by Kat Cantrell
“I’m living in town permanently, to answer your earlier question about what I’m doing here,” Havana said. “I’m staying with Serenity too. That’ll give us a chance to catch up.”
“Catch up?” Ember wrinkled her nose. “As in, so you can figure out which part of my life you need to start running? No, thanks.”
“No, so we can talk like adults who respect each other,” she countered, clamping down hard on the funny squiggle in her stomach that was sending SOS signals to her brain, screaming things like, What are you doing? What if Ember is making all kinds of mistakes? How can you take care of her if you don’t know what’s going on?
But she didn’t say any of that. Because Ember was an adult, and the best thing she could do to show she cared was step back and figure out how to earn her allegiance instead of running roughshod over her sister. The way Caleb did things. He showed he cared by letting people figure things out on their own.
The way he’d done with Havana. That realization settled into her heart, beating along with her pulse as if it had always been there. Caleb cared about her. Of course he did. It was in everything he did, the way he looked at her, how he touched her. The way he’d stepped back when she’d told him to and let her figure out how to be ready for what he was offering.
Caleb cared about her. And he wasn’t going anywhere. These were inescapable truths that had no room to be misinterpreted. What did she do with that?
A little stunned, she surveyed Ember, really opening her eyes to her sister. Ember’s waist-length red-gold looked the same, but her sister’s face had filled out a little, gaining the womanly contours that made her look so much like their mother. She wore a simple sundress that displayed her stunning figure that showed no signs of having carried a baby.
Perhaps she hadn’t. Maybe something terrible had happened, but Havana hadn’t earned the right to ask. Not yet.
This conversation was so far out of the norm she couldn’t figure out what to say next. Flying blind, she tried to think what Caleb might say. His teammates worshipped him, likely because he put their needs ahead of his own. She could take a lesson.
“Is that okay?” Havana asked since Ember was taking her measure just as heavily. “If we start over as adults? You’re right. What happened when we were teenagers shouldn’t affect things now. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed the support of your family. Give me a chance to do it right this time.”
Ember hesitated for so long Havana thought she was going to say something smart-alecky and tell her off. But then her sister nodded. “I can do that. I’m here for the foreseeable future, so I guess we’re going to have to find a way to get along if nothing else.”
“Really?” Quickly Havana wiped the surprise off her face. Looked like they were both doing things differently. “You’re planning to stay?”
Ember shrugged, her expression nonchalant. “I needed a place to land, and when I got here, Aunt Serenity said the new mayor was trying to make a go of this town as a tourist destination. I figured I could use something to do. So here I am. Looks like there’s an influx of good-looking men around town these days, so I’m calling my timing a win.”
“The mayor is mine.” Havana coughed and cleared her throat. “I mean, you know. In a nonpsychotic kind of way.”
For whatever reason, that made Ember smile. “Don’t worry. His devotion to you was pretty clear when I met him.”
“What? What did Caleb say?” Now Havana sounded like a schoolgirl hashing out her love life at lunch. But really… had Caleb been going around telling people they were a couple or something? And why did that thought please her so much? Better not to examine that. “Never mind. Come inside and say hi to Aria.”
Ember followed her inside the art studio, and Aria squealed the moment she spied their sister. The two hugged and started jabbering, so Havana left them to get reacquainted or whatever. She had no idea if Ember and Aria spoke three times a week or if they’d been estranged this whole time too. Hopefully, all of it would come full circle as Havana and Ember both settled into the concept of home, whatever that looked like.
Maybe they’d both end up Springians. Wouldn’t that be something?
Instead of picking up where she’d left off, Havana opted to cut out early so she could prepare for the presentation to the town that she and Caleb had planned for this afternoon. The likely addition of Ember to the audience ruffled Havana’s nerves for some reason.
Now that Damian’s investors were on board with the six-month deadline to get this town off the ground, the town had to get to work. This presentation was the culmination of what she hoped to convince everyone to do together. The folks had to like it, or she and Caleb would have to go back to the drawing board.
Or give up and let Damian figure out how to get the townspeople to sell. He would too. She had no doubt. And then Havana wouldn’t have a chance to finally settle into a niche that she could call home forever.
Now that she had the chance, and a semireasonable plan for getting it, she wanted it.
The folks crowded into Ruby’s, which had become a makeshift town hall of sorts over the past few weeks. Eventually they’d build a real one, according to her plan that included an entire new section of buildings to house the infrastructure offices that she’d convinced Caleb they needed, including a firehouse, a police department, and offices for city records.
First they needed to start making money in the form of taxes. Never an easy subject.
Havana stood near the round booth in the corner, where Caleb’s friends had already taken their customary seats, with the notable addition of Cassidy. She’d wedged in next to Isaiah, and Ember stood next to the chair occupied by Hudson, though he was studiously ignoring her as Tristan flirted up a storm with the gorgeous newcomer. Cassidy and Ember had been fast friends in high school; clearly they’d continued their relationship since they’d both ended up at Ruby’s together.
Caleb wound his way toward Havana from the back of the diner, stopping every few feet to say a word to someone, share a smile, pat a little one on the head. Basically he was the perfect mayor and man rolled into one, and her lungs hitched as he saved his best smile for her.
“Hey,” he called softly as he joined her. “I haven’t seen you all week. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Ridiculously pleased, she smiled back. “I was busy.”
Lame excuse. I was stupid would have been a better explanation and far more accurate. Why hadn’t she gone looking for him when he didn’t appear on the balcony? Well, she knew. She had no next steps, no reason to seek him out other than to see him, and that didn’t seem fair when she couldn’t figure out how to stop being herself long enough to go with the moment.
“Me too,” he said. “I would have made time for you though.”
With that promise ringing in her ears, she cleared her throat and called out, “Thanks for coming everyone.”
The noise level in the diner lowered not one iota until Caleb clapped his hands. “Hi, everyone. Havana has a plan she’d like to share with you. Ask questions, get clear on your part, and then let’s vote on it. Show of hands will do. I’ll let you know when. Havana?”
She fumbled with the projector she’d hooked up to her laptop and somehow got the thing to display on the back wall of Ruby’s after the second try. She’d practiced the presentation four times but somehow still managed to forget the part about Damian’s timeline, so she tacked that onto the end, after she’d outlined her vision for the downtown area.
“In conclusion, we’ve been given six months to get this from a CAD drawing to reality, so we’re going to need everyone’s help.”
The crowd buzzed like a hornet’s nest in the path of a brush fire, which did not bolster her confidence level.
“Six months?” Mavis J called out. “Why the arbitrary deadline?”
“Well, it’s not arbitrary,” Havana explained with a short laugh. “It’s a requirement from the resort developers. If we don’t get the town up and running, they�
�re going to need a different draw for tourists, and they’ll have a really short window to get that decided since the resort construction will be in full swing by then. So in reality, this is very generous—”
“This is our town,” Farmer Moon cut in with a scowl. “I don’t see why an outside developer should get a say in how long we have to make this work.”
“Well…” Havana took a deep breath as her stomach flipped in on itself. “The fact of the matter is that they wanted the shopping center and—”
“We were supposed to get to vote on the shopping center,” Lennie reminded everyone, his tattoos rippling as he crossed his bare arms. “I vote no.”
Several others in the crowd murmured their agreement and nodded their heads. Right before her eyes, her control over the room vanished and took with it most of her composure. This was a disaster. But typical. She had no influence with them and lacked the ability to find the right leverage to sway them. Nothing had changed. These people were not on her side, nor did they have any intention of listening to her.
“Folks.” Caleb’s smooth voice cut through the noise easily, and everyone stopped talking. “You don’t get to railroad Havana’s presentation. This is something she worked really hard on for a long time.”
Dumbfounded, she stared at him as he defended her. Defended her to the entire room, as if they were a unit and when someone went after what was his, he pushed back.
“In fact,” he continued, his voice filling the spaces between people and all those inside her too. “She’s the one who convinced Damian Scott to let us try this. He was going to say no, I could tell. But Havana cares about this town and about all of you. You owe her your attention, and frankly, you owe her for this one chance we’ve been given to show everyone from here to Austin that Superstition Springs is open for business. Now quiet down.”
Oh, dear heavens. Havana’s heart slid right out of her chest and fell into Caleb’s hands, whether he’d meant to catch it or not.
That’s what a real man did to show a woman he cared about her. Caleb’s loyalty to Havana had been hauled out and put on display for the entire town to see, and dang if her greedy little soul hadn’t soaked up every word.
The mayor wasn’t hers. She was his, lock, stock, and barrel. Havana was Team Doritos, one half of a stellar pig-wrangling duo and one hundred percent in love with him. There was no going back.
The “but” in Serenity’s prediction had saved her bacon. Work success may overshadow the desire for a relationship, and a problem may arise in becoming a bit too pushy or aggressive. This is a turnoff to the person receiving your advances, but there is an opportunity to meet a new love through a business colleague or work-related event.
She was a mess of a control freak who let her personality quirks overshadow something great. But. She had an opportunity for new love if she’d get over herself for once.
With her pulse going a mile a minute, she delved back into the presentation, this time with her spine straight and her mind clear. Within ten minutes, she had a majority show of hands voting yes for her town plan.
It was okay that she hadn’t been able to influence them, also known as bending people to her will because that had been the only way she knew how to take care of people. Instead of demanding control, this time, she’d earned the right to be in the middle of this town, leading with her heart, Caleb by her side. He filled her gaps and then some.
Finally she knew what her next steps were.
Nineteen
After Havana’s amazing presentation, Caleb assumed she’d want to spend some time mingling and working the room to get people organized. But she pushed through the wall of Lennie and Mavis J straight to his side, grabbed his hand, and forcibly hauled him from the diner without giving him the option to peep out a word.
Not that he was complaining. Her skin warmed his as she led him straight to the stairs clinging to the side of the old hotel and started clambering. He followed her to the balcony, content to let her take the lead in complete silence because there was too much expectation zinging between them to speak. Too many things he wanted to say. Too many possibilities for how the next few minutes could change everything and not in a good way.
This was the tipping point in their relationship, when it would go one way or the other. There was no question in his mind about that. The heavy expectation and awareness laced every molecule in his body, in the atmosphere. The tension threatened to break him apart, but he had a lot of practice holding himself together with sheer determination. After all, he’d been doing exactly that since al-Sadidiq.
She turned at the midpoint on the balcony, facing him with the canopy of sky as a breathtaking backdrop. The expanse couldn’t compete with the bright cobalt gaze of the woman though.
“I wanted to talk to you,” she told him unnecessarily, which made him smile for some reason.
“I’m listening.” He was always ready to hear whatever she had to say.
“I’m in love with you.”
Except when she said that. His lungs seized, and he choked on a breath, wheezing until his eyes watered. Her concerned face floated through his murky vision until he blinked back the worst of his shock.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her brows drawing together as she rubbed his back in soothing circles. “That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.”
“That makes two of us,” he croaked and finally got his lungs clear enough to drag in a cleansing lungful of air. “Sorry. I can do better. Say that again.”
The concern on her face turned to skepticism. “I don’t know. I’m a little concerned this conversation is too much for your delicate constitution—”
His mouth crashed down on hers before she could finish the rest of the smart-aleck comment she’d been about to voice. Havana was the cure to everything that ailed him anyway. As her sweet lips conformed to his, his heart unfurled like a motionless flag caught by a breeze, wrapping around her until she was a part of him.
Softening the assault, he kissed her until they were both senseless and she was clinging to his waist with both hands. Good. That was how it should be. All fire and honey and no room for nonsense.
The balcony’s railing bit into his back as she kissed him in kind, and he had half a mind to move the party indoors, but first they had to get a few things straight. Like whether or not this was his cue to repeat her sentiment or if she’d confessed that she was in love with him right before telling him she was leaving.
In case it was the latter, he prolonged the kiss for another three or four minutes because he was not an idiot.
When he pulled back, Havana’s hair had a slightly rumpled look from his fingers, and her lips begged to be sampled again. All he wanted to do was dive back in. But he didn’t.
“Now it’s time to talk,” he said. Okay, he was an idiot, obviously, if this was what he’d rather be doing than trying a few more ways to kiss her. But they’d done a lot of that and not enough settling things once and for all. “Give me some clue where this conversation is headed. Because I know where I intend for it to go. If it’s not going to include words like ‘I want to be with you, Caleb,’ then say so now.”
“It’s going to include words like ‘it’s enough,’” she said, her eyes wide and huge and misty as she gazed up at him. “You’re enough. I’m through being scared of what’s happening between us. I want it all even if it means one day you figure out I’m bossy and controlling and that you can do better.”
He snorted. “I already knew you were bossy. Somehow that’s never decreased your attractiveness. And for your information, the only way I could do better is if you married me.”
Havana froze in his arms, her whole body going still as if she’d turned into an ice sculpture, and he cursed his stupid mouth for getting ahead of the game. Where had that even come from? He’d never had one thought about marrying anyone until now, but he wasn’t hesitating anymore, and then it had sort of popped out… Clearly he needed to work on the delivery. Or move to Timbuktu be
fore he screwed everything up again.
But then he watched as she forcibly relaxed, almost as if she’d pushed a button.
“If you’re trying to scare me off, it’s not going to work,” she announced decisively. “I’m not going anywhere, so do your worst.”
“Fine. Then I love you too.”
It seemed like saying something so momentous out loud should at least result in the earth shaking or a comet streaking across the sky to mark the occasion. But nothing like that happened. Instead, something so much better did. Havana smiled and framed his jaw with her hands, placing a sweet kiss on his lips.
“Good,” she murmured against his mouth. “I was worried I was the only one who’d been walloped by this craziness. Now that we’re both on board, I have a confession to make.”
Caleb did his own impersonation of an ice sculpture. “There better not be any more fiancés in the wings.”
“One is enough,” she said with an arched brow that shouldn’t have made him smile as broadly as it did. “No, this is much worse, and I can fully understand if you want to retract your proposal as a result of learning this heinous secret. The truth is… I hate Doritos.”
“Jeez, Havana. You can’t drop something like that on a guy.” He clutched his chest, faking a heart attack. “How will we raise the children? Because Fritos are never gracing a cupboard in my house—”
“Children?” Her gaze went limpid and watery and serious, and he nearly claimed a real heart attack to explain the sudden prick behind his own eyelids. But they were getting real, so he nodded.
“Maybe. One day.” He shrugged. “If that’s what we both want. Let’s build a town first though, okay? I’ve been the mayor for like five minutes, and Serenity’s prediction didn’t say anything about all this.”
“She gave you a prediction too?” Havana eyed him suspiciously. “You never said anything about that. What did it say?”
“Too? Don’t tell me you also got one.” Oh, man. This was too much. “Apparently we should have compared notes way before this. Mine said I was going to be bowled over by a redheaded dynamo who would give me a lot of crap before finally figuring out that I was her soul mate.”