by Bella Andre
Everything stilled around them, even the hammering above. He let his gaze rest on her lips—a sweet offering, lush, kissable. Nothing on earth could have stopped him, not even his own chivalry, as he lowered his head for that first glorious taste of her.
She tasted like the peach she’d eaten just a little while ago, sweet and ripe and luscious.
She could have stopped him, lifted her head, ended it all. He prayed she wouldn’t.
Then she angled her head.
And consumed him.
* * *
Daniel’s kiss lit a wildfire inside her.
His muscles were rock hard, and she swore she’d never felt anything so wonderful in all her life as she kissed him with everything she’d buried deep inside all these months.
It was a kiss like no other. It was fire and it was light. It was a spot in heaven far from reality. It was sweet sensation and sinful desire.
In that glorious moment, he was hers completely. And she was his.
She kissed him until she couldn’t breathe. Her legs moved restlessly, wanting to wrap around him, feel him, every hard line of him. His arms were strong, but his hold gentle. She could stay this way forever.
But she’d forgotten that she couldn’t have forever. Not anymore.
Too late, she remembered exactly who she was: Natasha Summerfield, daughter of a con man on a national scale.
She didn’t deserve such a beautiful, perfect kiss. She didn’t deserve Daniel. Or his friends. She didn’t deserve their help. She didn’t deserve how nice they were to her.
They thought she was just some poor girl who’d been foolish enough to buy this wreck of a cabin.
But she knew better.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, forcing herself to break their kiss and trying to push back. “I didn’t mean to get carried away.”
He didn’t let go, his arm a band around her. “Don’t say you’re sorry. Because I’m not.”
He was so close and felt so good. God help her, she wanted to start that kiss all over again and never stop. “You don’t really know me.”
“I know enough.”
“Please.” She didn’t honestly know what she was asking for. Please let me go? Please kiss me again?
All she knew was that she couldn’t bear for him to discover the truth about her. How his gaze would surely change. How the coldness would descend.
She felt dirty for ever having allowed Eric to put his hands on her. How could she let Daniel touch her after that?
“Please let me go,” she whispered. It was the right thing to do. The best thing to do.
The only thing.
But it hurt so badly when his arms finally slipped away.
“What’s wrong, Tasha? You can confide in me. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
She was the one who would hurt him, who was already doing it as she told him her first bald-faced lie. “Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t know how I’m possibly going to pay you back for everything you have done for me.”
He frowned. “There’s no price. You don’t owe me anything.”
She felt nauseated now, hating that she’d just debased their kiss by making it sound like nothing more than payment. “I don’t mean a price. I…” She was making a mess of it. An even bigger mess than she already had. “I’d better check the puppies. They’ve been alone a long time.”
“Tasha.”
But she was already running, away from everything she’d ever wanted.
And could never hope to have.
Chapter Fourteen
Tasha’s heart nearly burst with loss as she picked up Darla and stroked her soft fur. How she longed to return to Daniel, to beg him to forgive her, to kiss her again. To hold her.
“But I can’t allow this thing between us to grow,” she told the puppy, her only confidante. “No matter how much I want it to.”
Daniel wasn’t her only danger either. His friends—his foster brothers—were as well. They loved him, cared about him, and he would clearly do anything for them. She respected them, liked them for their humor, their confidence, for the loving way they talked about their families, including their foster mother and father.
His family was yet another reason why she couldn’t get any closer. She didn’t deserve to be a part of a loving, perfect family like his. And she certainly didn’t deserve Daniel.
Carefully, she put Darla back into the pen to play with her brothers. Daniel had gone up on the roof to work with his friends, and she couldn’t hang out with the puppies all day, doing nothing while the men did all the labor. There was a ton she still had to do inside. By herself, where she could think things through without being distracted by Daniel’s proximity, by his scent, by the heat of his body as they worked side by side.
As she fixed yet another hole in the flooring, Evan entered the house, obviously wanting to talk to her.
“I saw you and Daniel working on the computer earlier,” he said in a deceptively easy voice. “How are the plans coming?”
Icy fear washed through her. Fifteen minutes ago, Tasha would have launched into an excited soliloquy on the great ideas Daniel had given her, how marvelous his design app was. But now she was consumed by one question: What else had Evan noticed?
He must have seen them kissing. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here, no doubt prepared to tell her to leave his friend alone.
“Fine,” she said, her voice trembling over the four letters. She stood on shaky legs, hooking her hammer into its loop on her tool belt.
Evan folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall like he didn’t plan on going anywhere soon. “I have a confession to make.”
Her stomach did a pitch and roll as though she were on a ferry in bad weather. His next words were a no-brainer, so she should have been able to steel herself against them. Yet there was no way to stop them piercing her like a knife.
“What’s that?” she asked, her heart racing so fast she felt lightheaded.
“First,” Evan said, “you should know that when we were kids, Daniel was always the first to come to our defense with the bigger kids. He’s the kind of guy who’s always got your back, no questions asked.”
She swallowed, her throat sticking as if she hadn’t had a drink of water in a year. “He’s a good guy,” she said around the rising bile.
“The best,” he agreed, “which is why I worry about him.” He held her gaze. “Especially around women.”
He meant especially around her.
“Is everything all right with you, Tasha?” Evan let the question hang when she didn’t answer. “Because it seems like something’s wrong.”
Her blood roared so loudly in her ears that she understood what he said only by reading his lips.
“I can’t help wondering why you’re here in Tahoe all by yourself. And why you’re so reluctant to let us help.” Evan pulled out his phone, slid his finger over the screen, and turned it so she could see.
She’d never be able to take another full breath in her life. Her lungs had stopped working. Her heart had stopped beating.
“I saw your name on the purchase orders for the roofing material you picked up today,” he explained. “And I remembered a story I’d heard about two men named Reggie and Drew Summerfield who ran a resort scam, a father and son con-man team. Plus a third partner whose name isn’t mentioned.” He paused for several long seconds that made her squirm. “Do you know them, Tasha?”
What he didn’t say screamed at her. Are you the third partner?
She should have hated him for spying on her. But she understood exactly why he had. To protect his friend, his brother.
The way no one had ever protected her. Or her brother.
She wanted to shout, I’m not the third partner. But the denial got stuck in her throat. Just because she hadn’t known about the scam didn’t mean she hadn’t been an integral part of it. Her work on the website had lied to all those people just the way her father’s smooth salesmanship had.
When
she didn’t answer, he added, “I wanted to get the story from you first. If there is one.”
They both knew that he already had enough of the story to damn her. “I won’t hurt Daniel, I promise.” She heaved a sigh. “But my past…it belongs to me.”
Saying nothing was probably worse than coming right out and saying Reggie Summerfield was her father and Drew was her brother and that she’d built the website for their scam. And yet she still couldn’t manage to get the words out of her mouth, even ones that would have made it clear to Evan that she hadn’t been an active partner in the con.
She could only contemplate where she’d run to next. She’d arrived in the mountains with one bag. She would leave the same way.
And Daniel would be saved from her lies, her secrets, and her past.
Evan regarded her, his eyes dark and assessing, the way they’d been from the moment he’d met her. “I’m sorry I had to ask. But Daniel’s my brother.” He shoved the phone into his pocket and left.
She was sorry too. So very sorry that she’d brought all this to Daniel’s doorstep.
The only way to fix it now was to leave. Even if it killed everything inside her.
* * *
Tasha sat on the floor, alone in the house, for what seemed like forever. If she said good-bye to Daniel, he would try to convince her to stay—but she couldn’t remain without telling him the truth. Yet she wouldn’t be able to stand the way he looked at her once he knew. Her only choice was to sneak away after the guys had left for the day. Now, though, she’d say her good-byes to the puppies.
Outside, hunkering down by the pen Daniel had made for them, Tasha stuck the tips of her fingers through the chicken wire. Darla waddled over to lick her.
“It’s okay, little one,” Tasha said in a shaky voice. “You’re going to be fine. Daniel will take care of you, I know he will.”
Darla plopped over sideways, surely the cutest puppy in the entire world. Not to be outdone by his sister, Spanky bounded over, followed by Froggy. They licked her fingers exuberantly, then began wrestling with each other, Spanky ending up on top as he mouthed his brother’s face in friendly abandon.
“I’ll miss you all.” Tears slid down Tasha’s cheeks. “I’m sorry I have to leave you.”
Oh, how she would miss them all. The puppies. The Mavericks.
Daniel.
It had been only a few days, but they’d been momentous. She’d gotten attached so fast and had come to think of this cabin as someplace special, even if it was a wreck. Daniel had helped her envision what her house could be. What home could be.
What being with him would be.
Because he was what truly made it home.
The heartbreak of losing it all—of losing him—would last forever.
Evan would tell them her story, if he hadn’t already. He’d say she hadn’t denied anything. Daniel would understand why she’d gone.
Staring at the puppies, she wanted to smile at their antics. But looking into a future without these loving, furry little creatures—without Daniel—she didn’t know if she would ever really smile again.
With every minute that ticked by since Evan had shared his discovery, she couldn’t stop asking herself—how could she possibly atone for her family’s sins? Three months alone up here hadn’t accomplished it. So what would?
She’d never told anyone about the resort scam, not a single one of her friends. She hadn’t needed to tell the investigators; they’d already known as much as she did. Even with Evan just now, she hadn’t been able to speak the words aloud.
Maybe, it suddenly hit her, part of true atonement was confessing what you’d done to people you cared about. Like a twelve-step program, where you had to state your problem before you could start to get better.
She’d run away from her friends, from her work, her life, because she feared they would blame her for her part in the scam. But ultimately, was hiding out here any different than what her father and brother were doing, lying low until they could strike again?
She’d been afraid of Daniel finding out, of what he would think of her. Of what his friends would think of her.
But telling Daniel, telling them all, finally coming clean—maybe that was atonement. Confession. Facing up to what you’d done. Admitting it aloud to the people who were important to you.
Was it possible that all along she’d been running from the one thing she really needed to do?
Yes, she realized. That was exactly what she’d been doing, running and hiding so that she didn’t have to face anyone at all.
She felt the rightness of her epiphany in the fear that clogged her chest. She was terrified of confession. And wasn’t that the very reason she needed to do it? Because she had to show she was not the same as her family, that she could face her mistakes.
She had to stop hiding out. She had to stop running from her past. From her family secrets.
No matter the cost to her pride.
Or to her heart.
Returning to the cabin, she was glad everyone was on the roof—including Daniel—so she could shower and change, not back into overalls and a baseball cap, but into the jeans she used to wear, jeans that had grown loose on her, and a purple top. She needed to make her confession as the woman she’d been when she stood in her father’s office, dressed the way she used to when she was the person who, no matter how unwittingly, had been a part of her family’s scam.
It was tempting to stay holed up in her bedroom, to delay facing the music just a little longer. But she’d been a coward long enough.
It was finally time to do one brave thing.
Hopefully, it would prepare her to keep on being brave, once she’d made it through today in one piece.
If she made it through today.
When she emerged from her bedroom, she was surprised to find Daniel standing in the living room. His eyes widened when he saw her in something other than work clothes for once. “You look beautiful.”
“Daniel—”
But he wouldn’t let her say what she needed to. “I tried to let you go, told myself to give you space, but every second I was up there hammering, I was thinking about you. About our kiss. And how you ran.”
“I’m finally ready to stop running.” Ready, yes, but still petrified of what he’d think of her.
A smile curved his lips. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”
She held her hands up to keep him at a distance. “Actually, I’m sure it’s not.”
He ignored her cues to back off, taking her hands in his. “Whatever you’ve been so worried about, I’m sure it’s nowhere near as bad as you think.”
She was trembling like the leaves on the aspens outside. “I’m guessing Evan hasn’t told you. He found an article on the Internet about my family.”
Fire flashed in Daniel’s eyes. “I told him not to butt in.”
“Don’t be angry with him for looking me up. He cares about you. That’s why he did it.”
“I understand why,” Daniel said. “But I know my own feelings for you. And nothing he says is going to change them.”
Her heart wanted to soar. But Daniel didn’t know the truth, and once he did, everything would dive-bomb instead. “I don’t want to come between you and one of your brothers.”
“That’s one thing the Mavericks never do,” he told her. “We’re there for each other through thick and thin, pain and heartache.”
That’s why they were such good men. She was certain there was a huge story there, for each of them separately and the group as a whole. But she had her own story to tell.
Finally.
She didn’t start with any ice-breaking explanations. She simply laid out the truth. “My father and brother are con men.” She made herself say each word, even though they tasted like poison on her tongue. “They bilked millions of dollars out of people for a resort that doesn’t exist. And they got caught.” She was sure Daniel would drop her hands, but his grip only tightened. “I worked with them. I didn
’t know what they were doing, but I designed the website they used to draw in their victims.” She could no longer look at him. “I was a complete idiot. I didn’t question anything. I was just happy that they wanted to include me in their fabulous new project.” Sarcasm edged each word.
Daniel didn’t wait a beat. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Tasha.” His voice was steady. Strong. And utterly certain. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.”
She couldn’t let him make excuses for her. “I should have known. Because the cons didn’t start when I was an adult. They’d been going on since I was a kid. That’s why we had to move all the time. My father had to run before he got caught, taking the money he’d bilked out of his investors. I was stupid and blind. I never questioned anything. I just enjoyed our fancy houses and private schools and cars and vacations.”
He held on when she would have pulled away. “Even if you had figured it out as a kid, you couldn’t have stopped it. That’s not a kid’s job.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, remembering every time they’d had to leave, every completed con under her father’s belt. “That’s still the family I come from. They’re my bad genes. I went to college on money they stole from other people. My dad bought me my first car with money he ripped off. I helped them scam unwitting investors with a beautiful website that made everything look legitimate when it was totally fake.”
“You aren’t your family.” Certainty underlay his words.
The breath she took hurt like ice crystals filling her lungs. “But I went along with their lies. I loved my father and brother and believed in them.”
“That makes you a loving daughter and sister. Not the person responsible for their lies to you and everyone else.”
“Even now—” She had to finish her confession, no matter how he tried to minimize her crimes. “Even knowing that my brother was part of it, I still want to believe he’s a good person. I want to believe that he hated the things he was doing.” Daniel swept away a tear, and his touch was so beautiful, so totally unconditional, that she felt her heart crushed under the weight of his acceptance. “There’s more,” she whispered.