Chasing Treasure: Granite Lake Romance

by Jody A. Kessler

  “No, but I have my bike now, so I no longer need your Jeep.”

  “Is it in your way?”

  “Not at all.”

  He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Keep it in case there’s a storm or something. You never know, we could meet up at the park again. I wouldn’t want the weather to keep you away.”

  She blushed at his reference to the other night in Redwood Valley. Watching her soft cheeks flush sent a wave of heated pleasure straight to his center and settled like a warm pool in his loins. One side of his lip twitched and his brow lifted at a suggestive angle.

  She smacked his taut abs with the back of her hand. “You know I prefer a powerful machine between my legs. The Jeep isn’t a wuss or anything, but it’ll stay parked in my yard until you’re ready to pick it up.”

  An involuntary sound like that of a large hungry cat rumbled out of his throat when she touched him. Placing his hands on her hips, he bent down to her ear. “I’m ready to come see you right now.”

  She hid her eyes beneath her lashes and licked her lips before looking back up at him.

  “Thanks for the tour, Treasure,” Rob said, unknowingly and rudely interrupting their smoldering conversation.

  Bodie tore his gaze away from hers and glanced over at his brothers.

  “Yeah. It was great meeting you. Come on, man. Quit harassing the poor girl. She’s all red in the face. What is my little brother saying to you?” Shane teased. He walked over from where he’d been talking to Denny about the Harley. Shane clapped him on the shoulder and looked from Bodie to Treasure and back again. A knowing smirk crinkled his good-natured handsome face.

  “We’ve got to be back in Redwood Valley if we’re going to meet the real estate agent on time,” Rob reminded them, and started walking toward the SUV.

  Bodie reached up and brushed the edge of her jaw, wanting to feel the heat of her. He wanted to feel more of her warmth against the length of his entire body, but it would have to wait.

  “Have fun,” Treasure said, escaping his touch, and strolling over to the BMW.

  He sighed. His brothers had been eating up every minute of his life. That would change, he decided. Bodie would make time to see Treasure, and he would do it soon.

  Eleven

  DENNY SPENT a couple days working on the Indian. The Sport Scout needed the kicker engagement aligned, grinding on first gear for faster engagement, and other minor maintenance including finding an oil leak. The repairs were out of Treasure’s wheelhouse. Her trust in Denny never wavered as he took the bike apart and put it back together again.

  Countless shop hours later, the motor grumbled to life. Denny jumped on for a test ride. He returned to the shop smiling and asked Treasure if she wanted to take it for a drive. Of course she did. As she zipped up her jacket, Denny started giving a speech about the kick-starter. Shortly after he began, she wanted to interrupt and remind him she knew how to start the classic motorcycle. The words coming from Denny’s mouth were word for word the same lecture she received from her father about starting the bike — when she was fifteen. Realizing how much he sounded like him, she didn’t interrupt and listened to Denny channel her dad. The déjà vu rippled down her spine and raised the fine hairs on her arms.

  “Do you want me to start it for you?” he offered, peering at her with skeptical copper eyes.

  “You think I’m the one responsible for the alignment problem with the kick-starter, but it wasn’t me. It’s an old bike and it had problems when I inherited it. Stop worrying. I got this,” she said, trying to get him to stop staring at her as if she would undo the hard work he just put into fixing it. “Morton let me ride everything, remember?”

  A throaty grumble moved out of Denny’s thick chest. He stepped back, hands raised in surrender, and let Treasure start the Scout unassisted.

  “That felt good,” she said after the bike rumbled to life on her first try.

  Denny grinned with satisfaction and Treasure pulled onto the street. The wind cooled her face as she relived the Sport Scout’s distinct ride. She noticed the tightening in first gear and approved the other adjustments Denny made to the engine. Classic bikes gave her a sense of nostalgia for a time in history she had no way of truly knowing. Yet, with the less complicated machine vibrating beneath her, she yearned for the simpler days of the past.

  Treasure intended to take the motorcycle down the street and back, but she hit the end of town and kept going. The lake shimmered on her right and the forest loomed on her left. She would give anything to have her dad riding beside her. Why hadn’t she made an effort to visit him more after she moved away? She could have come to the mountains and gone on this same exact ride around the lake with him a hundred times while he still lived. Was it a disgrace to his memory to sell the Scout? It had been one of his favorites. With the gearing tightened and the motor purring, she understood why. How could she sell it? But she had to if she wanted to follow through with her plans. And she had to pay Denny for his work on the bike. He completed the repairs without asking for any upfront money. Denny’s buyer would cover his mechanic fees and Treasure would be paid the rest. She owed Denny huge. There was no way she could skip out on the deal now.

  A turnout came into view and Treasure downshifted. She brought the motorcycle around and headed back to town. She passed the road where Melanie lived, and on a whim, turned that direction.

  “Wow. Sweet bike. Is it one of your dad’s?”

  Treasure smiled at her friend as she climbed off. “It is. I’m selling it.” There, she said it. Saying the words helped solidify the fact.

  “It’s a beauty,” Melanie said as she approached the bike while dusting off her jeans. “Man, I bet this is a hard one to get rid of.”

  “You’re right about that. It’s bittersweet and deserves a ritualistic send off.”

  Melanie wore safety glasses on top of her head and sawdust clung to her sable hair and clothes. Regardless of the dust, Melanie hugged Treasure.

  “That means we’re drinking together later?” she asked.

  Treasure grinned. “Margaritas or shots of bourbon?”

  Melanie pursed her lips and blew. “Whoo… I’ll take the bourbon, I suppose.”

  “When it sells, I’ll be here with a bottle,” Treasure said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Melanie said. “I understand it’s hard letting go. And that’s the last I’ll say about it. Unless you need to talk about him.”

  Treasure noticed Melanie said him, not the Scout. “I don’t. But, I appreciate the shoulder more than I can say.”

  Melanie stepped back, her smile warm and empathetic. “So, do you want to swim in the lake? It’s just about the perfect weather. Swimming always helps me clear my head.”

  Treasure shivered just imagining the temperature of Granite Lake. “Not even a little. There’s still snow melting into the water. I don’t how you do it.”

  “It’s not bad. I wish I could go for another swim now, but I promised someone I would finish their entry table by tomorrow. All work and no play means Melanie gets a paycheck.”

  “Well, don’t let me keep you. I stopped by to check out the old house and thought maybe I could peek at your shop.”

  “Sure. I’ve been dying to show off my mess to someone who doesn’t think I’m a total walking disaster.”

  “Because you know no one’s workshop is worse than mine?”

  “Yep. Besides, I have something I want to show you.”

  Anticipation and giddiness bubbled through her veins. It’d been too long since she’d been here. After the broken water lines at the garage, Melanie helped clean up the mess and began organizing the motorcycle parts. She invited Treasure over to see her grandparents’ lake house anytime she was in the neighborhood, but she hadn’t done so yet. The last time she’d been there was in high school. They had some outrageously fun memories here and on the dock and shore behind the house.

  “Are you sure you don’t have to get back to work?” she asked.

&nb
sp; “I’m ready for a break. Your timing couldn’t be better.”

  They walked into the workshop and Treasure saw the mess Melanie mentioned. It didn’t look bad to her, but there was a lot of miscellaneous lumber and dismembered wood furniture.

  Melanie placed her safety glasses on the workbench. “Let’s go inside first and grab a drink. Not bourbon. We’ll save the shots for another time.”

  “Preferably when you’re not using the power tools and I’m not on the motorcycle,” Treasure added.

  “Right,” Melanie said.

  They went through the garage and entered the laundry/mud room. Melanie led them to the open, spacious kitchen. “There’s been a lot of remodeling since high school,” she said. “The kitchen was redone about six years ago, and I’ve been working on some projects. The upstairs is nearly identical to when you were last here.”

  “Is the tulip wallpaper still in the bathroom?” Treasure asked.

  “Goodness, no. I stripped the horrible paper off shortly after moving in. Would you like some tea?”

  “Sure.” Treasure sat down on a barstool at the kitchen island.

  Something pawed the side of her leg and she looked down. A small white dog stood on her hind legs staring up at Treasure with beseeching brown eyes. Treasure bent down and let the dog sniff her hand. “This must be the French kissing expert.” She scooped the fluffy white dog up in her arms, but held her face away. She didn’t want dog kisses after what Melanie said about the dog’s habit of eating inappropriate detritus from the yard.

  “If Tweeny wasn’t my daughter’s dog, I’m not sure I’d put up with her.”

  Treasure held in a laugh at Melanie’s impatience with the troublemaking dog. Speaking of which, the creature was currently trying to climb off Treasure’s lap and onto the counter. She placed her back on the floor. The dog barked, ears perked, and then tore across the kitchen floor, nails scratching and slipping the whole way. She darted out the dog door.

  “Tweeny is a combination of unruly toddler mixed with hormonal stubborn know-it-all teenager. She’s a punk, but also cute.” Melanie sighed and shook her head in irritation as she poured two glasses of iced tea. “Do you like raspberries?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Melanie dropped a few berries into each glass and then passed the tea over the counter to Treasure. The mildly sweet fruit tea washed down the dust and exhaust from Treasure’s impromptu ride.

  “So, what’s happening between you and the hunky search and rescue commander?”

  How does she know I need to talk about Bodie? There were many different stressful things going on in Treasure’s life right now, but Bodie seemed to float on the surface most of the time. She hadn’t caught Melanie up on the mold problem in her apartment or that she was staying in Granite Lake for an undetermined length of time. Melanie didn’t even seem surprised that Treasure was back in town so soon after cleaning up the mess from the broken water pipes.

  “Bodie’s an enigma.” Before she could fill Melanie in on the details of meeting Bodie at Peak 10 and their tryst in the park, Tweeny’s incessant barking interrupted and couldn’t be ignored.

  “Hold that thought.” Melanie set her glass down on the counter and walked over to the patio door to look into the yard.

  Treasure slid off the stool and joined her. Before she spotted Tweeny, Melanie opened the door and began calling for her.

  “Tweeny! Stop!” Melanie dashed across the patio and straight to the gate leading out of the fenced yard.

  A woman on the deck of the house next door wearing a tiny lime green and white polka-dot bikini and nothing else squealed into her phone about a white dog in her yard and the horrible neighbor trespassing again.

  The woman bent over and picked up a tiny dog that could have been a rat. She flipped Melanie off and disappeared into the house. Treasure tried not to gawk at the woman’s brazen attitude or her bronze ass cheeks being flossed by the lime string of her bikini bottom.

  With the Chihuahua no longer tempting Tweeny, the dog trotted toward the lake. “Get over here!” Melanie said. When she was promptly ignored, Melanie called, “Treat!” Tweeny twirled around and ran through the open gate.

  “Wow! She’s a piece of work,” Treasure said under her breath as Melanie returned to the kitchen.

  “My neighbor, Alana, or Tweeny?”

  “Both?”

  Melanie shut Tweeny inside the house and blocked off the dog door.

  “Who is she and what’s her problem?” Treasure asked.

  Melanie took a deep breath. “I can handle almost anyone. Even Alana wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact that she’s Braden Keehn’s girlfriend, or wife. Did you see the ring on her finger? It’s so huge, it’s gaudy.”

  “Kinda like her fake breasts. They’re also enormous, plastic, and hideous.”

  “Only I don’t believe the ring is fake.” Melanie sounded bummed out.

  The name Braden stirred Treasure’s memory. “Braden Keehn — your first and only?”

  “That’s him.” Melanie took a long drink of tea. Tweeny snuffled in a dog dish nearby, then started licking the empty bottom so the bowl began scraping across the kitchen floor.

  “Your neighbor is his other half?”

  “Yeah. And get this: I ran into Braden the other day in front of the house and he didn’t recognize me.”

  “Wow! What an asshole.”

  “Thank you! I didn’t want to admit it to myself. He used to be so thoughtful and sweet. When I saw him, he came across as a wheeler-dealer type. Not someone I would ever be interested in. I can’t believe he didn’t remember me.”

  Treasure frowned into her glass. Melanie had been head over heels in love with Braden during her senior year in high school. “I guess we’ve all changed. I’ve totally, well, sort of, become a different person over the last six or eight years. I don’t do drugs, or sleep with married men or boyfriends. Those are things I would have done in high school. It’s sad Braden’s changed for the worse.”

  “It is,” Melanie agreed.

  “If he’s an ostentatious pig now, it’s probably best he didn’t recognize you.”

  “You’re right. But seriously, I lost my virginity to Braden. I must look like a troll for him to not recognize me.”

  “You are beautiful. He must have been distracted. And you’re so much better looking now than you were as a teenager. No offense or anything, but you were wire thin in high school.”

  “You just called me fat.” Melanie rolled her eyes in pretend disgust.

  “Yeah, whatever. You’re a hottie and you know it. Besides, when I saw you at The Bistro, I recognized you immediately. Braden’s being influenced by Alana’s self-absorption. He’s not worth worrying about.”

  “It stung a little. And it stung a lot when I saw them getting down and dirty on the deck the other night. I haven’t been with anyone since the divorce. This dry spell is becoming a curse. Now, I need to live vicariously through you. Tell me about Bodie.”

  “Since you need to get your mind off your unfortunate neighbors and their peepshow, and I need to vent about Bodie, here’s the scoop. I need your advice. I think he may be still involved with his ex. And I shouldn’t care because I can’t commit to anyone, anyway.”

  “You can’t commit to anyone who is emotionally involved with someone, or you can’t commit period?” Melanie asked.

  “Both.” Treasure let her forehead drop to the counter. A groan of self-made misery leaked out of her. “I thought I wanted to try with Bodie, but his ex-girlfriend showed up right after I nearly screwed his brains out.”

  “Wait. What?” Melanie snorted out the words and then tried to compose her shocked face.

  “We hooked up in the park, of all places. I was more than willing. He has complete control over my body. It’s unreal. We were interrupted and had to cut things short. We left the park and were about to say goodbye for the night and his ex took his arm like they were still together. Since my many mist
akes in high school, I swore off men who were attached to someone.”

  “That’s a good policy, but what did Bodie say?”

  “He said his ex isn’t a part of his life anymore, and his mom keeps inviting Vanessa to tag along.” Treasure sat up and wrapped her hand around the glass of tea.

  “Why is his mother doing that?”

  “I have no clue.”

  “Has he ever given you any reason not to trust him?” Melanie asked.

  “No. But lately he’s acting kind of different. He’s been busy with his brothers, switching jobs, and moving. He’s been moody, and we keep getting interrupted by life when I try to talk to him. That hasn’t been entirely his fault, but still, he’s acting weird. It’s a sign he’s not being honest.”

  “It could be. It could totally be unrelated to his ex.”

  “I can’t be the other woman. What if he’s playing me and I’m falling for it because he can make me orgasm like no other. Would it be horrible of me to use him for that single purpose?”

  “That isn’t the only reason you like — love — this guy,” Melanie said.

  Treasure thumped her head against the counter again. Melanie said the L word and Treasure couldn’t deny it. She never had such strong feelings for someone before, and she couldn’t dismiss that it could be love. With Andrew, she believed she loved him at the time, but her emotions and longing for Bodie went even deeper. “Just sex would make things so much simpler. I’m not sure what to think.”

  “Trust him until he gives you a concrete reason you shouldn’t. And trust yourself, too. If he’s the one, don’t shut down because you have a hard time communicating with him. I’ve seen how you operate, Treasure. Nothing makes you want to run away faster than opening up and talking about it.”

  “Speaking of which, you still need to show me your latest projects in the shop.” Treasure purposely diverted the topic of conversation away from her real feelings about Bodie — and Vanessa.