by Holly Rayner
“You left the door unlocked.” Spencer sniffed. “I’d hardly call that breaking and entering.”
“Except it is,” Masoud responded. “You went into someone else’s home without their permission.”
“Hold on,” Kelsie said, holding up her hand. Her eyes scrunched closed and she shook her head. “Is this true, Masoud?”
It felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room. As much as Masoud wanted to be honest with Kelsie, at that moment it seemed like the most painful thing in the world.
“Yes,” he admitted. “It’s true.”
Spencer laughed in glee. “Told ya so!”
Kelsie’s face turned pink, and she pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You need to go... Before I call the sheriff or go and get my shotgun.”
“Aw, come on, Kels, you wouldn’t...”
“Go!” she shouted at him.
“Fine.” Spencer shot Masoud a contemptuous look. “Have a good night,” he spat.
Masoud ground his teeth together, watching as Spencer loped down the steps.
“Masoud...” Kelsie’s voice was soft. She sounded like she was in shock.
“Kelsie.” He took a deep breath. Where did he begin? So much had fallen apart in a few short minutes. Spencer had posted his plans online. That one act would severely damage the relationships he hoped to build with the townspeople. In that moment, though, the only thing that mattered was the woman standing in front of him.
What did Kelsie think of him now?
He needed to know, but he also needed to get home and make sure Spencer and his cronies hadn’t taken anything of value. If months of planning weren’t to go to waste, he also needed to call his PR person and get her on damage control.
“Kelsie, I am sorry I kept this from you, and I will explain more soon. But right now, I have to get home and fix things.”
“Um... Yeah... Okay.” Her eyelashes fluttered, and she looked at the ground. The dogs paced back and forth, surely knowing that something wasn’t right.
Masoud half hoped Kelsie would ask him to stay, in spite of everything. But the look of confusion in her eyes crushed him, and he found he couldn’t bear the judgement he saw there.
“I’ll explain everything. I promise,” he said, moving to the door. Inside, though, he knew he didn’t have the words.
Chapter 14
Masoud
For the third time that morning, a knock sounded on Masoud’s front door.
“...this kind of thing happened to EvenCorp,” Wanda, Masoud’s publicist said in his ear.
“Wanda, I need to call you back later,” Masoud said, leaving his office and walking for the front door.
She started to respond, but he hit the end call button and put the phone in his pocket. Leila ran up to the front door with a growl.
“Hello?” Masoud asked.
“Hello,” a woman called back.
Masoud looked in the peephole and cursed under his breath. The woman wasn’t alone. She had a man with her, and the man had a camera.
News reporters.
Two different people from the town had already knocked on the door earlier that morning, demanding to know what this “mine business” was all about. Masoud had only answered the door those times because he’d hoped it was Kelsie knocking. This time, he knew better.
“The company publicist will be in touch,” Masoud called through the door, then turned and strode back to his office.
There was more knocking on the front door, but he ignored it. He needed to repair the company’s image, and showing his face before his publicist had released a statement was a bad idea. For the time being, it was best to lay low.
Back in the office, Masoud went to pull his phone from his pocket and call Wanda back, but movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him. It was Kelsie, walking across her yard with Cowboy at her heel. Her face was down, and she took hard, determined steps as the wind whipped her hair.
Masoud swallowed hard. He’d gotten hardly any sleep the night before, tormented as he was by everything. Several times, he’d almost gotten up and gone back to Kelsie’s, but he hadn’t known what to say.
The more he thought about the problem, the worse it seemed to get. He was afraid that he had ruined things beyond repair.
As he watched, the reporter jogged across the yard and shoved a microphone in Kelsie’s face. Kelsie reeled back, staring at the woman like she was crazy.
Masoud rushed to the side door and flung it open. “Kelsie!”
Cowboy had come to the rescue, though. He snapped at the reporter, and she and her cameraman both retreated to the van parked on the street.
“What the heck?” Kelsie said, scooting into Masoud’s house. Cowboy followed, and Masoud closed the door behind them, bolting it for good measure.
“A reporter,” he explained.
“Yeah, I saw that.” Kelsie shook her head. “Wow. Talk about getting in someone’s personal space.”
Masoud couldn’t answer. He was too busy drinking Kelsie in. She wore an oversized button-up on top of black leggings and her worn work boots. Her tangled hair was all over the place, and there were dark rings under her eyes. She looked like she’d slept about the same amount as he had, and her outfit had probably been thrown together in two seconds, but to Masoud, she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
This could be one of the last times I see her, he realized. Maybe the last.
Lost in his thoughts, he only then realized she stared back at him. Her lips were drawn tight, and she had her arms crossed across her chest.
“Coffee?” Masoud asked.
“Um... yeah. Sure.” Kelsie’s body posture relaxed. “Thanks.”
He’d only made a pot about half an hour ago, and it was still warm. Filling two mugs, he brought them to the kitchen table, where they both took seats. Cowboy had trotted off somewhere—likely to see Leila.
“Is your stuff okay?” Kelsie asked, wrapping her hands around her mug. “I mean, did Spencer and his idiot friends take or break anything?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Oh. Well that’s good. That’s something.”
Masoud bit into the inside of his lip. Rarely did he feel so uncertain. Usually, he dominated conversations, but with Kelsie, he felt different. He wanted to please her. He wanted to tread carefully so as not to break their tenuous bond.
Although, maybe he already had.
“Kelsie, I truly do apologize.” He paused, wanting to go on but not sure how to. “What I did... It was out of interest for you.”
Kelsie’s eyebrows flew up, and she let out a sputtering laugh. “Out of interest for me? What does that even mean?”
Masoud shook his head, trying to clear his mind. Everything was coming out all wrong. “I care for you, Kelsie.”
Kelsie’s expression softened. “I believe you. And I care for you, too.”
“You do?”
She chucked. “Uh, yeah. Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Because I...” He pushed his fingers through his hair, his frustrations mounting. “I kept the truth from you, and now I fear I have ruined everything.”
Kelsie sighed and looked into her coffee cup. “Yeah, I understand that. And what you did... Look, I’m not going to say I like it. When Spencer said all that last night, I didn’t want to believe it. It made sense, though. I had my own questions about what you were really doing here, but I figured it was your business and you would tell me in due time.”
“And that’s what I planned on doing,” Masoud said quickly.
“Can I ask you when?”
Masoud balked. “I don’t know.”
“Okay.” Kelsie took a sip of coffee. “I can live with that.”
Masoud narrowed his eyes. “I feel you are being extraordinarily understanding.”
“Yeah, well, this whole thing, you starting the mine, it’s not for sure, is it?”
Masoud took in Kelsie’s imploring look, and, yet again, he found he had no
words.
“Oh,” Kelsie whispered. “So it is for sure.”
“Kelsie.” He leaned forward, wanting to close as much distance between them as possible. “This is a wonderful opportunity. If you sell your land to my company, you will receive a grand amount for it. More than enough money to start another farm and veterinary clinic wherever you want, plus extra. You could even retire, if that’s what you wish.”
“I don’t ever want to retire,” she said softly.
A tense moment passed, and the clicking of the dogs’ claws on the hardwood came from the hallway.
“Does that make sense to you?” Kelsie asked. “I love my job. I don’t do it for money. I do it because I love helping animals. I love making their owners smile in relief. It’s my purpose in life. And this land...” She turned in the seat to gesture out the window. “It’s my father’s. What if someone came and tried to take your palace away?”
Masoud thought about that. “I wouldn’t like it.”
“Exactly.”
“But calling the act ‘taking it away’ is not exactly accurate,” Masoud pointed out. “You will be offered a great deal of money in exchange for the land.”
“I don’t need money, Masoud. I have everything I need right here. Well, almost everything.”
An intense look came to her eyes before she abruptly looked away. Masoud’s stomach twisted. Was she referring to him? Was the one last thing she needed in her life a man to share it all with?
“I apologize again for hurting you,” he said. “And for keeping this a secret.”
“Please stop with the apologies.” Kelsie turned her sad face up to his. “I don’t need any more apologies.”
The dogs entered the room amid a clinking of tags and laborious panting. Both Leila and Cowboy pushed their heads into Kelsie’s lap, asking for a pet. It was as if they knew she needed some dog love.
Kelsie smiled and rubbed both dog heads at the same time. “These two...”
“They have become two peas in a pod.”
“Yeah. They have haven’t they?” She gave Masoud another complex look, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Whatever was going on inside of Kelsie, half of it was private.
Leila retreated from Kelsie’s touch, going to lay down on her dog bed in the corner, and Cowboy followed. The pit bull scooted over, allowing the border collie access to some of the soft bed.
“What now?” Kelsie asked.
“With us?” Masoud’s throat became thick, and he swallowed against a lump there.
“With us, and with the mine. Are you really going to go through with it?”
“I have to. We’ve been planning it for months.”
“Is that really a reason?”
Masoud started to speak, then realized he didn’t know what to say and closed his mouth. A flash of what life could be like if he gave the mine plans up appeared in his mind’s eye.
He could make Rancho Cordero his permanent home. Continuing living in this house. He’d go for a run every morning, then spend the afternoons pursuing whatever activities he chose to. And then, in the evenings, he’d cook dinner with Kelsie. They’d curl up on the couch, the dogs at their feet.
Perhaps things would progress between them. She would become his official girlfriend. Or something much more.
But then Masoud remembered his obligations to the business. He remembered Spencer’s leaking of the company’s plans. Even if he did scrap his original plans and settle down, would the people of Rancho Cordero accept him? Or would they always see him as the man who had come looking to change their way of life?
“I thought you would be happy,” he said. “I thought everyone in town would be happy about this.”
Kelsie laughed. “Really?”
Masoud gave her an even look. “It’s a lot of money. I can show you the estimates.”
“I’m not interested in the estimates, and I can guess that, by now, you’re getting the hint that most people aren’t either.” Kelsie pursed her lips. “Have you really thought about what this will mean to the families and business owners here?”
“They will have more,” Masoud argued.
“We’re doing pretty good as it is.”
“With all the money, you could build a new town. One with a better library. Its own school.”
Kelsie’s brow furrowed. “The nearest school’s only a bus ride away.”
Masoud pressed his fingertips to his aching temples. “I feel like we’re speaking two different languages here.”
“Yeah. I know.”
He smiled wryly. “We are from different cultures.”
Kelsie shook her head. “All of Al Hayla is interested in making money?”
“Well...” Masoud struggled to explain. “Not in making money for money’s sake. But for bettering life, yes.”
“But at a certain point, money can’t help you anymore. There are plenty of studies on that. Once a person’s quality of life has reached a certain level, more money just brings it down.”
“But what if a person does not know about all the other ways money can better their life?” Masoud asked.
Kelsie looked at him like he had grown a second head.
Masoud sighed. “We could talk about this all day long, and I fear we would end up only going in circles.”
“Yeah.” Kelsie smiled softly. “At least we can agree on that.”
Masoud grinned back, and a crackling energy filled the air. That spark he had first felt between them was still there, and he really did not wish to lose it.
“I have to return home tomorrow,” he said. “I really don’t want to go when we’ve only started this conversation, but I have to take care of some business. So can we talk more about this when I return?”
Kelsie hesitated. “How long will you be gone for?”
“About a week. It could be a bit more, but hopefully not.” He looked straight in her eyes. “I hope it is all right for me to say I’ll miss you.”
It was a brave thing to say, given the tense circumstances, but Masoud wanted to make one thing clear: he was serious about Kelsie. No matter what happened with the mine, he wanted her to know that.
“A week...” Kelsie twisted her lips. “Would you be open to having some company?”
Masoud blinked. Had he misheard?
“Company?” he repeated.
“Yeah. Me, specifically.”
Kelsie, visiting his home country? His family? It was a big step in any relationship.
“Can you take off for that long?” he asked. “Close the clinic for a whole week?”
“There’s another vet over the county border. Some people might not be happy, but no animal’s health will be at risk. I’ve had to do it before when I’ve been sick. Although...”
“Yes?” Masoud urged.
“I’m going to be honest. I have an ulterior motive. I want to convince you not to go through with this mine.”
“Ah.” Masoud grimaced. “So this is not a romantic getaway.”
“Don’t you have to work?”
“Yes, but I had hoped we would get the chance to spend some time together.”
“We can do that, too.”
“So this is a romantic getaway for you?” Masoud said. “Partially.”
One corner of Kelsie’s mouth twitched upward into a slow grin. “Are you checking to see if I still think of you that way?”
“Would that be wrong?”
Kelsie stood and came around the table. As she ducked down, her hair fell forward and created a blond screen around both their faces. Her lips brushed across Masoud’s in a warm kiss. Electricity shot through his body, and his heart beat picked up.
Kelsie straightened up and looked down at him. Her pink cheeks revealed that the kiss had had a similar effect on her.
“I’m leaving early in the morning,” he said, taking her hand. “Not long after breakfast.”
Kelsie squeezed his palm. “It’s a good thing I’m an early riser.”
Chapte
r 15
Kelsie
“I don’t know, Peep.”
Kelsie looked over at where Francesca sat at the end of the bed.
“What don’t you know about?” she asked as she folded a shirt and laid it in her suitcase.
“About this whole situation.” Francesca took a bite of the apple she was eating then proceeded to talk with her mouth full. “This just can’t end well. What if you can’t change Masoud’s mind, but you end up falling even more for him?”
“No one said anything about falling even more for him.”
Francesca narrowed her eyes.
“Okay, fine. I understand.” Kelsie turned to her closet and inspected the few dresses there. “We’re going to spend a week together, and that means I’m opening myself up to the possibility of becoming attached to him.”
“Right. So if he goes ahead and builds this mine, you could end up simultaneously being in love with him while hating his guts.”
Kelsie looked at her shoulder at her friend. “Is that possible?”
Francesca sighed. “I’m living proof that it is.”
Kelsie grabbed two dresses from their hangers. She knew Francesca had a point, but she was trying to focus on the best possible outcome. It could be that the trip to Masoud’s home turned out well in every way possible. Perhaps she’d find a way to convince him to pull the plug on the mine plans and they’d become even closer.
Turning around, she held the dresses up for Francesca’s inspection. “Black or dark blue?”
“I didn’t even know you had those.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m surprised they’re not all moth-eaten.”
“I say…whichever one is the most low-cut.”
“Francesca!”
“What?” She waved her apple around. “You want to influence this man, don’t you?”
Kelsie carefully folded the black one into the suitcase. “A classic LBD fits every situation.”
Standing back from the suitcase, she mentally ran through everything she’d packed. Instead of packing the night before, she’d woken up extra early to get her things together. As Francesca was also an early riser, she’d come over while it was still dark.