Irresistible Love at Silver Falls (Island County Series Book 7)

by Karice Bolton

  “I wouldn’t say I took part in every perk of the job.” I curled my leg under me and took another bite of my ham rollup.” I smiled. “But I might have indulged a little in some fun.”

  “Brooke Sahler, party girl extraordinaire.”

  “In my twenties, maybe a little, but not now.” I shook my head. “I much prefer hiking along a river and taking pictures.”

  “Lots of selfies?” Kyle teased.

  “Not even.”

  He looked completely amused at my expense.

  “What you saw earlier was an anomaly.” I shook my head. “I’m not high maintenance.”

  Kyle’s gaze fastened on my long, red nails and I groaned. “Not what you think. It’s for my job.”

  “Hildie makes you paint your nails red?”

  “So you know I work for the Harlens?” My brow arched, and let me just say how good that felt considering everything my poor face had gone through.

  “Coming up on a year, isn’t it?” He sat back, holding his half-finished plate.

  “How do you know how long I’ve been working there?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

  He shrugged. “Just remember hearing something about it from Chance. His restaurant is fantastic, isn’t it?”

  “You mean the restaurant that’s on the same grounds I work on? You’ve been there.” I didn’t believe him.

  “What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t show up to my boy’s opening night?” His brows arched.

  “You were there that night?” Now I really didn’t believe him. I would have seen him and I certainly would have recognized him.

  Everything about Kyle North was the same as when I first fell for him, except now he was all grown up.

  In impossibly delicious ways.

  “You were busy dancing all night with some guy named Billy, if memory serves me right.”

  I took a sharp breath. “You were spying on me?”

  “I wouldn’t call it spying.” His grin deepened and an unexpected flutter rattled me to my core. “I would call it scoping out the competition.”

  “Billy is not competition, but he is one of my best friends, and for the record, he never gave me a free hot dog.”

  “Excuse me?” His brows shot up.

  “Billy owns a gourmet hot dog restaurant and food truck. He tends to give women he’s interested in free hot dogs. I never got one.” I shrugged.

  “Was he going to be here this weekend?” Kyle looked far too amused.

  “No.”

  “Then he’s competition.”

  “I’m not up for grabs. I’m a happily single female. You know those Hollywood bachelors who vow never to get married?”

  “You mean like Clooney and Beatty?” He smirked. “The ones who got married after finding ‘the one’?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You have a point, but I’m just saying I’m not looking for a man to complete me or hurry down the aisle with. If it takes until I’m seventy to find the one. Great. I’ll be sure to have fun along the way.” I shook my head in frustration. “How’d we even get here for a topic? All I’m saying is that this was a girls’ weekend. Something I’m trying to be more of.”

  His brows pulled together and he looked startled.

  “A girl. I’m trying to be more of a girl’s girl.”

  “Why do you think you need to be?”

  I shrugged. “Just things.”

  “Like what?”

  I let out a disgruntled sigh. “You know, you’re really nosy for an innkeeper.”

  Kyle’s laughter filled the cabin as the oven dinged for the chicken wings.

  “And you’re really high maintenance for a guest of the inn.” He made his way to the kitchen and pulled out the chicken wings.

  They smelled amazing.

  I followed him over and put my empty plate next to the tray.

  He put six chicken wings on my plate and I motioned for more.

  “Definitely the Brooke I remember.”

  Ignoring his chicken wing insult, I continued, “I’m really not high maintenance, but I suppose all evidence points to the contrary.”

  “Why don’t you prove me wrong?”

  “How would I do that?”

  “Come snowshoeing with me tomorrow. It’ll probably be the last time before spring really sets in.”

  I looked down at my plate of chicken wings and nodded. “Deal.”

  After all, what could possibly go wrong?

  Chapter Three

  The morning came far too quickly as evidenced by the pounding in between my ears. Or was that the door?

  I shot up in bed and glanced at the clock.

  Oh, no! It wasn’t my head.

  I’d overslept, and now, Kyle was knocking loudly on the front door, and I was still in my Lucky Charms pajamas. I quickly shoved off the comforter and ran to the front door. My feet turned to icicles on the way since the fire died out during the night.

  “You’re not stuck in more plastic wrap, are you?” Kyle shouted through the door.

  “No,” I hollered back, running my hands through my messy hair before opening the door. “Just overslept.”

  Kyle looked incredible, like so many of those nights we’d camped out with my cousins. Those were some of the most fun nights of my life, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to recall all the good times when I’d done such a fine job of forgetting about them.

  His blue eyes fell along my cereal pajamas and a smile spread across his lips.

  “Still into the sugary cereals, huh?”

  “I live by them.” I nodded and glanced at the pile of clothes and boots he was holding. “Granola is overrated.”

  “I thought you might not have the proper apparel for our outing today.”

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” I joked as he came inside and I shut the door. “The flip-flops?”

  “It’s colder in here than it is outside.” Kyle put a pile of clothes on the couch and the navy-striped Wellies on the floor.

  “You just happen to have women’s boots and clothes for me?” I picked up the purple snow pants, leaving the jacket, gloves, and hat on the pile, and looked up at him as he began blowing his warm breath into his cupped hands.

  “Make you curious?” His brow arched.

  “Yeah, curious to know if you buried the women in the back forty.”

  Kyle laughed, shook his head, and put a couple logs in the fireplace.

  “I’ll go shower and I’ll be right out. I might not be high maintenance, but I’m all for daily showers.”

  “Only way I can wake up.” He nodded in agreement. “A shower and a big cup of coffee.”

  “Make mine a latte and I’m the same.” I made my way down the hallway.

  It felt like his gaze was still on me, but I didn’t want to turn to find out. Right now, I was nothing more than a novelty, and I didn’t want to give him false hope. While I didn’t define my life by that moment on the mountain so many years ago, I wasn’t going to be fooled more than once.

  Although, he was extremely sexy, and this time around would most definitely be on my terms.

  I let out a silent groan and shook my head as I walked into the bathroom.

  Those were not the thoughts I needed to start my day with.

  Navy and white chevron patterned tile covered the floor and wrapped into the shower. An ornate wood-framed mirror hung over the pedestal sink, and a small wrought iron light fixture hung over the mirror. It was kind of hard to believe that the Kyle North I knew from sixteen-plus years ago had such good taste.

  I turned on the hot water and jogged to the bedroom where I grabbed a pair of grey yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Not ideal winter wear, but hopefully the snow pants and jacket he brought over would do the trick. I still didn’t want to think about whom they belonged to. I knew he didn’t have it in him to be a serial killer.

  In fact, he was the extreme opposite, and that was one of the many things growing up that had made him special in my eyes. It wasn’t every day that
a fourteen-year-old boy made a blanket out of a maple leaf and carried back an injured baby squirrel three miles to his house where he then called multiple animal rescues until one finally agreed to take the injured squirrel. And he didn’t do all that for the sake of stopping my tears.

  I didn’t start crying until on the way back when the baby closed his eyes.

  We’d found the mom shot with a BB gun, and the baby lying nearby. It was one of the most defining moments of my childhood. We didn’t just walk on by. We saved a little being, as small as it might have been.

  We even helped rehabilitate the little guy and named him Fievel from An American Tail. Kyle’s heart had directed him to do the right thing like it always had.

  Except for that one time when it counted most in my life.

  I let out an exhausted sigh. I hadn’t thought about Fievel in years, and I suddenly realized that was when I’d built Kyle up as my hero. He never knew he’d been my hero, but he had been. He was always the good guy. The one I could count on until I couldn’t.

  I even spent quite a few weekends volunteering at one of our local wildlife refuges since I’d arrived on Hound Island and until now didn’t realize where that passion even came from.

  By the time I stripped and got under the shower, the room was steamy, and my entire body was exhausted from holding that memory close. I never expected the feelings to be so raw and real, purely off seeing Kyle.

  Actually, I never expected to see Kyle.

  Period.

  Lathering the soap in my hair, I kept my eyes focused on the chevron pattern and pushed out any other memories involving Kyle that wanted to pop in. It was all a long time ago.

  We grew up and things had changed. I had a wonderful life, great friends, and lots of hobbies.

  I highly doubted he was out in the family room going down memory lane so why should I? It would only make me miss the friendship I’d treasured so much growing up.

  I think that was what hurt so much when he never came back.

  It wasn’t so much what we shared. It was that I didn’t get to share anymore with him.

  I let out a garbled moan and shut off the water.

  Enough thinking about the past.

  I quickly dressed, blew my hair dry, and made my way into the family room. Normally, I didn’t worry about blow drying, but being that we were about to go into icy temperatures I thought I’d lower my chance of hypothermia and avoid another 9-1-1 call. The first one was bad enough.

  Kyle turned around in the kitchen and beamed as if making me a pot of coffee made up for everything all those years ago.

  He tilted his head and held out a cup. “No. I don’t think making you coffee wipes away my jackass mistakes from when we were kids.”

  I froze in place, unable to reach for the coffee I so desperately craved, and stared at him. I didn’t say anything aloud so how in the world did he know what I’d been thinking?

  “And no… I can’t suddenly read minds, Brooke. It’s just we’ve both been dancing around the elephant in the room and—”

  “No need to bring anything up. It’s all water under the bridge. Happened a long time ago.” My shoulders immediately relaxed, and I reached for the cup of coffee he’d been holding out for me. His fingers grazed mine, and a spark shot down my hand. “No biggie.”

  “No biggie?” His brows arched in surprise as he took a sip of his own cup of coffee.

  “That’s right.” I nodded.

  I didn’t need to focus on the fact that he’d captured my heart long ago and also managed to break it into a million little pieces.

  Being near Kyle felt bizarre after all this time.

  We’d grown into strangers, but what we’d shared so many years ago forever linked us. Beyond our first everything together, he was one of my best friends, and I’d missed him over the years. That was the rotten part.

  I finished my cup of coffee and noticed he was still taking me in.

  “What?”

  “A lot of years have gone by.”

  “Yup. They sure have.” I nodded, noticing his gaze falling to my lips.

  “Do you think you would have ever tried to reach out to me since you got to Washington?” He poured us each another cup of coffee.

  “Hmm.” I twisted my lips into a scowl. “Considering I’ve been here for over a year and hadn’t thought to do so… my guess is possibly not.”

  There was no need to mention that not only had I not planned on reaching out, I did everything in my power to avoid the town of Silver Ridge, even if it meant I had to go out of my way to cross the mountains using a mountain pass that was hours away. Had I known he no longer lived there, my road trips would have been a lot less cumbersome.

  “Not because I wasn’t curious,” I assured him. “You did pop in my head every now and again, but I just didn’t exactly want to run into you when it wasn’t on my terms.”

  He folded his arms and glanced around the cabin. “And how did that work for you?”

  I laughed. “Not that great.” I took another sip of coffee. “But you’ve seen me at my worst so at least I got that out of the way.”

  Kyle leaned against the kitchen counter, pushing his empty cup toward the sink, and looked over at me through his dark lashes.

  “Your worst?”

  “Come on. Wrapped in plastic and nothing short of concrete smeared across my face and you think I was happy about running into you? Most women dream of running into their first love when they’re looking their absolute best.” I stopped talking when I realized what I spilled out. “I mean, crush. . . first crush.”

  “I thought you looked absolutely incredible last night. What I could see of you that is.” Kyle’s gaze steadied on mine, and my mind flashed to the moments after we’d made love. . . when he held me, keeping me warm, and promising me how much it meant that I was his first and he was mine. He held the same expression now and I couldn’t handle it.

  My gaze dipped to my empty coffee mug. I was surprised at how fast all those feelings came crashing back. The happiness, nervousness, and worry that things would change and then the shock that not only did certain things change, everything changed.

  I lost my best friend.

  “Thank you, but I’ll be leaving spa treatments for the spa. Lesson learned.” I chuckled. “Never know who a person might run into in life, especially if I have Aunt Hildie in my world. Life is full of lessons, isn’t it?”

  “Indeed.” He glanced at the clock on the wall, and I suddenly didn’t want to go snowshoeing. I wanted to stay indoors, watch Netflix, and binge on more junk food.

  All by myself.

  Being around him was too much, and the very reason I probably made my life one big detour to avoid Kyle North. Even before he was a teenager, he was appealing, and now, he was charming, extremely attractive, and the one person I’d spent my life forgetting.

  Yet, here he was.

  If it wasn’t still treacherous driving, I’d be on the road down the mountain.

  “Do you remember that time we went fishing with Chance and Jake, and Jake fell in the river?” he asked.

  “And you swooped in and saved him?” My brows lifted.

  His smile deepened. “Yeah.”

  I laughed. “Like being the hero, do you?”

  “There could be worse things to be known for, I suppose, but that wasn’t what I was getting at.” He took a step toward me, bringing us less than a foot away from one another, and my breath caught. I was sure he noticed, but he didn’t let on. “What I remember about that trip was when you got all that sandy mud from the river bank and smeared it all over your arms and face and then ran after Jake with mud in your hands. Seeing you last night, reminded me of that.”

  His eyes held onto mine, and my cheeks warmed.

  “I totally forgot about that mini adventure,” I muttered. “Jake fell in the water because of me.”

  “And you finally gave Chance something to rib his brother about for years.” Kyle reached out and touched my
chin, sending a thrill through me. “How old were we? Eleven? Twelve?”

  “I was twelve and you were thirteen.” My voice was hoarse.

  “All I’m saying is that I thought you were pretty then, and I know you’re pretty gorgeous now. I must have a thing for mud.”

  Hearing him say those words sent me right back to my teenage self. I wanted to be angry for remembering so much about Kyle, for wanting to hold onto those memories we’d shared so many years ago, but I never could get angry about what Kyle did.

  No matter how hard I’d tried.

  “Or just not seeing a woman’s face.” My brow arched, and he laughed.

  The tension that kept trying to return dissipated and I continued.

  “My mom wasn’t happy about getting all the mud off my shorts.” My eyes stayed on Kyle’s, and I pushed through the longing to be held by him just one more time.

  “I think your mom hated summers with me in them. All we did was go outside and get dirty.”

  “I think she hated the summers without you more, or at least that first summer you didn’t come back.”

  The words hung in the air, and for the first time in a long time, my heart hurt for the teenage me.

  “I’m sorry, Brooke.” He shook his head. “I never would have done what we did had I known.”

  “I think hearing that hurts worse, actually.” I pressed my lips together.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Pain darted through his gaze, and I knew he wasn’t trying to be vicious, just trying to protect me.

  He always wanted to protect me.

  “I know, but I want you to understand that I don’t regret anything with you, Kyle. I never would. I just never expected you not to come back to Colorado, and believe it or not, I wouldn’t have wanted to share my first time with anyone else. You were my best friend. It couldn’t have been more perfect.” I heard a quiver in my own voice and gritted my teeth until I was sure the tremor was gone. “Anyway, like I said yesterday, water under the bridge. Just, let’s not really talk about it anymore?”

  I wasn’t a crier, and yet, I felt an overwhelming urge to cry out the emotions that were digging a pit deep in my stomach. This was definitely not how I imagined my girls’ weekend. I had plenty of relationships behind me and somehow this guy could bring me to my knees.