It Had to Be Fate (An It Had to Be Novel Book 3)

by Tamra Baumann

  Her eyes were filled with genuine concern for him. He couldn’t remember a woman ever looking at him that way. “I guess. I hadn’t had one in a long time. But the way Ty looked up at me earlier, with that fear in his eyes . . . I couldn’t save my dad that day. It was an accident. I’d misjudged and by the time I realized what had happened, I couldn’t hang on any longer. His hands slipped from mine.” He closed his eyes and tried to block out the image of his father falling to his death. “I’d never forgive myself if I let that happen again, Casey.” Damn the pills. He was probably just creating more questions by not telling her the whole story. He needed to shut his trap before he said something he shouldn’t.

  She leaned closer and whispered, “You didn’t let another accident happen. And I’m sure your dad knows you did your best to save him. He’d be proud of what you did today, Zane. We’re all lucky you were there.” She sent him a smile so sweet he felt it in his chest. “But now you need your rest. Can I get you something to help you sleep? Tea or a glass of water?”

  She believed him. That’s all that mattered.

  He shook his head in answer to her question and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close again. When she’d asked if he needed anything, he’d wanted to say all he needed was her. He’d never felt such a tug on his soul like he did when he was with Casey. But Gloria had said to go slow. If Casey knew how strongly he felt about her, it’d probably scare her off. Good thing he hadn’t said that aloud.

  Had he?

  Casey blinked her eyes open. How was it morning already?

  She gently lifted Zane’s heavy arm from her waist and slid over to grab her phone from the nightstand. It was almost six. She must’ve hit the “Off” button instead of “Snooze” the last time the alarm had rung.

  Luckily the kids wouldn’t be up for a while yet.

  She rolled over and was just about to wake Zane when she caught sight of a tattoo on his slowly rising and falling chest. He was sound asleep, so she took a moment to study him.

  The covers had slipped to his waist, revealing bruised, gym-toned shoulders and arms, but what fascinated her most was his chest. Most rockers had tattoos covering every exposed part of their body, but Zane only had a single small one over his heart. It looked like a Chinese symbol of some sort.

  Maybe she’d Google it later and see if she could figure out what it meant. She could ask him, but when someone put a tattoo over their heart, it was probably something personal. And she’d gotten way too personal with Zane as it was. He was making it harder and harder to resist him.

  Especially when he’d mumbled, “All I need is you,” as he’d fallen back to sleep.

  When he’d pulled her closer, she’d gone freely because he’d been so upset about his dream and needed comfort. Or so she told herself. It was nice to snuggle with a man without sex on the table for a change. Beau had always hopped right out of bed after he’d gotten his fill, but Tomas had liked to snuggle. It’d been a long time since she’d been held in her sleep.

  Not that she missed her cheating ex, but she did miss a few things about being in a relationship. One was waking beside a gorgeous man each day.

  Ben had said he’d dosed Zane pretty heavily so he could sleep, so it had probably just been the meds talking. He hadn’t meant all he needed was her.

  Especially because Mandy had mentioned Zane didn’t have time for anyone in his life. After his stay in Anderson Butte, he’d be gone and back to his workaholic ways, so what was the point of getting involved? And probably having her heart broken . . . again.

  Ty’s small voice sounded behind her. “Mom? My arm hurts.” The bed shifted with Ty’s weight as he climbed up beside her.

  Crap! She should have stuck to her original plan and slept on the couch. Maybe if she just acted normally, not like a guilty mother for having her kid catch her in bed with a man, he’d ignore the situation.

  She rolled over and faced him. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Let’s go eat so you can take something for the pain. How about some eggs?”

  He nodded and slid out of the bed.

  She quickly followed behind. When she got to the door, she glanced over her shoulder at Zane, who’d awoken. He mouthed “Sorry.”

  She acknowledged him by nodding and lifted her hands in a “what are you gonna do?” gesture, then caught up with Ty. She scooped her robe off the couch where she’d left it the night before and wrapped up in it as she stepped into the kitchen. “Scrambled or a cheese omelet?”

  Ty pulled out a chair in the nook and sat. “Scrambled. Your omelets don’t turn out as good as Dad’s.”

  “Oh, so now you’re a food critic, huh? Caleb told me your dad showed you guys how to make omelets this summer, so you’re welcome to make your own, mister.”

  “I was just kidding.” Ty plastered on a big, innocent grin. “I love your cheese omelets the best, Mom.”

  A barely audible knock sounded on their front door.

  As she headed toward the door, she said, “You’re lucky you only have one good arm, or you’d be making us all omelets, wise guy.” She bopped Ty lightly on the head with her spatula as she passed by him.

  She closed one eye and peered through the peephole, surprised to see Ben standing on the other side dressed in his scrubs. She yanked the door open. “Hey.”

  “Hey back. I wasn’t sure if you guys would be up yet. Didn’t want to wake you.”

  “It is awful early for house calls. Did your date stand you up last night?”

  Ben’s lips thinned as he stepped inside and followed her to the kitchen. “No. Mrs. Jenkins had a heart attack last night. I flew her to Denver, but she’s so concerned about her dog I can’t get her to calm down and rest.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Can I do anything to help?”

  “I called Meg, since she was the one who gave the puppy to Mrs. Jenkins. Eric will keep the dog until she gets home.” He sat next to Ty in the nook. “But I’ll have whatever this guy is having. I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday so I thought I’d see how my other patients are and bum a free breakfast while I’m at it.” He laid a hand on top of Ty’s head and mussed his hair. “How’s the arm today?”

  Ty shrugged. “Okay.”

  Casey shook her head and pulled out the fixings for omelets. Ty’s arm had hurt badly enough that he’d slid into bed with her a few minutes ago, something he only did when he was really sick these days. Now he’d suddenly turned all brave to look good in front of his uncle. But she wouldn’t rat him out. Instead, she’d show Ty who made the best omelet. Tomas had shown her a few omelet tricks too. She just didn’t usually have time to cook like that, but they were up plenty early this morning.

  Ben asked, “How’d Zane do last night?”

  Ty said, “Mom had to sleep with him, so he must be feeling pretty bad still.”

  Ben’s eyes found hers and narrowed. “You slept with him?”

  She couldn’t catch a break. And it wasn’t even six fifteen yet. “Ty, while this is cooking, why don’t you go find a marker so Zane can sign your cast after breakfast?”

  “’Kay.” Ty slid off his chair and disappeared down the hall.

  She whispered, “Nothing happened, Ben. And if it had, you’re not one to talk, Mr. One-Night Stand.”

  He stood and joined her by the stove. “Ryan told me about Zane’s reputation. And Dad told me about Tomas’s latest stunt to get full-time custody of the boys. The worst thing you could do is get involved with Zane Steele, Casey.”

  She slapped her hands on her hips. “You and Ryan need to back off. This isn’t high school anymore, where you can scare off the boys who like me.” She turned and flipped the eggs as she reeled in her temper. “I’m a grown woman, not sixteen, and I can make my own choices!”

  Ben leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “So we were wrong when we tried to warn you off Tomas?”

  No, they hadn’t been wrong, but the last thing she’d do was admit it. She knew full well the men she was usually attrac
ted to weren’t right for her. But Zane seemed . . . different. As much as her brain knew the risks, her heart begged to give Zane a try. Not to mention her hormones that heated up whenever he was within ten feet of her. “You two have never liked any of the guys I dated. You just got lucky with Tomas.”

  Ben’s voice turned softer as he said, “I just don’t want to see you hurt again. It’s been hell watching you rebound with Beau while pretending you can handle a casual relationship. You’re not wired like I am.”

  She’d kept her and Beau’s relationship secret for a while. But keeping a secret from the nosy folks in Anderson Butte had been no easy task. The natives all stuck together and kept the visitors’ identities from leaking for the betterment of the town, but when it came to the locals, all gossip was fair game. Her grandmother was the one who’d busted them, and she’d complained to anyone who’d listen because she’d never liked Beau. “You weren’t always wired that way either, Ben. With Kline you were happy to be in a real relationship. Until . . . well, we won’t go there. But I figured if you could change, then maybe I could too.”

  He leaned closer and said, “Zane will just use you and then be out of here as soon as—” Ben cut himself off when Zane appeared in the doorway.

  Zane glanced Ben’s way as his eyes narrowed. “If me being here is a problem, I can have Mandy help me in the guesthouse.” He turned to face Casey. “She hasn’t checked out yet, has she?”

  “No. And she’s worried sick about you, but you’re not the problem, Zane, this one is.” She poked her brother in the chest.

  Ben sent her a stern warning look—he’d always hated when she poked him—and then turned to Zane. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  Zane hobbled to the nook and sat. “Better than yesterday.”

  When Ben gently tugged on her ponytail as a truce before he joined Zane at the table, it made her smile. She and Ben fought, but they could never stay mad at each other for long.

  Ben pulled out a penlight from his front pocket and shone it in Zane’s eyes. “Watch my finger.” Ben moved it slowly from left to right. “You are better than you were yesterday, but you still need rest—and you need to keep your hands off my sister.”

  “Last I checked,” Casey called out, “I’m the one who decides who puts their hands on me, Benjamin. And if you want an omelet, knock it off.”

  While the men stared each other down like cavemen defending their property, Ty ran back into the kitchen with a marker. “Hi, Zane! Want to sign my cast?”

  Zane tore his gaze from Ben’s warning stare. Seems both of Casey’s brothers had opinions on who she dated. Where were they when she’d been dating that Beau Bailey jerk?

  He forced a smile at Ty. “I was hoping to be the first one!”

  A sleepy Caleb, still dressed in his pj’s joined them at the table. “Why is everyone up so early?”

  “Morning, Caleb.” Zane turned his attention back to Ty. “Now that you’re both here, I want you guys to promise you’ll stay away from that mine. I’m going to have my manager find a professional crew to go dig out those barrels for you. Do we have a deal?” After Caleb nodded, Zane stuck his hand out for a left-handed shake with Ty’s good hand.

  “I’m not ever going back there,” Ty said. “When we told my dad about what happened yesterday, he got really mad. He said our mom gets too busy to watch us because of her job, so we needed to stop doing dumbass things.”

  “Hey!” Casey whipped her head over her shoulder. “Watch your mouth, Tyler.” Then she exchanged a worried glance with her brother.

  Zane asked, “Did you guys tell your dad about me?”

  “No!” Caleb quickly answered. “We’re not allowed to talk about the guests. We left that part out.”

  Casey’s shoulders visibly relaxed as she stood at the stove with her back to them.

  “Thank you.” Zane accepted the marker Ty held out and then scribbled his signature “Z” surrounded by two circles. “I’ll call my manager about the barrels after breakfast. Hopefully they’ll find them so Eric can go to college and you and Caleb can get your new bikes.”

  Ben said, “Is that why you guys went out there? What Eric hasn’t figured out yet is that he’ll have all the money he needs to go to college and more now that he has the recipe for the whiskey. Tara’s father is looking into local properties to open up the distillery again. Eric will be the majority owner when he turns eighteen.”

  Casey laid plates in front of Ty and Ben and they both dug in. “Yeah. And I’d appreciate it if you two would refrain from telling people I’m broke! It’s not that I didn’t have the money for new bikes. You boys don’t need new bikes. Yours are perfectly fine!” Casey walked back to the stove and called out, “Zane and Caleb, do you want cheese omelets too?”

  Casey wasn’t a happy camper. So as Caleb nodded around a yawn, Zane called out, “That’d be great, thanks.”

  When Zane glanced Ben’s way again he caught Casey’s brother staring as he chewed.

  Zane gave back as good as he got. The guy wasn’t going to scare him off of Casey. He intended to see where a real relationship with her might go.

  Ben finally swallowed then said, “I imagine you’re bored by now and will be leaving soon, huh?”

  “Ben . . .” Casey’s tone held a warning.

  “You can’t leave yet, Zane,” Caleb said. “You promised to sing in Aunt Meg’s wedding.” Caleb’s gaze dropped to his hands fisted on the tabletop. “And I haven’t learned how to play that song yet for my dad.”

  Ty’s forehead scrunched. “You wouldn’t leave before Aunt Meg’s wedding, would you, Zane?”

  A strange, hot pang arrowed through Zane’s heart. The last thing he’d ever do was let Casey or her kids down. “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.” He turned and stared into Ben’s eyes again. “When I give my word, I keep it.”

  His phone rang in the pocket of his sweats, saving him from whatever retort Ben was clearly working up.

  It was his manager. Just who he wanted to speak with about the barrels. “Excuse me, guys.” He slowly stood and made his way to the living room. “Hey, Kip.”

  “How’re you feeling?”

  “Okay. I was just about to call and ask you to arrange something for me.”

  “We need to talk first. Do you know a Sarah Benson?”

  Zane raced through all the Sarahs he knew in his head. “No. Should I?”

  “She says you’re the father of her newborn baby. It’s a blond-headed boy named Zane. Her lawyers are demanding you take a paternity test. I’ll text you their pictures.”

  When his phone dinged with the text, Zane swiped the screen. It was a blond-headed, cute baby as promised.

  He swiped again. The Sarah person was a pretty redhead he’d never met. “Nope. Don’t recognize her. Tell her lawyers to take a hike.” It always amazed him what people would do to extract money from him. “Wait. Maybe Nick slept with her. Can we stall until we can find out from him? How about we ask her to show some sort of proof?”

  “Her lawyer says she has plenty of proof. Namely a picture of you passed out in her bed.”

  Zane closed his eyes. How much more trouble could his brother create? That’s all he’d need. To have his fans, and worse, Casey and her boys, think he’d ever treat a woman, much less a child, like that. “Can you go to the rehab today and show Nick the picture? See if he remembers sleeping with her?”

  “I can try. He’s still pissed we busted him for sending Mandy that e-mail. He might not see me.”

  “How about you tell Sarah’s lawyers it’ll take a few days to contact me because I’m on vacation or something?”

  “That was the first thing I tried. Her lawyers threatened to go to the media this afternoon if we didn’t send proof that the test was sent to the lab by noon today. Then they want the results expedited. They’re giving us seventy-two hours after the lab receives the sample.”

  Seventy-two hours? That was a ridiculously short deadline, but his reputati
on couldn’t take many more hits. “I’ll see if I can ask the doctor here to do a swab and send it in. We need to do whatever it takes to keep Sarah from going to the media with this. Get Nick to see you so we’ll know if this woman is telling the truth—and so I’ll know how much damage control I need to do here.”

  “Okay. But even if Nick did knock her up, then sending your DNA should get us off the hook, right?”

  He wished.

  Why had he ever covered for his ungrateful brother? “Our fingerprints are different, but identical twins have virtually the same DNA. The usual tests aren’t accurate enough to differentiate me from him.”

  “So, Sarah could take us to court and demand you pay millions in child support?”

  “Yep. But if it shows a match he’d be my nephew, so I’d absolutely support him.” He’d never make a child suffer for his parent’s actions. But he refused to be taken advantage of by a gold digger either.

  Kip huffed. “When Nick’s stint in rehab is over we need to send him back to the hole you found him in!”

  If only that could happen. Unless Nick really underwent a change in rehab, Zane had no doubt his brother would destroy all that Zane had worked for.

  After Casey tended to the morning “emergencies” at the hotel and made sure the boys were taking good care of Zane, she slipped down to the shore and headed toward Grandma’s house. Her grandmother had texted earlier, #NeedToTalkASAP!!!

  Casey smiled at Grams and her love of dramatic, strange hashtags. It had been a major mistake to give her grandmother a smartphone. She’d quickly learned how easily she could summon her grandchildren with her dire missives.

  She’d texted her grandmother back and said she’d stop by in a few minutes, but those minutes had turned into an hour. She was probably going to get reamed out good for that.

  She tugged open the screen door and called out, “You rang, Queen Ruth?”

  Shuffling of chairs sounded in the kitchen and then Zeke, the tall, way too thin town handyman who’d had a crush on Grandma for years, appeared in the living room. “Hiya, Casey.”