Stay (Healing Springs, Book 2)

by Amanda Torrey

  Cole gave that god-awful grin that turned Ava’s belly into a bounce house full of hyperactive children. She rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness.

  Poor Mrs. Reynolds was not unaffected by his charm. Her smile, framed by red lipstick that bled into the lines around her mouth, encouraged Cole to continue showing off. As if he needed encouragement.

  “Maybe I’ll let you take me out instead, if she doesn’t know what’s good for her.”

  Ava crossed her arms over her chest.

  Cole swaggered toward her, his self-esteem renewed by the interference of her once-liked neighbor.

  “Guess you have no choice.”

  “I always have a choice.”

  “Pick you up at seven?”

  Confidence oozed from every pore of his toned, muscular, make-a-sane-girl-crazy body. He thought he could corner her? Not a chance.

  “Sorry, I have plans.”

  Mrs. Reynolds chuckled. “Honey, I can record that show for you tonight.”

  “Very funny.”

  “Okay, you two lovebirds can go get to business. I’m going to freshen up a bit before I head into town.”

  “Shouldn’t you rest for the day?”

  “I’ll be resting plenty when I’m dead. Now off with you both.”

  Ava grimaced as Cole kissed the back of the elderly woman’s hand in a gallant gesture.

  What would his lips feel like gracing her knuckles? Or her neck? Her shoulders? Lower?

  She nearly cried out when his hand rested on the small of her back, leading her out the door.

  Falling into bed with him again would be so easy. Her body was ready and willing with every thought, every image of him. With him so close and her bedroom just a few small steps away…

  No.

  She couldn’t go there again.

  She didn’t know why he was back in town, but she knew he wouldn’t be around for long. She had learned enough about him in those three months to know that he wasn’t one to plant roots.

  He had an empire to continue to build, and it was far more valuable to him than she would ever be.

  She had no room in her life for another heartbreak.

  “I didn’t know about your dad. I’m so sorry to hear it.”

  Cole remained silent.

  “Is that why you’re back?”

  “I’m helping keep his deadlines.”

  “What about your business? Will that suffer if you’re here working on his?”

  “No. If there’s a perfect time for a heart attack, this was it. A luxury condo project I had been working on was just scrapped thanks to the poor economy. I’m between projects right now, so helping out is no big deal. It’s nice, actually, to get my hands dirty again.”

  “If there’s anything I can do…” Her voice trailed off. What exactly did she think she could help with?

  He spun her around into his arms.

  “There’s something you can help with.”

  She slapped his arm.

  “I meant like make soup or something. For your dad.”

  “You got pretty good with a hammer. Maybe I should hire you. Then I’d see you every day.”

  They had met on a community service project—building a house for a low-income family in town. He had been in charge, and she had been looking to do some good while on college break. She’d never forget all those hot summer days. They had worked up a sweat together all day in the sun, then again all night under a different sort of heat and exertion.

  Regaining her senses before she drowned in the heady scent of his clean sweat and aftershave, she stepped back, ducking under his arm.

  “I have a job.”

  “I’ve heard you’re very good at it, too.”

  She blushed. Being a teacher was her life goal. She wanted to make a difference, and she tried every day to do that.

  “Thanks for your help with Mrs. Reynolds.”

  “My pleasure.”

  He moved closer again, trapping her against her front door. She closed her eyes, captivated by the sensory overload. The longer she spent around him, the more her ability to deny him drained.

  His lips hovered right there, torturing her with anticipation. She wouldn’t say no. She couldn’t say no. She’d die if she said no.

  He didn’t give her the option. He kissed her cheek, then started down the porch steps, taking the air with him.

  “See you around.”

  And then he started whistling.

  Ava closed her eyes and tried to remind herself how to breathe.

  Chapter Three

  Ava buzzed around her house all afternoon, cleaning out of frustration.

  As she scrubbed the inside of her trash barrel—a task she probably hadn’t done, um, ever—she wondered if Karly was correct in her assumption that Ava was sex deprived.

  She hadn’t been with anyone since the demise of her relationship with Kevin. Long before the demise, actually. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had been intimate with her ex-fiance. The sex had been dismal, anyway. She had endured it because she thought she was in love and that she was on the path toward the life she wanted—a house of her own, pets, babies.

  Well, she had the pet.

  And a great rental unit.

  As if on cue, Bear began to whine at the door. Ava tossed her cleaning supplies to the side, washed her hands, and leashed up the dog for a walk they both desperately needed.

  Normally they preferred to walk toward town, but today, with her stained cleaning clothes and sloppy-even-for-her ponytail, she decided to meander down the wooded trail toward the lake, instead.

  This trail had always been her favorite place to walk in good weather. It was a privately owned piece of property, but the owner was never around. It had been on the market for so many years that the “For Sale” sign was barely readable now.

  To distract herself from the flood of memories involving Cole and how they used to sneak down this very trail, she took in the crisp scent of the pine trees.

  Didn’t matter how much she admired the blossoming trees around her, the erotic memories still pushed their way through.

  She sat on the dock, allowing Bear to wade into the cool water. She tossed sticks, he chased them, and she soaked up the fading sunlight from the sliver that warmed the dock.

  Tires rolling along the dirt path startled Ava. She had never encountered anyone here before. Private property.

  Would she be in trouble? Should she run and hide in the bushes? Yeah, that would look good on the front page of the Healing Springs Herald.

  She’d have to face up to her trespassing and hope the owner didn’t mind. Maybe she could try to flirt her way out of it. Karly constantly got herself out of trouble that way.

  Ava called Bear to her side, reattached his leash, and started back down the narrow road. She’d have to pass the truck, but at least she wouldn’t look like she was guilty. She hoped.

  The dingy old pickup truck crashing through her serenity made her wonder if she had stepped into a time warp. It looked exactly like the one Cole had used to drive around the work site and haul building supplies way back in the days-that-shall-not-be-mentioned.

  She couldn’t see through the windshield, thanks to the glare of the sun and the thin layer of dirt covering the truck. She didn’t want to make eye contact, anyway.

  The truck slowed to a stop as she was about to pass it. A door swung open, blocking her path.

  Words tried to form. Apologize? Act clueless? Scream and run because this could be a serial killer?

  Panic nearly overwhelmed her until the driver emerged from the truck and her brain registered that she was looking at Cole.

  “What are you doing here?” Her voice squeaked a bit, but she was grateful the ball in her throat had dislodged enough to allow any noise to emerge.

  “I could ask the same of you.” Why did he have to be so tall? So overbearing? So… Cole?

  “I was walking my dog.”

  “And I was coming to work o
n my property.”

  “You live here?”

  “No, I live in town. I bought this old place as a fixer-upper. Figured I’d get started. I had no idea I’d have such a lovely welcoming committee.”

  He moved closer to her, closing the door behind him. She had to get around him, but with the way he was standing, she’d have to brush against him to escape.

  If she did that, she’d burst into flames.

  “I had no idea you owned this place.”

  “Oh, come on. You don’t read the Herald?”

  She blushed. She rarely had time to read. Except her magazines. And her romance novels. And the occasional biography.

  “Want to take a look?”

  “No,” she shouted too fast.

  “You afraid?”

  “No.” Her denial was a big fat lie. She hoped he couldn’t see through it.

  “The ghost stories are rumors, I assure you.”

  “I’m not afraid of ghosts.”

  She wondered if he knew he had moved closer to her. An invisible force tugged her body forward. Like a giant magnet.

  Cinnamon wafted from him, making her mouth water and her stomach tense. He didn’t touch her at all, but she felt as intimate as if they were naked in bed together. Her body didn’t seem to realize they were fully clothed and standing inches apart.

  Her eyes grew heavier, drifting closed as he leaned toward her, lost in sensations she wanted to deny.

  “What are you afraid of, Ava?”

  You.

  But she wouldn’t give him that power over her.

  A sudden rush of cold air whipped between them. Her eyes flew open and she shook her head to clear the Cole-induced insanity.

  He had stepped aside, offering for her to pass by. If only her danged feet hadn’t rooted to the ground.

  He was helping her leave, offering her an out, and she couldn’t take him up on the offer. An obstacle existed—some kind of short circuit in her brain.

  Cole brushed by her, closing his door as he walked toward the lake.

  “I never saw the sun set here before.” He turned to Ava, his hands in his pockets, his broad shoulders forming a silhouette against the setting sun.

  “You haven’t?” Didn’t he just say he owned the property?

  “It was always dark by the time we got done with work and managed to get here.”

  She smiled and stepped forward, completely willing to jump into the game of Memory. He was the fire. She was the stupid moth who couldn’t resist the temptation of his heat. Didn’t matter that she knew she’d get burned.

  “Yeah, by the time your dad would let us leave for the day, I was full of calluses from wielding that hammer.”

  “Or trying to wield the hammer, anyway.”

  “Hey! Earlier you said I was good with a hammer.”

  “Guys lie around pretty girls. We can’t help ourselves.”

  Ava blushed.

  “I wasn’t that bad,” she mumbled.

  “Let’s just say it’s a good thing you went into teaching instead of construction.”

  “That’s mean.” But she laughed.

  He didn’t say anything, but he seemed to withdraw. She had thought the rapport felt natural. Maybe he wanted her to leave so he could enjoy the privacy of his new property.

  The wind picked up as the sky turned darker. If she didn’t hurry, she’d have to hope for bright moonlight to guide her through the woods. She hadn’t meant to spend so much time here. She hadn’t counted on meeting up with the ghost of her past again today.

  She shivered as the wind blew again.

  He turned toward her, snapping out of his silent reverie and back into charming Cole mode.

  “Come on, I have a blanket in the back of the truck.”

  “Nice try. I’m heading home.”

  But she didn’t move.

  Getting in the truck with him would be a fatal mistake. She had climbed in there once before and had lost her virginity. What would she lose this time?

  She didn’t know what he said or did, but she found herself climbing into the back of his truck, laughing as a soaking wet Bear shook himself all over Cole.

  She huddled against the cab of the truck, wrapped in his flannel blanket, studying the canopy of trees above her. He pointed to a towering tree.

  “Remember that one?” He watched her face as he asked the question.

  How could she forget making love against that rough trunk? It had been exceptionally erotic at the time, but the bark burn had taken forever to heal.

  “I probably still have scars.”

  Their laughter came so naturally, so easily. He kept his distance, careful not to even brush against her. Maybe she had been misreading his advances. Maybe he just wanted to be friends.

  “Cole,” she began, but he cut her off.

  “Shh. Hear that?”

  She leaned forward, drawn to him. Was it possible that his face became even more handsome while so deep in concentration?

  “I think that’s the sound of the world rushing past.”

  She sighed. Nice thought. If only the world could keep rushing and let them stay here in this moment. Together. In peace.

  Ava studied his lips as he stared into the colorful sky. She needed a tiny taste, a little lick, the smallest nip. Just enough so she could say her memories were wrong and he wasn’t the best she could ever imagine.

  The fates clearly knew she was leading herself down a treacherous path. A light rain began to fall through the already chilly atmosphere. She welcomed the healing drops as they chilled her fevered skin.

  She folded the blanket and thanked him for the reprieve.

  “Get in the truck, it’s raining.”

  Bear followed her to the end of the truck bed, jumping into her arms after her feet hit the ground.

  “Ava, come on. I’ll drive you home.”

  “I’m good. Thanks, though.” Ava pulled her betraying dog down the path.

  “Jesus, Ava. Just get in. I’ll take you straight home.”

  The rain turned into a downpour, soaking through her clothes and leeching into her blood.

  She’d risk pneumonia if it meant keeping her pride and her heart intact. He was too much of a risk.

  “Don’t look so damned scared.”

  She wanted to brush the wet lock of hair that fell near his eyes away. She wanted to soothe the tic from his jaw, reassure him that she would never be afraid of him. She wanted to strip her clothes off and have her way with him as the rain poured over their bodies, his heat keeping her warm.

  She wasn’t scared.

  She was terrified.

  Every cell in her body pulled her toward him, and her brain worked overtime trying to get her to act with sense. She’d never be important to him, and what she needed from him was more than just an end to the pulsing between her legs.

  A one night stand would be one thing, she supposed. Giving in to feelings she long ago buried—allowing them to crawl out of the grave to hurt her again—would be suicide.

  Cole reached his hand out to grab her again. If he touched her, there would be no more resistance. She didn’t have the will.

  He didn’t want her. Sure, he might be on board with having sex with her, but he wouldn’t be there to hold her the next morning and all the other mornings after that.

  He couldn’t love her.

  And she couldn’t not care about that.

  Unable to let him get any closer than he already had, Ava turned and ran. Bear came along with a yank of the leash.

  Cole didn’t bother to come after her.

  Chapter Four

  The buzzing of her cell phone, accompanied by Bear’s howling response, startled Ava awake. She cursed as she fumbled to yank it free from the charger. She hated being interrupted in the middle of an amazing dream. Even if the dream did involve Cole and his work-roughened hands.

  “Hello?” She cleared her throat to rid it of the huskiness.

  “Morning, wild one. I didn’t fig
ure you for someone who’d be sleeping in.”

  She pulled the phone away from her ear and squinted to see if she could read the number. She had half expected the call to be coming from a telemarketer. She didn’t expect to hear Cole’s voice on the other end.

  “You there?”

  Bringing the phone back to her ear, she pushed herself upright in her bed. His deep voice rumbling into her ear while lying in bed was the last thing she needed.

  She mumbled something nonsensical.

  “Didn’t mean to wake you. Want me to call back in a bit?”

  If she had never seen the man, she’d know what he looked like just by the sound of his voice. His deep, velvety tone, coupled with the dream she struggled to recover from, was enough to turn her insides all mushy, make her hands tremble, and her throat constrict. The man could make a fortune as a phone sex operator for lonely women everywhere.

  She was not a lonely woman.

  “Ava?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. How’d you get my number?”

  His turn to be silent.

  Ava pressed on. “It’s a cell. It’s not like it’s listed anywhere.”

  “I was sworn to secrecy. I vowed not to reveal my source.”

  “Then how will I know who to kill?”

  “That’s kind of the point.” She heard his smile through the phone. He taunted her, teased her, made her body shake with need.

  “So what do you want, anyway?”

  “Oh, come on. Is this how you treat all of your old friends?”

  “We were never friends.”

  “I’m wounded.”

  Not as wounded as he’d be if he didn’t back off.

  Standing up to him over the phone proved so much easier than in person. At least she couldn’t be captivated by those titillating dimples, so her brain was less likely to dissolve into a skull full of mush.

  “I think we need to get together to sort this whole thing out.”

  “Why would we need to sort anything out?” She couldn’t willingly see him. She couldn’t be in the same room with him. She didn’t know what his MO was, but she needed to treat him with the same care she would a contagious child. All the hand sanitizer in the world couldn’t prevent the damage he could do if she allowed him to get close enough.