Burned by Love

by Erin Wright

  “It was like 8:30 in the morning, I hadn’t had a single cup of coffee yet, and she comes bounding up my front sidewalk, ringing my doorbell and hiding the bouquet behind her back. I almost didn’t answer the door. I’m not much of a morning person—” He made a weird noise at that and she looked over at him, confused. “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing, nothing.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Not a morning person…” he prompted her.

  She stared at him another moment, trying to figure out if she could weasel the answer out of him, and then let it go. “I’d stayed up the night before, working on a logo for a client, so it was going to be one of the slow-to-wake-up mornings. I’m waiting for the Keurig to brew up some magic when the doorbell rings. I look through the keyhole, and there’s some chick standing there, and I’m thinking that she’s there to pester me to attend her church on Sunday or something. Discussing religion with a perfect stranger is on my Top Ten List of Things I’d Really Love to Do, right behind ‘stick myself in the eyeball with a cattle prod’ and ‘jump out of a plane without a parachute on,’ so I’m thinking that I’m going to pretend I’m not home. It was the turquoise that got me.”

  “The color?” he said, clearly not understanding where she was going with this—

  Hold on, just like she didn’t know where they were going right now. Startled, she realized that they’d been heading towards Boise, but rather than making the 90-minute drive like she’d been assuming they were going to, they were instead pulling off on the Copperton exit.

  “Yeah, the color,” she mumbled distractedly, even as her mind scrambled to figure out what they were doing. Copperton? Copperton? Was this a joke? There were like twenty people who lived in Copperton, and that was only if you counted pets as people too. It was the very definition of tiny, backwards, arcane, redneck, smothering-with-its-small-townedness Idaho, where the ‘fun’ thing to do on a Saturday night was to go cow tipping.

  She tried not to panic, but she was failing miserably. And she’d had such high hopes for Troy, she really, really had. He’d seemed almost normal, despite the fact that he was from Sawyer. She’d overlooked that fact. She’d decided to give him a chance, even though on the surface, there was nothing about him that made her believe they had a damn thing in common.

  And then he pulled a stunt like taking her out on a date to Copperton.

  “You okay?” he asked, his eyes flipping between the road and her. He’d obviously realized something was up, even if he couldn’t tell what it was.

  “Yeah,” she said again, even as she scrambled to figure out what to do. She could…feign a broken ankle!

  While sitting still in the cab of his truck, not doing so much as standing up, complete with her seat belt on.

  She rolled her eyes at herself.

  Okay, fine. She could…feign a stomach ache. A really bad stomach ache. A sudden one, a terrible one, with no choice but to go back home before she threw up all over the inside of his very nice truck.

  She clutched her stomach but before she could see if her Oscar-winning skills were still up to par, he pulled to a stop and cut the engine. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

  Moment of truth. Her hands were clutched to her stomach. She just needed to tell him she was feeling ill, and he’d take her right home, she was sure of it. He was the kind of gentleman who wouldn’t even blink an eyelash about driving all over hell and back for no good reason at all.

  But something caught her eye and she really looked at their surroundings for the first time since they’d taken the Copperton exit. “Where are we?” she asked, all woe-is-me faking instantly gone, and then grimaced. She hadn’t meant to let her cover slip so easily. She just hadn’t expected to see anything but a field of cows in front of her.

  “Train. Replica. C’mon,” he said, and slid out of his seat and hurried over to her side to help her out.

  “I can get out of a truck without you needing to help me every time,” she said, a little more sharply than she’d meant to, pissed at herself and taking it out on him. It wasn’t fair, and she knew it, but still, she was angry. She could be dancing at some nightclub in Boise tonight. It was a Saturday night; she had on a short skirt that showed off her legs; and she’d spent more time than usual on her hair. She looked good and she damn well knew it, and now she couldn’t even manage to stay fake-sick for more than three minutes at a time and was gonna be stuck on a train, probably taking her somewhere so she could go tip cows.

  “Yeah, but then I can’t put my hands on your waist to swing you down,” he pointed out, as if that was all the explanation needed. He also didn’t rise to the bait – the testiness in her voice – and instead just sent a heart-stoppingly charming grin her way.

  She tried to keep from grunting in annoyance, out loud at least. They started heading towards what she figured was the train station as she sorted through her options. She was walking now, so she could intentionally twist her ankle and fall to the ground. Maybe Troy would carry her back to the truck, and then she could at least enjoy the feel of his arms around her on what was most assuredly their very last date ever. Give her something to remember him by.

  But Troy was already stepping up to the window and saying, “Reservations under Horvath for two,” to the attendant behind the counter, and Penny could feel her second chance slip away. He’d made reservations beforehand. He’d spent money on this date. He’d tried to pick something that he believed she’d like.

  It just turned out that he had terrible, terrible taste in dates.

  He turned and put out his arm for her, and with an inward sigh of resignation and not just a little anger, she slipped her arm into his.

  “You sure you’re okay?” he asked as they strolled towards the platform.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she grumped.

  She wasn’t fine and she wanted to go home and she didn’t want to get on a damn train and she didn’t know why she was saying she was fine and—

  It was the train conductor’s uniform that she noticed first. She wasn’t what she’d consider to be a history buff, and she had absolutely no idea what an old-fashioned train conductor’s uniform was supposed to look like, but still, this one was impressive. It looked real, all the way down to a gold chain connecting to a gold watch.

  “Welcome aboard,” the train conductor said with a large smile. “I’m Paul, and I’ll be your conductor this evening. Watch your step, and come aboard.” He moved to the side, gesturing them up into the train itself.

  Whoa.

  Penny’s mind slowed and swirled as she went up the steps and looked around.

  It was gorgeous. Dark wood paneling that showed its age, elegance personified. Rich brocade fabric covered every seat, and hung as drapes from the windows. She realized she’d come to a stop in the middle of the aisle, blocking everyone behind her, and with a start, began walking again, just in time to draw to a stop again. “Ummm…where are we sitting?” she asked, turning back to Troy who’d been escorting her from behind, like any gentleman would.

  She wondered for a moment if he knew the urban legend behind why ladies always went first, and then Troy spoke, pulling her attention back to their seating arrangements. “2A and B,” he said, pointing to a booth just a little further down.

  She slid into place, feeling the richness of the fabric beneath her as she looked across the table to Troy, wide-eyed. “How long has there been a replica steam engine in Copperton, Idaho?” she asked, almost accusingly, like he’d been withholding this information from her intentionally. She knew she was being a little ridiculous, but seriously, though, how had she missed something this gorgeous? She wished she was wearing a hoop skirt and a big hat tied on with ribbons instead of a short skirt and high heels. Her modern outfit suddenly felt very out of place, and very tawdry.

  “Didn’t you come here on a field trip in the fourth grade?” he asked, puzzled. “It used to look more rundown, but it’s always been here.”

  She searched back, trying to r
emember. Fourth grade wasn’t exactly last week, but even so, she was sure that if she’d been here before, she would’ve remembered it. Even fourth-grade Penny would’ve thought this was pretty damn cool, despite it not having a single slide or swing set on it.

  And then, a distant memory tingled just on the edge of her mind. Fourth grade was the year of Idaho history, and they’d gone on a lot of field trips that year, so it was hard to sort through them all, but…

  “I missed that field trip,” she said, pleased with herself that she’d remembered. “I woke up with a really bad stomach ache that morning,” she felt a blush steal over her cheeks and hurried on before her face could become a flaming ball of red and then Troy would wonder why and she surely didn’t want to explain that to him, “and ended up sick in bed all day. But it was a big, old, noisy train by all accounts, so I never really felt like I’d missed much. I had no idea it was like this.”

  “It didn’t used to be – they remodeled it a while back. A train lover dumped a lot of money into it. Some rides include a meal; some don’t. I booked us for the meal package.” As if on cue, her stomach let out a low rumble, and Penny shot Troy a laughing grimace.

  “I didn’t have time to eat,” she said by way of excuse, even though that wasn’t technically true. If she’d spent less time on her hair, she could’ve worked in a bite for lunch, but she’d wanted to look perfect, so…

  Yeah, no time to eat.

  “Hope the food is as good as the remodel was,” he said, reaching his hand across the table to her and squeezing her fingers in his. The bolt of electricity that shot up her arm at his touch made her gasp. She gulped, hard, staring at Troy and he was staring back and she was wishing quite desperately that this polished, rich wood table was anywhere but between them because it was making it hard to do anything more than squeeze his hand back and—

  “Welcome, welcome,” the train conductor called out, breaking the arc of electricity between them. Dammit. She’d been about thirty seconds away from crawling across the tabletop and unbuttoning Troy’s shirt with her teeth. As beautiful as this train was, she was really wishing that they’d spent time remodeling the sleeping cars instead. “Before we get going, we need to go over the safety procedures in case of…”

  His words disappeared into a haze of lust as Troy brought Penny’s wrist to his lips and began kissing it softly.

  Oh, oh, oh, oh—

  She wanted to let out a groan that could be heard halfway across the county, but instead, she squeezed her eyes shut, blocking everything out except where his lips met her skin.

  That was, until his tongue met her skin.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed softly, shifting on her seat, gulping hard. His tongue began tracing lazy circles across her sensitive wrist and she felt herself wanting to sink into the seat, languidly stretch herself out, and let Troy have his way with her, when she felt him softly lay her wrist down on the table. Her eyes fluttered open to see him sending a self-confident smile at her, a cocky grin that said he knew what she was thinking…and wanting.

  There was a part of her who wanted to pretend that she’d been indifferent to the whole thing, but there was a more practical part of her brain that bluntly reminded her that she couldn’t even manage to fake a twisted ankle while walking in high heels. Perhaps it was a good thing that she hadn’t followed her teenage dream of going to California to be a movie star.

  The train conductor finally quit talking about…whatever he’d been talking about, and the steam engine let out a long blast of its horn as it began to rumble down the tracks, giving Penny the perfect cover to not have to formulate a response to Troy’s kisses. She turned towards the window and began admire the scenery instead – which really was beautiful – using it as an excuse not to look at Troy. He may be driving her insane with lust, but her gut told her there was something more than that going on.

  He wanted more. Something deeper, something…

  Something more than a fun fling to pass the time until she found a real job in a real town doing what she was really passionate about.

  She kept her gaze focused on the rocky mountains and green pine trees and sparkling river passing by, not letting herself turn back towards Troy like her hormones were wanting her to. Should she confront him – put it all out on the table? Make sure that he understood what the deal was between them? She didn’t want to ruin a perfectly wonderful date with a serious chat like that, but it wasn’t fair for her to lead him on, either.

  But I wouldn’t be leading him on. He knows the deal. I told him that first night we met.

  Feeling better about it, she turned back towards Troy and smiled. She must’ve been seeing things, or more like it, feeling things that weren’t there. She was free to just enjoy a fun evening with a gorgeous man, no strings attached.

  He’d been watching her closely, and when she finally turned back to him and smiled, his shoulders relaxed and he smiled back. He was more in tune with her every frown, every sigh, every hand flutter, than any other guy she’d ever met. It made her feel loved…and a little creeped out, like her feelings were laid bare for him to examine, whether or not she wanted them to be.

  A creepy love? A creepily loving man? No, that makes him sound like the next Jack the Ripper or something. He isn’t that. He’s just observant.

  She wasn’t going to admit to anything that she’d just spent the last five minutes contemplating, not if she didn’t want to push him away. Guys didn’t like it when girls got all clingy on them, especially not this early in the relationship.

  No, it was better to pretend nothing at all was wrong.

  Chapter 13

  Troy

  Watching Penny’s face was like watching a play where all of the actors were mimes. He could see the expressions flit across her face, one after another, but he couldn’t tell what they meant. He’d asked her probably a dozen times if she was okay because every muscle in her body had been screaming that she most definitely was not, but she kept promising she was fine, and at this point, he was a little worried that she was gonna get annoyed with the question.

  That whole debacle aside, this date was going swimmingly well, if he did say so himself. Her reaction when she’d gotten on the train…priceless. That wide-eyed wonder was exactly the same response Iris had had, at least according to Declan. There was something about the true elegance of a renovated train or home that appealed to the human spirit. They just don’t make them like they used to…floated through his mind.

  Not to mention the scenery. Looking out the window at the beauty that was only found in the mountains of Idaho, Troy smiled to himself. Yeah, he was pretty damn proud of himself, honestly. No one could look at that vista and want to move somewhere else. It just wasn’t possible. He watched Penny carefully as she looked out the window, enjoying the view, and almost sprained his shoulder, patting himself on the back so hard. Yeah, this was a brilliant idea. He needed to send Declan a six-pack of beer as a thank-you for coming up with it.

  Just then, the conductor stopped by their table to ask them how they were enjoying themselves.

  “This is just amazing!” Penny gushed as they swayed their way down the tracks. “How long have you worked here?”

  “Ever since the new owners took over, about six years back now,” the conductor replied, obviously proud of that fact. “I’ve always loved trains, so seeing someone restore this old beauty and bring her back to life…best present you could ever give me.”

  They began chit-chatting about the best – and worst – passengers he’d ever run across, and then what his favorite features of the train were, and just as they were getting into how many passengers rode the train in a typical month, a stewardess came by and told him he was needed back in the kitchen car. With a grin and a promise that he’d be back later, he headed towards the back of the train, moving easily despite the sway of the car, much like a sailor out on the open sea.

  Penny turned back to him with a triumphant grin. “This would make a great feel-good
story for the papers,” she said excitedly, sipping at the wine they’d brought by while Paul had been chatting with them. “My boss loves it when I come to him with stories of my own, especially a local angle that hasn’t been covered incessantly. Copperton is far enough away from Franklin that I’m going to say that it’s probably been six years since anyone has written anything on this. We could do a follow-up – a how’s it been going, has it been worth it piece. If I convince the company to run a large color ad in return that can run beside the article, it could be a real moneymaker for the newspaper, and lots of great publicity for the train. I love win-wins.”

  The stewardess came up the aisle just then, placing plates and silverware in front of each passenger, which saved Troy from having to verbalize any reply. But inside…he was damn excited. This was exactly what he’d been hoping for. Okay, maybe not that Penny would get an article out of the deal, but that she’d see that there really were fantastic activities and people, even in little ol’ Idaho.

  No reason to move somewhere else.

  No reason at all.

  Chapter 14

  Penny

  They pulled up in front of her apartment complex, but instead of kissing him at the curb and him speeding off like his ass was on fire, this time she invited him up to her apartment. It wasn’t a place she was particularly proud of – it was too small, too dumpy, and it was definitely not in the trendy part of Franklin. But, it happened to be the only place she could afford the rent in a tourist trap town like Franklin, so she took what she could get.

  They stepped through the front door and Troy looked around quietly, assessing it. She felt defensive and opened her mouth to make apologies; to point out that finding an affordable apartment in Franklin was like finding a unicorn sitting on your front porch one morning, but before she could say any of that, Troy spoke. “I like the big windows,” he said, nodding toward the front room windows, with the ever-so-inspiring view of the parking lot below. “Lets in lots of light.” Even now, with the sun setting behind the Goldfork Mountains, there was still indirect light coming through, along with a front-row seat to a colorful sunset.