After his last relationship took a turn for the worse – he nearly married his last girlfriend after she lied about being pregnant with his child, when it was really another man’s – Win’s sworn off casual hookups and is rethinking his life, looking to take on more responsibility at his work, the outdoor sports guide company owned by his family. So when he comes home to Darcy, the sweet and quiet receptionist at work, laying around in lingerie in his bed, he’s interested, but turns her down. Darcy’s horrifically embarrassed, even more so when Win now seems fixated on hanging out with her as a friend, insisting on taking her out to lunch and to the rodeo.
Darcy’s a bit of a doormat. Even though they’re divorced, she still helps her ex-husband out with his business. While she’s painfully shy around the other Garner brothers, she’s always felt comfortable around Win – well, until the lingerie incident. A child of a loveless marriage, her father pretty much ignores her and her mother criticizes her for being too frumpy. All Darcy wants is some recognition for her hard work, so when she and Win are assigned the chance of landing a Silicon Valley startup as a new corporate client, she jumps at the chance to get a promotion out of the receptionist role. Win’s equally motivated – he wants a raise so that he can check another item off his “become an actual adult” list and buy a house.
“It had taken the rest of the rodeo for the fact that she’d been married to sink in. Shy, quiet, horny little Darcy. He never would’ve guessed it. Not in a million years. Then again, he didn’t know much about her personal life. All their conversations had either been work-related or about him.”
Win’s constantly portrayed as a child-man, a guy who’s lucked into a job that lets him indulge his love of outdoor sports, but is somehow also still relentlessly chased and pursued by pretty much every woman who sees him. He’s self-obsessed and thoughtless, and isn’t used to thinking of anyone but himself. When they run into Darcy’s ex at the rodeo, Win lies and says they’re engaged, and then when Darcy’s mother unexpectedly shows up at work, Win starts telling an outrageous story about how they’re actually secretly married. Darcy is mortified, but Win doesn’t understand what he did wrong, or even get that he did anything wrong. After Darcy painstakingly plans out the company’s trial weekend visit, without even consulting her or giving her a heads-up, he throws her plans out the window and goes with “what feels right.” It was frustrating watching what was supposed to be the hero again disregarding Darcy’s hard work and not understanding what he was doing was hurtful. I was honestly really looking forward to the explanation for why he dropped out of the Olympic team, as it’s been hinted at before as being a sore spot for him, and I thought the explanation would reveal some bit of character that’d make him more sympathetic. I was disappointed to find out it was just because it took too much time away from his other activities. That’s not to say that he doesn’t improve over the course of the book, but to me, it felt like too little too late.
This all sounds awful, but besides, well, Win, I liked the rest of the book. I loved the setting of Glory Junction and all of its various crazy locals, and I loved the various activities they take the prospective customers to. While I liked seeing Darcy complete her transformation into a more self-assured woman, I still think she could’ve done better than Win! So, overall, I’d still recommend it to someone who’s read the previous Garner Brothers books and wants to complete the series.