by Nicole Deese
“For the last nine years I’ve cared about nothing more than this farm and the man it’s attached to. Until you.”
She stared at the hollow of his throat, unable to meet his eyes, unable to accept his words.
But despite her shock, he continued. “Whatever I thought I wanted last year or even last month is not the future I’ve been thinking about lately.”
The ring of her phone snapped them from their frozen stare down.
Missed call: Cal Shelby
And then an immediate text to follow: Where are you? Celeste and I have already started the meeting. You’re late.
Two things hit her at once. One, Cal was back and it was only Wednesday. And two, Celeste had scheduled a meeting without bothering to inform Rayne.
Levi clambered down the metal ramp. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go.” She tucked her phone into her pocket once more.
“Why?”
“He’s back, Levi.” There was no breaking it to him gently. Cal was home and their time together would suffer for it. “And I’m late to a meeting.”
He wrapped a hand around her bicep before she could turn away. “It’s not like he’s roaming your lobby at four a.m. Cal being back doesn’t have to change anything for us.”
Only she believed differently. Cal being back would change things. It would change a lot of things.
“We’ll see each other when we can, Levi.” The best reply she could offer for now, yet one she knew he’d ultimately refute.
She freed herself from his hold and started for the exit.
Levi followed her out, matching her hurried stride up the driveway and into the trees beyond. “And when will that be?”
Hadn’t she known he wouldn’t accept her vague response? “I’m not sure yet. I need to figure some things out first.”
“Fine. Then let’s figure them out together. You’re not in this alone.”
Wasn’t she, though? The question seemed to materialize out of nowhere, as if her doubt had been crouched in hiding, waiting for just the right moment to pounce. Yet the truth was . . . if the two of them were exposed, it would be her dreams at stake, her future at risk.
“Rayne.”
At the sound of his voice, the spiraling disquiet in her mind morphed into the crunching of footsteps at her side. Levi was still trailing after her. Onto Shelby land. And by the look on his face, he was prepared to march straight into the lodge if she didn’t stop him first.
With no time to spare, she spun toward him and pressed a quick kiss to the edge of his jaw. “I’ll call you the second I can. I promise.”
For now, it was the only promise she knew she could keep.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Levi replayed Rayne’s hurried departure a hundred times over in the next few days, their interactions limited to phone calls and predawn text messaging. Cal’s return and endless demands on Rayne had been met with ample frustration on his part—all of which could be summed up by a lack of face time with the only Shelby he cared about.
He kicked a pile of loose gravel and trudged up his front porch steps after a long day networking with his new vendors. His mind was everywhere but on the invoices and paperwork awaiting him inside.
A half step into his house, he stopped short.
Hauser’s ears perked up, his eyes playing a game of tennis between Levi and his master.
The smack of the screen door against the frame elicited no reaction from either of the visitors in his home.
“Sit, Hauser. Stay.” Ford laid a weathered hand on the shaggy dog’s head, his bony shoulders bowed as if an invisible fifty-pound weight had been strapped to his back.
Levi tossed his wallet and phone on the coffee table. “Didn’t you have a meeting in town with the Farmers Society this afternoon?”
“It ended early.”
Those meetings never ended early. “How come?”
Ford shifted a shiny object in his hands, continuing on as if Levi hadn’t asked the question at all. “Out of respect, I’ve tried not to notice the odd hours you’ve kept over the last week, your high spirits, your frequent phone calls. I’ve wanted to honor your privacy, refrain from asking too many questions.”
“I’ve been seeing someone.”
“I figured as much,” Ford said, his tone flat.
“And I figured you’d be happier about it. Weren’t you the one lecturing me last month about broadening my interests?”
Ford lifted his chin, steadied his no-nonsense gaze. “Les Jacobs told me he saw you with a woman a few days ago.”
“Where?”
Ford crinkled his brow. “Shouldn’t you be asking me who—who he claims to have seen you with?”
“No, I’m asking you where because we’ve been too careful to be seen within city limits together.”
Ford winced and dropped his head. He blew out a weary breath. “Tell me it’s not her, Levi. Tell me I didn’t defend you to a room full of trusted friends—”
Levi shifted his stance and leveled his gaze. He would own this. He probably should have owned it sooner. “I’m seeing Rayne Shelby.”
The air turned stale and the last of Ford’s optimism drained from his face.
“Where did Jacobs see us?”
“On a delivery upriver. Said he saw her waiting in your truck in a parking lot.”
Levi cursed under his breath. He’d taken her on a quick drop to one of Tom Hutchinson’s franchises last week, two towns over.
“I care for her, Ford. A lot.”
Ford’s gaze sharpened. “And I care for you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“Consequences aren’t always physical. Not the ones that hurt the most anyway.”
“You think she’ll break my heart?”
“I think she’s tied to a family who doesn’t care nearly as much about heart as they do about image.”
Ford’s life was testament enough to such a truth.
“You don’t know her.”
“You’re right.” The break in Ford’s voice startled the resting dog at his feet. “I was not given the chance to know her.” He stopped toying with the shiny band in his palm and set it on the coffee table. William Shelby’s ring. One of the few earthly possessions Ford treasured. William had given it to him just a few weeks before he died.
Levi cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.”
“Is she as committed to you as you seem to be to her?”
Levi opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the memory of their last day together in the warehouse crammed into his thoughts. “She’s trying to figure things out right now.”
Ford settled into the sofa cushion while Hauser stretched, yawned, and wagged his tail side to side. “I’ve heard there’s a lot of changes going on over there. Not only with her father’s reelection announcement, but also with the management of the lodge staff.”
“What are you getting at?”
“It’s a lot of pressure for her, for anyone, but especially for a young woman who’s been groomed to live up to the Shelby name. A moment of insurgence is a natural response to overbearing expectations.”
“You think our relationship is an act of rebellion? She’s twenty-six, not sixteen.” But hadn’t Levi questioned that himself a time or two? “It’s not.”
“Then why the need to keep your relationship a secret? Why the need to hide? To sneak around?”
Because she never would have agreed to see me if not.
Levi ground his back molars. He despised the idea of being anybody’s dirty secret, yet there wasn’t a bone in his body willing to consider the alternative. Not if it meant losing her. “We’re taking it one day at a time.”
“And then what? You think one day she’ll wake up and be willing to let it all go because of you? Her family name, her reputation, her future inheritance?”
“It’s possible.”
“No it’s not, Levi. Cal’s hatred for me—for this farm—isn’t
something to be messed with. She knows that as well as I do.” His apologetic tone ate at Levi’s resolve. “You need to end things with her. Before he finds out.”
“No.” He respected Ford, loved him like the father he never had. But he wouldn’t—couldn’t—walk away from Rayne. He was in too deep to go back to how things were before. Too deep to be satisfied catching a glimpse of her through the tree line. “I won’t let their lies take her from me the way they took her from you.”
“Son”—a stabbing sadness crept into Ford’s eyes—“their lies are the only thing she knows. The only security she trusts.”
Levi fisted his hands at his side. “She trusts me.”
“Not enough.”
Levi ducked under the eaves of the warehouse and answered his phone on the first ring. He needed a break from the afternoon sun. “The old tyrant let you off on time today? I hope you’re headed to get some sleep.”
“Not exactly.” Her words stretched on a yawn. “I was supposed to have lunch with Gia at the gallery today, but she’s in one of her creative zones and asked to postpone so she could work in her studio. So now I’m here in an empty store.”
He picked up on her subtle suggestion immediately. “I can be there in twenty.” No further prompting needed. He pushed off the wall and started for his house. A quick shower would do him good.
“Really? I wasn’t sure you’d be free.”
“If we left seeing each other in the hands of convenience, we’d never see each other at all.” Which wasn’t too far off from their current reality. “Shoot me a text with what you like on your sandwich and I’ll grab us some lunch. Unless you want to take a gamble and let me guess.”
“Your guesses are usually pretty accurate.”
The screen door slammed at his back and he pulled his sweat-drenched shirt over his head. “Tends to be the case when I’m invested in the subject.” He unlaced his boots and kicked them off. They thudded to the floor one at a time.
“I miss you.” Her quiet admission made his throat ache.
He turned the shower on and slumped against the bathroom cabinet. “I’ve offered to storm the Shelby castle a thousand times, slay the dragon master, and collect my prize. You just haven’t taken me up on it yet.” He wasn’t sure what bothered him more, Rayne’s mounting excuses, or the recycled conversation he’d had with Ford days ago.
“There are far too many dragons for you to slay.”
“You underestimate me.”
“Often.”
He smiled and reached past the shower curtain to adjust the water temperature. “Gotta run, princess. See ya in a few.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The lodge wasn’t the only place affected by the low-lying smoke. Gia’s gallery hadn’t tempted a single customer to push through the door since Rayne arrived two hours ago. An anomaly for a town like theirs. In the heart of the tourist district, the charming shop doors along Sherman Boulevard usually remained propped open during the summer months. Not so this year. The change in air quality had affected more than just sightseeing and tourism. Cotton-dry throats and red, itchy eyes had become the norm, so much so that Rayne had finally conceded to trade her contacts in for her glasses. Much to her chagrin.
The door swung open and the clay frog that doubled as a welcome committee croaked loudly.
“Nice frog,” Levi offered.
“I hear they’re all the rage.”
“Then I must be in the wrong social circles.” Levi’s gaze slid from the ugly statue near his feet up to her eyes. The impact left her heart thumping wildly.
Her stomach dipped at the sight of him. Snug-fitting, olive-green T-shirt, dark-wash jeans, finger-combed hair. She wanted to rush him, loop her arms around his neck, kiss his mouth until oxygen became an afterthought. And if the way he was staring at her was any indication of what was going on behind his masked expression, she wasn’t alone in her desire.
“You should have warned me,” he said.
“About the frog?”
“About your glasses.” A sloped grin, lazy and enigmatic, lifted the corner of his mouth.
She touched the frames.
“You like them?”
“That’s not the word I’d use.”
The backfire of a passing truck reminded her of where they stood. Next to the large storefront window, completely exposed to onlookers.
She hitched her thumb toward the storage-closet-office in the back. “We should probably—” His face shadowed and she edited her word choice. “We can eat back in the office. At the desk.” Out of sight.
With the slightest dip of his chin, he acknowledged her request but said nothing as he zigzagged his way through the maze of art.
He set the paper lunch sack on Gia’s cluttered desktop while Rayne secured the door, propping it open several inches. At least she could rely on the toady croak to alert her if a customer wandered inside.
She touched a hand to his back, the heat from his body seeping into her own. “Thanks for bringing lunch.”
He unwrapped the butcher paper from the first sandwich and then twisted his head, a humorless laugh escaping him. “Guess there’s a first time for everything.”
She scrunched her face and scooted a chair out from the corner for him. “We had lunch at your house last week, remember? I brought Delia’s Caesar salad over.”
“I meant being shuffled into a back office like an employee who just got his hand caught in a till. That’s a first.”
“A tad dramatic, perhaps,” she teased, pulling the phone from her back pocket and placing it on the desk. Just in case Gia called early.
He said nothing more and handed her the turkey, Swiss, and chutney on sourdough. Though her appetite had waned, she took a substantial bite, hoping the gesture might encourage him to do the same. Delia always said an empty belly was the root of all grumpiness.
“This is really good,” she mumbled, wiping the crumbs from her lips. “See? I knew you could be trusted in sandwich pickings.”
He lifted his own sandwich to take a bite, bacon sticking out from the folds of his bread. He eyed her as he chewed.
Fine. He could eat. She would talk. She excelled at warming frosty moods. Lord knew she’d been given plenty of experience appeasing disgruntled people—both in her chosen career and in her personal life. She knew how to turn on the sunshine. Pinching a piece of shredded lettuce between her fingers, she flicked it onto the crinkly wrap. “So, you know how I told you about the new campaign ads?”
He grunted a reply.
“Cal and Celeste are on this new kick to use the lodge for all the campaign promos, hoping the lodge’s family-owned angle will appeal to a wider demographic. A producer sent over a list of ‘family-friendly decor’ to add to some of the rooms along with his lighting preferences. You wouldn’t believe how many kinds of lamps I had to search through yesterday before Cal—”
“I really don’t think I can discuss your uncle today. At least, not without punching my fist through a wall.”
“Well, don’t hold yourself back on my account.”
“You have no clue how much I’ve held back.”
Okay, then.
If bacon couldn’t cure his funk, she doubted there was much hope left to salvage their impromptu lunch date. He tossed his sandwich down, scrubbed his napkin across his mouth, and then balled it into his fist. “I hate this.”
Dread dropped like an anvil in her stomach. “You know I wish things could be different.”
“Do I?” He kicked back from the desk and stood, yanking on his neck as if he could loosen the tension in the room like a pulled muscle. “Do I know that?”
“You should. I tell you all the time.”
He let out a huffy laugh. “No, you tell me all the reasons why we can’t work. Why we can’t have a future. That’s not exactly the same thing.”
She swallowed the lump of bread lodged in her throat and discarded the second half of her sandwich. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
<
br /> “And I don’t want to be shoved into a closet like some soiled piece of laundry.”
Guilt pooled in her chest. That was exactly what she’d done to him. “Levi, I’m sor—”
“No.” An apology laced his voice and shone in his eyes. “I’m . . . I’m the one who’s sorry.” He reached for her face. “I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at this—at everything I can’t control.” He smoothed his thumb across her cheekbone. “I don’t know how to fix this, but there’s not a moment that goes by that I’m not trying to solve it. At least in my head.”
Her heartbeat thudded as his gaze pleaded for something she couldn’t give him. His jade-flecked eyes dipped to her mouth and her brain slowed. Everything slowed.
“I feel the same way,” she said.
“I miss you, Rayne.”
She didn’t respond to him with words; instead, she drew him closer and brushed a kiss on his mouth, tasting the heat from the sprinkle of pepper attached to his bottom lip.
She’d missed him too. More than she’d allowed herself to realize.
The desk vibrated against her outer thigh. A phone was ringing. Her phone was ringing.
Levi looked from the caller ID and then to her. He spun the phone toward her, the screen bold and bright.
Jason Albright.
“Why’s he calling?” she wondered out loud.
His eyes mirrored her question.
She picked it up, swiped a finger over the screen, and mouthed, Don’t leave yet.
Levi wasn’t going anywhere.
At the fire camp, Jason had seemed like a respectable enough guy, especially after he’d assumed Rayne and Levi were an item. And now, well, now Levi planned on sticking around to make sure his first impression of the fireman had been correct.
The healthy glow in Rayne’s cheeks dimmed as her polite exchange gave way to short, tight-lipped replies. She cut a glance to the clock on Gia’s unkempt desk and nodded. “Yes. Of course. However I can help. I’ll stay in touch. Thank you for calling.” She tapped the screen and faced him fully.
