Page 113 of Arranged To Be Mine

I turned back to Darcy. She was watching me with those blue eyes I’d been trying so hard to forget. My pulse was too fast. The hangover, the exhaustion, and the days of misery all faded into background noise. Part of me wondered if I was caught up in a fever dream.

“Hi,” she said softly.

Nope. Not a dream.

I stood there, frozen, unable to move or speak or do anything except stare at the woman who had turned my entire world upside down.

She took a shaky breath. “I think we need to talk.”

36

DARCY

Ilooked down at Beau from the judge’s bench, my heart swelling with a joy I hadn’t expected to feel so intensely. I’d missed him. God, I’d missed him so much. I hadn’t realized the true depth of it until this exact moment. Seeing him standing there in a rumpled suit with shadows under his eyes and confusion written all over his handsome face was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

He came. My ridiculous plan with Jack Montana had actually worked. I’d been up since four in the morning putting this together. The idea came to me in the middle of the night. I remembered a story Grace told me about helping her and Micah get back together.

She was right. He was a closet romantic. Jack had listened to the whole silly plan without interrupting, then said “I’m in” before I’d even finished asking. I’d spent the rest of the pre-dawn hours on his couch rehearsing what I was going to say while Chantilly brought me tea and told me I was brave. I wasn’t sure I agreed with her assessment, but I’d appreciated the sentiment.

Turned out, Jack wasn’t a terrible guy. And his llamas were kind of cute. Except the one that spit. Carl or Cupcake or something. That one was not cute.

I picked up the gavel I’d borrowed and banged it against the wooden block. It was a lot heavier than I expected. The sound echoed through the empty courtroom.

“Court is now in session,” I announced, trying to keep my voice calm and steady despite the nervous energy thrumming through my veins.

Beau’s confusion slowly transformed into a smile. That smile that had gotten me into this mess in the first place. The one that made my brain short-circuit and my common sense evaporate.

“You’re going to get in serious trouble if the real judge sees you sitting up there,” he said, but there was laughter in his tone.

“I got the judge’s permission,” I said. “Judge Thompson has a son that wants to get engaged and needed the perfect ring. Long story short, I have the perfect ring, and therefore, I get the gavel.”

He shook his head slowly, that smile growing wider. “What’s going on, Darcy?”

I gripped the gavel. “Today, I’m on trial.”

“You’re on trial?”

“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “My crime? Being a complete and total dick to you.”

He let out a surprised laugh. I pointed the gavel at him with mock severity.

“This is serious business, counselor. No laughing in my courtroom.”

He pressed his lips together, clearly fighting another smile. “My apologies, Your Honor. Please continue.”

I set the gavel down and folded my hands in front of me, suddenly finding it harder to maintain the playful facade. The words I needed to say were too important for games. I needed him to know none of this was a joke. It was the most serious moment of my life.

“I want to apologize,” I said, my voice dropping the playfulness. “I pushed you away. Pretended what we had was just a business arrangement when I knew damn well it had become so much more. I was scared, Beau. Terrified, actually. Terrified of how much I cared about you. I didn’t know what that meant for my life and all the plans I had.”

He stood very still, watching me with those dark eyes that saw too much. I hated how well he could read me. I’d spent years perfecting the art of being unreadable. Controlled expression, measured tone, no tells. Beau had dismantled all of it like it was nothing. He didn’t give a shit about the walls I’d put up. He acted like they’d been made of paper the whole time.

That was the thing about him. He didn’t push. He just showed up in his annoying sunshine way, until one day I looked up and realized I’d let him all the way in without noticing. And the week apart had given me perspective. Having him in my life was a hundred times more important than having that stupid CEO title.

“I’m sorry for worrying more about what those dicks on the board thought of me than about your feelings,” I continued. “You were standing there trying to support me and calm me down, and I treated you like an inconvenience. I acted like you were the problem when the problem was always me and my inability to let anyone get close.”

“Darcy—”

“I’m not finished.” I held up a hand. “I need to say this. All of it. I’ve been practicing this speech, and if I don’t get it out now, I might lose my nerve. Or say something stupid, which is what got me in this mess that turned into something amazing.”