by Rye Hart
“No.”
Brian’s voice was stern and caused me to jump. It was a tone of voice I’d heard many times when I was with Daryl. That tone of voice that spoke of controlling intent and disapproval. Hearing that tone drip from Brian’s lips only fueled the anger that bubbled in my gut whenever I thought of that pathetic bastard.
“How about this?” I asked as I looked at Lanie. “When I get my cabin repaired, you can come over anytime you want, and I’ll cook us something.”
“Pancakes?” Lanie asked.
“That’s enough, sweetheart,” Tanya said.
“If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get,” I said.
“Pinky?”
The little girl held out her pinky finger, and my eyes drifted up to Brian. There was a storm of emotion rolling over his face. Anger and apprehension and sadness. There was a wall coming up over his entire face that set it in stone. His brow was furrowed with a deeply-set frustration that made me curious about him.
What was a man with a child doing on a mountaintop that had nothing to enrich a child at all?
“Pinky promise,” I said.
I reached down to link the little girl’s finger, and she smiled broadly. She let go of my pants and allowed me to leave the house, her eyes following me as I left. I hobbled down the porch steps and began limping back toward the cabin.
My mind started running through all the things I could do to make it better before I had to get creative.
I looked back at Brian’s home and saw Lanie standing on the porch. Tanya was behind her, holding the little girl close to her side. Lanie was waving with a big smile on her face that warmed my heart.
But Brian was standing inside, watching me from his kitchen window. I could tell by the set of his broad, sculpted shoulders that my mere presence had made him uncomfortable. I couldn’t help but be intrigued as to what his story might be. I highly doubted I’d ever find out though, that man was as guarded as they came.
I nodded once in his direction and turned toward home, hobbling as I went.
I had to figure out what to do about the cabin. How I was going to get it fixed? It was rundown, and it needed a great deal of love and care. It would take going into town and pricing out some things to figure out how much money would need to be spent on my end, but I could no longer think straight with my stomach as empty as it was.
I grabbed my purse from the house, threw open some windows to let out the dust, then got into my car and went into town.
I needed food, quiet, and some time to think.
CHAPTER 4
Brian
I hated going into town. People around here were too friendly for their own good. If I could’ve found a way to have groceries delivered every two weeks, I’d never come into town. But food was necessary and between the things I ate and the things Lanie needed, I could only shove two weeks’ worth of stuff in my refrigerator.
“Grocery store!” Lanie said.
“Yes. Every two weeks,” I said.
“Ice cream?” she asked
“If you’re a good girl, we’ll get you some, yes.”
“And chips?”
“You can have ice cream or chips, but not both.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’ll get a tummy ache.”
“But you rub tummies,” she said.
“Only yours, and only when it hurts. But you don’t want it to hurt, do you?”
“Will you rub my tummy anyway?”
“How about I scratch your back?” I asked. “Like I do whenever you go to sleep?”
“That’s sleepy scratch. I’m not sleepy.”
“You’re not, huh?” I asked, grinning. “Well, what about this. If you’re good at the grocery store, I’ll rub your belly while we’re standing in line waiting to check out.”
“But ice cream?” she asked.
“You just want everything, don’t you?”
“Yes!”
Chuckling, I placed her in the grocery cart. We needed to stock up on everything. Toilet paper, toothpaste, diapers and wipes. We needed fresh vegetables to go with the deer I’d shot last week, and I was out of all the spices I used for my chili. I walked up and down the aisles as I grabbed things, and Lanie giggled as she tossed random boxes of food into the cart. Crackers and dental floss. Cereal I knew she’d never eat and dried cranberries. She tossed them in and giggled profusely like she was getting away with something she knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?”
I plucked her from the cart and started blowing raspberries into her stomach. She squealed with delight and kicked her legs, begging me to stop as I tickled her underneath her arms. She was giggling and panting for breath, trying to wiggle out of my grasp as I planted my lips on her cheek.
“Beard,” she said breathlessly. “Beard tickles.”
I set her back into the cart and continued up and down the aisles. Loaves of bread and peanut butter made it in as well as gallons of milk and containers of juice. I grabbed fresh and frozen vegetables for quick lunches and dinners, then I threw in a few snacks I knew Lanie loved.
She clapped her hands in delight when she saw them being tossed into the cart.
“Now, what are we missing?” I asked.
“Ice cream!” Lanie said.
“That depends. Have you been a good girl?”
“Uh huh.”
“A really good girl?” I asked.
“Yes, Uncle Bwian!”
“A really, really, really good—”
“Chocolate, please?”
I laughed at her insistence before I pushed the cart down the ice cream aisle. I grabbed a pint of her favorite chocolate ice cream and tossed it into the cart, then I made my way to the cash register. Just like I’d promised, I rubbed Lanie’s stomach while we waited. Her eyes were already beginning to droop shut with exhaustion as her nap time approached, and I shook my head as she laid her forehead against my chest.
She looked so peaceful whenever she was sleeping. A far cry from the shrieking, crying child I’d inherited a year ago.
The ride back to the cabin was quiet. Tanya came running out to scoop up Lanie so she could tuck her in as I unloaded the groceries. I put everything away and stuffed the groceries into their places just as Tanya came into the kitchen, and I could feel the questions she wanted to bombard me with.
“Something on your mind?” I asked.
“I was just thinking about that nice new lady up the road,” Tanya said.
“What about her?”
“You think she’s doing okay?”
“Don’t know,” I said, shrugging.
“I didn’t know if you’d been checking in on her since she hurt herself.”
“Why would I do that?” I asked.
“Because she’s a pretty young woman who happened to inherit the cabin next to yours.”
“How did you know she inherited it?” I asked.
“So she did inherit it.”
I could hear Tanya’s grin as I turned around and studied the woman. She was older, with a head full of salt and peppered hair. It was the only thing that gave away her age because her skin sure as hell didn’t. It sagged and drooped a bit here and there, but there were no wrinkles in it. No bags underneath her eyes and no scars to weigh her skin down. She was plump with the many children she’d raised on her own, and the war-torn life she had led being married to a military man was reflected in the brown of her eyes.
I had a great deal of respect for her, but it still didn’t give her the right to meddle in my affairs.
“She did, yes,” I said.
“Did you have a nice conversation with her?” Tanya asked.
“What are you getting at?”
“What I’m getting at is maybe you should take her some food. She was hobbling around pretty badly, and her car has been coming and going. I think she’s living off fast food.”
“She better. Turning on a stove in
that cabin might set it on fire,” I said.
“All the more reason for you to take her something.”
“Why the hell would I do that?” I asked again.
“Because there’s no one else around here to do it.”
“You could since you seem so keen on it.”
“Then who’s going to take care of Lanie?” she asked.
“Umm, me.”
“I think it would be better if you took it to her,” she said.
“What exactly are you trying to do here Tanya?” I asked, my voice laced with annoyance.
“You should take her your chili. That stuff is the best. I’ve already got some venison that has fully defrosted in the fridge.”
“I’m not taking chili to Amanda,” I said.
“Please?”
I whipped my head around at the sound of Lanie’s voice as she stood in the hallway holding her blanket.
“What are you doing up?” I asked.
“Go see Amana! Please?” she said, not quite able to pronounce Amanda’s name correctly.
“Sweetheart, Amanda isn’t feeling well,” I said.
“Food! Amana!”
“I think she’s onto something,” Tanya said.
I eyed her darkly before I sighed. Lanie was looking up at me with her puppy dog eyes and giving me that little pouty lip. Tears were welling in her tired eyes as she ran over and wrapped her arm around my leg. She nuzzled her nose into me, wiping away the snot from her fake tears as she snuggled into my jeans.
“Please?” she asked lightly.
I knew I couldn’t refuse a heartfelt plea like that. Hell, I couldn’t refuse Lanie much at all. Over the past year, I’d watched Lanie grow. I’d watched her blossom into a little social butterfly, and part of me hoped she would always stay that way. Just because I enjoyed being reclusive didn’t mean she had to be as well. But that meant I would have to support and even encourage her interacting with others.
I guess we’d have to start with my new neighbor.
“Okay,” I said as I looked down at her. “But you have to take a nap. No nap, we don’t go over.”
“Yay!”
Lanie went dashing back down the hallway as Tanya followed her quickly. I could hear the two girls giggling as she bedded Lanie back down, and I sighed as I listened to the sound. She looked like her father in every sense of the word, but when she laughed, she sounded like her mother.
Holy hell, how I missed my sister.
I started working on my chili as Tanya picked up the cabin. She worked around me, her grin lurking in the corner of my eye. I had no idea what she was up to or why she was so hellbent on making this happen, but I knew there was a plan formulating in that brain of hers. It was what she did when she was bored. She could come up with the craziest of activities for her and Lanie to participate in.
And when she was stumped with Lanie, she always tried to meddle with me.
Usually, it was her coaxing me to take a night off. Go into town, get a drink, maybe meet someone and get a hotel room. She’d offer her services watching Lanie for free so I had no excuse, but I would always turn her down. She would try to get me to interact with people and get back out there, so to speak, but I would balk and tell her I wasn’t interested.
So, why hadn’t I done that now?
The chili was cooked, Lanie was awake, and Tanya was about to leave for the night. She offered to keep Lanie one last time before I sent her away, then I packed up the chili and held Lanie’s hand. We walked up to Amanda’s cabin, and I was shocked to see the lights on.
Electricity was running through the rundown cabin, and it hadn’t burst into flames yet.
We walked up the rickety porch, and I could see the splinters popping up from the wood. It was a shame that this cabin hadn’t been treated with better care. The types of wood this home had been built with were sturdy. By the looks of it, the porch could still be salvaged. It needed to be sanded out, treated, and sealed, but if there were no foundational issues, it could be saved.
I shook the thought from my head as Lanie knocked her little fist against the door.
Amanda opened the door, and I could see the shock roll over her face. Her bright green eyes sparkled in the colors of the sunset as the rays tossed colors against the skyline. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater that was falling off her shoulder, teasing my lips for a kiss.
Part of me wished I had taken Tanya up on her offer to watch Lanie now.
“We brought chili,” I said.
“For dinner,” Lanie added.
“How kind,” Amanda said, smiling. “Um—”
She looked back into her home, and it gave me a second to peer into it. Many of the surfaces looked recently cleaned, but there was still a lot of work that had to be done. I could see a cupboard door hanging off its hinges and a dishwasher that had been worked out of its cubby. There were chairs with wobbling legs that looked as if they were going to tip over any second. Just from the glimpse through the door, I could see why Amanda was hesitant to let us in.
Wonderful. I could just leave this chili with her here on the porch and not have to get involved.
“You can eat it whenever you want,” I said as I handed it to her.
“Oh,” she said as she took it. “Well, thank you.”
“No eat?” Lanie asked.
I looked down at my niece as her big doe eyes looked back up at me. I knew she had been looking forward to staying. Part of me had entertained the idea as we walked here, but when Amanda opened the door, I knew I had to find a way out of this.
She was too alluring, and her skin looked too soft for me to be having dinner with her alongside my niece.
“Wanna come over?” Lanie asked.
“Lanie, I’m sure she has—”
“If the offer is on the table, I’d love to.”
My eyes found hers, and there was a brightness to them that hadn’t been there when she opened the door. Her eyes ran down my body before she found Lanie’s smile, and I watched a grin crawl across her cheeks. I could feel the electricity surging through my veins as I thought about kissing that exposed shoulder of hers. My toes curled at the idea of her whimpering at the way my beard would trail along the dip in her waist.
It was going to be dangerous to live beside someone like her.
“Then come on,” I said as I took Lanie’s hand.
“Let me slip some shoes on.
Lanie skipped ahead of us as she ran back to the cabin. I was carrying the pot of chili I’d made for Amanda while she limped alongside me. I could see the wince on her face every time she took a step, and I had to fight back the urge to throw her over my shoulder cave man style and carry her back to my place.
We settled at my kitchen table and dug into the food. I poured us all some soda and grabbed Lanie her sippy cup. Amanda hummed with every bite of the food she took, and I had to take deep breaths just to keep my cock at bay.
“This chili is delicious,” she said. “I can’t cook anything like this.”
“It’s easy,” I said. “Throw some stuff into a pot and let it simmer.”
“Yeah, you say that until I tell you I once burned an egg trying to hard boil it.”
I raised my head and looked at her. “So no one ever taught you how to cook?”
I watched a curtain of sadness drape over her features before she drew in a short breath.
She ignored my question when she finally spoke. “This chili’s really good. If you haven’t written down the recipe, you should. Someone somewhere will want it from you someday.”
I watched her lips curl over the spoon, and I shifted in my seat. Fuck, this woman dripped with sexual energy. The curves of her body and the slope of her waist. The way her jet-black hair cascaded down her long porcelain neck. The marks I could paint on her skin would leave a game of connect-the-dots that spanned her entire fucking body if she gave me one night with her.
What the hell had gotten into me? My niece was sitting right here, and I was
all I could do to keep my dick from breaking my zipper.
A phone rang in the room, and I welcomed the distraction. I left the table to answer it and saw her eyes trail after me. I could see her reflection in the window as I picked up the phone, her eyes darting around my features before sneaking down to my ass.
My pelvis heated at the fact that she was studying me like I was trying not to study her.
“Hello?”
“Brian, it’s me.”
“Hey, Luther,” I said to my lawyer.
“Listen, I’ve got an issue that’s arisen,” he said.
My jaw clenched. “What’s up?”
“Lanie’s father has lawyered up. He’s taking you to court for custody”
I looked over at the kitchen table and saw Amanda playing with Lanie. Lanie was giggling, and Amanda was tickling her feet. My eyes settled onto the scene and took it all in before I stepped out of the room, padding down the hallway with the phone still by my ear.
“What the hell?” I asked.
“Yes. Custody or money, that’s what he’s seeking.”
“So he doesn’t want Lanie. He wants to drain me of money,” I said.
“Right now, he has a compelling argument. He’s the girl’s biological father. The courts like to keep parents and children together whenever they can.”
“Biology doesn’t mean shit here Luther. That deadbeat asshole never gave a shit about Lanie before now. He knows I have money, that’s what this is all about.”
“I know that and you know that, but he’s laying it on pretty thick right now. His idiot lawyer actually thinks he gives a damn.”
Clenching my phone, I turned back toward Amanda and Lanie. The giggles falling from her lips were no match for the brightness that had arisen in Amanda’s eyes. She was playing with the little girl and laughing right along with her, and I could see a flush rising in her cheeks. It painted her skin in a healthy hue that drew me right in. That begged for my fingertips to run lightly across the color. I hadn’t been this attracted to a woman in a long time, and I had shrugged off the idea of women altogether once Lanie had come to live with me.
“You could give him the money he’s asking for,” Luther said.
“How much is he asking?”
“Four million dollars.”
