Crushing on Love (The Bradens of Peaceful Harbor, Book Four)

by Melissa Foster

  “You have no idea.” She turned toward him, pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in soft waves, framing her face.

  “Hey.” He leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers. “After breaking down my walls, why are you erecting your own?”

  “What do you mean?”

  He lowered his eyes to her arms trapping her legs against her chest.

  She rolled her eyes. “Because. You might think what I have to say is ridiculous.”

  “When has that ever bothered you?” He gently lowered her hands and moved closer, placing one leg on either side of her knees, then putting his arms around her. “You’ve got my full attention.”

  “I feel very exposed.”

  “Shan, you’re safe with me, and you’re not exposed. You were exposed this morning, lying naked in my bed.” He took her hands in his and laced their fingers together. “You feel vulnerable. But there’s nothing you could say that would make me think any differently about you.”

  She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “When they asked me to do this project, I didn’t really want to take the assignment. I had spent so much time doing research alone the last time I was here, I knew I was over it. But then they offered me the cabin…”

  She lowered her eyes.

  “You’re nervous,” he said softly.

  She nodded. “A little.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “Okay, well, here goes. They offered me the cabin and I took it because I wanted to see what might come of us, which I know is lame. Maybe stalkerish? I can’t tell.”

  “It’s not stalkerish,” he assured her, turned on, and surprised, by her confession.

  “Now that I’ve told you, I realize it was probably a huge mistake, because now that you know, you’ll feel obligated to say something comforting.”

  He cocked a brow. “Do I seem like the type of guy who doesn’t speak his mind?”

  “No, but…”

  A breeze blew a strand of hair across her cheek, and he tucked it behind her ear, then pulled her closer. “So you came out here to figure out your life and to see if we would amount to anything?”

  She nodded with a shy look in her eyes.

  “No wonder you were calling me names for putting on the brakes. You took a huge risk. Not just by coming out here, but by telling me how you felt and taking on an assignment you didn’t really want.”

  He rose to his feet and reached for her hand.

  She eyed him skeptically. “Are you going to throw me over the ridge?”

  “What do you think?” He pulled her to her feet and put an arm around her. “Come on, brave girl. This is the perfect night for s’mores.” He gathered her things and led her toward his cabin.

  “That’s it? You don’t have anything else to say about me taking a job I didn’t really want? Or coming out here and throwing myself at you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well, why the heck not?”

  “Because, Butterfly.” He kissed her temple as they walked. “I may not be a big talker, but I’m an excellent listener. You don’t want or need anyone telling you what to do. I’m just glad you’re here with me.”

  THE TIPS OF trees cast shadows like gnarled fingers across the grassy expanse beside Steve’s cabin, where he and Shannon ate burgers he’d cooked over an open flame and shared a bottle of wine. The moon glowed orange and gray against the ribbons of rich blues and dusky clouds. The fire hissed and popped, sending curls of smoke drifting like ghosts into the night. Steve hadn’t said any more about the things she’d revealed on the mountain, but she knew he was thinking about it, picking it apart, like he did with everything. She knew she was never far from his mind. He’d drawn an intricately detailed map and set up solar lights for her. He cared enough to make sure she’d thought through all the things that could hurt her down the road before they’d even shared their first kiss. And this afternoon he’d sought her out without any hidden agenda. He’d simply wanted to be with her, to see how she was doing. She may not know what she wanted to do with her life, but one thing was for sure. She’d made the right decision by taking this assignment. He obviously thought about her as much as she thought about him, and he cared for her and understood her in a way others didn’t. Most importantly, he respected her need to figure this out on her own, and that meant the world to her. She didn’t need to be fixed.

  You want to be loved…I see it in your eyes.

  She watched him now, perched on one knee at the edge of the blanket, whittling the bark from two thin branches with his pocketknife. The more time they spent together, the less guarded he became. She sensed something more going on with him tonight, and she had a feeling it wasn’t just his desire to give her a wonderfully romantic evening.

  She touched his forearm, bringing his eyes to hers. “We were so caught up in my nonsense earlier, I forgot to ask how your day was.”

  “Your stuff isn’t nonsense,” he said with a serious tone that surprised her, though it shouldn’t. He was protective of her and of her feelings. It was a different type of protectiveness than she was used to. He wasn’t overbearing, and he wouldn’t let her minimize her feelings. He made her feel special, and she appreciated it.

  He focused on the branch he was whittling. “And thanks for asking, but my day was hardly worth talking about.”

  “Did you hear back from the people you reached out to about the Cumberland property?”

  He gripped the knife tighter, quiet for a minute as he shaved the ends into sharp points, his brows knitted in concentration.

  “Yeah. That was a no go. I also spoke to Will. He said he knew you were going to cancel your date.” His lips curved up in a softer smile and he slid two marshmallows onto each stick.

  “He did?”

  “Yup. Said he could tell you were into me.” He handed her a stick and touched her arm, guiding her beside him, near the fire. The reflection of the flames danced in his eyes. “The man knows women.”

  She winced. “Was he mad?”

  “Not at all. I think his exact words were ‘you lucky bastard.’”

  He nodded toward the fire, and they both held their marshmallows over the flames. He slid a finger beneath her stick and lifted it higher, then kissed her tenderly. She felt the tension she’d seen in him moments earlier ease.

  “I still can’t believe the sugar queen hasn’t ever had s’mores. If you hold it just outside the flame, it’ll turn golden brown.”

  “It takes longer that way.” She pressed her shoulder against his.

  “Such a city girl.” He leaned in for another kiss. “I promise it’ll be worth the wait.”

  “Well, you were worth the wait, so I guess I’ll trust you.” She realized he’d redirected the conversation from the land, and she sensed that was the source of his underlying tension. “What are you going to do about the Cumberland property?”

  His jaw tightened again. “CRH isn’t playing around. They’re doing their due diligence, which means they’ll be ready to make an offer when it hits the market. I spoke to the bank, and I called in a few favors, but 2.4 million is a huge deal.” He fisted his hand and looked away. “I’m not giving up. Weston was never meant to be a town full of cookie-cutter homes.”

  He turned determined eyes on her. “The peacefulness you enjoy out on your uncle’s ranch? The gorgeous, unencumbered views we saw from the fence that morning at Mack’s? Once it’s gone, there’s no getting it back. Once one development is in place, more will follow. It’ll be just a matter of time before Weston becomes home to Walmarts and Dollar Trees. Before schools are over capacity. I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to find a way to keep it peaceful for as long as I can.”

  “Maybe you should reconsider talking to Treat.”

  He shook his head, and his gaze turned thoughtful. “It’s not a good idea, Shan. Treat’s a smart, well-connected man. I’m sure he made a decision about this land ages ago. If he were interested,
he’d have done something. Knowing Treat, he has good reasons for letting it go. He doesn’t need the added pressure of spending money because it’s important to a Johnson.”

  Steve grabbed the plate of graham crackers and Hershey bars and set it between them. She knew he was done talking about Treat, and she respected his decision. “Are you ready for your first taste of heaven?”

  “I thought kissing you was my first taste of heaven.”

  He shifted her stick away from the fire and pulled her into a kiss. It was rough at first, carrying the weight of the looming development invading his sleepy hometown. She pushed her fingers into his hair, earning one of his guttural moans she loved so much, and his tension fell away, replaced with the sensuality she’d come to expect.

  “You have the best answers,” he said with a smile.

  “You give the best kisses.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “How did we end up together?”

  “As I recall, you promised me shmores.”

  He kissed her again. “S’mores, no ‘h.’”

  “What kind of fool do you think I am? I say the ‘h’ and you kiss me. I’m sticking with it. Shmores. Shmores. Shmores.” She laughed as he plastered sloppy kisses all over her face.

  “Ready, sweet thing?” He set a piece of chocolate on a graham cracker, then held the stick, marshmallow side down, and pushed the marshmallow onto the chocolate. “Most people put the graham cracker on top of the marshmallow, but I have a feeling my sugar queen would like it better this way.”

  He placed another piece of chocolate on top of the marshmallow, then put the graham cracker on top.

  Her eyes widened. “Ohmygod. This looks just like the pictures.” She licked the melting chocolate from the edge of the cracker and closed her eyes, savoring the rich flavor melting on her tongue. “Mm.”

  Steve cursed under his breath.

  She giggled and he kissed her again.

  “You’ve got to taste the whole experience.” He moved the treat closer to her mouth. “Take a bite of the whole sticky thing.”

  “How am I supposed to fit this in my mouth? It’s huge!”

  “That’s what you said last night, and you did just fine.” He waggled his brows and she swatted him.

  She took a bite and closed her eyes, moaning at the sweetness of the chocolate melting into the smoky marshmallow. She could feel the heat of Steve’s gaze boring into her and opened her eyes. His eyes turned impossibly darker. He licked his lips, and a gratified smile appeared on his handsome face.

  “You and that mouth of yours will be the death of me,” he said in a gravelly voice.

  She swallowed her bite and they both leaned in for a kiss. Just as their lips touched, she pulled back.

  “Crowdfunding!”

  He blinked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

  “Crowdfunding! You have to do it now. It’s the best way to get the land. Oh my gosh, Grizz!” She set the s’more on the plate and jumped to her feet. “You have to do this. You have to! I’ll be right back!” She took off running, and he jumped to his feet and caught up to her in three long strides.

  “Wait. Where are you going?”

  “To get my laptop. I have to show you. This is the right thing.”

  He laughed, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Seriously. You’ll see.” She tried to pull away, and he tugged her against him and kissed her—hard and deep, with a little bit of laughter.

  “Shan, I have a laptop.”

  “Oh. Right. Let’s get it!”

  He looked at the fire, and she knew he was thinking about safety first.

  “I’ll get it,” she offered. “Where is it?”

  “On my desk, but it probably won’t get a connection out here.”

  “Hot spot,” she said over her shoulder, and headed for the cabin.

  “Hot what?” he called after her.

  She laughed and waved him off as she climbed the porch steps, excited to be able to help him after he’d gone to so much trouble for her.

  With his laptop and her cell phone in hand, she sat beside him on the blanket and connected to the hot spot on her phone.

  “A little lesson in the real word, Grizz.” She held up her phone and pointed to the hot spot icon. “This is called a hot spot. It uses cell service to connect to the Internet. Watch. This is how you connect it to your computer so you can work anywhere.” She connected the laptop to the service and searched for crowdfunding sites.

  “That’s cool for a person who wants to carry around their laptop.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It’s cool for a lot of reasons, but I’m not going to debate the value of technology with a guy who hugs trees for a living.”

  He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for not making me have that painful conversation.”

  “Oh, you’re not off the hook yet. I’m just not going to get into it now. We have far more important things to go over.”

  “Right, like begging for money.”

  “Ha-ha.” She pulled up a list of campaigns on the FundMyProject website. “These are called campaigns, which is what you need to develop. A campaign.” She clicked on one of them. “See, this singer is trying to raise twelve thousand dollars to make a music video.”

  “Do people really give money to someone they don’t know? Twelve thousand dollars is a lot of cash. What if she’s a flop?”

  “What if she’s a star?” She smiled and scrolled down the page. “See this list? These are things people get for donating certain amounts of money to her campaign. Five dollars gets an autographed photograph download. It costs this chick nothing to give them a downloadable image, and probably tons of her fans would pay five dollars for that. See how she offers a bigger gift for higher donations? A five-hundred-dollar donation gets a signed CD, a signed picture, a T-shirt, and a fifteen-minute group Skype. Oh, Steve! That’s a great idea! You’re so knowledgeable about the area and so passionate about preservation. You definitely need to do this!”

  “I don’t know, Shan. There’s a big difference between a musician and 2.4 million dollars for conservation land.”

  “You should talk to Treat, even if you don’t want to. He’s a business genius, and he not only has the money to help, but he loves Weston.”

  “We already talked about that.”

  She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “I don’t understand you. You’re willing to bend over backward and put yourself out there to save this land for generations to come, but you have too big of an ego, or too much pride, or whatever, to do the one thing that could make a huge difference.”

  His eyes went flat. “Not. Happening.”

  “Fine, but just for the record, you’re being a dumbass again.”

  He pressed his lips to hers. “Thanks for understanding, beautiful.”

  She rolled her eyes again, which she thought might become her standard answer tonight. “In that case, you’ll need to reach like-minded people. You need a hook that people will care about and want to become part of.” She mulled that over for a beat. “Can it be conservation land and still be used for something else?”

  “Sure. It depends how you set it up with the county. Someone could use it to continue ranching, or turn it into a nature conservancy center.”

  “Oh, Grizz! I’ve got it!” She set the laptop beside her and took his hand. “Universities are always looking for money for research, right? What about making it into a research center and allowing students to use it? You could have sessions and even give tours to the local elementary and high schools. That’s how I figured out what I wanted to do. It was a field trip to a research facility. I spoke to a field researcher who was so excited about what he was doing I wanted to know more, and more. This would be really helpful to students. When I was doing my master’s, finding places to host me to do field research was really hard and very political. There’s such a dire need for this sort of thing. It would take some doing to buy the property, but that would open up so many avenues
.”

  “Shan, it sounds like a full-time job just to figure out the details for something like that, and I don’t have six months. I’ve got sixty days to make something happen. I love your ideas, but you’re talking about running a whole facility, and the word ‘political’ has me worried. I was really thinking more along the lines of conservation.” He rubbed his chin. “This magnifies our differences, doesn’t it?”

  “Please.” She waved her hand dismissively. “This is called brainstorming, and it’s what makes the world go ’round. We’ll come up with something awesome like the Save the Rainforest campaigns. Oh my gosh! That’s it! We can sell off the land one acre at a time, but we’re not really selling. I can totally see it. Adopt an Acre. Give the Gift of Nature to Generations to Come.” She blinked up toward the sky. “I see a beautiful website with pictures of the land, and wildlife, and…hikers.”

  “Hikers,” he said with a wide smile. “Now, that sounds like an amazing idea. But I can’t imagine it working.”

  “Hey, Mr. Doubtypants. Have a little faith, will you?”

  “I don’t know anything about setting up websites, or running programs like this.”

  “Well, then, I guess our magnified differences aren’t such a bad thing after all. I double majored in business and biology, and I have a master’s in natural resource management. I can get all of this figured out with a little input from my family. And Max handles all the online marketing for the Indie Film Festival in Allure. She can clue me in to what works, and I’ll call my brother Sam about how to best capture conservation peeps online. He does tons of guerilla marketing for his river-rafting and adventure company. Ty can reach out to his tree-hugging groups. I knew one day his being a world-renowned mountain climber would come in handy. He’ll love this. And you don’t realize it, but you must have oodles of connections interested in conservation. Together we can totally do this. If you don’t mind my helping, of course.”

  She was so excited she could barely sit still, and Steve was shaking his head with a wondrous look in his eyes. Before he could deny her the chance, she leaned in close and said, “Do you trust me?”