Stay (Healing Springs, Book 2)

by Amanda Torrey

  “Because I think I’m right and you’re wrong.”

  She nearly choked on her indignation.

  “I can hear your mouth opening and closing in shock that I’d even suggest such a thing.”

  His arrogant chuckle made her want to throw the phone across the room. But it also made her want to cuddle up and ask him to read her poetry.

  “Can you prove me wrong? Can you prove you don’t still want me?”

  “Oh, so we’re issuing challenges now?” Ava searched for a way to turn this conversation around. He knew darned well she couldn’t turn down a challenge or a dare, and she couldn’t allow herself to get trapped that way.

  She bit the sides of her cheeks to keep from issuing the challenge herself.

  “I guess you could say that. I think that if you stopped ignoring me long enough, you wouldn’t be able to resist me.”

  “Wow.” Ava had to hand it to him—he had dump trucks full of confidence. “If that isn’t the most arrogant statement I’ve heard in years. Probably four years, but why count?”

  She’d swear to a jury that she could hear the crack of his dimples through the phone lines, and that’s what made her fall into his evil clutches.

  He thought she wouldn’t be able to resist him?

  “Care to prove me wrong?”

  Oh, did she ever.

  She swung her legs over the side of the bed, adrenaline forcing her to get up and formulate a plan of her own.

  “Name the time and the place.” This was one challenge she was certain she could win.

  “Right now.”

  “Be serious.”

  “Do I sound like I’m joking?”

  He sounded like he wanted her to run her hands down his chest, over his ripped abs, and into his pants.

  Every part of her that shouldn’t respond to those thoughts went on instant alert.

  “I’ll be on my way to pick you up in five minutes.”

  “No! Wait!”

  “So you do have a voice.”

  “Very funny.”

  “Okay, I know what you’re thinking.”

  So now he could read minds?

  “Oh yeah? Why don’t you tell me so we’ll both know?”

  “You’re thinking of all the preparations you’ll have to make to try to win the challenge.”

  Ava flushed deeply. She was happy he hadn’t truly read her mind, because he would have seen the hot images of his very own hands running over her breasts in the summer heat of four years past. No need to give him the wrong idea…

  “Is that right?” Her voice was doing that stinking husky thing again. Even Bear didn’t recognize the tone—he sat on the floor with his head cocked to the side as if trying to decide whether he needed to howl, go back to sleep, or lick himself.

  “Yeah. You need to give yourself time to get the chastity belt all set. Would tonight at seven give you ample time to make your preparations?”

  “Well aren’t you clever?” Ava stood and paced the room, stumbling over a pile of clothes she had forgotten to pick up. “Don’t be so sure of yourself, Cole. A woman doesn’t need iron to protect herself when she can so easily resist a man’s advances on her own.”

  “I can’t wait to prove you wrong.”

  “Best of luck to you.”

  On that note, she hit “end,” effectively terminating the conversation.

  And she tried desperately to rid herself of the thought that for the first time, she’d met a challenge she was eager to lose.

  ***

  Ava smiled as she scored a great parking spot in the shade by the town common. Karly waited in front of their favorite lunch spot, wildly typing on her smartphone. Probably texting the latest and greatest weekend conquest.

  “You’re late.” Karly looked up long enough to fake-glare at Ava, then returned her attention to her phone.

  “Am I interrupting something here?”

  “I’m almost done. Give me one sec.”

  “I’ll grab us a table.”

  Karly joined her moments later at the booth in the back corner.

  “Didn’t they have any tables in the kitchen for us?” Sarcasm dripped from Karly’s tone as she shrugged out of her sweatshirt.

  “What do you want for a busy Sunday at noon? Besides, did you want to sit right behind Miss Molly? How would we gossip? She’d have us filling out papers to add to the worry jar.” Ava kept her voice to a whisper, not wanting to offend the sweet older woman, but also not wanting to risk any private conversations going viral.

  “Good point. I think I’d blow up the universe if my worries were released into the atmosphere.” Karly picked up the menu to study it, even though she always ordered the same salad and half sandwich.

  “Yeah, but she might be onto something with the whole worry jar thing. I heard that she had Savannah Grace do it and look what happened to turn her life around.”

  Karly lowered the menu.

  “Why don’t we just go out and dance naked under the full moon? Maybe then all our wishes will come true.”

  “You’re so jaded.”

  Ava wished things could be as simple as her daydreams. Miss Molly, with her never-ending supply of fashionable eye patches, was the most positive and insightful person she had ever met. Surely she was onto something with the whole worry jar thing.

  “Oh, before I forget. Feel like catching a movie tonight? I need an excuse to turn down this guy I picked up last night.”

  “The loving feeling has been lost already, huh?”

  “You could say it was lost about five minutes in. When the act of ‘love’ ended.”

  “Oh boy.”

  The waitress interrupted to take their orders.

  “So movie tonight?” Karly texted madly on her phone as she waited for an answer.

  “Can’t.”

  “Why? What’s on TV?”

  “Why does everyone think that’s all I do?” Ava lamented. “I live a very full life, you know.”

  Karly looked up from her screen long enough to raise an eyebrow of doubt.

  “I’ll have you know that I have a date tonight.”

  Ava blushed as Karly dropped her phone on the table and sat back in her seat.

  “You have a what?”

  “A date.” Ava stuck her tongue out at Karly. Way mature.

  “With the cable guy? You got him to do a service call on a Sunday night?”

  “Karly!”

  “Well? Deets!”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Oh, please. This is Healing Springs. I’ll hear soon enough, anyway.”

  “True.” Ava studied her hands. How was it possible that she still had a little bit of green paint stuck in the lower corner of her nail? Her class had been painting a mural in school on Friday, but she had scrubbed her hands clean. “It’s Cole.”

  “Whoa, hold up. You mean, the Cole? The one you got all hot and bothered about Friday night? You’re hooking up with him on a Sunday night? You naughty girl.” Karly leaned forward, resting her generous chest on the table. “I fully approve.”

  “I figured you would. But don’t get too excited. We’re not ‘hooking up.’” Ava made air quotes. “He issued a challenge and I have to win.”

  “Ooh, I’d let that man win anything he wanted to.”

  “He won’t be winning this one.” Ava sat up straighter in her seat. “He thinks I can’t resist him if he takes me out. Can you believe the arrogance?”

  Ava and Karly thanked the waitress for delivering their drinks.

  “You’re planning to let him win, right? Oh, how delicious.”

  “Absolutely not. Do you know me at all?”

  “Come on, Ava. What do you have to lose?”

  “Everything. I don’t lose challenges.” Except the ones that mattered. But she wasn’t about to bring this conversation to the dark ages of her failed relationships.

  “What’s the deal with Cole, anyway? Why are you so pissed at him?”

  Ava thanked her luck
y octopus pendant for the waitress’s timely intervention.

  “I’m starving.” They ripped into their food as if they had been enduring a famine.

  Once they finished and fought over who would pay the bill (Karly won this round), Ava said her goodbyes with the excuse that she desperately had to do some grocery shopping before she was forced to starve for the rest of the week.

  “Wait. Before you go, I heard Opal is taking walk-ins for her beauty treatments.”

  “She’s open on Sunday?”

  “She’s trying to build business. Everyone in town is open on Sunday. Especially since the flatlanders are returning in droves. Come on in with me—it will be my treat.”

  “Did you suddenly fall into an inheritance?” Ava joked.

  “I sold some of my work.”

  “Nice! Congrats.” Karly had a full-time job to pay the bills, but her real passion was photography. Ava was thrilled for her friend that she made some money on her passion.

  Karly opened the door to the beautician’s shop, and Ava wondered how she had allowed herself to get pulled into the incense-filled lair.

  “We’d like to get waxed, please.”

  Ava waited until the young lady working the check-in counter went behind a curtain to ask someone else about the wait time before she nudged Karly.

  “Waxed?”

  “Yeah. Trust me. You’ll be glad.”

  “What exactly are we getting waxed?”

  Ava wasn’t one for pain. Waxing sounded like extreme torture.

  “You know. Trust me, you want to be as smooth as possible for your rendezvous with Cole.”

  Ava blushed again.

  “There’s not going to be a rendezvous.”

  “So you say. But hey, if you’re prepared, it’s less likely to happen, right?” Karly smiled and followed the beautician as she led them to their individual areas, separated by only a curtain.

  “Who’d like to be first?” Opal asked, after the obligatory small talk.

  Ava flipped through a magazine as she waited for her turn. She looked in the free-standing mirror next to her chair, studying her face to see if she did, indeed, need any particular waxing. Her eyebrows seemed fine. She had just shaved her legs Friday, but they were a little stubbly already, so maybe a waxing would be a good experiment. How bad could it be? Tons of women did it regularly.

  The young check-in lady brought Ava a hospital-type gown to change into. She did as told, freeing her legs for their treatment.

  When Opal came to the room, she directed Ava to put her feet into the stirrups. Ava groaned. She wasn’t a particular fan of the gynecologist, and this was worse.

  “Slip off your panties.”

  “Wh—why?”

  “For your waxing.”

  Ava did as told. She crossed her legs and held the gown in place, suddenly very shy. This felt so wrong.

  “Ava, I’m out front when you’re done.” Karly’s voice carried through the curtain.

  Ava bit her tongue to keep from threatening the person responsible for putting her into this situation.

  “Feet up.”

  Ava complied, but she knew her blush had spread over her entire body.

  She closed her eyes tight and refused to think about the pain her legs were about to endure.

  The sudden sensation of hot wax had her bolting upright.

  “That’s not my leg!”

  “Of course not. You requested a Brazilian.”

  “I most certainly did not!”

  “Yeah, it’s here on the paper.”

  Mortified to the bone, Ava weighed her options. The wax already covered at least half of her sensitive area. It had to come off.

  “You should have people sign consent forms before you start these procedures,” Ava mumbled. But she reclined in the seat, biting the sides of her cheek to keep from screaming from the anxiety of what she was about to go through.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  Opal picked up the container of hot wax and began to approach Ava again.

  “Can you just do this part first?”

  Opal looked at her as if she had sprouted eighteen heads and a banana for a nose.

  “If that’s what you want.”

  She didn’t really want any of this, but she had already been rude enough.

  The person she had to save her ire for was waiting out in the front.

  “Ready? One, two,”

  “Yow!”

  Ava screeched. She bit her knuckles. She willed away the tears that suddenly burned her eyes. She huffed and puffed and tried to think happy thoughts.

  She bolted out of the chair, pacing the room uncomfortably. The pain was excruciating. She felt like someone had attacked her with a hot poker and branded her.

  She hastily retrieved her clothes, skipping the panties as she thrust her still-stubby legs into her jeans.

  She had no words.

  “The first time is always the worst. But you can’t leave it like that.”

  “It’s fine the way it is.”

  Opal shook her head.

  “There’s no discount for half a job.”

  Ava glared at the woman’s back as she cleaned up the area. She slipped her shoes back on and stormed out past Karly and into the street.

  A few minutes later, presumably after paying, Karly joined her.

  “What was the rush? And my god, I could hear you scream all the way in the front of the shop.”

  “What. Were. You. Thinking?”

  “I was thinking you’d want to be nice and tidy for Cole.”

  “I could murder you. With hot wax.”

  “Oh, come on. You’ll learn to like it.”

  “I most certainly will not.”

  “You will. Once you see how much he appreciates it, you’ll be more than willing to have it done again. Besides, the second time doesn’t hurt nearly as much.”

  Ava stormed off to her car, wishing she had worn softer pants and never trusted her friend.

  ***

  After stopping at home to let Bear out and to grab her grocery list, Ava noticed Mrs. Reynolds outside watering the baby flowers she was hand growing in her window boxes.

  Ava asked if her neighbor needed anything at the grocery store, and Mrs. Reynolds gratefully gave her a small list, smiling brightly. Ava smiled back, happy she could do something to assist her elderly friend.

  As she drove to the grocery store—a small, “hidden” shop in town that only the locals knew about (as a special way of protecting the locals from the higher tourist prices and the throngs of crowds that hit the public stores in the summer)—Ava found herself daydreaming along with a love song on the radio.

  Dancing with Cole in the lake had been one of the highlights of that summer. When he’d sing into her ear, she could practically forgo foreplay.

  Not that he would ever allow that to happen.

  She smiled, suddenly eager to push time forward so she could see him sooner. She wondered how hard he’d try to win this bet.

  She mentally slapped herself for her wayward thoughts.

  But why? Why couldn’t she allow herself to take what he offered? She knew there could be no future, so why not live it up in the present?

  She knew why. Because she had offered her heart to him before. He didn’t want it.

  She shook her head as she realized she had passed the turn she needed to take for the grocery store.

  Her subconscious had led her to Cole’s father’s latest work site where a new development was being constructed.

  She pulled over, ready to do a three-point turn to hightail it out of there. What the helicopter was she doing?

  She took a deep breath and tried to help the panic subside. She had nothing to worry about. Even Cole didn’t usually work on Sundays. He wouldn’t have a clue that she had ever been on his turf.

  Before she had time to turn her car around, she spotted the man of her daydreams. And night dreams. And all-out-crazy-lady fantasies.
Ugh.

  Why was he here?

  With no crew—just working by himself?

  Because he’s a workaholic and can’t help himself, that’s why.

  He stood beside the frame of a building, his tool belt resting on hips she could feel her hands caressing. His shirt was off, and his shoulder muscles worked to lift a piece of wood which he then carried to the workbench stationed a few feet from his location.

  Being that sexy should be illegal. He shouldn’t be allowed to flaunt it.

  As he revved the saw to life and began cutting, Ava’s body revved as well. She envied the wood for getting the privilege of having Cole’s hands moving over it; so capable, so sure.

  Who cared if the wood was getting cut in the process? Wasn’t the pain and destruction worth the moments of pleasure in his hands?

  The sun caught the glistening sweat running down his temple and chest, and her hands tightened on the steering wheel. She had to stop herself from jumping out of the car and tossing him on the workbench.

  So many erotic pictures flashed through her head. Oh, the things they could do on that workbench. She could wrap her legs around his waist, her bare bottom balanced on the bench, not caring about the potential for splinters as he thrust into her over and over. His hands would work their magic over her desperate-for-his-touch body, making her come alive in ways she could imagine so vividly.

  Her hand found the handle of the car door. No one was here but her. And him. And that not-so-solid workbench.

  Who cared about a stupid bet?

  Would it even count if she seduced him before the date?

  A woman walking toward her object of desire—from an entry point Ava hadn’t noticed before—put a swift end to her fantasies. All long legs and exotically dark, waist-length hair—the woman looked like she walked straight off a photo shoot. She carried what looked to be a can of soda in one hand and a small cooler in the other. She approached Cole with a familiarity that had Ava’s heart racing. Ava bit her lip as she watched the woman sneak behind Cole, reaching up to rub the can of soda across Cole’s neck. Ava leaned forward, mouth gaping, as he jumped in surprise, shutting off the saw and laughing as he tried to grab the can from the woman’s clutches. She bent under his arm to escape his reach, but Cole grabbed the cooler from her hands. He reached in, retrieved ice, then slipped it down the woman’s back, causing her to arch her shoulders back and release a shriek from her delicate throat and lovely, full lips.