Crushing on Love (The Bradens of Peaceful Harbor, Book Four) (14 page)

She was seeing all the things city people missed, and he loved hearing the excitement in her voice.

“He’s a peregrine falcon. I call him Harvey.” He smiled and said, “All day, Shan?”

“Pretty much. I spent a while going over your map, which is incredibly accurate. Thank you for going to all that trouble. I have to plan time to go to the farthest dens, but it’s such a long hike.”

“We’ll go together. We’ll make an overnight trip of it and camp.”

“You would do that with me?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You may change your mind after you hear the rest of what I have to say.”

“I doubt it.”

“Want to know what I did yesterday?”

“Absolutely.” He squeezed her hand, knowing nothing could change the way he felt about her. “I want to know everything about you.”

“Grizz,” she said softly. “Where’s that brick wall you hide behind?”

He laughed. “A certain brunette crashed through it. Now tell me about yesterday. I want to know what you think will change my mind about going camping with you.”

“Okay, but I’m telling you…there’s no turning back once you know the finite details of my chattiness.”

“Chat me up, baby.” He leaned in for a kiss.

She smiled. “Yesterday morning I waited forever to catch a glimpse of these three kits at one of the dens, and when they finally peeked their heads out, my phone rang. I forgot to put it on silent, so I lost my chance.” She shook her head. “I’m going to screw up my own data collection. And not just that, but if I had a partner, I’d talk all the time and we’d scare the foxes off anyway. I think research and I are not
one
, like you and your glorious mountain are.”

“Shan, why did you accept this assignment? Why didn’t you stay in Peaceful Harbor and try to figure out what else you wanted to do?”

“Because I can’t figure out who I am or what I want when I’m home. There I’m
the little sister
, or
Ace’s daughter
, or…I don’t know. I don’t want my family guiding me through life. I adore them, but I need to find out who I am without their input, and if I tell them I just spent all those years in school and possibly made the biggest mistake of my life, how will they react?”

“They’re your family. They’ll be supportive.”

“Exactly.” She huffed out a breath. “I don’t want to be coddled. I want to spread my wings and figure things out for myself. I don’t want anyone else fixing this for me or telling me not to worry because I can always work for my parents.”

“You act like your family is oppressive.” He’d never gotten that impression from them.

“They’re not,” she said softly. “They love me, and if they knew what I was thinking, they’d want to help. But at this point in my life, I want to help myself. I want to know that my mistakes are my own, and I know it seems weird, but I don’t want that safety net beneath me right now.”

“I think that’s admirable. But why did you need to take the assignment to get away? You could have gone anywhere.”

“That’s a little harder to explain. Hold on. I need to prepare for this conversation.” She took a big bite of her cookie. When she swallowed it, she took another, and another, until she’d finished it. Then she withdrew a water bottle from her pack and guzzled half of it.

“This must be big for all of that preparation.”

“You have no idea.” She turned toward him, pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in soft waves, framing her face.

“Hey.” He leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers. “After breaking down my walls, why are you erecting your own?”

“What do you mean?”

He lowered his eyes to her arms trapping her legs against her chest.

She rolled her eyes. “Because. You might think what I have to say is ridiculous.”

“When has that ever bothered you?” He gently lowered her hands and moved closer, placing one leg on either side of her knees, then putting his arms around her. “You’ve got my full attention.”

“I feel very exposed.”

“Shan, you’re safe with me, and you’re not exposed. You were exposed this morning, lying naked in my bed.” He took her hands in his and laced their fingers together. “You feel vulnerable. But there’s nothing you could say that would make me think any differently about you.”

She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “When they asked me to do this project, I didn’t really want to take the assignment. I had spent so much time doing research alone the last time I was here, I knew I was over it. But then they offered me the cabin…”

She lowered her eyes.

“You’re nervous,” he said softly.

She nodded. “A little.”

“Don’t be.”

“Okay, well, here goes. They offered me the cabin and I took it because I wanted to see what might come of us, which I know is lame. Maybe stalkerish? I can’t tell.”

“It’s not stalkerish,” he assured her, turned on, and surprised, by her confession.

“Now that I’ve told you, I realize it was probably a huge mistake, because now that you know, you’ll feel obligated to say something comforting.”

He cocked a brow. “Do I seem like the type of guy who doesn’t speak his mind?”

“No, but…”

A breeze blew a strand of hair across her cheek, and he tucked it behind her ear, then pulled her closer. “So you came out here to figure out your life
and
to see if we would amount to anything?”

She nodded with a shy look in her eyes.

“No wonder you were calling me names for putting on the brakes. You took a huge risk. Not just by coming out here, but by telling me how you felt and taking on an assignment you didn’t really want.”

He rose to his feet and reached for her hand.

She eyed him skeptically. “Are you going to throw me over the ridge?”

“What do you think?” He pulled her to her feet and put an arm around her. “Come on, brave girl. This is the perfect night for s’mores.” He gathered her things and led her toward his cabin.

“That’s it? You don’t have anything else to say about me taking a job I didn’t really want? Or coming out here and throwing myself at you?”

“Nope.”

“Well, why the heck not?”

“Because, Butterfly.” He kissed her temple as they walked. “I may not be a big talker, but I’m an excellent listener. You don’t want or need anyone telling you what to do. I’m just glad you’re here with me.”

THE TIPS OF trees cast shadows like gnarled fingers across the grassy expanse beside Steve’s cabin, where he and Shannon ate burgers he’d cooked over an open flame and shared a bottle of wine. The moon glowed orange and gray against the ribbons of rich blues and dusky clouds. The fire hissed and popped, sending curls of smoke drifting like ghosts into the night. Steve hadn’t said any more about the things she’d revealed on the mountain, but she knew he was thinking about it, picking it apart, like he did with everything. She knew she was never far from his mind. He’d drawn an intricately detailed map and set up solar lights for her. He cared enough to make sure she’d thought through all the things that could hurt her down the road before they’d even shared their first kiss. And this afternoon he’d sought her out without any hidden agenda. He’d simply wanted to be with her, to see how she was doing. She may not know what she wanted to do with her life, but one thing was for sure. She’d made the right decision by taking this assignment. He obviously thought about her as much as she thought about him, and he cared for her and understood her in a way others didn’t. Most importantly, he respected her need to figure this out on her own, and that meant the world to her. She didn’t need to be fixed.

You want to be loved…I see it in your eyes
.

She watched him now, perched on one knee at the edge of the blanket, whittling the bark from two thin branches with his pocketknife. The more time they spent together, the less guarded he became. She sensed something more going on with him tonight, and she had a feeling it wasn’t just his desire to give her a wonderfully romantic evening.

She touched his forearm, bringing his eyes to hers. “We were so caught up in my nonsense earlier, I forgot to ask how your day was.”

“Your stuff isn’t nonsense,” he said with a serious tone that surprised her, though it shouldn’t. He was protective of her and of her feelings. It was a different type of protectiveness than she was used to. He wasn’t overbearing, and he wouldn’t let her minimize her feelings. He made her feel special, and she appreciated it.

He focused on the branch he was whittling. “And thanks for asking, but my day was hardly worth talking about.”

“Did you hear back from the people you reached out to about the Cumberland property?”

He gripped the knife tighter, quiet for a minute as he shaved the ends into sharp points, his brows knitted in concentration.

“Yeah. That was a no go. I also spoke to Will. He said he knew you were going to cancel your date.” His lips curved up in a softer smile and he slid two marshmallows onto each stick.

“He did?”

“Yup. Said he could tell you were into me.” He handed her a stick and touched her arm, guiding her beside him, near the fire. The reflection of the flames danced in his eyes. “The man knows women.”

She winced. “Was he mad?”

“Not at all. I think his exact words were ‘you lucky bastard.’”

He nodded toward the fire, and they both held their marshmallows over the flames. He slid a finger beneath her stick and lifted it higher, then kissed her tenderly. She felt the tension she’d seen in him moments earlier ease.

“I still can’t believe the sugar queen hasn’t ever had s’mores. If you hold it just outside the flame, it’ll turn golden brown.”

“It takes longer that way.” She pressed her shoulder against his.

“Such a city girl.” He leaned in for another kiss. “I promise it’ll be worth the wait.”

“Well,
you
were worth the wait, so I guess I’ll trust you.” She realized he’d redirected the conversation from the land, and she sensed that was the source of his underlying tension. “What are you going to do about the Cumberland property?”

His jaw tightened again. “CRH isn’t playing around. They’re doing their due diligence, which means they’ll be ready to make an offer when it hits the market. I spoke to the bank, and I called in a few favors, but 2.4 million is a huge deal.” He fisted his hand and looked away. “I’m not giving up. Weston was never meant to be a town full of cookie-cutter homes.”

He turned determined eyes on her. “The peacefulness you enjoy out on your uncle’s ranch? The gorgeous, unencumbered views we saw from the fence that morning at Mack’s? Once it’s gone, there’s no getting it back. Once one development is in place, more will follow. It’ll be just a matter of time before Weston becomes home to Walmarts and Dollar Trees. Before schools are over capacity. I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to find a way to keep it peaceful for as long as I can.”

“Maybe you should reconsider talking to Treat.”

He shook his head, and his gaze turned thoughtful. “It’s not a good idea, Shan. Treat’s a smart, well-connected man. I’m sure he made a decision about this land ages ago. If he were interested, he’d have done something. Knowing Treat, he has good reasons for letting it go. He doesn’t need the added pressure of spending money because it’s important to a Johnson.”

Steve grabbed the plate of graham crackers and Hershey bars and set it between them. She knew he was done talking about Treat, and she respected his decision. “Are you ready for your first taste of heaven?”

“I thought kissing you was my first taste of heaven.”

He shifted her stick away from the fire and pulled her into a kiss. It was rough at first, carrying the weight of the looming development invading his sleepy hometown. She pushed her fingers into his hair, earning one of his guttural moans she loved so much, and his tension fell away, replaced with the sensuality she’d come to expect.

“You have the best answers,” he said with a smile.

“You give the best kisses.”

He laughed and shook his head. “How did we end up together?”

“As I recall, you promised me shmores.”

He kissed her again. “S’mores, no ‘h.’”

“What kind of fool do you think I am? I say the ‘h’ and you kiss me. I’m sticking with it. Shmores. Shmores. Shmores.” She laughed as he plastered sloppy kisses all over her face.

“Ready, sweet thing?” He set a piece of chocolate on a graham cracker, then held the stick, marshmallow side down, and pushed the marshmallow onto the chocolate. “Most people put the graham cracker on top of the marshmallow, but I have a feeling my sugar queen would like it better this way.”

He placed another piece of chocolate on top of the marshmallow, then put the graham cracker on top.

Her eyes widened. “Ohmygod. This looks just like the pictures.” She licked the melting chocolate from the edge of the cracker and closed her eyes, savoring the rich flavor melting on her tongue. “Mm.”

Steve cursed under his breath.

She giggled and he kissed her again.

“You’ve got to taste the whole experience.” He moved the treat closer to her mouth. “Take a bite of the whole sticky thing.”

“How am I supposed to fit this in my mouth? It’s huge!”