Chase followed Wesley across the clearing toward several fallen tree stumps and branches. A small gray fur ball darted from beneath a thick branch. Chase stepped forward and stopped. Another silver-streaked fur ball raced in the same direction. “Is that...”
“Kittens,” Wesley shouted, and slapped his gloves over his mouth. His eyes round, he pulled his hands away and lowered his voice. “We have to rescue them. They’ll freeze out here.”
Chase checked the time on his phone and the angle of the sun. He’d promised Nichole they’d be back long before sunset. “But they’re most likely wild cats and know how to survive out here.”
“We can’t leave them, Chase.” Wesley watched him, worry and fear on his face. “We can’t. They’re only babies. Babies should never be left behind. Ever.”
Neither should pregnant moms or young sons. Chase swallowed around the lump in his throat. He couldn’t refuse Wesley. Even Chase wouldn’t sleep well knowing they hadn’t tried to help the kittens. He checked the time again. “Okay. We have fifteen minutes to try and get those kittens. Then we need to leave.”
“We can do this.” Wesley set his hands on his hips and pointed at a fallen tree, the kitten’s current hiding place. “How should we do this?”
“We need a plan.” Chase glanced around the clearing. “And something to trap them in.”
The first trap consisting of a thin branch and pinecones failed. Clumps of snow dropped onto their heads, covering them in snowflakes and laughter. The kittens skittered away.
Wesley guided Chase on the second trap made of four snow walls and a tree branch roof. Chase managed to swipe his gloves across the silver-and-black kitten’s back. Then the trap fell apart and the kittens escaped again. And the fifteen minutes quickly shifted into thirty. Chase rubbed his hands together. The temperature dropped along with the sun. The kittens would be hard-pressed to survive the night. They had to succeed.
Together, Chase and Wesley used the best parts of their earlier traps and constructed a new one. Wesley captured the gray kitten. Chase bent down and scooped up the silver-and-black sibling.
“It worked.” Wesley snuggled the kitten closer, then sneezed. “I’m not allergic. Just cold.”
Chase unzipped his jacket and motioned toward Wesley. “The kittens will be warm inside my coat.”
“Are you sure?” Wesley peeled the kitten’s claws out of his jacket sleeve.
No. But they had few options. Wesley needed his hands free to hang on to Chase and use his hand signals to guide Chase in the right direction. A kitten would distract the boy. “I’m the best they’ve got.”
Wesley settled his kitten inside Chase’s jacket. “What about their mom?”
Chase had already considered the kitten’s mother and whether she had more in her litter. He checked the time on his phone and noted the last of the setting sun. “We can do a ten-minute search. Then we leave. Remember she’s wild too and has been surviving out here longer than us.”
“Okay. We should start at the log where we first found them.”
Chase unwrapped his scarf and wound it around Wesley’s neck. “Lead the way.”
At the twelve-minute mark, Chase called a halt to the search. He tugged off his gloves and tied them to a high branch. “We have to leave, or your mother is going to be really mad.”
Wesley kicked at the snow and frowned into Chase’s scarf. “Fine.”
“Look, my gloves will be here as a marker.” Chase pointed at the tree branch. “We can come back tomorrow during the day and search for their mom.”
Wesley straightened and grinned. “Promise?”
“Promise.” What was it about the Moore family that caused Chase to keep making promises?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE SOUND OF a snowmobile drew Nichole outside. She rushed onto the balcony, wrapped Wesley in a tight hug. She pulled away, touched his cold checks, examined his face, ran her hands over his arms. No visible injuries. The frantic worry hammering inside her chest dulled to a steady pounding. Wesley was safe. Her son was fine. But there was another someone and that worry persisted. Her hands still shook. One more hug for Wesley then she released him. “Get inside and warm up.”
“But...” Wesley started.
Nichole pointed inside. “Not now.”
Wesley frowned, ran inside and shouted for Ben, Brooke and Dan. Nichole never waited to find out what Wesley wanted to tell them. She raced down the stairs and sprinted toward the garage. Anger and fear knotted inside her, pushing her faster. She wanted to yell at Chase for scaring her to her core and hold on to him and not ever let go.
Chase walked out of the garage, closed the door and stopped.
Nichole surveyed him from his uncovered head to his boots and back up. No bruises. No scrapes. Only wind-chafed cheeks. He was fine. She’d been worried. Scared. So very frightened for Wesley. For him. Him.
But she was never supposed to worry. To care. Not this much. Not this deep. Not this fast. Nichole bent, packed snow between her hands and launched her attack. “How dare you.” How dare you make me feel again.
Better yet, how dare she. How dare she let herself get so attached. She knew better. Hadn’t she learned the first time? Frustration rolled through her, at herself. At him. At the situation. She released another snowball. It smashed against the garage door behind Chase. He never flinched. Never moved.
“You promised.” A business arrangement only. The next volley she aimed at his head, hit his good shoulder and she formed another snowball. And she’d promised herself. Not to ever let herself fall again. Not to open her heart again.
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket and waited.
“I was so worried.” Frantic. Frightened. For Wesley. For Chase. She lived inside her comfort zone for a reason. It had never let her down. But Chase made her feel a different kind of alive. Even now inside her anger and frustration, a warm affection stirred, steady and growing stronger. But it was only an illusion. How could something that started on a lie, began as a sham, become real? Become mutual?
Her snowball splattered against his left arm. Nichole widened her stance, firming her balance to improve her aim, but the fight inside her dwindled. Still, she drew her arm back and paused midstrike. Waited. She tilted her head and frowned. “Your jacket is wiggling.”
Chase unzipped his jacket and revealed one of the tiniest kittens Nichole had ever seen. He cradled the gray fuzz ball in his arm and looked at her. “We couldn’t leave them out there.”
“You rescued a kitten?” Nichole sputtered and wanted to shout foul.
Chase unzipped his jacket farther, revealing a second silver-and-black-striped head. His smile grew. “Two, actually. We tried to find the mother, but it was getting too dark.”
“You also looked for the mother?” Nichole brushed the snow off her hands and touched her forehead. Chase held two baby kittens. Kittens that he and her son had rescued on the mountain. She’d feared the worst. And they’d been saving two little lives. The last of her anger melted like the snow beneath the full sun.
“Wesley made a good point about there possibly being more kittens and a worried mother cat.” Chase held the gray kitten in his palm, gentle and attentive. “Wesley was worried about the mom being even more stressed once her kittens came home with us.”
“This was Wesley’s idea?” Her son never wanted anyone left behind. He would’ve insisted on searching for the mom and any more siblings. Chase had listened and helped rather than dismissing Wesley’s concerns.
“Wesley heard the kittens crying first.” Chase held up the gray fuzz ball until the kitten sniffed his nose. “Then I saw this one peeking out from under a tree stump. Its blue eyes are larger than its face.”
“And you decided to save them?” Nichole set her hands on her hips. This was the same man who’d told her earlier how he liked being on his own and wo
rrying only about himself. Yet he had stopped to save kittens and had extended the search for their mom. She’d called him a good guy earlier and he’d proven it again. Good guy or not, she had to stop noticing. The sigh inside her heart slipped out before she could snatch it. “Where are your gloves?”
“I tied them to the tree so we could go back in the morning and look again for their mom.” Chase tucked the kitten inside his jacket.
“And your scarf?” She’d seen him leave with the bulky fleece scarf wrapped around his neck. She reached up, searching for her scarf to wrap around him. She’d raced outside without a scarf or jacket on.
He touched his bare neck. “I gave it to Wesley.”
Nichole pursed her lips and searched for the man Chase tried to convince her he was. The selfish, only in it for himself, confirmed bachelor. The one she needed him to be to keep her heart from getting any more involved.
“We made a plan to capture them.” His soft laughter spilled from his small smile. “Okay, we made three different traps and even more plans. It wasn’t as easy as simply picking them up. Even half-frozen, they’re quite quick and crafty.”
Footsteps thumped across the deck and down the stairs. Nichole turned to watch Ben and Wesley scramble off the last step and hurry toward them.
Wesley looped around Nichole and beelined for Chase. “Can we bring the kittens inside now?”
“Brooke is putting together a spot for them. She’s using a laundry basket and towels.” Ben rushed to Chase’s other side. “She told me to tell you guys that Nichole and her need to go to the store for supplies.”
Nichole tugged her sweater up under her chin. “We should all go inside. I need a better coat.” And Chase needed to release the kittens, thaw himself out and return to the man she’d made her original agreement with. The unavailable bachelor, not the cat rescuer who protected her son from the cold and made her feel... He made her feel too much. That had to stop. Otherwise she feared the fall would shatter more than her heart.
Chase glanced at the boys. “Looks like you two are on kitten duty while the men make dinner and the women head to the pet store.”
“Can we keep them in our room?” Wesley asked.
“Let’s get them inside first.” Nichole headed up the stairs, away from Chase and her urge to cuddle closer to him and the kittens. Once indoors, she grabbed her jacket and gloves, anxious to leave for the pet store. Distance would reset her focus and realign her thoughts. Then she’d only need to enjoy dinner with her friends and keep her hands to herself. Reaching for Chase was not a risk she intended to take.
* * *
CHASE PRESSED THE lid on the leftover cacio e pepe and set the small container in the refrigerator. The boys had eaten three servings of the simple cheese and pepper noodles. Then they’d devoured the Chicken Francese and even sampled the green beans. Everyone at the table had declared the meal a grand success. Chase had skipped over the praise and been more interested in postponing the cleanup and continuing their lively conversation.
A conversation that had wandered from favorite superheroes to favorite holidays to would you rather challenges. So much like the Jacobses’ kitchen table growing up and yet different, but equally inviting.
Chase couldn’t recall preparing a meal for friends and enjoying himself quite so much. Not that he planned a repeat. This was a onetime, spontaneous thing to make up for being late and causing Nichole to worry. Cooking dinner was something he could easily do for Nichole and her friends.
He intended to do something else for Nichole, but it wasn’t easy. He hadn’t found any information on Fund Infusion or its senior partners to suggest Vick and Glenn were anything more than interested investors. Still that kink in his gut expanded, refusing to let him give up. Chase tapped his phone screen as if it held the truth about Fund Infusion in some hidden code.
“Problem?” Dan tipped his chin toward Chase’s phone.
“Sort of.” Chase looked toward the family room. Brooke and Nichole talked and played with the kittens. Satisfied that Nichole wasn’t listening, Chase asked, “Do you know how to research a business? Not the name and public information, but the backside of a business.”
“No idea.” Dan poured soap into a large frying pan. “But we know someone who can.”
“We do?” Chase picked up the drying towel and one of the mixing bowls Dan already washed.
“You married into an eclectic family tree.” Dan chuckled and grinned at him. “Bet you had no idea.”
None. Chase had only ever met Nichole’s grandparents. Knew she was an only child and her parents traveled in a theater group. But from Dan’s expression, Nichole’s family was much larger and way more interesting than that. “I have my grandmother, mom and two sisters on my family tree.”
“Now you have a paramedic, physician’s assistant, pet shop owner, private investigator, animal rescuer, photographer, wedding dress designer, lifestyle expert, ER doctor and inventor.” Dan laughed and rinsed the frying pan. “Don’t even get me started on the retired in-laws and extended family of siblings. They are all yours too now.”
“Just like that?” Chase had an entire fifty-two-man team behind him. But he’d had to earn their respect and loyalty over several seasons. Chase stacked the mixing bowl inside the others. Now he’d gained Nichole’s supposed family tree by marrying Nichole. Could it be that easy? Perhaps if it’d been true and not one big scam. That ever-present guilt warred inside him.
“Pretty much. Nichole is our family. You are too,” Dan stretched out his words. “Until you aren’t.”
Chase straightened, searched Dan’s face, wondering if he’d misheard the warning. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly like it sounds.” Dan scrubbed a small sauté pan and never elaborated. “Now what is this about wanting to research a business? You looking for a good investment.”
“It’s not research per se.” Chase leaned against the counter in order to face the family room. He kept his gaze fixed on Nichole to ensure she wasn’t paying attention to them. The gray kitten climbed onto her shoulder and swatted at her hair, and she laughed. Her smile encouraged his own. “I want to find out the bad stuff.”
“Now, that’s way more interesting.” Dan looked over his shoulder.
“Not to Nichole, it isn’t.” Chase lowered his voice and lost his smile. “It’s about her potential buyers, Fund Infusion.”
Dan shut off the water and addressed Chase in the same low voice Chase had used. “She likes them. They’re the answer to her dreams.”
“Until they aren’t.” Chase held Dan’s gaze one extra beat.
Dan leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t trust them.” That sounded lame. Like he had indigestion and no antacids. Chase wadded up the towel and tossed it on the island. “But I’m not enough to sway Nichole. She never relies on her gut instinct.”
“You do know her.” Approval deepened Dan’s tone.
“Since high school,” Chase admitted.
“She never mentioned she knew you. Ever.” Dan frowned. “Not once during any Pioneers game or during any event at school. And she had plenty of opportunities to mention she knows you.”
“We’d known each other in high school and college.” A long time ago, yet the more time Chase spent with her, the more he felt like she’d always been right there. Right beside him. Right where she belonged. “People change and move on. I don’t think she ever thought she’d see me again.”
“Or marry you.” Dan tapped his fist against Chase’s shoulder.
She definitely never considered that. “I’m worried she’s making a mistake selling to the Fund Infusion guys.”
The same sort of mistake he made convincing her to continue their ruse. Then sharing a bedroom with her. Then letting himself get to know her. He was becoming used to bei
ng with Nichole again. Though it was only temporary. Her app wasn’t. That was her future, and he intended to make sure she didn’t make a mistake for her future.
“Have you talked to her?” Dan asked.
“I tried,” Chase admitted. “She defended their request for her full app code and the entire business plan that she put together herself. I’m probably overreacting.” Most likely due to learning about his new and very large extended family. A family he’d let down once the truth came out about the fake marriage.
“I’ve watched a lot of Pioneers games.” Dan’s fingers tapped against his forearms. His gaze centered on Chase like an opposing team’s defensive coach determined to call the right play to stop him. “I can’t recall a time where you overreacted on the field or off.”
“Could you tell that to my mom?” Chase slipped a hint of humor into his voice and grinned at Nichole. She’d glanced back as if to check on their progress. “My mom would disagree with you.”
“Moms earn the right to be our biggest critics. They put up with us all those years growing up.” Dan dried his hands on a towel. “Still, you’ve called some of your best plays a gut reaction on the field. I wouldn’t discount those instincts now.”
If Dan knew the full truth, he might discount Chase completely. “What do you think?”
Dan rubbed his chin. “You need a professional to talk to her.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Chase said. “Or even proof that the Fund Infusion guys might not be all they claim to be.”
Dan snapped his fingers. “You need the Harringtons.”
“As in Ella’s grandmother, Mayor Harrington.” Wesley had mentioned Ella’s connection to a well-known person the first day Chase had met him.
Dan nodded. “You need her sons, Brad and Drew.”
“Brad Harrington has bodyguards,” Chase said, recalling Nichole’s earlier claim about Wesley requesting his own personal bodyguard.
“Among other things. Brad runs a security and private investigation firm.” Dan opened and closed several drawers in the island. He pulled out a pen and notepad from the last drawer. “Drew Harrington is the former DA who recently entered the private law sector. He’ll know a good contract from a bad one.”
Her Surprise Engagement Page 17
