cavern unlike anything she’d ever seen. Amber lights mounted to the walls illuminated monstrous chunks of rock dangling from the ceiling around them. And far, far below, the cavern was lit by what she assumed were cave-mining lights.

They were the only two people in the cavern—the only two people in the world, for all she was concerned.

“Wow!” Her voice echoed, rattling through the empty space. Feet dangling, she spun slowly on the rope to get a 360-degree view of the breathtaking cavern. “You could fit a football field in here!”

“It’s amazing,” Dane said, and his voice sounded different. “More than I expected.” He cleared his throat. “At least that’s how I felt the first time I saw it.”

As she met his gaze, she had the feeling he was talking about her. Did he think
she
was amazing? No, that couldn’t be right. He barely knew her. He must’ve said these things to women all the time.

She refused to be played by the player.

Averting eye contact, Lucy continued to descend, letting the rope slip through the carabiner a little at a time. Dane matched her pace, releasing rope each time she did. He moved like Joey, she realized. She’d always known they looked nearly identical, but she hadn’t realized how much they moved alike. Dane was careful with his movements, slow and cautious. But he was smooth, too, as if confidence blazed within him.

“Do you spelunk on a regular basis?” she asked.

He sighed. “Apparently.”

“I don’t understand how you’re able to run the family store and still make time to do things like this.” She shook her head and glanced around at the points of rock jutting from the ceiling, walls, and floor. “I can’t seem to find the balance. Either I’m hard-core at the winery, or things fall apart.”

“What makes you think things aren’t falling apart on my end?”

“Are they?”

He descended quickly, and then slowed once he dangled a few feet beneath her. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s more difficult in a family business versus one you’ve built on your own. You have the pressure to do things the way your parents did, so you never really feel like what you’re doing is for you. Then the second you do something you enjoy, the family thinks you’re slacking.”

“Exactly!” She threw her arms into the air excitedly, and although she was still harnessed, the movement sent her spinning. She screeched as she went round and round and the cavern became a giant blur. Big hands found her waist. She slowed to a stop, and found herself staring into the most stunning pair of whiskey-brown eyes she’d ever seen. “Thanks,” she said, feeling his palms warm her thighs.

“You okay?” His voice was rough, stirring something in her middle.

“I think so.”

His fingers curled around her waist and dug in, ever so slightly, but the movement stole the breath from her lungs. Would he grip her like that when he was hovering over her, pinning her to the bed?

“Have you gotten your balance again?” he asked.

“I think so.”
God, they were so close.
If she leaned forward, she could kiss him. “Note to self: the spin cycle is
not
fun.”

He laughed and released his hands from her side. “You say whatever comes into your head, don’t you?”

“I do, but how would you know?” she retorted. “You’ve barely talked to me since high school.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t know.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and continued descending into the dark. “Do you feel pressure to run the winery the way your parents did?”

“Of course.” She let out more rope. “Even though they aren’t around anymore, I still feel the weight of their expectation. Seems like everyone in the town knew them, and how they built the winery from the ground up. There’s a lot of pressure for me to be as successful as they were.”

“That makes sense,” he said, his tone rich with kindness. “But you have to know you’re doing a great job. Everyone thinks it.”

She knew they’d have things in common, but she didn’t expect this level of understanding. She didn’t expect their first date to include this much conversation, if she were being honest. When he asked questions, he seemed to genuinely listen to her answers. From what she knew of Dane, he didn’t care about family expectations or fulfilling a legacy. He marched to his own drum and lived how he saw fit.

This was definitely a new side to Dane…a side she could relate to.

And she liked it.

“What about Joey?” she asked. “Does he help out when things get rough at the store?”

He groaned and let out enough slack to drop far beneath her. Loosening her own line, she followed his pace and slowed before they touched the cavern floor. She’d promised him a kiss when they reached the bottom. Instead of unhooking from the line, Dane hovered a few feet above the ground.

“Dane?” she asked, settling beside him. “Something wrong?”

“No. Nothing at all.” He spun on the rope. “Joey lives and breathes work, and spends most days at the station. When he does stop by to help out, we usually end up getting into it about something stupid and I kick him out.”

That was odd. Not what he said, exactly, but how he’d said it. As if he was taking all the blame for the harshness of their interaction.

She was more intrigued than ever about their relationship.

“What’s Joey’s deal, anyway?” she said.

He nailed her with a gaze that burned to her core. “What do you mean?”

“Well he’s…umm…” She didn’t exactly know how to put it, so she blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Why isn’t he married yet? He has a sixth toe, doesn’t he?”

Dane barked out a laugh and threw his head back.

“Does he have a secret spanking obsession?” she pressed. “Disgusting hygiene?”

When he finally stopped laughing, he said, “Joey’s thirty-two and single. Why does that make him a freak?”

She shrugged. “He’s sweet, funny, a total gentleman, and—”

“Don’t forget his stunning good looks,” Dane joked.

“Oh, who could forget that?” She winked. “I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just…guys like Joey aren’t single this long. Some woman would have swooped him up by now if there wasn’t something seriously wrong with him.”

He seemed to toss over her words as he stared at the ceiling. “Why aren’t
you
married? Webbed toes?”

“Touché.” She jabbed her finger in his chest. “But my answer’s easy. I’m not married because I don’t want to be.”

“You don’t ever want to get married?”

“Nope.”

His eyebrows rose, crinkling his forehead. “Never?”

“It’s not in my stars.”

“Hmm. That’s an interesting way to put it.” He folded his arms and yanked the rope against his chest. “Tell me why.”

They spun slowly, like spiders dangling on webs, their legs brushing as they twisted against each other. It was comfortable in the dark, the lights around them creating a spellbinding amber aura.

“I’m married to the winery. After my parents died, I didn’t have a choice in how I was going to spend my days. Is it such a bad thing that I don’t want to be tied down when I go home at night?”

“Not at all.” He put up his hands as if she had a gun to him. “I get it. You crave freedom, and that’s the only place you can get it.”

“Precisely.”

His luscious lips pulled into a frown. “Believe me, I understand that more than you know. I used to have a lot of responsibility put on my shoulders. Believe it or not, when I was younger my dad wanted to give me the store. He prepped me for it for years.”

“Why wouldn’t I believe it?” she asked. “You run it now.”

“Of course. Sorry.” His gaze searched the ceiling of the cavern as if he was tracking an imaginary plane weaving in and around the rocks. “I guess what I’m saying is I used to have a lot of expectation from my family to be a certain way, and live by a certain set of rules. Any chance I got to leave the world behind me, I took it and did the things that made me truly happy.” He checked himself, clearing his throat. “But that was a long time ago.”

His eyes twinkled in the dark, and for a split second, she saw Joey in Dane’s features. The sharp line of his jaw. The smooth planes of his face. They were twins, so the thought struck her as ridiculous, but something was starkly different about him. Joey had that tiny scar beneath his jaw…come to think of it, she’d never asked him how he got it. He didn’t have it in high school. Fast-forward a few years, and there it was…along with a shadow in his eyes and a tightness in his lips that wasn’t there before.

Hold the phone. She was hanging on to a rope. In a gigantic hole in the earth. Next to a gorgeous man she hadn’t had much time to talk to in the last couple years. She should’ve been thinking about him, asking about what he wanted to do with her now that he had her down here.

But for some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about Joey.

“So why isn’t he married?” she asked again, running with the thoughts as they streamed through her head.

His gaze burned as it settled on her. “Because he hasn’t found the right woman.”

“There are a ton of women in Blue Lake who would chew off their right arm to have a chance with him. Are his expectations really that high?”

The corner of his lip lifted, the way Joey’s did when she cut him to the quick.

“Yes,” he said softly. “They are.”

“Know what his problem is?”

“Tell me,” he said, but she was already steamrolling.

“He should forget about settling down and simply jump on chances when he has them. He should act on impulses when he feels them. Every moment is an opportunity to experience life to the fullest, and marriage limits those moments because you always have to put someone else’s happiness above your own.”

He measured her with unreadable eyes. “You mean moments like this one?”

“Exactly. I couldn’t be down here with you if I was married.” She touched his knee. He turned to her, hands gripping the rope. “You and I know about taking a leap. About keeping things light. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple jumping up and down. “You tell me.”

“You didn’t ask me out to figure out if we were compatible or if I’m the one for you,” she said. “We both know the answer to that.” She leaned back, using his legs to hold her in place, and then spread her arms behind her head. “I wanted fun, and you certainly delivered. I’ve lived in Blue Lake my entire life, but I’ve never been here. How could I have missed it?”

“Lucy, there’s something I’ve missed too, and I don’t know how I didn’t see it when it was right in front of me.”

Tingles spread up her spine from the moment he said her name. From there on, his words were an incomprehensible blur. It wasn’t the fact that he’d said her name, exactly. It was the way he’d said it. Like someone else she knew.

He rattled on, though she couldn’t hear him over the onslaught of sensations racking her.

“Shh.” She jerked upright, and then put a finger to his lips. They were warm and moist, as soft and plush as they looked. “Say my name again.”

“What? Why?”

Because you said it exactly the way Joey had…

“Just say it, okay?

She tried to remove her finger from his lips, but…couldn’t. Wrapping his hand around her wrist, he stroked his thumb along her skin and held her gaze.

“Lucy,” he said, his lips brushing against her fingers. “You’re beautiful.”

Buzzing currents of electricity charged through her body. She’d felt that same jolt when Joey touched her, when his hand brushed hers in the mud.

“I let this go too far,” he said. “I should have said something sooner.”

She heard Joey’s voice. Watched Joey’s expression turn tender.

What the hell was going on?
See, this was why people shouldn’t date one twin directly after the other. Way too complicated. She closed her eyes, pinched them tight, and focused on an image of Dane in her mind.

Dane, Dane, Dane.

Ever so slowly, he caressed the palm of her hand. “Are you okay?” His voice drew her in like a moth to a flame. It wasn’t Joey, but damn it, why did she want it to be? “Lucy?”

“Mm-hmm?”

She kept her eyes closed as he traced a slow line around her palm. And then, when she thought she’d explode from the flurry of butterflies quivering in her belly, he released her hand and cupped her cheeks.