by Piper Rayne
We spend the entire day in bed in our own secret paradise, ignoring Denver’s desperate messages asking if he can come home.
Best. Day. Ever.
Thirty
Liam
I finally convinced Savannah to accompany me to some of the local businesses to solicit donations for the library gala auction. I’ve already gone to most of them, but I have a few more to hit. First she made me go to Sweet Suga Things, but I’m not complaining about getting to taste-test cake and icing.
Now, we’re at Lifetime Adventures, which is way out of her element.
“Ready?” I ask, almost taking her hand before we walk in, but catching myself and sliding my hand into my pocket instead.
“I guess.”
“Relax. This is Denver’s mentor, remember? No pressure. Plus, he always donates. I gave you an easy one.”
She laughs, but there’s a nervous hitch to it. I wish I could put my arms around her and kiss her forehead, but her rules dictate that I can’t. As much as I understand that Savannah has always worried about her reputation in Lake Starlight, I hate that she’s put us on the down-low. It makes me feel like I always do with her—that I’m not good enough.
The bell chimes as we push through the door of the log-cabin-style building. The office is small with a ton of brochures on display, along with a TV mounted up high, rotating video clips of various excursions. Denver’s mug is front and center in a few. There’s a small table set to the side to discuss the different offerings.
“Look.” Savannah points at an article about Denver and that music producer, Griffin Thorne, he saved after his small plane went down a couple of years back. I read it when it first came out, and in it, Denver praises Chip for everything he learned that got him out of the bush. “I should’ve come here ages ago. My family owes Chip for working with Denver so much.”
“Stop worrying.”
Right before I ring the bell for service, the door to the back office opens. Out steps a blonde who’s close to my age and dressed like Savannah in heels and executive wear. Her hair is pulled into a low ponytail, and she stops in her tracks when she sees us. “Oh, hi.”
“Hi,” Savannah says.
“Is Chip around?” I ask. She clearly has something to do with this place if she’s behind the closed office door, though I wonder where Nancy, Chip’s long-time office administrator, is.
“No.”
Savannah looks at me. “Okay, what about Nancy?”
“No.”
This woman sure makes it easy to hold a conversation. “I’m Liam Kelly, and this is Savanah Bailey.”
“Bailey? As in related to Denver Bailey?” she asks as if that wouldn’t be a good thing.
Savannah looks at me again. “Um… he’s my brother.”
Her hands go up in the air and her eyes roll back. Oh shit. I wonder whether Denver screwed her or screwed her over. “Well, Chip and Nancy aren’t here. If you want to book a tour, do it online. Someone will get back to you.”
“Do you know when they’ll return? We have to talk to Chip about donating to the charity auction for the new extension on the library. It’s going to be a children’s wing.” I pull out the info sheet we put together—but this girl clearly isn’t interested in hearing any of it.
“Nancy should be here, but I think she’s out at lunch. Priorities, right?”
I inhale and lean forward as if I’m asking her a secret. “And you are?”
She laughs. “Of course you have no idea who I am. I’m sure my father never talks about me.” She sticks out her hand. “Cleo Dawson. Daughter of Chip Dawson.”
I knew Chip had a daughter, but I’ve never met her. I run into Chip a few times a year, and most of those times are when I’m with Denver and he drags me here. Chip’s a cool guy, but I never pried into his personal life.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say.
Savannah and I shake her hand.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to get the hell out of this frozen tundra.”
It’s summer now, not winter, but I don’t bother correcting her. Cleo breezes by us and we’re left alone, staring at one another in confusion.
“Thanks for giving me the easy one, babe.” Savannah punches me lightly in the upper arm.
I should be questioning what’s going on, but Savannah Bailey just used a pet name for me and everything else that happened blows out the door with Cleo. I take Sav in my arms and smash my lips against hers. Surprisingly, she doesn’t pull away until light from outside falls on us when the door springs open again.
“Jesus, no. I do not need this. First I get the wrath of Cleo Dawson, then I have to see you two sucking face.” Denver steps fully into the small room.
Savannah pulls away from me. “And you’ll keep this a secret too.”
Denver rolls his eyes. “Fine, but I hope you realize the truth will come out. You guys have been holing yourselves up at Liam’s so much the family is already talking. Even Rome and Harley have caught on and they have a new baby. If they’ve noticed, you can bet everyone has. Besides, if you keep sucking face in public, it’s not going to me that walks in on you next time.”
Ignoring Denver’s little rant, I change topics. “What the hell is going on here? We just met Chip’s daughter.”
Denver runs his hand through his hair. “She’s a peach, right? I bet her vagina has little spikes around it to keep guys away, like a Venus flytrap or something.”
“That’s a shitty thing to say. You have no idea what she might be going through.” No surprise that Savannah sticks up for her—I’m sure someone said something similar about her at some point.
“She’s horrible. It’s like she enjoys living in her little unhappy bubble.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of her being up here for a long time, right?” Savannah asks.
“Not since she was a teenager.” He shrugs like ‘who the hell cares, the woman is the devil.’ “Anyway… Chip is kind of sick.”
“Kind of? And what do you mean sick?” Savannah asks, lowering her voice.
“I’m not exactly sure, but he’s in the hospital right now.” Denver’s shoulders slump and he looks away.
“Sounds serious,” I say.
His gaze meets mine. I see his silent plea to let this go for now, that he can’t really talk about it because no one is supposed to know. The good thing about being best friends your entire life is that words don’t need to be exchanged sometimes. “Anyway, as of today, I’m running this place for the time being until he’s back on his feet.”
“You?” Savannah couldn’t sound more surprised or confused.
Sometimes I think Denver got the shit end of the stick. Everyone has their place in his big family, and he took on the role of immature kid for life. But at some point, I hope he fights back and grows up.
“Yes, me. Thanks for the encouragement, sis.”
She tries to backtrack. “I’m just surprised…”
I wrap my arm around her, and although she steps away, I bring her to my side because it’s just Denver.
“Yeah, well, I’m surprised each time I run into the two of you on the cusp of doing ‘that which shall not be named.’ I’m still not a hundred percent comfortable with this yet.” He waves his finger between us.
“Sorry not sorry.” I kiss the top of his sister’s head then slide my hand down to her ass and slap it.
“Fuck, Liam.” Denver shuts his eyes and turns around. “Go do that somewhere else.”
He disappears through the door to the office.
Savannah shakes her head and stomps out of the small log cabin. I follow her to the gazebo area set up for when groups are waiting to depart, and we sit on a bench that overlooks the opposite side of Lake Starlight.
“Mind enlightening me on what I did wrong in there?”
She blows out a breath. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Always.”
She takes a moment, I assume to pick her words carefully, before g
I stare at her long and hard. She truly is lost inside herself and has no clue how amazing she is. Life has beaten her so far down that she just doesn’t get it.
“I’m attracted to you, clearly. But the best way I can describe why I like you is to say that I see you. You’ve captured my attention since I was fourteen. True, back then it was probably teenage lust, but somewhere, that lust turned into more. And then when you moved in, all these emotions and feelings made me feel like I was drowning. I didn’t know how to handle them. They came out as me challenging you and maybe picking on you at times. So when you ask me why I like you, it’s a hard question for me to answer. It’s like asking why the sun rises in the morning. It just does. It’s how it was meant to be.”
She twists on the bench to face me.
I can’t stop myself from brushing her hair behind her ear. “That’s the best answer I have. But I have to say that you underestimate the woman you are. You’re so much more than you give yourself credit for. I think somewhere, you lost sight of what you love. Once you find that and fight for it, you’re going to be happier.”
“When did you get so smart?” she asks in a soft voice, and I chuckle. “Can I ask you another question?”
“Yeah.” I’m wondering if she’ll ever not have one to ask.
“What’s the story with Slim? And Nina? All the other girls? How many women have you slept with?”
I knew this was one of her hang-ups about ever dating me. I don’t want to lie to her, but my past is my past and bears no weight on the future I’d have with her. “Let’s start with Slim.”
She nods, waiting expectantly as if I’m telling her a fairy tale. There’s no happily ever after with this one though.
“When Rome went to Europe and Denver was busy getting his pilot’s license, I found myself alone a lot. Smokin’ Guns was already off the ground. That summer was when I bought my bike and started riding regularly. Slim was the first person I met. I hung out with that crew and met Nina through them, but things went south fast. They were into some shitty things, the least of which was intimidation and picking fights. It wasn’t my scene. Nina loved it, so we broke up. Though I’d bet money she was already sleeping with Slim before we were over.”
“Why didn’t you hang out with Austin or some of the other guys from school?”
I sigh. “You and Austin had your hands full, and a lot of our friends were finding their way, just like Rome and Denver. Getting involved with that crew was a mistake. Kathy is the one who showed me they couldn’t be trusted and that they weren’t the kind of people I wanted in my circle. I jokingly called her Mom once, and she kept the joke going.”
She slides closer and looks around before putting her hand on my leg. “Thanks for your honesty.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” She retracts her hand, but I reach for it. “I’ve had women. Probably not as many as you suspect, but I’ve had periods of my life when I wasn’t looking for a relationship and took what I could get—which was quite a lot. I’m not proud of it, but I never told a lie to get a woman to sleep with me. If you’re with me, you have to be okay with my past.”
I hold my breath as she looks away. I could’ve skated around the topic, and months ago I would’ve done just that, but I want to be the best version of myself for this woman. A man she’s proud to stand next to.
“Okay, that’s sort of the answer I was expecting. I don’t like it, but it’s in the past. I’m not going to let it affect the present.”
I squeeze her hand, feeling as if the weight of a glacier has been lifted off of me.
“I want you to know something too.” She puts her other hand over mine. “I see you. I’m scared shitless, but I see you. These past few weeks, everything you’ve done for me, the time you’ve taken, I see it all and I appreciate it more than I can say. But I’m a bit of a hot mess and nearly broke in front of Denver a few weeks ago.”
Ah, that makes sense now. “He told me you were emotional because you had your period. I wondered.”
She rolls her eyes. “He freaked. I thought he was going to start screaming your name because he didn’t know how to handle me. I want to find the pieces of myself that I lost. I want to see myself how you do. And I’m getting there, I think. But right now, public affection makes me uncomfortable.”
Of course it does, and I’m a PDA junkie. I’m not going to go screwing her in broad daylight in the middle of the town square, but I want the hand-holding, the kissing whenever I want. I want the luxury of displaying affection toward the woman I’m falling for. But if I give her time, I know she’ll turn around. Look how far she’s already come.
“You want me to keep my hands in my pockets at all times?”
“Maybe until I feel more comfortable?” Her voice is small and reserved, as though she thinks I’m going to be mad at her.
“I really hate this. At some point, you have to stop worrying what people think and live your life for yourself.” I stand, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “But I’ll go along with it for now. Ready?”
She stands and sighs, but I’m not sure how she expects me to react. I want everyone in this damn town to know she’s mine, but she keeps finding reasons to keep us hidden.
Thirty-One
Savannah
It isn’t until Friday that I realize Liam never gave me a task for the week—when he told me this morning that he took off tomorrow and kicked Denver out for the night. He said tomorrow I’d get my fifth and final task. Since I’ll use any excuse I can to contact him these days, I pull out my phone at lunch and type him a text.
Me: You never gave me something to do for my week four.
The three dots appear so fast, I wonder if he was about to send me a text. It shouldn’t make me happy, but it does nonetheless.
Liam: You went with me to get donations for the auction, plus you were supposed to be pulling things out of the jar every day since last week. Did you not follow my directions, Miss Bailey?
Me: I did. Most days. But I probably have a few more to do.
I pulled one the other day that said to say hi to a stranger, and another today that said I was to have a meaningful conversation with an employee. I spent twenty minutes in the break room, talking with one of our employees about her adverse reaction to food smells. In the end, she told me she wanted to file a complaint about Phoenix. Not all of Liam’s ideas are stellar.
Over the last week, I’ve slept in Liam’s bed, eaten dinner with Liam, meditated with Liam. I even allowed him to run with me last night. He beat me though, so that’s never happening again.
Liam: Maybe I should replace them all with sex favors?
Even I know my smile is cheesy as my stomach quivers instead of flutters now. I’ve fallen for Liam Kelly—hard. Now it all has to come into place. I have two meetings next week, and if they sign to make us their lumber supplier, I’ll be ready to scream my feelings from the rooftops.
My mom always told me to imagine what you want, work hard, and it will come true. So I close my eyes and imagine that in less than a week, I’ll have turned Bailey Timber around and have a steady boyfriend.
My phone dings and interrupts the images in my head. Probably a good thing since they might have been going too far into the future anyway—what kind of ceremony we’d have, Liam carrying me over the threshold, and what our baby might look like. My eyes pop open. I’m almost horrified by how easily that came to mind.
Liam: Is that a no?
Liam: Can’t handle it? ;)
Me: Sorry, I was lost in thought for a second.
Liam: I hope it was about me.
Me: I can’t lie, you are what the majority of my thoughts consist of nowadays.
Liam: I’m smiling so wide I look like a goon.
Me: Good.
Liam: Tell me you’ll be in my bed when I get home…
Me: I guess you’ll find out. :P
There’s a long pause. I assume he got pulled away by a customer, so I place my phone down, but it dings before I can continue eating my lunch.
Liam: Here’s your task:
Liam: Be naked in bed when I arrive home.
Liam: Have whipped cream and chocolate sauce next to the bed.
Liam: Don’t forget the cherries. I LOVE cherries.
I put the phone face-down on my desk and laugh so loudly, my assistant, Samara, peeks through my glass office door. I wave her off, and one last giggle escapes as I pick up my phone.
Me: Why don’t I just pick up a maid’s outfit? All of this is very cliché. I would’ve assumed you had more original ideas.
Liam: We have to start with cliché. Don’t worry your sweet lil ass, babe, there are things I’m gonna do to you that will make your toes curl.
Me: I think my toes already curled last night.
Liam: You’re hard to please Miss Bailey. How about this then…
Liam: I’m gonna do things to you that’ll have you coming at your desk as you relive them in your mind.
My face heats and job complete, because all his message did was make me remember what he did to me last night. The way he bent me over his bed with his hands on my breasts, his mouth trailing down my spine while he thrust in and out of me.
Knock.
The phone fumbles out of my hand and bounces off my desk to my chair, landing with a thud on the floor.
Austin peeks in. “Do you have some time to chat?”
My older brother looks happy and tanned. But I guess most people would if they just got back from their honeymoon where they pretty much screwed every second of the day trying to make a baby. I imagine it’s like Christmas morning every day for those two.
-->