by L. B. Dunbar
“I remember.”
My nostrils flare. What’s she playing at then? Did she really return in hopes of gaining the land? What is she doing here? What does she want? I want to tell her to go home and leave me alone while at the same time, I want to pull her to me and fuck her in the front grass.
“Name your price, Mr. Harrington.”
Is she fucking kidding me?
“There’s nothing left here.” I practically growl at her, my arms lowering to my sides. I mean, what can I say. I’m nothing. There’s nothing for her. She took all that was important to me. Her. Finn. My heart.
“Name your price. Everybody has one,” she states, holding firm as she takes a few steps toward me. Her fingers open and close, forming fists of control. I didn’t realize I’d moved, but suddenly, we stand closer to one another, only a foot or two apart.
“Mr. Har—”
“You. And Finn. That’s my price.”
She stills while her breath hitches.
Dammit. Why did I let that slip? My head lowers to face the ground. I scrub a hand over my trimmed beard. I’m waiting for her to step back, enter her big rental, and drive off. Instead, two feet with pink-painted toenails come into view near the tips of my boots. Slowly, I lift my head.
“Sold,” she whispers, and my eyes widen.
What is she saying?
“If I camp on the mountain, will you forgive me?”
“Cricket.” I sigh. Dammit, why is she so cute? No, beautiful. Fucking beautiful.
“I can hike up the mountain and back,” she offers.
I fight a slow grin that wants to curl my lips. My fingers twitch at my side.
“What about ax throwing?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ve been practicing.”
“Really?” I’m astonished.
“Yeah, remember there’s this bar in Chicago? I went there before the wedding. I scored a—”
“Anyone ever tell you, you talk too much?” I can no longer fight the smile threatening my lips.
“Yes, this grumpy mountain man once did. He made me sleep in a tent on the lumpy ground and eat out of a pan.”
Sheepishly, I gaze at her. “I thought he was a lumber something or other. And I don’t remember you complaining.” Are we really doing this? Are we flirting with each other? There’s so much to be said, but my heart leaps in my chest even though I still don’t understand what she’s doing here.
“Lumbersexual,” she draws out. “And no, I didn’t complain. In fact, I liked it. I loved it.” She swallows as her eyes hold mine. “I…I still love you.”
My head flicks back while my shoulders fall, and the tension slips out of me. I don’t know if I feel sucker punched by her words or if I’ve lost my breath.
She still loves me.
“What are you doing here?”
“I…I was thinking of moving to Georgia.” My brows rise so high the skin on my forehead crinkles. “There’s a little house in town for rent, and I’m thinking of—”
“Fuck that,” I bark.
“Excuse me?” Her hands come to her hips, standing off with me, and I see a hint of the woman I first met, the one who sparked my interest to play with her and dare her to go camping with me.
“You are not renting a house in Georgia.”
“And why not?” Her eyelids flutter as her face pinks.
“Because if you’re going to live anywhere, it’s with me.” I don’t know where the demand comes from, as I should phrase it as more of a suggestion, but I’m finished suggesting ideas to this woman.
“Well, aren’t you presumptuous? Or do I seem like a foregone conclusion?” Her smile grows, and her cheeks brighten. Damn, she’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. “You think you can smile pretty at me with that sweaty back and heaving solid chest.” She points at my waist. “With your manly hairs dipping into your pants and I’ll just do as you say.”
I look down at my bare chest, noting how my pants sit a little lower on my hips. My head lifts, and I meet her glowing blue eyes, matching the sky above us.
“Does that work for you?”
“If the price is right.” She pauses. “But I have a price, too.”
“Because everyone does,” I mock. Aw, shit. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster ride, holding my breath on the ups and losing my stomach on the downs.
“No. But. Well, my price…is…I want you to love me and adopt Finn. Once you marry me.”
We stare at one another.
Did she just say what I think she said?
Is she…?
“Cricket?” My voice strains as she lowers to one knee, digging for something in her pocket.
“Giant Harrington—”
I hold up a hand to stop her. I don’t want to stop her, but this isn’t how it should be. I’m prepared to do the asking. In fact, I’ve been prepared for months and have just been waiting out the time.
“Will you do me the honor of marrying me and accepting my son as your own?”
One finger covers my lips to hold back the laughter rumbling up my throat.
“What?” She stares up at me from her kneeling position, holding a thick dark ring between her fingers. I reach down for her elbow and tug her upward to stand before me.
“Woman, I’ve wanted to marry you since I saw you in Chicago in that hideous dress at your sister’s wedding.”
“Really?” Her eyes widen as her hand lowers, but I catch her wrist, holding the ring-supporting fingers between us. My eyes remain on the thick band.
“Actually, I take that back. It was the night in the ranger station.” I tug her to me, her breasts knocking into my chest with the ring still in her fingers. “When I took you from behind during a thunderstorm.”
“And that sealed the deal?” She giggles while an admonishing brow tweaks upward in question.
“Knew I’d never be able to live without you from that moment forward,” I say, swearing it’s true as I dip my forehead to meet hers.
“You had me at ax throwing,” she teases, and I wrap an arm around her, pulling her even closer, still keeping her hand with the ring between us. “I’m sorry for what I did. I should have never broken up with you. I’ve missed you every day and—”
Her chattering stops the second my lips meet hers. Her tongue slips along the seam of mine, and I open, allowing her in, so happy she’s home with me. My home. Our home. We savor one another, feeling as if it’s been years yet only yesterday. I don’t want to ever lose her again.
“Is that a yes?” she asks, pulling back from me and glancing at the ring still braced between her fingers.
“Let’s have you hold that for a bit,” I say. Her lips fall, and then a squeak comes from the vehicle.
35
When a door opens
[Letty]
“It’s Finn,” I quietly say, crestfallen he didn’t respond to my proposal. Instead, he looked like he wanted to laugh. Laugh me off the mountain perhaps. I’d deserve it. I took a chance, and this is what I get.
You broke up with him. That’s what you got.
“I’ll get him,” Giant offers and steps around me. He hasn’t taken the ring from my fingers, and I don’t know what to do next, so I slip it back into my pocket, feeling foolish and idealistic. He stops as I haven’t moved and watches the ring disappear in my pocket. His mouth opens and then shuts.
I deserve the hesitant treatment. My heart aches, and I blink back the sting in my eyes.
“Why did you rent such a big truck?” he asks, opening the back door and leaning in to unclip Finn from his car seat.
“I didn’t rent it. It’s mine.”
Giant stands upright, holding Finn to his shoulder. “It’s yours.” His eyes narrow. “Did you drive here? From Chicago?”
“I did.”
“That’s a long drive alone. With a baby.” He jiggles Finn at his shoulder, pressing a kiss to the side of his head. “Who is growing into a big boy?” He smiles at Finn and then turns back to me
. “Why?”
“I wanted to get to you as soon as I could, and Finn needs so much stuff. It was too complicated to fly. And I just…” I wasn’t really thinking. As soon as I knew I could leave the state, I packed our bags and all Finn’s necessities. I put my place up for sale. Marcus is my realtor. I had to get to Giant. In person. I couldn’t call him or send a text. I needed to see his face if he rejected me.
In hindsight, I might have been hasty in more than one decision.
“Cricket, that wasn’t very safe,” he admonishes.
“Ten hours plus stops. He was such a good boy.” I reach up and rub down Finn’s back as he stares up at Giant. “Remember Giant, Finn?” I ask him as if he can answer me, but he turns his head, recognizing his name. Then he looks up at Giant and tugs his beard. Giant moves his little hand and sucks at his fingers. He’s so sweet to him.
I want to adopt Finn with you.
I guess he’s changed his mind. I feel sick. I drove all this way, nerves eating at me, and now…I’m just tired.
“What time did you leave?”
“Around three a.m.” It’s close to six in the evening now. He eyes me for a minute, still playing catch with Finn’s fingers as they reach for his beard. Giant’s mouth sucks them in.
“You hungry?”
Not really. “I could eat.” I slip my hands into my back pockets, which forces my breasts forward, and Giant’s eyes lower to the cleavage swelling out the top of my tank. It’s warmer here than in the Midwest, and I’m sticky from the drive and the heat.
“I’ll make us dinner,” he says, but there’s an awkwardness between us.
“I should probably go to Conrad Lodge and check in.” I drove all this way and suddenly feel like I need a minute away from him.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re moving in with me.”
“But I…” I just asked you to marry me, and you didn’t answer. “I think maybe we should talk about a few things first.”
His expression holds firm. He’s given me a hint of a grin but nothing like the smiles he used to give me. No laughter, which I miss. I remember wondering what it would be like to hear him laugh. Would it rock my world? It did. In more ways than one.
He kissed me, searing and sweet but not enough. More like the marking of territory but not the possession of my heart. He doesn’t want me.
Then why is he insisting I move in?
“We can talk over dinner. You got any bags?”
“A whole trunk full of stuff.” Finn doesn’t travel lightly, and I didn’t know how long we’d be staying, if we stayed at all. I’m suddenly too exhausted to consider turning around and driving seven hundred miles back home. I don’t feel like Chicago should be our home. With Giant is where we need to be.
You’re moving in with me.
Why? He didn’t agree to marry me. I’m an idiot.
Giant walks to the back of the SUV and pops the door open. He whistles low as he looks at Finn. “She never did know how to pack.”
“Hardy-har. Most of this is his.” The pack and play portable crib. A bouncing seat. Diapers. Bottles. Clothing. Teething toys.
Giant hands me Finn and takes the portable crib and a duffle bag in hand. He walks around the open door, and I assume I’m to follow him.
My heart hammers as I finally enter his cabin. The inside is rustic but cozy. The living room spans the length of the front of the house with a giant fireplace as the centerpiece. An overstuffed couch faces the fireplace with a bearskin rug on the floor. On one side of the chimney is a ladder leading up to a loft.
“My girls slept there. It was the original sleeping quarters. The rafters are low, and there’s a mattress on the floor.” Giant nods to the door next to the ladder. “My room is back there. I’ll set Finn’s crib up in there. It will be easier than hiking up and down that ladder. The kitchen’s on the other side,” he says, tipping his head to an archway opening to the right of the chimney.
“That’s not real, is it?” I ask of the rug.
“What do you think?”
“Wayfair dot com, I hope. Otherwise, Sarah might be upset,” I suggest, referencing a popular online homeware retailer and his animal-loving daughter. Giant chuckles, not answering me. He takes Finn’s stuff in his room, and I follow. The bed is made up with a camp blanket in red and black plaid. It’s a four-poster bed, and I can’t imagine his big body fitting on it. Then I imagine other things—like my wrists tied to the headboard or me bent over the footboard—and I want to cry at the ache in my core. He’s never going to enter me again. He wants to be roommates. I want a husband.
“You okay?” he asks, and I weakly smile.
“Yeah. I’m good.” I’m horrible. This isn’t the greeting I’d hoped for, but I was too romantic in my thoughts. I’d propose. He’d say yes. Then he’d say he loved me, forgave me, and couldn’t live without me.
Knew I’d never be able to live without you from that day forward.
He heads out to my SUV for another load and drops most of it just inside the cabin. “We can sort this later. I’ll start dinner.”
He’s so…standoffish again.
“Can I help?” I ask although I don’t know how or what I’d do. I’m losing the fight with tears as my eyes burn and my nose prickles.
“I got it. You look tired. Need a shower or a nap?”
I need both, but I’m afraid to leave his presence, and what about Finn? Oh, my poor boy. What have I done to us?
Giant walks up to me. “Why don’t you surrender him to me? Take a shower. Lie down. I’ll have dinner ready in an hour.” My brows pinch in question while his lips twist, and he nods to his bedroom. “Go.”
+ + +
The tears of emotional exhaustion fall as I shower in the small bathroom off his room. Like everything else in the cabin, it’s cozy and comforting, and the sensation of fluffy towels and Giant’s soap overwhelms me. I inhale as I wash and hold the towel to my puffy eyes when I finish. I slip into fresh jeans and a T-shirt and then climb onto the bed. The scent of him fills my nostrils as I roll into the pillow. My eyes close for a minute, and then I feel a dip behind me. I stiffen, feeling caught doing something I shouldn’t have.
His hand comes to my hips and skims up my side, hovering below my breasts, nudging at it but not cupping it.
“You’re really here, right? I’m not imagining you.” His nose dips into my wet hair, and he inhales. I shiver at the touch. His hand skates back down to my hip, tugging me back against him. His hard length rubs against my ass, and I arch my back. Instantly, I’m wet and ready and wanting him.
“Giant,” I hum.
“Later tonight, I’m going to take you so hard, Letty. I’m going to make you wish you never broke my heart.”
“Oh God,” I whimper, wanting the punishment and fearing the revenge.
“I broke my own when I did it.” I exhale, rubbing my backside against his firmness. “I’m so sorry, Giant. So very sorry.”
“We’ll see,” he says, kissing my shoulder and then lowering for my neck. He nips me hard, and I cry out, spinning to face him. His lips crash mine again, tongue forcing its way into my mouth. I whimper and moan and whine for more. I want him to take me. I want to give me to him.
He pulls back too quickly, too harsh. “Dinner’s ready.” And I want to cry out, let me be your feast. Let me nibble on you instead, but I keep all my thoughts packed away like my bags by his front door.
He rolls off the bed and holds out a hand for me. I follow, standing to face him, and then he tugs me into him again. A hand dips into my hair while another covers my ass. He pulls me into his chest, finding my lips again and kissing me hard. I don’t struggle. I don’t fight. I swallow each punishing kiss.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he says, pulling back and closing his eyes as if he’s just admitted too much. His forehead lowers to mine and rolls against it. Then he breaks away, releasing me, and I wobble, feeling breathless and wrung out although he hasn’t touched me. Not really. I’m
on the edge of an orgasm, desperately aching and hot. Damn him.
Answer my question or kick me out. Just don’t torture me like this, I want to scream.
Instead, he turns for the door, and I have no choice but to follow his lead.
36
Punishment and proposal
[Giant]
We’re quiet as we eat the chicken I prepared. Letty gives Finn tiny shredded pieces and then feeds him mashed peaches from a jar.
“He’s grown so fast,” she says, breaking into our silence. “It’s a wonder to watch him change.”
He can sit upright now, and he holds tight with his fingers, testing out his legs. He looks ready to stand, run across the floor, and take over the world. A king of kings, I called him, and he’s appropriately named for the fictional character in the book Letty likes.
“What ever happened to the book you were writing?” I don’t know why I think of that other than considering Finn’s name is from a story.
“Funny you should ask.” She pauses and reaches for her water glass. “Remember Mr. Calder? Did I mention I’ve been in contact with him?”
No. I haven’t heard anything from you in months.
“I asked him if I could write his story.” My head pops up, and I meet her eyes. “I couldn’t let it go. The mystery of the town, the history of the resort. His story with Annie. I wanted to know more. I interviewed him a while back and then told him I’d be in the area. I asked him if I could meet with him.”
I sit back in my chair and cross my arms. “Pretty sure of yourself,” I scoff.
“I’m suddenly not sure of anything,” she says, keeping her head lowered as she pushes her food with a fork. My brows pinch. What isn’t she certain of?
“So how does that work with him?”
“I’m going to interview him a second time. Have him proofread what I’ve written so far. His grandson is a pain in the ass. Drake had the land on the market, which is why I went there, but when Sam found out the truth, he was very upset. It’s sad.”
My eyes question hers. “What are your thoughts?”