“You can go.”
“It does look like you have this under control, except for the lack of pants thing.” Travis put his coffee cup on the top of the ladder. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“I guess you’ve heard a lot about me.” Instead of getting down, she sat on the third step.
“Apparently not everything.”
Mitch could picture the company e-mails now. Travis would inform Spence who would tell Austin. The circle of gossip hell would never end. And that was just the part that impacted him. Mitch still needed to worry about her. “Travis, not a word about this.”
“I don’t think your height issue is a secret.”
Mitch ground his back teeth together even harder this time. It was the only part of him that still had any feeling. “About Cassidy staying here.”
“She’s staying here?”
Clearly he was not getting his point across. “Spence, the employees, the entire town of Holloway. No one needs to know.”
Travis glanced at Cassidy then nodded. “Okay.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll let people know you’re doing something at home and will be late.” With that, Travis waved and took off.
Mitch watched the younger man’s old truck bounce down the driveway. He heard the clap of boots against metal and turned around in time to see Cassidy standing on the grass. The knot inside him untangled until he glanced at her face and the way her mouth curled into a frown.
He’d seen that sort of female disappointment before. Carrie wore it when she described the type of women he usually brought home.
“What?” he asked, knowing a smart man would head for the house. Run for it if he had to.
Cassidy balanced her elbow on one of the rungs. “What was with the death stare and unspoken threat of firing Travis?”
As if he needed proof that women and men spoke two different languages. “What conversation were you listening to?”
“You begged Travis to keep me a big secret.” She held up her finger when Mitch started to talk. “Is that what all this hang-out-at-the-house stuff has been about? At first you wanted me at the nursery then all of a sudden no. You wanted me hiding out here. Is it that you don’t want people to know you’ve taken in The Chosen One?”
“With all the conclusion jumping you must be exhausted.”
“Mitch, I’m serious.”
And way off base. “I wanted you to have a few days to relax.”
“I don’t think so.”
It was true he didn’t want to drag her around town, introducing her as the woman he was sleeping with. He didn’t even know how to define what they had. Letting other people slap a label on it made him nervous. “Tell me about this conspiracy you have in your head.”
“If I’m here and no one sees me, you don’t have to answer questions.”
This time a male yelled out his approval as a car went by. Mitch knew that one was about her legs and not his chest.
“If you keep what we have casual and unimportant, then you don’t have to explain to Travis or Spence. You don’t have to fill in Austin and your sister.”
Mitch had no idea what was happening. The morning started out great. Sex and bacon. Was there a better combination? Now he was standing outside, freezing his junk off, while she threw around accusations.
“That’s ridiculous.” But somewhere in his brain a lever clicked. He didn’t have to face a repeat of the Susan situation if everything stayed casual.
“Does Spence know I’m here?”
Mitch saw the minefield and tried to slip around it. “He’s my business partner.”
“And your friend.” Cassidy folded her arms across her stomach. “What about Darla or your parents?”
“If you knew my parents, you wouldn’t ask that.”
Cassidy threw back her head and let out a dramatic exhale. When she faced him again, some of the earlier spark of excitement had left her eyes. “Mitch, I appreciate everything—”
Desperation welled up inside him out of nowhere. “No.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
She’d back away and he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Casual didn’t have to mean only a few nights. They could enjoy more of each other. “Do not use this argument and whatever you think my motivation is as your way out.”
Her head tilted to the side as she gave him one of those inviting smiles that started his lower body revving.
“What part of last night makes you think I wanted out?” she asked.
He sputtered through a few nonsense words but couldn’t get out anything that sounded like a sentence. He barely choked out a syllable.
“Well?” She was right in front of him now. Her hand on his frozen chest and the warmth of her body pulsing into his.
“I’m thinking.” Just not with his brain, which was the problem.
“I’ll wait.”
When he forced his mind away from her body and back to the casual thing, he had to admit she had a point. He didn’t view her as a one-night stand, couldn’t imagine her walking out now. But he hadn’t exactly demonstrated that. “Okay, maybe I haven’t put an ad in the newspaper announcing your new address.”
Her fingertips traced the dip at the bottom of his throat. “I’m still waiting.”
He knew what she wanted. Giving it to her wasn’t nearly as tough as he tough it would be.
With his palms on her hips, he tugged her closer, blocking out the outline of his neighbor on the porch across the street. “I am not ashamed of you. I swear that’s not it.”
She sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. In that moment, he knew they’d dodged the train barreling right for his thick head. She’d heard whatever she needed to hear. He would dissect the conversation later and figure it out. For now, he reveled in the feel of her.
“That’s the one thing I can’t take, Mitch.”
After everything, he owed her at least that much. “I don’t care about the rumors, except for how much they annoy you. It’s just that, maybe…”
“Since when do you have trouble finding your words?” she asked.
“Is it so bad that I wanted you to myself for a few days?” It wasn’t a lie. The town acted like it owned her. For a short time, he wanted the secret of knowing she belonged to him.
She must have liked his answer because her fingers slipped into his hair. “No.”
“Really?”
“That’s kind of romantic.”
He groaned. “I will never understand women.”
“You’re freezing by the way.” She rubbed her hands over his now numb flesh.
“I can’t feel my feet.”
“Aw, you poor baby.”
“Some very important parts might be out of commission.” As he said it even his lower body sparked to life again.
“If we share a shower, I can give you a rubdown.”
Oh yeah. Look at that. His lower half was just fine. “All of me?
“Any part you want.”
“I’ll race you inside.”
Chapter Eleven
Three nights at Mitch’s house and two public meals, complete with holding hands. Cassidy waited for the sky to fall. That’s what happened when things went well for her. The ying to her yang hit overdrive and something terrible happened. She’d messed up an interview. She got sick. She lost everything. There was so much bad in her past that sometimes it overwhelmed the good.
Except for him.
She looked over and watched Mitch talk to the state inspector as they paged through paperwork. She couldn’t hear him over the roar of the crane. Couldn’t hear much of anything. Nursery employees and some interested neighbors stood around shouting about angles and distance to the house. They’d dug a huge channel around the tree and now it was a waiting game.
Today was the day Spence was taking the two trees, and Allan wasn’t here to supervise. He was the guy who watched over everything. When he didn’t like the way painters were working on the house years
ago, he fired them and did the work himself after work each night.
He’d given Mitch some excuse about missing today and his friend needing him. Never mind people were digging up the yard of the house he loved.
“Tough day?” Spence came up beside her as he asked the question. His attention centered on the equipment in front of him.
“I wish Allan were here.”
He tucked his clipboard under his arm. “Me, too. I’m never comfortable doing property work without the owners around to sign off.”
She looked at Spence then. Behind the handsome face and dark hair she saw the locked jaw. Also noticed the stubborn refusal to give her eye contact. The man acted like he hated her and she couldn’t remember them saying more than ten words to each other in ten years. She understood being protective of his friend, but she hadn’t given him any reason to worry.
She kept starting, willing him to look at her. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Okay.”
“But you’re determined to see the worst in me.”
He faced her then. “I don’t know you.”
“And you would think that would stop you from judging me.”
“Your record isn’t exactly clean.”
Judgment and an unbending belief in his position. She’d dealt with men like that her entire life. “All because I gave an interview years ago that offended people.”
He pursed his lips as if he was considering her point. “There’s more than that, but it’s a good place to start.”
Mitch appeared between them. Actually wedged his shoulders between them until he blocked one from the other. “What’s going on?”
Cassidy knew she should back down. Spence and Mitch were close, had always been close. According to Darla, Austin and Mitch had always been best friends. These other men played a significant role in Mitch’s life and thought they knew what was best for him. She appreciated the closeness and wanted that for Mitch but was so tired of the whispers and innuendos. Just once she wanted someone to side with her without hearing her side of the story.
Mitch gave her that. Was it too much to ask that his friends support him even if they couldn’t tolerate her?
She ignored Travis’s stare from the other side of the year. “Spence is talking about my past.”
Mitch’s shoulders fell. “Damn it, Spence. I warned you.”
She closed her eyes on a rush of relief. Not a surprise that Mitch had tried to protect her, to warn Spence off. But that wasn’t enough. She knew Spence’s type. He was the guy who needed facts. He wouldn’t just back down or believe because other people did.
If he wanted the truth, she’d spew it. If other people overheard, then all the better. She was sick of taking the high road and not explaining. “You want to know about that interview? I had spent two and a half months in and around Everest. It was clear when I reached the summit but a storm rolled in when I was on my way down. We’d already survived an avalanche.”
Spence held his clipboard up, almost as a shield. “I’m not saying your accomplishments aren’t impressive.”
She wanted to smack the guy. Instead, she talked over him. “I had an unplanned bivouac on the descent. Do you know what that means?”
“No.”
Mitch sent Spence a look of pure fury. “You don’t need to explain—”
But she wanted to. The words just poured out of her now. “I used my axe to dig a makeshift seat in the ice at twenty-seven thousand feet and then had to sit there, without a tent or any supplies except what I was carrying, and hope I didn’t go to sleep and fall off the side of the mountain. Freezing, tired, hungry and slowly losing my mind as I fought off a headache I knew signaled the start of a sort of climbing dementia that would lead to hallucinations and worse. I was convinced I would die before the sun came up.”
Spence swore under his breath.
“So when I finally reached Base Camp, half delirious and partially snow-blind, I was exhausted. I had a stupid conversation with a reporter. My fingers had started to thaw and I was pumping fluids to keep from dehydrating.”
“Mitch is right, I don’t need—”
“We joked about being from small towns and traded funny insults. It meant nothing, but it became the headline. Forget that two people died in that avalanche. Forget that seven people died that season on Everest. I was the story.” Even now the festering rage at having been so stupid, at having fallen for the ploy, choked her. “And I never publicly made excuses for what I said. I owned it. Despite everything else that happened that day, I take responsibility for what I said and take the crap about The Chosen One and The Fall. That is the person you hate so much, Spence. That’s the whole sordid story.”
By the time she finished, she was shouting. Her muscles ached from exhaustion, as if she had just made the harrowing descent again.
Then something else hit her. The rumble of the crane had stopped and her voice carried through the trees and echoed back to her. She had no idea how much everyone had heard but they were all staring. Not with the steady eye-rolling dismissal that usually greeted her in Holloway. This was something else.
“When did it get quiet?” she whispered the question to Mitch as he slipped his hand through hers.
“When Travis signaled the crane to stop.” Mitch waved to his friend. “I guess he wanted to hear what you had to say.”
Across the way, Travis nodded.
An eerie silence ticked by. Finally Spence shifted his weight. “I didn’t know any of that.”
She leaned against Mitch. “I know.”
Spence cleared his throat as if getting the words out physically pained him. “I can admit I need more information before I reach a conclusion.”
Mitch scoffed. “Not usually.”
“Let’s try this again.” He held out his hand. “I’m Spence Thomas, concerned friend of Mitch here. I’m smarter and better-looking, but as far as picks goes, you did pretty well.”
She let go of Mitch’s hand and welcomed the unexpected show of almost acceptance from Spence. People admired his family in Holloway. Like Mitch, Spence was an important businessman who brought work to the region. If he gave her a second chance, some others might. She didn’t even know she cared about that possibility, about what everyone else said, until the new avenue opened to her.
A mix of gratitude and happiness clogged her throat. “I appreciate you at least listened to what I had to say.”
Spence smiled, flashing that Thomas charm people associated with Austin. “Even though you didn’t give me a choice and I was acting like a…”
“Complete douche? Well, maybe not complete, but close.” Mitch clapped Spence on the back in a move that looked a tad too hard for the occasion. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”
In the span of a few minutes, her off-kilter world had shifted. For the first in a long time, she had her feet under her. The future didn’t look as bleak as it did even a week ago.
“Get to work.” Spence gave the signal and people everyone started jumping. Equipment clicked back to life.
“Now that we have that settled, I do need to talk to you.” Mitch’s hand slipped under her elbow and he pulled her body in tighter to his.
Spence smiled. “Take that stuff inside, you two.”
“It’s about Allan.”
Spence sobered. “Is he okay?”
The concern in his voice hit her. For some reason, the idea of Allan and Spence hanging out wouldn’t come together in her head. “You know him?”
“I went fishing with him and my dad, though they informed me I moved around too much and scared the fish. We’ve had breakfast a few times.” Spence tapped on his clipboard. “Everyone knows and likes Allan.”
That had always been her read too. Even being away, she got the impression from the way he talked about people, that he’d long been accepted in town even though he moved in from two counties over.
“Mitch, please—”
He rubbed a hand over her back. “He’s fine, bu
t I have some information that might explain…well, we should go sit in my truck for a second.”
Mitch sent Spence a look that had him nodding. She had no idea what was happening, but the two of them were communicating, using whatever that had learned about each other through the years. She didn’t have the same benefit. She also suspected whatever Mitch told her in private he’d have to fill Spence in on later.
Tired of the secrets and games, she just wanted to hear the news so she could deal with it. “Say it in front of Spence. It’s fine.”
Mitch hesitated but started talking right before she unleashed on him. “According to the state inspector, he checked the records and the house is in foreclosure proceedings. It’s scheduled for auction next week. Allan still owns it now and can do whatever he wants with the trees, but his time is running out. He has to pay up on the mortgage or lose the house. He’s taking this up to the very last minute.”
Of all the things she expected to hear, that was not on the list. The house was paid off years ago. It was one thing her mother cited as a relief when she got diagnosed with cancer.
Which was why the information had to be incorrect. “No. Your guy has the wrong house.”
“I saw a copy of the paperwork, Cassidy.” Mitch’s voice had never been more soothing. “It’s real.”
“It explains the rush to get the trees out and the boxes stacked up inside,” Spence said.
The steady rubbing of her back blended with the soft purr of Mitch’s voice. “It also explains why he doesn’t want you settling in and why he’s staying away from you.”
She tried to stay rational while everything inside her threatened to break apart. “Shouldn’t there be signs on the property?”
“He probably took them down. I would if someone put them on my land, regardless of the potential fines,” Mitch said.
She pulled away and shook her head. Not money troubles. Not again. Her family had been hit with enough of those. It wasn’t fair Allan got trapped in something too. That was the only explanation.
But still she didn’t want to believe. “This can’t be happening.”
“He’s desperate, hon. Panicked.”
“I’m his daughter.” Anguish ripped the words out of her. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
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