He wasn’t too sure that he was happy with who he’d become. A grumpy workaholic who relied on profit and loss statements to fill his evenings instead of human companionship. It had been fine for awhile, but after tonight with Melanie his cold, empty future yawned in front of him. He wasn’t a man who believed in being lonely; after all he had a huge family and lots of friends. But there were times when he saw his brothers and cousins all marrying and starting families he wondered if there was someone out there for him. Then the thought would drift out of his mind, replaced with the more mundane details of his life but now they were lingering more often and longer.
Was this all there was to life? To his life in particular?
He was at the top of his game professionally but personally he’d just ended another relationship that had never even got started. Melanie had hit the nail on the head. No heat. No passion. He was beginning to come to the conclusion he might not be capable of it anymore. He didn’t think this happened to everyone either. His parents still had love shining out of their eyes when they looked at one another even after all these years. He’d always said he wanted a marriage like theirs but it didn’t look like it was in the cards.
There might simply be something wrong with him.
Drained, he stopped to catch his breath, leaning down to rest his hands on his knees. The sweat dripped off his forehead and dropped onto the sidewalk and he lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe his damp face. This run was a good idea. He’d needed a physical challenge, having been stuck to his desk far too often in the last week. Straightening, his gaze fell on the mailbox of the home he was standing in front of. He hadn’t realized he’d run so far.
It was Dizzy’s house.
He’d run over six miles and he still had to get back home. Both Dizzy and Leann’s cars were in the driveway since the garage was used as an art studio. She’d planted flowers in the window boxes and along the pathway to the front door. A small band of miniature statuettes played in the flower bed near the front door – a puppy whimsically reading a book, a rabbit and her babies pretending to nibble at the leaves, and a pig that simply sat there and smiled. Not a large home, but it looked warm and inviting. It looked like Dizzy. There was a light in the front window and he imagined they were watching a movie or maybe playing a board game. They were both incredibly competitive with one another despite being such close friends.
I’ve really lost it to end up here.
His gaze turned from Dizzy’s house to Trip Stanford’s. Easton didn’t get the same warm vibe, although there was a light in the window as well. Trip’s truck wasn’t out front but it might be pulled into the garage. There were no flowers on the walkway, and certainly no garden gnomes on the front lawn. The yard was clipped and maintained but it was more utilitarian in style.
Which didn’t make Trip Stanford a killer. It only meant he didn’t have a green thumb.
What did you see that night, Dizzy? I know you saw something. What was it?
Chapter Eight
‡
The minute Dizzy walked into the Anderson house Easton was standing in front of her asking if they could speak. For a moment she thought about making an excuse, telling him she needed to help with dinner in the kitchen, but his expression was so intense that it was clear she wasn’t going to get out of this today. It was now or later but it was definitely going to happen. She might as well get it over with so she could have a nice dinner.
She let him lead her upstairs, not sure where they were going but they ended up in Easton’s old bedroom, his trophies and ribbons on the wall. He’d been an accomplished baseball player many years ago and might have had a shot at a career but he’d never seemed interested.
“Why don’t you sit down?”
The only place to do that was on Easton’s old bed. For some reason that seemed like a strange thing to do, although she was pretty sure it had been quite awhile since he’d slept on that mattress. He probably only did it on Christmas Eve when the whole family was together.
Placing her purse on the bed next to her, Dizzy sat down and tried to appear as composed as possible on the few hours of sleep she’d had in the last two days.
“What did you want to talk about?”
Easton didn’t sit down, instead looking over her, his hands shoved in the pockets of his blue jeans and his head down, staring at his brown leather shoes. As usual he looked handsome today, if more casual than she usually saw him. Most of the time he was in impeccably tailored suits but today he was in a sinfully well-fitting pair of old jeans and a white button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
Stop noticing him. He might look good but he’s kind of a jerk.
And he thought she was strange.
He looked up, his blue eyes dark with some emotion she couldn’t recognize. Easton had never been easy to read.
“I want to apologize. I mean, really apologize. I’ve been acting like a total asshole and I don’t blame you for telling me to leave Friday night. I’m truly sorry.”
He appeared to be completely sincere but she still waited before she replied, wondering if he was going to ruin the apology by tacking on another statement of how she didn’t see what she saw.
“Thank you,” she finally said, emotion welling up and making it difficult to talk. Easton Anderson hated to apologize and everyone knew it. She didn’t have to guess at that since she’d heard him say it more than a few times, and if he didn’t willingly acknowledge it his siblings and cousins all reminded him. So this was a big damn deal.
Easton had said he was sorry and it looked like he meant it.
“Something happened that night,” Easton went on. “I know you saw something.”
She began to stiffen at his words. Here it comes…
“But clearly something very bad happened Friday night, that much I’m sure of, and it wasn’t just that you had a nightmare. You saw something.”
That wasn’t so bad after all. He seemed almost open to her version of events. He didn’t believe she saw a murder but perhaps she’d seen Trip attack someone. It was progress.
“Thank you,” she said again, not sure how she was supposed to react. Gratitude at this point wasn’t an option. She wasn’t going to beg for his support. “I know you don’t like to apologize so this means a great deal to me.”
Chuckling, a smile spread across Easton’s face. “You do know me well and yes, I don’t like admitting when I’m wrong. Luckily it doesn’t happen all that often. It’s rare, actually.”
Now she was laughing too. He hadn’t been down for long, his cocky attitude back and in full force. “We just let you think that to protect your delicate male ego.”
“I appreciate it. Now let’s get to what’s really important. You.”
Easton wasn’t one who delved into feelings. He was more of a surface-skimming kind of guy.
“What about me?”
“You saw something traumatic. I would imagine it would have an effect.”
Was he just playing with her now?
“Since when do you try and psychoanalyze people? You usually leave that to Leann.”
He shrugged, his gaze skittering away and then back. “I’m trying to turn over a new leaf.”
She hadn’t expected that. “So you’re going to try sensitivity and introspection and see how that works for you?”
“Whoa, let’s not go too far here.” He held his hand up in front of him defensively. “Let’s just say I’m trying not to be as much of an asshole and leave it at that.”
This was more the Easton she’d known.
“Fair enough. I appreciate your apology and I can say to you honestly that I’ve barely slept a wink since it happened, but I’m determined to act as normally as possible. Especially as a portion of the town thinks I’m a little eccentric.”
But she’d also had many messages of support as well. Thankfully most of Tremont didn’t have an opinion one way or the other. They were ignoring the entire situation.
“You don�
��t care what people think.”
“I don’t,” Dizzy agreed without hesitation. “Tami made sure to drill it into my head that I had to be happy with me first and not worry about others. I don’t care that some people – like you – think I’m weird. I care that they think I’m lying. That’s a whole different thing.”
“I never thought you were lying.”
Dizzy snorted delicately and then stood, hitching her purse over her shoulder. “No, you just thought I’d imagined it all. As I told you that night, I know you can’t help it. It’s just the way you are. I shouldn’t have told you to leave but I wasn’t at my best at that moment. I’m sorry too.”
His expression softened. “You don’t owe me any apologies. This is all on me.”
“What witchcraft is this, Easton? You’re being so unusually humble. It’s kind of freaking me out.”
“As I said, I’m trying not to be as much of a jerk.”
Somehow they’d ended up standing close to one another, just inches between their bodies. The temperature of the room had soared to an almost unbearable level and to make it even worse she could feel the heat coming off of his body. His unmistakably male scent, a combination of citrus and soap, teased her nostrils and her first instinct was to step back, put space between them. Her legs didn’t obey.
Instead she found herself staring up into his eyes that didn’t look like they normally did. They were bluer, softer, and…something else she couldn’t put a name to. Whether it was pity, scorn, or friendship she had no idea. The one thing she knew for sure was that it wasn’t lust or desire. She and Easton didn’t think about each other like that. They never had. Even when she was a budding teenager and he’d been a suave and sexy older man she hadn’t had a crush on him. He simply wasn’t her type. She’d crushed on Carter plenty of times but Easton left her cold.
Until now, and this had to be a fluke. Maybe she was coming down with the flu or his mother Andrea had accidentally put the heat on. Delirium would also explain what she’d seen Friday night.
“You’re not a jerk,” she said when she realized he was waiting for some sort of reply from her. His brows were pinched together with concern and she had to close her eyes for a moment to gather her scattered emotions together. Logical Easton was easy to be around, but this more caring man had her not knowing which way was up. “You’re a good person.”
Because he was. Like all the Anderson men he was honest, hardworking, and charitable to his community. Okay, sexy as hell too. She could admit that. He’d just been lacking a warmer side.
To her dismay, he reached out and placed a hand on her arm, her skin tingling where he touched. “So are you and I’m sorry that I ever implied that you weren’t.”
“You didn’t. I know you want hard proof. I can’t give you that.”
It was the way he was wired, which wasn’t his fault. The same way Noah liked the physical challenges of running the ranch, Shane liked throwing off the shackles of polite society and going wild, and Carter liked to play the field, basking in female attention. Their little personality quirks made them who they were. It hadn’t mattered much until the other night.
Her fingers curled tightly around the soft leather of her handbag, her jumbled senses desperate for some space. Physical space between them.
“I should probably go downstairs and help your mom and aunt with dinner.”
His hand dropped away and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. “Did you bake one of your famous cakes for dessert?”
Dizzy always baked a few things when she attended an Anderson Sunday dinner.
“Coconut cake,” she said, finally managing to take that step back. “And an apple pie.”
“My favorite.”
She’d forgotten he’d said that yesterday. Hadn’t she?
Chapter Nine
‡
“Did you apologize to Dizzy?” Carter asked Easton as the Anderson men cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. It was the tradition that if the women cooked, the men always cleaned up afterward.
“I did,” Easton replied, rinsing a dirty pan in the sink. “She graciously accepted. I think we’re friends again.”
“You should be more than friends with a woman like that,” Carter declared, slapping down a stack of dirty plates. “Dizzy’s the real deal. The kind of woman that will always be interesting and fun. I don’t even know how you stay awake on your dates with Melanie. She’s attractive and nice but not exactly scintillating in the conversation department.”
This was normally where Easton protested that Dizzy was like a little sister but he couldn’t do that anymore. Lately he’d been thinking about things that weren’t sisterly in the least.
Most recently when they were upstairs in his childhood bedroom. When he was a teenager he would have given his left nut to have a beautiful woman like Dizzy in his room. A real live female that smelled and looked amazing. Now that he was pushing forty-one he shouldn’t have the same reaction but damned if he didn’t. He’d been aware of everything about her. The slim fit of her jeans, the way her breasts swelled underneath her pink blouse, and especially how soft her skin was when he’d touched her. Something he should never do again unless she was drowning in the lake or was choking on a bite of food.
Right. Just in emergency situations. He couldn’t let her die because she didn’t chew her steak sufficiently.
“Hey, Melanie is a lovely woman, so don’t say anything against her.” Easton elbowed his younger brother out of the way so he could wipe his hands on a dishtowel. “We did end things last night.”
His older twin by seven minutes, Noah entered the kitchen juggling a stack of bowls and a couple of glasses. “Who did what to whom last night?”
Waggling his brows, Carter snorted. “East didn’t do or get a damn thing. He broke up with his latest girlfriend last night. Again.”
Easton didn’t need this shit from his younger brother. Or anyone else, for that matter. He had his life firmly in control. For the most part. At least more than Carter had. He’d never spent more than a night or two with any female so he had no room to talk.
“She’s a lovely woman. It just didn’t work out, that’s all. Leave it alone.”
But Carter was just getting started.
“Leann and I both think that Easton should ask out Dizzy. What do you think?”
“It doesn’t matter what Noah thinks,” Easton growled impatiently, nudging his twin aside to place the plates in the dishwasher. He was the only one doing anything to clean up while his brothers stood around with their thumbs up their asses. “My romantic life is not a democracy.”
Noah placed the dishes he was carrying on the counter next to the sink. While Easton was the intense and analytical twin, his brother was easygoing and charming, relaxed in a way that Easton actually envied at times.
“Dizzy’s a nice girl. You could do worse.” Noah laughed and grinned, leaning down to load a stack of silverware into the dishwasher. “As a matter of fact, you have done worse. Remember that–”
“We don’t need a trip down memory lane,” Easton cut in. “Unless you want to go back and review some of your old girlfriends. There were some real winners in that not-so-exclusive group.”
“You’re right. But Dizzy is the kind of girl you fall in love with and marry. Why are we discussing this anyway? Has she shown interest in you?”
Not in the least. She probably loathed him at the moment.
Carter, however, was all about this matchmaking nonsense. “There’s tension. Major tension when they’re in a room together.”
“That’s because I piss her off,” Easton replied heavily, closing the dishwasher door. Anything that didn’t fit had to be hand washed and right now he was thinking Shane ought to do it because he hadn’t helped at all so far. “It’s not because she wants to go out with me.”
“But you want to go out with her?” Noah asked, his brow furrowed.
“No, I don’t–”
“He doesn’t know what he wa
nts,” interjected Carter. “His taste in women is questionable at best. He needs to find someone that can’t be described as suitable.”
Dizzy certainly would fit in that category. He doubted she’d enjoy one of the dead boring business events he had to attend on occasion.
Easton was going to kick Shane’s ass. They’d not seen hide nor hair of him since the pie had been devoured. Now they were going to get stuck elbow-deep in sudsy water.
“So I should date a witch?”
Noah laughed heartily as he filled the sink. “She’s not a witch. She simply has some New Age ideas about the spirit and the body. Remember when I busted my arm last year? She brought over some of those healing crystals and what she called a candle of intent. I was supposed to light it every day for a few minutes and picture my arm healed. I figured it couldn’t hurt so I did it in the morning when I brushed my teeth and the doctor said I healed faster than anyone he’d ever seen. Said it was, and I quote, miraculous. So who are we to question it? Could be real or it might not but she’s not hurting anyone.”
“What if she’d told you that you didn’t need a cast or pain killers?” Easton challenged.
“I’m open-minded, not crazy,” Noah laughed. “Jesus, will you just relax? You’re wound tighter than an eight-day clock, as Mom always says. This is why you can’t keep a girlfriend. Your taste in women isn’t the problem, it’s you. You’re so much damn work it’s exhausting.”
Easton wanted to protest, but if there was one person in the world that knew him better than himself it was Noah. They’d grown up together and spent almost every minute of their childhood together. His twin wouldn’t lie to him.
“I’m not that bad,” Easton muttered, abandoning the dishes and sliding the condiments back into the refrigerator. He was definitely going to kick Shane’s ass.
“Dizzy would be a good match for you.” Noah began dunking the remaining dishes into the sink to soak. “You’re uptight and she’s relaxed and peaceful. She could teach you to meditate or some shit like that. And Mom and Dad would be thrilled. They love her like a daughter already.”
Window to Danger Page 6
