by Taylor Hart
“Right.” His sister stood next to him, twirling her fingers.
“Why are you doing that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You always do that finger thing when you’re fussing over me.”
“Do not.”
“Do too.” He let out a long breath. “Say what you wanna say, and go.”
“I went into the guide shop.”
He didn’t respond.
“I went to the guide shop you said her grandfather used to own.”
“Why would you do that?”
Alicia moved over to window and picked up Sugar’s brush. She moved to Sugar and began stroking her. “Because I’m concerned about my brother.”
Hating the fact he was intrigued, he couldn’t help but move to her. “And?”
She said nothing, but continued brushing.
Cam stood across from his sister. They were twins, but they looked nothing alike. Where he was a large brunette, his sister was blond and petite. Some thought, because of her build, that she was fragile, but Cam always loved how she was as tough as nails. A ranch girl, through and through. She could hunt and drive cattle with the best of them.
“Alicia.”
Her eyes flashed up at him, and she grinned. “I spoke with Jet.”
Cam wasn’t impressed. “Okay.”
“Well, I guess Jet always had kind of a thing for her. He was also very interested when I told him who you were.”
“You didn’t.” Cam had always found it endearing how his sister bragged about him all the time. She’d done it since he’d been in little league; she used to go around the school reciting all the plays of his games to any teacher that would listen.
Her bangs fluffed up a bit as she shook her head. She grinned wider. “I did. He was happy to tell me that Kat had come in and quit three days ago.”
“But she left last week.”
Alicia wagged a finger at him. “See, little brother, these are the details that too often you miss. You see, she didn’t leave. In fact, according to Jet, she broke things off with the infamous professor.”
His heart thudded inside his chest. “What?”
“She went back to Boulder.”
“Without the professor?”
Alicia nodded. “According to this Jet … who I need you to sign this football for, by the way.” She stopped brushing and went to her bag, opening it and handing him a football and a black permanent marker.
Laughing, he took the football and pen.
“Hey, you never want to use your fame to get what you want, but I don’t mind using your fame to get you what you want.”
His signed the ball and handed it back. “So it’s over with her and Steven?”
“According to Jet, Kat never told any of them about the real engagement. She just told them it had ended with Steven.”
He couldn’t believe this. Why had she done it? Why hadn’t she called him? Texted? Sent a passenger pigeon, for all he cared. Done something?!
Alicia grinned at him. “So what are you going to do, bro?”
He put his hands up. “Maybe she doesn’t want me.”
Alicia laughed. “Oh, I think she does want you.”
“Did Jet say that?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
Alicia watched him for a second before throwing back her head and laughing. “Oh dear. Brother, you are in way over your head.”
“How do you know?”
She moved to him and put a soft hand to his shaved cheek. Her brow furrowed. “Because you’re Cameron Cruz.”
“She doesn’t care.”
His sister kept her gaze fierce. “Exactly. She fell in love with the real you. She even knew about who you were, and she fell in love with the famous you, too.” She nodded. “Go to her.”
“I can’t. Even if she didn’t marry him, she didn’t call me.”
“Go.”
“What? Fly to Denver and beg her to have me?”
Alicia laughed. “Dad always told you that true love would knock you on your butt, remember?”
Alicia was right. Cam nodded, feeling more certain. Suddenly swept away by hope, he grabbed his sister, picked her up, and swung her around.
She giggled. “I still got it, even if I don’t spell them.”
He put her down and kissed her forehead. “You’ve always been magic to me. Thank you.”
Chapter 30
Kat looked around her small apartment in Boulder. It was packed up.
She turned to the open box she’d put aside to store all of Steven’s stuff that she’d found. Or just things that reminded her of him that she didn’t want anymore.
It’d been hard. But she was proud of herself.
She’d told Steven to take a hike. He’d been shocked and mortified. He’d left that night, and she’d cried. It felt liked all she’d done this past week was cry.
But she didn’t call Cam.
This whole love triangle was messed up. She needed time to sort through her feelings.
So she’d done the only thing she could do. She left Jackson Hole. At every turn, there were too many reminders of him—of them, together.
She had done a lot of soul-searching this past week. The one thing she knew was that she’d made the right choice saying goodbye to Steven.
Her phone rang. It was her mother. Already regretting her decision to go to LA for the rest of the summer, Kat reluctantly answered it. “Hello.”
“Katherine.”
“Hi.”
“I … I guess you’ll be on your way.”
She didn’t want to, but she had nowhere else to go. “I’ll be leaving in just a minute.”
“Good. Sweetie, I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
“I got a call last week from a realtor telling me there was a buyer, some famous football player or something. So I agreed, but after thinking more about what you said about using your grandfather’s ranch to help those children, I decided not to sell it.”
“I thought it was sold a long time ago.”
“No.”
“You’re the one that was in foreclosure?”
“I was, but I’m not now. I’d let it go because I didn’t care. But…I care now.”
Kat didn’t know what to say. Warmth filled her. “You do?”
“I want you to have it.”
She couldn’t even speak.
“Kat, I’m sorry. I haven’t been there for you. I’ve been so stupid. I thought about everything you said, and I hope it can be a start … for us.”
Before she knew it, she was crying. “I’d really like that, Mom.”
“So I can come up and help you get it started next summer?”
“Are you serious?”
Her mother laughed. “Ya know, I think this might have been part of your grandfather’s plan the whole time—to get me back up there.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
“I love you, honey. I’ll see you soon.”
“I love you too.” Kat got off the phone, the emotion stuck in her throat. She closed her eyes and began praying. “Thank you, Lord. Thank you.”
Opening her eyes, she stood, feeling completely energized. She wanted to call Cam. She wanted to tell him. But a worry had been nagging at her…what if she’d missed her chance?
After coming back to Boulder, she’d gone to Professor Talbot. He’d told her that Steven had gone back to London. Then he mentioned that Steven had been forced to leave due to the sexual harassment charges that had been filed against him from a student. Hearing that information had actually made Kat feel more sane than she had in a long, long time.
When she’d pushed Professor Talbot about where the funding had come for on her project, he’d revealed it’d come from a group called Junto. When she’d dug for more information, she’d found out Cameron Cruz was part of it. The last three days, she’d been all bugged about it.
Finally, she’d decided she’d accept
the gift, and let it be.
She walked out of her small apartment, unsure of the future. She couldn’t believe it. She had the funding and the land. The key was to finish her dissertation and get to work implementing her plan.
She hummed a tune and walked to her small, red Volkswagen bug.
“Nice song.”
Jerking to a stop, she felt his stare on her. Felt the immediate attraction ram into her gut. She’d been humming his song. The one he’d written about her. She’d been unable to get it out of her mind.
He was there. Here.
Turning around, she realized she’d walked right past him. He was leaning up against a black Corvette. “Nice car,” she blurted.
He shrugged. “You know—part of the bazillionaires’ club.”
He looked good. He wore jeans and a grey Storm T-shirt, and he was clean shaven. No hat. He pulled off his sunglasses, and his dark brown hair fell all model-like into his eyes. For a second, she could barely breathe.
He tapped the car with his fingertips. “See, I heard this rumor.”
“Really?”
Cam took a step toward her. “About this girl I met a few weeks ago.”
“Hmm, do I know her?”
Then he was in front of her. She could smell the aftershave and his laundry detergent smell. Brushing a wisp of hair off of her cheek, he grinned. “I think you do.”
“What’s she like?”
“She’s feisty and infuriating. She pretends she doesn’t know when people are famous.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. In fact, I wanted to ask her that very question.”
“Just that question?”
He pulled back and searched her eyes. “Oh, and the other big one—why didn’t you marry him?”
She could feel herself trembling. His question was real, intense—the very things their relationship had always been.
“C’mon, Kat.” He flashed another grin. “Just say it.”
“What?”
“That your second-string boyfriend got bumped up.”
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Choking back a giggle, she flashed him a pointed look. “Why’d you fund my project?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Junto. I know that’s you and several other billionaires from Jackson.”
He let out a breath. “You weren’t supposed to know that.”
“I don’t understand. Why you would fund it after I told you I was marrying Steven?”
Hesitating for a moment, Cam took her hand. “Are you telling me because I have a lot of space in my house, I can’t do anything philanthropic?”
She laughed.
“C’mon, tell me why didn’t you marry him?”
All those butterflies that always showed up when Cam was around were back. She frowned. “You’re going to like the answer way too much.”
He moved closer to her. “Tell me anyway.”
“Because I realized he was manipulative.”
Cam tilted his head to the side and took her hand. “True.”
Loving the way her hand felt in his, she stared up at his lips. “And I sort of fell in love with this guy.”
Giving her hand a squeeze, he grinned wider. “Oh yeah?”
“And he’s cocky, arrogant, really into his body…”
“I heard he saved your life one time.” He countered.
She grinned, laughing. “Oh, okay, I’ll concede some points for that.”
Lifting his eyebrows, he grinned. “He sounds amazing.”
She paused. “But the best part, the real part, is that he is kind, funny, and writes songs about me.”
He bent closer to her. “Well, he sounds like some kind of Prince Charming.”
Her heartbeat went up a notch and all she wanted to do was kiss him. “Oh no, believe me, what we found was more real then anything I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.”
Softly, he reached up and touched her hair. “It was real for me, too.” He grinned. “I fell in love with you, Kat, fake fiancé and all.”
Then his lips were on hers. She giggled but didn’t let go, kissing him with as much love and passion and certainty as she’d ever felt.
When he pulled away, he grinned down at her. “Now that’s how I like to be kissed.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s good, cowboy. Because I don’t want there to be any doubt that you’re the starter for the rest of the game.”
He laughed and picked her up, kissing her again. “That’s good, because you’ve always been first string to me.”
I hope you enjoyed Second String: Book 5 The Last Play Series. If you would like to receive updates on new releases and receive a book FREE, The Christmas Eve Kiss, ($3.99 value), sign up for my newsletter HERE.
If you liked Second String…you might enjoy my latest release The Bet: A Snow Valley Romance.
Check out the first chapter….
First Chapter—The Bet
Destiny Morningstar waved as her cousin Janet Snow—correction, Janet Hamilton—pulled away from the curb with her new husband.
Janet was six years older than Destiny, and a first cousin on her mother’s side. They’d never been close, but by the blood of her mother they were Snows, and that was all her mother cared about.
A twinge of panic filled Destiny as she tried to remember all the last-minute instructions Janet had relayed to her like a seasoned veteran explaining how to handle a gun for the first time. Destiny was left to run the flower shop, her finger on the trigger.
“Destiny!” The Ford Mustang stopped and a window rolled down.
Destiny moved to the car.
Janet pointed at her. “I left that number to call if you need anything, but I am advising you not to call it if you don’t absolutely have to. Adam is a good guy, but … he’s been in a mood lately.” She gave a slight frown. “Sorry.” She threw her hands up. “I thought my other employee, Sharon, would be here this week, too, but she had to go out of town.”
Destiny’s mother moved to her side, waving Janet away. “Destiny will be fine. You and Michael go enjoy your honeymoon.” She winked at them.
Janet gave a grateful smile. “Thank you. Aunt Charity, what time does your flight leave?”
Destiny’s mother checked her watch. “We fly out of Billings at noon. I just stopped to say a quick goodbye to Destiny.”
Janet nodded. “Love you, guys; thanks for coming to the wedding.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it.” Charity waved.
I would have, Destiny thought, but she waved and smiled as she watched the car pull away from the curb, the wedding cans clanking behind them.
Her mother put an arm across her shoulders. “Doesn’t it feel good to be helping out? To be back in Snow Valley?” She sighed. “Your father brought your bag into the shop. Don’t forget you’re staying with Aunt Faith this week.”
How could she forget? She’d been blackmailed into staying there. “Okay.”
Her mother grinned. “Sweetie, I know it’s been hard, I do ... but you haven’t been back to Snow Valley in a year and a half.”
“Don’t do this, mom,” Destiny snapped, rolling her eyes and taking off back to the flower shop. She didn’t need this lecture right now.
“I know you don’t want to hear it,” her mother said, keeping in step with her. “But being back in Snow Valley is good medicine for you. And I want you on your best behavior at Aunt Faith’s house.”
Destiny looked back. “You know I wouldn’t stay with her if I wasn’t being forced into this arrangement.” Destiny had always wanted to go to Europe, and MSU offered an exchange program. Her mother had given her consent to go on the exchange next semester—on the condition that she come to Snow Valley for Janet’s wedding and then watch Janet’s shop for the rest of the week. Janet’s parents had taken Janet’s daughter and gone to Disneyland, so Aunt Faith’s place was her only option
for lodgings.
Her mother frowned. “Faith has been worried about you. She said she went to see you in Billings three weeks ago, and you refused to go to dinner with her. Why didn’t you tell me that?”
Destiny paused. “This is why you made me come here for this stupid wedding? Because I refused dinner with Aunt Faith?” Indignantly, she thought of all the quiet whispers between them at the wedding.
“Don’t act that way, young lady. You know it’s more than that. You’ve been in Montana, less than an hour away from Snow Valley, for the past year and a half, and you haven’t been to see her once.”
Destiny flung open the door to the Flower Girl and threw back a glare. “Don’t act like being here will fix anything.” Unwanted tears threatened, and she fiercely blinked them back. “Fate’s dead, mom. She’s dead. Do you get that? It doesn’t matter if I talk to Aunt Faith or not—Fate’s not coming back! You need to get over it!” She turned sharply, nearly colliding with her father and toppling the box of inventory he was bringing in from behind the shop.
He steadied the box, shaking off the surprise. “Whoa. Hey.”
Destiny stormed into the store, past her father and straight to the refrigerators that held the flowers. Janet had gone through the process of showing where the flowers needed to be set up and in what order, so Destiny would just focus on that. She grabbed a box of tulips and rushed out past her parents, ignoring her mother’s concerned look and her father’s frown.
What did they want from her? Her best friend and favorite cousin, the person she’d loved, the one she’d planned her college career with, was dead. She’d still gone to college at MSU. She’d moved on with her life. What did they want? Trying to swallow her thoughts, she moved toward the front display and began pulling out the tulips, stashing them quickly and stiffly into the vases.
Her father moved to her, a cautious second line of defense in the battle. This had always been his role, the buffer between her and her mother. “Destiny, you know your mother and I understand your reluctance to come back here, but you also know that we love you.” He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We want you to heal.”