by Ellie Hall
“I have to get back to work,” she said when someone from the kitchen called her order.
She started to walk away and he said, “I also came to watch you in those leggings.”
She looked down. “These old things?”
“It’s a nice view when you walk away.”
“Are you checking out my butt?” she whispered.
He flashed a cocky smile. “It’s hard not to.”
The Hawk and Whistle was busy, especially since it was a live music night. Dallen got his cheesy bannock bread as promised along with Irish nachos, a new addition to the menu. He also couldn’t help but watch Kayla in action. However, he soon recognized it was tiring work, running for customers who requested extra napkins, then straws, then more aioli for their burger—well, one customer kept her running.
Her voice carried to his ears. “I’m sorry, Sir. Typically, the aioli is served cold because it’s made of mayonnaise.”
Dallen was seated close enough he could hear the exchange.
“I’d like you to warm it, please,” the man said, definitely a demanding out-of-towner.
“Sure,” she said, taking it from him and whisking off to the kitchen.
When she returned, she asked, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“It’s too warm and I’d like some ketchup too.”
She leaned across the table, picked up the bottle, and set it in front of him. He doused his burger in it.
She cleared a few extra plates from the rest of his party.
He’d taken an oversized bite of the burger and then spit it onto the plate. “The aioli is disgusting.”
Kayla’s smile was thin and she said, “I’m sorry, Sir.”
“I need a new burger. I can’t eat this.”
She took a steadying breath along with the plate and vanished into the kitchen.
Dallen wanted to step in but he knew she could handle it—she probably had to deal with people like that every day. He enjoyed the live music and it was great to see his old buddy singing and playing guitar. It was even more enjoyable to watch Kayla pass every few minutes.
The man with the burger flagged her down again and said, “Where’s my meal?”
“They’re making you a new one like you’d asked,” she said with measured patience and then went to check on it.
Minutes later, she set the new burger in front of the man.
Dallen watched with fascination and growing irritation since the customer was clearly still agitated when he passed her the aioli. “I want this warmed up.”
The expression she wore made Dallen think she might dump the sauce on the guy’s bald head. He wanted to punch him in the head.
“This music is too loud,” he shouted after she asked if she could get him anything else.
“If you’d like to move your party into the other room, there are a few tables available.”
“But there isn’t a mountain view,” he complained.
“That’s correct.” If it were possible for steam to come out of someone’s ears that would have been the moment. The customer was unreasonable and if not for rule number two and laws against assault, Dallen would have gladly shown the man the door and then his fist.
“I didn’t come here to stare at a parking lot. I demand my meal be free. This is outrageous,” he shouted at Kayla.
“No, Sir. You are outrageous and I demand you stop making a scene and eat the dinner you ordered like a grown man or leave.” Her chest rose and fell.
Dallen’s own breath finally started to smooth out when the man went silent and turned to his meal. Dallen finally did the same.
He would’ve stuck around to hang out with Kayla after her shift but she insisted that broke rule number two.
As he drove home, under a star-filled, full-moon sky, a bright surge of affection rushed through him. He’d always made it a point to live in the present but could they have a future together? She’d drawn him out of his self-imposed solitude, stirred his feelings of desire, and made him feel alive in a way no woman ever had.
When he passed the turnoff to his childhood home a shadow crossed the moon, casting the landscape into darkness. He had to remind himself that it was all fake. She was going through with it to get her mother to leave her alone about marrying. He wanted to help her—though, she seemed to handle the demanding customer and her sister just fine. Maybe she’d discovered her inner confidence. She could tell her mother to ease up.
Then there was Tripp and the rest of his brothers. He hoped at some point to reconcile their differences but in the meantime didn’t want his brother to bear all the burden of taking over the family business—especially since he knew Tripp’s ambivalence.
Dallen always saw himself in a long-term committed relationship but after Stephanie left him, just like his mother left his father, he’d given up.
As strongly as he felt about Kayla, he knew the Hawkins men were cursed and destined to be alone. Who was he trying to fool? It was all so complicated. He wished he could ask his father what to do. He always had sage advice and a knowing smile Dallen would never forget. Somehow, he always knew just what to say.
Chapter 11
Kayla
Kayla had been avoiding her mother’s phone calls and texts for the last couple of days. When it got to the point that Irene threatened to drive to Hawk Ridge Hollow to make sure she wasn’t stranded in a ditch (with the reminder that her car was woefully unreliable, as if that was Kayla’s fault—it was the most she could afford), she finally answered the phone and instantly regretted it.
Irene plowed into wedding planning Momzilla mode with over the top ideas for a destination wedding in Hawaii (and planned a seven-day itinerary for guests) or renting out an actual castle (in Switzerland) for the reception, and she’d found a dress bejeweled in Swarovski crystals that cost in the five-figure range (before alterations).
She’d just gotten out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her hair as she pulled on leggings and a sweater to get ready for her shift ski instructing at the resort and put the phone on speaker. “Dallen may be wealthy but that doesn’t mean he necessarily wants to spend a fortune on the wedding,” Kayla said.
If they even went through with it. Since their kiss, followed by the fondue date, then seeing him at the Hawk and Whistle, things were moving fast and it was all built on a fake arrangement her cousin had orchestrated. It all seemed too good to be true.
Irene went on, trying to convince Kayla that going down the aisle in a stream of water was all the rage. “Like in the movie your sister and I saw in theaters—”
“Mom, this is real life.” Kayla huffed at the same time someone knocked on the door.
Her frown lifted. It must’ve been her daily hot cocoa delivery aka rule number three.
“Mom, I have to go. Dallen is here.”
“Ask him if he likes elephants. You could ride in on one of those—”
“He’s more of a horse guy.”
“Harmonie is calling him the Cute Cowboy.”
“Mom, I have to go. Talk later.”
“Start answering your phone for goodness sakes.”
She hung up.
The cute celibate cowboy. Kayla hardly had time to think about that bit of information he provided the other night and the reason he hinted at why his ex, Stephanie, had left him. But Kayla was of a like mind: a woman of faith, waiting for marriage before she was intimate in that way.
As she opened the door and her eyes locked on Dallen’s, she sunk back, suddenly realizing exactly why Bradley had left her for the girl from the hot dog stand.
“Hey, you okay? Everything all right?” Dallen asked, having witnessed the change from her usual cheery smile to the pained expression.
Kayla’s hand had automatically lifted to her lips as though trying to hold in the gasp of surprise and the outpouring of her realization along with what it meant about her past and her future with the man standing before her.
Bradley had been talking
about making sure they were compatible. He wanted them to move in together and test things out before they said I do.
He’d gone to church with her a few times but she’d never mentioned she was waiting for marriage and just assumed he understood her choice. But he’d made the move for more several times and she had to stop things from going further. He’d made comments about what he perceived was lacking in their love life and that he wanted more.
Her stomach twisted in knots. How had she not seen it at the time? Why didn’t he talk to her about it?
“Kayla?” Dallen asked, holding the steaming cup of cocoa aloft.
Her limbs felt shaky and her thoughts raced. “Yeah. Sorry. I was on the phone with my mother and—”
“Don’t tell me, now she’s pressuring you about the wedding.”
Like Bradley had been pressuring her about something else. She exhaled, feeling foolish for not realizing it sooner.
However, Dallen’s low drawl along with his calm and peaceful presence anchored her while also making her pulse double, her skin spark with electricity, and her desire for him stronger than ever. She couldn’t deny her body’s response to him but had to remain true to her beliefs.
“Do you need to talk?” he asked.
“My mother has called me,” she checked her phone, “thirty-nine times since you told my sister we’re getting hitched. She’s already trying to micromanage every little thing.”
Dallen shrugged. “I suppose you could let her then you wouldn’t have to do it.”
“Remember my ideal wedding? That’s not what my mother has in mind. She’s thinking something more like this.” Kayla flashed a link her mother had sent her about a royal wedding in a country she’d never heard of called Concordia that involved celebrations for three days, fireworks, a parade, and included a cake that was six feet tall. She shook her head.
“If that’s what you want instead—” Dallen said.
Kayla slouched onto the sofa. “No. I don’t want that but I don’t know what I want.” She said the last part at a whisper because she wasn’t referring to the wedding itself. More the idea of marriage.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw herself into Dallen’s arms and spend the rest of her life with him or call things off. The lines had blurred between what was fake and the feelings she was developing for him, the way he made her feel, and how he helped her see her innate beauty and worth.
Dallen sat down opposite her on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees. He was a well-built man and seemed to take up all the space in the room but in a way that she welcomed. That she wanted. Maybe? Possibly?
“Why do you let your mother and Chloe treat you like that? Pressure you and make you feel bad?”
His words hit on a raw truth inside of her. “I guess I ignore it and hope it’ll stop, go away.”
“But I saw you deal with that customer at the Hawk and Whistle.”
“Yeah, well, he wasn’t going to go away until he got his artisanal aioli.” She rolled her eyes.
“Kayla, he was unreasonable and I’m not sure if this oversteps any bounds but so is your mom. Do you know why she’s so insistent? Maybe if you did you guys could talk about it.”
Like she and Bradley could have, should have talked about intimacy in their relationship.
“I suppose she’s worried about me. Doesn’t want me to be alone.” Then another realization crash-landed in her mind as she continued talking. “She never really had a thing that was hers. I suppose before she married my dad, she had interests but I never saw her with hobbies or anything like that. It’s like her identity is wrapped up in our family and making sure we’re all picture perfect.”
“How’s that working out?”
Kayla played with a loose string on the hem of her shirt. “I don’t know if she regrets her choices or wishes she had more that were her own, but I suppose I started down that path with Bradley—giving up my dream to have a cupcake shop. Now I’ve gone in the opposite direction—so fixated on trying to figure out my future.” She snuck a peek at Dallen. Her mind flashed with the thought that her future was sitting in the room with her. But she still had to sort things out with her mother and figure out the fake wedding.
“Hey, and you stood up to Chloe.”
“Yeah, that felt good. But what about you and your brothers. If we went through with the fake wedding wouldn’t you want them there?” She tried not to wince when she said the word fake.
“I haven’t talked to my brothers in a long time, so I understand how families can fall apart. Of course, I want them there but Tripp hasn’t even told me he’s getting married so I don’t expect him to come to ours—if we go through with it.”
It felt like that elephant her mother had mentioned entered the room and sat down on the couch between them.
Kayla wanted to move the conversation away from the murky wedding situation because she couldn’t think straight with the Cute Cowboy so close. Plus, Dallen had helped her sort through some of her confusion surrounding her relationship with her mother, maybe she could help him too. “What’s the feud about anyway?”
Dallen clapped his hands together lightly. “I suppose it is a feud. Never thought about it that way. The Hawkins versus the Hawkins.” His jaw tensed then he let out a long breath. “You know how some things build over time, like with your mother and sister. Well, this was instantaneous. Blam. We’d met up at Fratelli’s after just learning the stipulations in our father’s will. Two of my brothers—Owen and Blake—wanted to figure out a loophole in the will and a way around our father’s wishes. They didn’t want to get married.”
“Ever?”
Dallen shrugged. “But Tripp and I took issue with that because those were our father’s wishes and who were we to disagree. It was a split, leaving it to Rocky, the youngest, to choose the winning side. Well, arguments broke out among us and we soon let out twenty-some-odd years of pent up anger, old disagreements, and took cheap shots at each other. We were all emotional anyway because of our loss. Our mother didn’t even go to the funeral. That hurt too. All of us said some things we shouldn’t have. Things we couldn’t take back. We hadn’t even placed our drinks order and thirty minutes later we went our separate ways. Haven’t talked since.”
Kayla inched closer. Despite her differences with her sister and mother, she couldn’t imagine such a longstanding feud. She extended her hand tentatively then laced her fingers through Dallen’s. “I’m sorry all that happened.”
He squeezed her hand. “Thanks, but it is what it is I suppose.” Dallen sniffed. “Hey, I’d better let you finish getting ready for work.”
She walked him to the door and lifted her cup of hot chocolate. “Thanks for this,” she said and took a sip.
Dallen paused. His lips quirked. A thrill shot through her as his eyes drifted to her lips. Was he going to kiss her again? Anticipation sent tingles across her skin. Her breath quickened. He leaned in and wiped a bit of chocolate away from her upper lip. “See you later,” he said.
It was like his thumb had tattooed her lip. She could feel the print he’d left there even though he’d wiped the chocolate away. She had to figure out what was going on between them. It was like half the time they were all about the fake wedding but then the other it seemed like the desire and energy that passed between them was very, very real.
Kayla glanced at the clock. She had to race to finish getting ready in order to make it to work on time.
Fifteen minutes later, by some stroke of good fortune, there was an empty parking spot closest to the employee entrance at the resort. The schedule indicated she was assigned to a group of kids who’d signed up to learn to snowboard. She was only slightly out of breath when she met them.
While she went over safety instructions, they were all staring at her lip. She wiped it with her glove and looked down to see a streak of chocolate, reminding her of Dallen. Suddenly she wasn’t at all cold even though she was on a mountain and surrounded by snow.
After
a few hours of teaching the kids how to shift their weight and turn, how to fall down and then get back up, and make it down the slopes a few times, she waited at the bottom for the last few stragglers. Something cold and wet smashed into her shoulder. She whipped around, suspecting one of the kids had clobbered her with a snowball, but a large figure dashed behind a snowbank.
Once more, the kids stared. Kayla narrowed her eyes as she stalked closer to the snowbank. Then another snowball sailed through the air. She ducked out of the way and then another came and another. She crouched down, gathered up a handful of snow, packed it tight, and waited for the Yeti—aka the Cute Cowboy—to try to get her again.
When Dallen stood to toss more snowballs at her, she aimed and hit her target. Laughter boomed as he ran toward a tree for cover.
Kayla nodded at the kids, giving them permission to get involved. “It’s on.”
They all started making and hurling snowballs.
Soon, Dallen was being pelted. “Not fair. It’s, like, seven against one.”
“Mister, you’re big enough to be three of us,” a little kid said.
“Still, I’m outnumbered.” Dallen sent another snowball in Kayla’s direction.
“You started it,” she shot back as she released another snowball.
“I didn’t know this was part of the class,” a little girl said who’d started to build what looked like a snowman.
They continued to throw snowballs at each other until it was a free for all—no longer the kids and Kayla against Dallen but everyone throwing snowballs at everyone else. Even some of the other instructors and passersby got involved.
There was a lot of good-humored shouting and laughter.
Then Dallen let out an uncharacteristic shriek.
The little girl who’d been building a snowman had actually rolled her giant snowball up the snowbank and then released it on Dallen’s head. She giggled then said, “I won. I’m the queen of the mountain.”
There was more laughter and cheering. The kids’ parents signed them out of the class and Kayla walked over to Dallen where he wiped the snow off but it didn’t do much good. He was covered from head to toe and actually resembled a Yeti.