Cold Heat (Seasons of the Heart #1)

by LeeAnne White

  Kaylie looked at the roll with longing, thinking that it had been so long since she had had one of them, and after looking into Drakes face, she reached out and took one, biting into the dough and moaning in pleasure. As soon as Kaylie realized what she had done, the blush started creeping back up her chest and into her face.

  “There’s something about you, Kaylie, something that is such a pure and genuine innocence, that I am sure has a lot to do with your ex, but underneath that? Hiding in the deepest part of you, just waiting to break free is a woman who has already shown her inner strength, and that strength is just laying there, biding its time before it springs free again and shocks the hell out of not just you, but anyone who happens to be within your radius. I really hope I get to see it when it happens because, sweetheart, it’s going to be spectacular. All you have to do is give yourself a chance to live.”

  She sat there in stunned silence while Drake spoke. How could this man who had known her for, really only a few hours of her life, speak with such certainty about her? She was, well, she didn’t know how she was, if she were honest with herself. It had been such a long time since anyone believed in her. She wanted to believe what he said was true, but she was certain her heart was beyond repair. Why was it then, that as he spoke, she felt like her heart was just starting to beat again? Could she trust herself and her heart, after everything she had been through, to believe in love again? Could she trust herself to find love, not again, but for the first time?

  Drake watched her while he was talking, watching her face, her smile, her eyes light up, and whether she realized it or not, she sat there glowing. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he said what he said, but he had meant every word of it. It was as if there was some primitive voice inside him that was claiming her as his own, her happiness, her wellbeing, and safety mattered to him. He didn’t really believe in love at first sight, but somehow his heart was starting to get involved with her.

  Drake took her chin in his hand and placed a kiss on her lips. “How about I run you a hot bath, and then I’ll go take care of Jenny, and get started on reheating some chili for dinner?” Drake took her hand in his, pulling her away from the sheet that had covered her, and keeping her hand in his to prevent her from covering herself. They walked together to the bathroom where he turned on the hot water. “Jenny and I’ll be outside working off these damn rolls.”

  Kaylie sunk into the steaming water with a sigh that she swore she felt from the tips of her toes up. As she was lying back in the tub her thoughts began to replay what had happened between her and Drake. She couldn’t deny the attraction she felt for him, whether it was his looks, his sense of humor, the honor she sensed in him, or the way he made her feel… accepted? No, it was more than a feeling of acceptance. He made her feel desirable for the first time in too long, desirable just exactly how she was. She started running her hands along her body, finding the imperfections that she saw every single day when she looked in a mirror. Her breasts were too big and awkward, her shape was certainly not hourglass, it was more oblong, if she had to describe it. Her legs were too long and heavy with no shapely ankles. Her mind had become her biggest critic after so many years with Brian, but had no idea how to silence it.

  She had no idea how long she had been laying there thinking when she heard the stomping of feet on the porch before she heard Jenny hurrying through the kitchen, followed by Drake and the closing of the door. Pulling the stopper on the tub, she stepped out as the water was draining, toweling off before making a getaway to her room for clothes.

  Drake heard her crossing the hall toward her room and went to stir the chili again before putting more wood on the fire. He turned on the radio for company while he worked when he suddenly heard a harmony to the song coming from Kaylie’s room. He stood there listening to the blending of her voice to that on the radio, his admiration of her cranking up another notch. He kept working in the kitchen, trying to be quieter so he could hear more, while he gathered the dishes and toppings for dinner.

  Kaylie walked into the kitchen, blushing as she bent to pick up her frantically discarded clothes from the floor, catching Drake grinning at her, again, as she straightened. “You’re going to give me a complex if you keep grinning at me like that for who knows what reason.”

  “You just keep on surprising me,” he said as he strolled up and emptied her arms of the clothes.

  “Drake, what are you…“

  “Would you do me a favor, Kaylie?” he asked as he pulled her into his arms to dance.

  “Of course! What do you need me to do?”

  “Sing some more for me.”

  “What? I… No. I don’t sing. Where’d you get that silly idea?”

  Drake threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, yes you do sing, and beautifully. You were singing in your room with the radio.”

  Kaylie felt her face grow warm. Tucking her face against his chest so her voice was muffled, “Okay. Yes, I sing, but not very well and I don’t usually realize when I am doing it. I hear the music, and if I know the words, or think I know the words, I just start singing along, subconsciously.”

  “Don’t hold back on my part. Anytime you want to belt one out, go for it. I, being the great man that I am, will save you from listening to the strange and disturbing sounds I make when I try to sing along. It’s better for everyone that way.” He kept dancing her through the kitchen and the living room, passing the sprawled Jenny whose tail gave a lazy thump on the floor.

  “Drake?” she said after a few minutes of dancing in his arms.

  “Mmmmm?”

  “Are you burning the chili?” she asked him with a smile on her face.

  “Shit!” He pulled her back into the kitchen to stir the chili, checking to see how bad it was.

  “It’s salvageable,” she stated, trying not to laugh as she peered in the pot. “How about this, you sit, I’ll finish up with dinner, and keep you away from the stove.”

  “You do realize I have been cooking for myself for quite some time, right?”

  “Why don't we consider my kitchen skills a trade for you letting me stay here with you? I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and I really don't mind doing it.”

  “Not having to cook? You’re on. I have a few things I can make, but they get repeated a lot.”

  Pushing Drake into a kitchen chair, she went to where he had set some potatoes, picking two to scrub clean, stab, and pop into his microwave, setting its timer for a few minutes. “Tonight we’ll dine on potatoes topped with chili, or however you like yours topped.”

  “Ah, honey, no one does the topping better than I do.”

  Kaylie had no comeback for that, other than her usual blush, so she opted to stay silent while they waited for their dinner.

  After they’d eaten, it was almost natural for them to begin cleaning the kitchen, working fluidly together until they had put away the last of the dishes.

  He knew that after everything she had done and experienced today she had to be exhausted so he led her to the couch before he turned and added more wood to the fire. When he turned back around to her, she was looking at him warily, as though she had no idea what to do or say next. Walking back to the couch, he sat next to her and pulled her back close, curling her up against his chest as he started running his fingers through her hair. He sat there in contented silence with Kaylie, his mind at ease.

  The wind had begun picking up and a sudden loud crack of thunder combined with the illumination of lightening flashing had both Kaylie and Jenny jumping. While Kaylie found herself buried in Drakes chest, she heard Jenny scurrying to find shelter in the storm. Embarrassed, she pulled away from his chest, and looking around, she saw Jenny’s tail hurrying through Drakes bedroom door.

  “She’s a big coward. Anytime a storm rolls in with all of tonight’s special effects, she high-tails it under my bed and won’t come out until the storm passes on. I’ve a feeling we won’t be seeing her again tonight.”

  Another clap of thunder,
this time louder than the other, and another bolt of lightning singed the air around them. Kaylie clung harder to Drake after they passed, almost like she was trying to crawl into him. Drake would be a fool if he minded the fact that he had a woman in his arms during a rare thunder snowstorm, and he was no fool.

  He reached around her and snagged a remote off the table next to where she was and turned up the radio. “Let’s see if we can find some music to take our minds off of the weather.” A country song began to play quietly in the background while they continued to sit and listen to and watch the storm raging outside his windows. She shivered in the fire light next to him and he pulled a blanket around them, settling them more comfortably on the couch, reluctant to let her go for now.

  As they sat in the cozy warmth of one another, with music playing quietly in the cabin, he felt her body relaxing by degrees until she was completely lax and asleep in his arms. Drake carefully arranged Kaylie into his arms and carried her down the hall to the bedrooms. He wasn't sure which room to take her to and stood there debating for a minute before carrying her in and laying her gently on his bed, and then climbed in behind her, covering them both, wrapping her in his arms and drifting to sleep himself.

  Chapter 12

  Something roused Drake out of the best sleep he’d had in a very long time, and it certainly wasn't the warm body currently pressing her back against his front. He hadn’t been out of the field so long that his senses had gone soft on him. Slipping out of bed, doing his best not to wake Kaylie, he heard the sound again, coming from Kaylie’s room. Curious, he walked in and saw her phone where it had been dropped on the floor. When he picked it up to put it on the dresser, it chirped again, illuminating the text message that had been sent to it.

  Are you ready to play?

  Drake studied the image noticing that it was sent by a blocked number. Keeping the phone in his hand, he turned and let Jenny out before going back in to wake Kaylie up.

  Kaylie’s eyes fluttered open as she became aware of Drake calling her name to wake her. Noticing that it was still dark she asked, “What time is it?”, her voice still heavy with sleep.

  “Early, but there’s something I need to know, Kaylie.”

  Stretching while looking at him, if the tone of his voice hadn’t warned her something was wrong, then the set of his jaw would. Sitting up cautiously, keeping the sheet around her like a shield for whatever was coming, when she noticed her phone in his hand. “Drake, what are you doing with that?”

  “Something woke me up, I’m a light sleeper, and I heard a noise that was out of place in the house, and when I went to find it, I heard it coming from your room. From your phone. On your floor. I picked it up to put it on the dresser. I hit a button when I grabbed it and saw a text message.” He watched, as her eyes grew large, working hard to keep her hands from shaking. “The number was blocked, Kaylie. I need you to tell me what’s going on here. I don’t do well with games, and I would be fucking pissed if I found out that you were playing me and I fell for it.” He watched her swallow while he was talking.

  Reaching out her hand for the phone, she could not quite control the shaking now. “May I see my phone, Drake? Please? I promise you I am not playing you.”

  Drake handed her the phone, and watched as she unlocked the screen to look at the message.

  “I don’t know who is sending this to me,” she started. “Brian is still in jail, but he is supposed to be getting out any time now. He threatened retribution when he last saw me, swore he would make me pay for sending him to jail. That’s why I left when I did. I had to. I knew he would be coming for me soon.”

  “Is this the first message?” he asked, knowing it wasn't when he saw her flinch. “Damn it, Kaylie! How many others have you gotten like this? Did you bother to tell anyone?” His voice and temper rising as he questioned her.

  Kaylie was stunned by his outburst. “Are you serious? A few days ago I didn’t know you from any other stranger in the world! I thought I could trust Brian, once upon a time,” she shot back, “and you know exactly how that played out.”

  “How many others are there? I need to see them, Kaylie. If I’m going to protect you, I need to know what is going on and if you get more of these messages you need to tell me.”

  “Drake, he’s just blowing smoke, trying to scare me, and yes, I’ll admit its working, but it’s far from anything to be concerned about.”

  Drake just held up his hand indicating she should stop. “Have you forgotten that you told me he hit you, several times? That he threatened your life? That you had something in your gut, some instinct that told you to get out of that house and town, pronto? Now you sit here and defend this piece of shit? Making excuses for him and wanting to play down the texts you're receiving? What the hell, Kaylie? I can almost assuredly tell you he is not,” as he made air quotes, “blowing smoke.”

  Kaylie looked down at her phone, embarrassed because Drake was correct. She was making the same excuses for him all over again.

  Drake was watching her as she took a deep breath in, squared her shoulders, and looked him in the eye.

  “I had one message on the phone yesterday when I got out of the shower,” Drake cussed quietly as she kept on, “plus there were a few others before I left that I deleted. That’s one of the reasons that I had to leave so suddenly. My phone had been dead, so I plugged it in to charge. When I got out of the shower, I checked to see if there were any messages, and there was this one,” she said as she handed him the phone, already opened to the earlier message. “The numbers have always been blocked, like this one is. Drake, I swear I told no one where I was going. I just loaded up my stuff in the suitcases and left. I didn’t leave ties behind, and besides, he was still in jail when I left.” She knew she was grasping at straws when she said, “This is most likely a stupid teenage prank.”

  “Do you really believe that, Kaylie?”

  Her head-shake answered his question.

  “I need to borrow your phone, sweetheart. I’ve a group of guys around here; members of the team who like to get away when on downtime. One of them, Rafe, is a computer god. There’s nothing he can't find out for me, and I’d like to see what he can find out about these messages, just in case there’s more than meets the eye here. Are you okay if I bring Rafe in on this? Understand that I’ll do it regardless, but I am giving you a heads up.”

  “No, go ahead. I’m not sure I want to have the phone if any more of these messages come in. Please, Drake, would you call your friend Rafe?”

  He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers. “I’ll give him call now,” he said as he grabbed his phone and punched in the familiar number.

  Rafe reached over to the bedside table, struggling to find the ringing phone while refusing to open his eyes. Finally making contact with it, he cracked open an eye to check the screen before answering. “Drake, dude, do you know what time it is? It’s dark-the-fuck-o’clock.” He snarled into the phone. “Unless you have some mystery orders of us going wheels up again, call back when its daylight.”

  Drake sighed into his phone. He knew Rafe was a pain in the ass on a good day, but waking him was like poking a very angry lion. “I know what time it is. Would I call you this early if it weren't important? This isn’t something that can really wait until you roll out of bed and become a civilized human, Rafe.”

  Resigned to not going back to sleep, Rafe reached over and clicked on the lamp, closing his eyes against the brightness before speaking. “What is it?”

  Keeping his eyes locked on Kaylie, Drake kept talking to Rafe. “Why don't you tell me what you’ve go so far? Impressions? I’m curious to see if your gut matches mine.”

  “Okay, well, from my initial checks and digging a bit further, yeah, I’d agree with your gut. Something is not checking out with this guy’s story. How does someone open his own business with not much more than nothing, and then suddenly start spending money like he’s a high roller? I’m trying to dig into his financials now, but he
has that spread far and wide, giving me a run around.”

  “Thanks, man,” Drake began. “It’s good to know my senses haven't softened since I got out. Now, here’s the next thing I need from you. I suspect its related, but there is the slim chance it’s not. Kaylie has been getting threatening text messages from a blocked number. I need to try and find out where they are coming from.”

  “Drake, I am treading on some thin ice here, making these types of inquiries. You know the rules, and we are skating them. Answer me this Drake, is she worth it?”

  Drake stood there with the phone at his ear while he watched Kaylie. “Yeah, I think she is.” He couldn’t figure out just how she had already wormed her way into his heart, but there was something about her that made her matter to him. He wasn't sure what word he wanted to use to define his feelings, but he was man enough to admit that there were some and he wanted to find out where they would lead him.

  Rafe exhaled heavily, “Alright then, hit me with what you know. If I can’t find it, I’ll call in some favors with the state boys, maybe put some excitement in their day after this storm.”

  Drake finished the call after supplying Rafe with Kaylie’s cell number, the only information he had. He answered Rafe’s questions as he fired them out, consulting Kaylie when he didn’t know an answer.

  She walked over to him when he finished, keeping her eyes on his while taking a deep breath, she then leaned in and kissed Drake. “Thank you,” she whispered gratefully.

  Chapter 13

  He reached out to her, taking her hand in his and bringing it up between their bodies, close to his heart while wrapping his other hand around her waist, settling it at the small of her back and pulling her in closer. His eyes never leaving hers as he lowered his head, his lips brushing against hers once, twice, before kissing a trail to the side of her neck, to the spot below her ear and nibbling lightly.