It had been two days since she’d seen him, since he’d asked her to marry him, but the pain inside her was still as raw and real as that night. Yet she continued to tell herself she’d given him the right answer. He’d never understand why she’d done it all. Why it was something she had to continue to do.
She may have considered not answering the knock that sounded on her bedroom door, but her father didn’t leave that as an option. “Josie,” he said, pushing the door open, “we need to talk.”
Turning, she dropped her feet to the floor but didn’t rise off the cushioned window seat. “About what?”
He walked in, closing the door behind him. “I just got a call. Francine Wilks’s last man was just arrested in Duluth.”
“That’s good,” she said.
“Yes, it is.” He sat down on her bed. “It also means you can leave the resort if you wish.”
Lifting her chin, she said, “I thought I couldn’t attend meetings for two weeks.”
“You can’t attend society meetings for two weeks, but you can go and visit people if you want to.”
She turned to glance out of the window. “Who would I visit?”
“Your sister, for one,” he said. “I’m sure there are others.”
“None that I can think of,” she muttered.
“Gloria would like you to look at some property in town. She’s thinking of opening a dispensary there.”
“I don’t know anything about being a doctor,” Josie said.
“But you know plenty about pouting.” His black-and-burgundy suit stood out boldly against her white bedspread.
“I’m not pouting,” she said. “I’m simply accepting my punishment.”
“Rubbish.” He shook his head. “I may not be very good when it comes to broken hearts, but I know a lie when I hear one.”
Blinking at the sting in her eyes, she asked, “Who has a broken heart?”
“You.”
She wanted to shake her head, but her neck had seized up.
“I was as surprised as Scooter when you said you wouldn’t marry him,” her father said. “I don’t understand why you refused.”
“Norma Rose will be leaving soon, and—”
“Don’t give me that excuse. Norma Rose hired Maize, and that is working out very well from my understanding. I’ll be here, so will Gloria.”
Josie was too full of hurt to take much more. “Are you saying you don’t need me?”
“No, I’ll always need you, just as I’ll always need your sisters, but I’ll never stand in your way, just as I didn’t stand in their way when it came to marrying the men they love.”
Tears clouded her vision. “It doesn’t matter if I love Scooter or not, I can’t marry him.”
“Care to tell me why?”
All the reasons she’d come up with in the past two days shot forward in her mind. “Because he lied to me—he told you everything when he promised he wouldn’t. Because he thinks it’s all over now, that I’ll never have to go to Duluth again.” Fury was building inside her and she leaped to her feet. “It’s not over. Francine may be gone, but there are other girls there who still need help. Other girls who don’t want to be there, but don’t have a choice.”
Reaching out, her father took her hand and pulled her over to sit on the bed beside him. “And that’s what you want to do, help those girls?”
“Yes,” she said. “I want to buy a house, a safe house, where the girls could live while they find other work.”
“Then do it.”
“I’m going to,” she said, “as soon as Norma Rose gets back from her honeymoon.”
“There’s no reason to wait until then,” he said. “You have plenty of money in the bank—I should know, I put it there.” Grinning, he continued, “Use some to buy a house and hire someone to run it.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course I wouldn’t mind,” he said. “I’ll give you regular donations to keep it going. I have a few friends that will, too.”
“You will?”
“I’ve known for a long time that running this resort isn’t for you. You have to go with what’s in your heart, Josie. If you really want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen, no matter what.” Lifting her chin, he added, “But that doesn’t mean you have to give up on other things.”
“There are no other things.”
He stared at her long and hard, before letting go of her chin. “If you say so.” After kissing her forehead he stood up. “I’m going to Twyla’s for dinner. You’re welcome to join me.”
“No, thank you,” she said. “I have some planning to do.”
Nodding, he walked away, but stopped after pulling open the door. “I’d have helped you and Gloria with those girls if you’d have asked.”
“You would have?”
“Yes.” He took a step but then stopped again. “We never know what someone will say until we ask them.”
A shiver rippled up her spine.
“I have one more question, and then I’ll leave.”
She nodded.
“Does Scooter know you want to keep helping those girls?” When she didn’t reply, he said, “Perhaps you should tell him.”
She opened her mouth, but closed it when her father started talking again.
“I’ve already told him how indebted I am to him. If not for him, I may have lost you. He saved a lot of lives. I’d think you’d want to thank him for that.”
As the door clicked shut, Josie rubbed the base of her neck, where deep inside her throat burned. Pushing off the bed, she walked to the door, but then turned and walked to the window, where she spun around again. Feeling caged, she left the room and took the back staircase down to the kitchen. The resort wasn’t busy, but there were a few guests and the waiting staff was busy carrying out platters and plates to them. Bypassing the activity, she ducked into the storeroom and then out of the back door.
The same door she and Gloria had used on the Fourth of July, leaving Scooter standing there alone, promising to wait for her. Tears once again formed in her eyes, and this time, she let them fall.
She crossed the lawn to the road that led past Uncle Dave’s cabin, noting that his Chevy was gone. The very car Scooter had found a way to get back home so she wasn’t caught. Following the bootlegger’s road, she walked past the boathouse they’d been locked in together. The tears were still falling, but they weren’t painful now. Before she realized it, the Bald Eagle depot appeared. She walked around the building and then along the tracks. Town was four miles ahead. She had no desire to go that far, but couldn’t seem to stop walking. It was as if her feet had a mind of their own, knew where they were going.
When she finally stopped, her heart was beating fast. Not because of the exercise, but because of her location. She stepped over the iron rails and into the row of trees that separated the train tracks from the highway. Scooter’s station sat on the other side of the road.
The ditch was steep. One misstep could easily twist an ankle. A grin stopped as it was being formed. Scooter wouldn’t come to her rescue. Not this time.
Choosing her steps carefully, she made her way down the ditch and up the other side. The gas station was built close to the road on the other side, and she could clearly see the Closed sign hanging on the door. It was late, already past closing time.
A clap of thunder had her glancing skyward. How had she not noticed those dark clouds? Storm clouds. Having been at his station many times, she knew the back door was rarely locked.
She ran across the road and made it inside Scooter’s station before the rain hit.
* * *
Rain was the last thing he needed. No, Scooter thought as he wiped the water off his face with one hand, the bolts of lightning striking the ground all around his bike were the last thing he needed.
The storm rolled in fast. There hadn’t been a drop of rain when he’d left the Plantation. He could have stayed. He’d been invited to the evening m
eal, but Clyde had told him all he needed to know. Francine Wilks’s last man had been found hiding under one of the piers. Josie was safe. Spending the evening with her family was something he didn’t need right now.
He’d known she’d be mad at him for telling her father the truth. His timing could have been better, when it came to asking her to marry him. Then again, it had been a pipe dream anyway. In the midst of all the craziness, he’d lost sight of his station in life. He’d come a long way since his father’s death and would continue to work hard until his dying day. He had a lot more than many others, a home with food on the table and heat when needed, reliable transportation and enough money that he didn’t worry when falling asleep every night. All that was enough for some. Enough for him in many ways. Just not for Josie.
His common sense had gotten away from him, that was what had happened when he’d asked her to marry him. Of course she’d said no. No woman would want to live in a dingy room above a gas station. And even if the three bedrooms at his mother’s house hadn’t already been taken, Josie was used to living in much finer conditions than he could offer.
A dip in the road, full of water from the rain cascading down, caught him off guard, and he wrenched on the handlebars, struggling to keep the bike upright. After a couple of moments when the back tire fishtailed, the cycle straightened out and he pulled the bill of his hat down a bit farther, wishing he had his goggles. At least he was almost home.
Less than half a mile later, he pulled into his gas station. While rounding the building to park the bike under the lean-to built for that purpose, the side door caught his eye. It wasn’t shut. The latch didn’t always catch, but he’d purposefully checked that it had closed before he’d left.
He parked the bike in its normal spot. The rain was so loud he doubted whoever was inside could hear him approaching. It could just be a traveler who’d taken refuge from the rain, but then there would have been a vehicle parked nearby.
Scooter entered via the open door and crossed through the mechanic’s bay—where the main light switches were located near the door that led into the other room of the station.
He pulled his hat off and dropped it on the workbench that lined the wall as he strolled forward. Once at the door, he threw it open and pulled on the long cord for the lights at the same time.
Overhead, the bulbs flickered as the light grew stronger and right before him, standing next to the desk he used to write up orders and pay bills, Josie slapped her hands over her mouth, muffling a squeal as she stumbled backward.
Expecting anyone but her, Scooter stopped dead in his tracks. It wasn’t until a smile—one that made his heart flip—overcame her startled expression that his mind clicked into gear. “What are you doing here?”
Her coy little shrug and the way she tugged at the hem of her white blouse didn’t help the way his body was reacting to seeing her. The britches hugging her hips teased him, too. They always had. The fact she never dressed like her sisters may have been part of the reason he’d forgotten the big differences between the two of them. Dressed as she was, he could almost believe Josie wouldn’t mind living above his station—at least until he could build her a proper house, which he would do. Or would have done if she’d have said yes to his proposal.
Fighting the urge to step forward, he growled, “A man can only take so much, Josie. Don’t push me too far.”
“Push you too far?” she asked. “I haven’t pushed you. You were the one pushing, the one telling me what to do—”
“Because you were too foolish to see it for yourself,” he interrupted. “You were too busy worrying about saving the world to realize how much danger you were in.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “You were my saving grace, always there to rescue me.”
Her confession broke things loose inside him. As did the way she approached him, slowly and purposefully.
“You’re my hero, Scooter,” she said. “My hero.”
He had no response to that. She was here. Standing right before him. The instant that all hit home, he caught her shoulders, pulled her forward and planted his lips against hers with all the intensity of the storm crackling and booming outside.
Scooter didn’t stop with one kiss. Nor with several. He kissed her over and over again. Especially when her lips softened and parted for their tongues to meet in a way so primitive he could almost imagine what Eve’s first kiss must have done to Adam. It was pure sweetness, heavenly and uniquely forbidden all at the same time.
It wasn’t until he realized the desire filling him was a new danger to her now that Scooter ended the kiss. He couldn’t, however, convince his arms to let her loose.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Her arms were around his neck, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair. “You’re wet,” she said.
The blush on her cheeks told him she hadn’t been sure what to say, had just let something roll off her tongue. The desire to let his tongue play with hers again had him biting the inside of his cheek and he was having a hard time controlling all the other desires springing forth.
Tugging her hands away by grasping her elbows, he dropped her arms to her sides and spun around. Shrugging out of his wet coat, he marched forward before he changed his mind.
When he picked up the telephone earpiece, she asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m calling your father.”
“He’s not home,” she said.
“I know,” Scooter said, “I saw him at the Plantation before I left.” He gave the crank a whirl to connect to the operator.
A boom rattled the window. “Hang that up,” she insisted. “You could get struck by lightning. Everyone knows that.”
That did happen often enough, yet he turned to face her. “I’ll take my chances.”
“Ducky,” she said smartly, “water’s a conductor of electricity. Lightning is electricity and attracted to the high poles. You’re dripping on the floor with the phone in your hand.”
Scooter spun to talk into the mouthpiece, waiting for the operator. “Come on,” he muttered.
“The operator’s not going to answer,” Josie said. “They have an iota of common sense.”
A snap and crackle in the phone line sent a shiver through his body. Scooter slapped the receiver into its holder and unbuttoned his shirt, ripping off the wet material covering his tingling skin. He dropped the shirt to the floor as he backed away from the phone.
Footsteps made him whirl around. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” Josie said.
“Home?”
“Yes, home.” She lifted her chin. “I thought maybe we could talk, but I see the only person you ever want to talk to is my father.”
He caught her arm before she opened the door to the mechanic’s bay. “How’d you get here?”
Nose forward, not glancing his way, she said, “I walked.”
He twisted her around to face him. “Why?”
“Because I felt like going for a walk,” she snapped.
Hope was once again blooming inside him. “To here, so we could talk?”
“Yes, but I’ve changed my mind.”
Her tone was sharp, but tears glistened in her eyes. Regardless of all that had happened, or perhaps because of it, his heart was spilling out all the love he’d worked so hard to keep concealed. His fingers slipped down her arm and then folded around her hand. Pulling her closer, he wrapped his other arm around her. “Come here,” he whispered.
As the warmth of her cheek came to rest on his bare chest, she sniffled softly.
The tingle beneath his skin had nothing to do with the phone or the lightning. Ignoring it, he gently rubbed her back. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve wanted to talk to you, too. I need to apologize.”
She sighed heavily. “For telling my father everything?”
“No.” Resting his chin on the top of her head, he added, “I had to do that, Josie, and I’m not sorry.” Increasing the intensity of his
hold, he added, “Francine’s last henchman was arrested this morning. They found him under a pier near her warehouse.”
“I’d heard that,” she answered.
The storm outside was increasing its wrath. Wind and rain had the windows rattling and the lights overhead flickering. Scooter tried to concentrate on that—what was happening outside of the room, not what was happening inside him—but the feel of Josie snuggled against his bare skin was impossible to ignore, and impossible not to react to.
He kissed the top of her head, hoping the action would help satisfy a part of the desire rippling through his veins.
She leaned back slightly. A tiny frown made her brows knit together. “What did you want to apologize for, then?”
His throat locked tight. He wasn’t sorry he’d asked her to marry him, was just full of remorse it couldn’t happen. At least right now. If he worked hard, doubled his income, he’d be able to build a house and then he could ask her again. The possibility of that had him lowering his mouth to hers again. This time he didn’t release her lips for a very long time. Not until his lungs were burning. Even while drawing in air, he didn’t lessen the hold he had on her hips, how he kept them pressed against his. A gentle rhythm had overtaken them both. A dance given birth by the music of their bodies, drawing them together with teasing and lusty promises. More overpowered than he’d been by anything, ever, Scooter slid his hands around to her backside and pressed her more firmly against him as they kissed again.
Chapter Eighteen
The intense burning and throbbing coming from her very core was as exciting as it was foreign. Once before, the night of the fireworks, while dreaming about Scooter, Josie had experienced this unfamiliar need. She’d awoken that night, withering beneath the sheets and squeezing her thighs together. There’d been a great craving inside her, a need that had burned like no other.
It was there now, too.
Kissing Scooter, twirling her tongue with his, made that need spike, as did his hands, the way they squeezed her behind and pressed her more firmly against him. She could feel him, and thinking of that, realizing what she felt, made her heart quicken and her breath catch. Her breasts felt heavy, too, and her nipples stung in a rather spectacular way. The pressure of them against Scooter’s bare chest was encouraging all of the wonderful chaos inside her to grow.
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