“I appreciate the gesture, and I’m glad you see the error of your ways.” She said the last dramatically, making his lips curve against her hand. “But you don’t have time, and it would still be problematic for you, even if we do use a different inspector.”
His smile grew, his gaze went distant, and he covered her other hand as well. “Nope, none of that will be a problem.” He turned to her, and his eyes were filled with a kind of wonder. “I quit.”
“What do you mean you quit?”
“My job. I’m no longer the Wildwood Planning Department.” He laughed as if he couldn’t believe he’d actually done it. “Man, I don’t know why it took me so damn long.”
Panic coiled in Delaney’s belly. She pushed off the wall and shifted toward him. “You quit? You just quit? Why? What happened? You can’t quit. You need that money for the—”
Dread bottomed out in her stomach. He didn’t need the money if he wasn’t going to have a brewery.
“Goddammit.” She squeezed her eyes closed and pressed fisted hands against them. “Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
Ethan wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. “It’s called life. Gets like that sometimes. With my family, it gets like that most of the time. And I didn’t quit because there’s no future for my brewery. I quit because I didn’t like who I’d turned into trying to get it. I quit because I refuse to be controlled by my father anymore. I quit because I can do a better job of choosing my family than the one that was chosen for me at birth.”
“But quitting?”
“Knowing my father, it was the only way.”
She exhaled, and her shoulders slumped. “What are you goi
ng to do? What about Harlan and retirement?”
“It’s not what I had planned for myself, but I’m going to take over the farm. I worked the hops every summer during high school, which was when I determined it was the last thing I wanted to do with my life. But considering my options, it’s the only logical answer. Besides, it couldn’t hurt to get closer to the hops, learn more about Pops’s crazy hybrids. When the time is right, we’ll still start Wildcard. I don’t know if we’ll keep the land in town or sell it, but if the farm is still running, that decision isn’t urgent.”
There was a certain Zen about him now. One she’d never seen before. One she liked. “You’re really okay with this, aren’t you?”
He grinned and laughed at himself. “Shocking, right? Sure never believed I’d ever say I was okay being a farmer. But, yeah, as soon as I quit, I knew it was right. And as soon as I figured out this path to keep Pops afloat and off the tractor, a ton of stress lifted from my shoulders.”
She smiled and cupped his jaw, aching to kiss him but knowing she couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Mixed messages. Right?
Then he slipped a hand under her hair, around her nape, and caressed her jaw with his thumb, his heavy-lidded gaze on her mouth. “I know you don’t want to stay in Wildwood. And I know you won’t be here long.” He lifted those pretty eyes to hers. “But I meant it when I said I was crazy about you. I want you more than ever. And I’ll take as much or as little as you are willing to give while you’re here. Even just this. Even just working together. And if after all this, you still want me to go, I’ll go. I know I don’t deserve you. And I don’t expect you to forgive me.” His gaze roamed her face, achingly hungry. His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb moving over her bottom lip. “But I miss you, baby.”
Delaney let gravity pull her forward. Let Ethan fold her into his arms. Let her mouth move against his. And sighed. She wanted more, so much more, and he opened, ready to give it. But Delaney pulled back, dragging her lip between her teeth.
“Things have . . . um . . . changed some for me.”
Worry crept into his eyes. “Okay.”
“Avery had a tasting party tonight at Wildly Artesian, and evidently it went amazingly well.”
“That’s great.”
“It is. She has all kinds of offers for business. So much so it looks like she’s going to need an industrial kitchen, retail space, and possibly even event or restaurant space.”
“Wow, really?” He stroked her arms.
She nodded. “I just got off the phone with her, and we’re going to talk it all over tonight. There’s a lot of planning involved. Well, you know.”
He smiled and nodded. “I do.”
“She’s asked me to stay in town to get her up and running. Help her develop a business plan, line out all the details. And it’s really what I’ve always wanted for both her and Chloe, so I said yes. I’ll take one out of two and hopefully we’ll eventually get ahold of Chloe.”
His brows shot up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. So, I thought you should know that I’m probably going to be here longer than you think.”
“I’m good with that.” He squeezed her arms, and his eyes danced with excitement. “Okay, I’m actually thrilled with that.”