Harlequin Heartwarming April 2018 Box Set

by Amy Vastine

  Ally planned every beat of her next move because she wanted to catch him off guard, wanted to see the heat flare in his eyes, wanted to elicit a reaction without giving him time to think.

  Crooking a finger as if she was going to tell him a secret, she whispered, “I’m confused, and I need to tell you…”

  He leaned in. She went closer. And closer still, exhaling softly near his ear. When she heard the sharp exhale of his breath, a spike of joy shot through her because it helped cement the truth of what she was about to say.

  “You don’t look at me like you think I’m a kid.” Then she kissed him.

  * * *

  THE WORDS SHE spoke didn’t even penetrate Tag’s brain, or maybe he wouldn’t let them. But that thought would only occur to him later, because the sweetest lips he’d ever tasted were moving over his and he couldn’t think past how incredibly good it felt. And right and… He twined one hand into her hair right next to her scalp, the other he curled around her shoulder so he could deepen the kiss.

  He coaxed her lips apart, and she seemed to melt into him, her fingers digging into his shoulders. He groaned. She responded with a soft little moan of her own, unleashing a not-quite-identifiable emotion inside him. Almost like fury, but not quite, because while the air was charged around them, there was a lightness inside his chest. And he realized that he never wanted to let go. Pulling her closer, adjusting so that more of her body pressed against his, he moved his mouth over hers, fitting it closer because he couldn’t seem to get enough…

  He had no idea how much time had passed when she pulled away, just enough so that her mouth still hovered over his. She was breathing as hard as he was, and after a few seconds, her raspy chuckle worked into him like a caress. He would have kissed her again, but she was talking…

  It took a moment for her next words to compute. “Stop worrying about my age and tell me how you really feel.”

  Bees were swarming through his thoughts. Slowly he tuned out the buzzing and focused on her lazy-lidded eyes and swollen lips. Ally. So, so beautiful. Wayward strands of her silky black hair stirred in the breeze. She looked thoroughly…kissed. No, it was worse than that. A sick feeling rushed in, dousing the heat that had been muddling his brain only seconds before. What had he done?

  “Ally, we…” We what? Not we, I. How could he make things right? Apologize? She’d kissed him, yes, but he’d let her. He’d more than let her; he’d kissed her back without an ounce of restraint and precious little self-control. And that wasn’t like him. He’d never lost his mind quite like this before, not even back in high school when he was young and reckless and…and she made him feel things he’d never felt before.

  Languid brown eyes stared back at him without any regret or hesitation reflected there. Which made him feel about a million times worse.

  “Oh, no…” Shifting, she sat up straighter. The fingers of one hand burned into him where they still clutched his shoulder. Her other hand rested on his forearm. “You’re not going to say we shouldn’t have done that, are you?”

  Reaching up, he removed the hand on his shoulder so he could think. One deep breath later, he did the same with the other. Another breath and words still weren’t coming to him, not rational ones, anyway.

  He went with “Yes, I am. That’s exactly what I’m going to say. Except it’s I… I shouldn’t have—”

  She interrupted, “You mean I shouldn’t have? I kissed you.”

  “No, I mean, I know you did. But I shouldn’t have let you.”

  “Let me? You seemed to enjoy it. In fact, you kinda took over there at the end. Which is no surprise. You’re used to being in control, huh? To having things go your way?”

  “No! I mean, yes, of course, I enjoyed…kissing you. Obviously. But we shouldn’t have. And we’re not going to do it again. I should have, I mean I shouldn’t have…and, yes, I like being in control of…certain things. But what does that have to do with this? I don’t even know what I’m saying…” Words lost, thoughts jumbled, he scraped a restless hand along the bench beside him.

  Eyes sparkling, she watched him, her mouth a perfect, satisfied half grin, and he realized just how ridiculous he must seem.

  He chuckled, but it sounded painful even to him. “You have this singular ability to leave me tongue-tied.” It was this way she had of not saying anything and then finally saying exactly what she thought. And this complicated, intense, amazing, uncomfortable thing that had just happened between them wasn’t helping.

  She beamed. “You want me to untie it for you? Bring it here again, and I’ll give it a shot.”

  Like that. He groaned. “Ally, please don’t…” Her eyes were fixed on his mouth, and he wanted to kiss her again. And again. And forever, maybe. What was he thinking? He couldn’t. This was insane. “You.” A long moment stretched between them while he stared at her and tried to come up with words.

  “Me?” she finally prompted him.

  Beside him, his phone chimed. He snatched it up, grateful for the reprieve. Coward that he was. Reading the text, he practically leaped to his feet.

  “I need to go. I told Bering I would meet… We’ll talk about this later, okay?”

  She reached over and patted his arm. “Okay, but just so you know, I’m going to hold you to that.”

  * * *

  “YOU SET A date yet?” Bering quipped when Tag joined him. They walked toward the house, where the senators were due to be arriving soon.

  Tag chuckled because it was all the response he could manage. He needed to get a grip.

  “Ally-oop!” Bering called and then took a moment to laugh at his joke. “Did not see that coming. She’s barely over five feet tall. She played you like a violin.”

  “The woman is full of surprises.” So many surprises and other perfect, interesting, irresistible qualities that had him wishing for things… A pain crimped his insides, worse than the stabs of loneliness, of reluctant bachelorhood, that plagued him these days. Except worse. So much worse. Like hot-knife-twisting-in-gut bad.

  “It looked like she and Gareth have been playing together for years. Too bad she couldn’t play point guard on the team next year, huh? With that three-point shot, they would be unbeatable across the entire state.”

  Tag groaned inwardly. Bering was right; watching her with Gareth and Cody only illuminated the fact that she was undoubtedly closer in age to his teenage cousin than she was to him. Reaching up, he squeezed the back of his neck in an attempt to ease the tension clutching him there.

  He still couldn’t believe it had happened. The chemistry between them was unlike anything he’d ever experienced except…except he had higher standards for himself than kissing a woman who was barely old enough to vote. That might be a slight exaggeration, but still, she was too young for him. The knot twisted tighter. He needed to think. He might need some ibuprofen. What should he do? He had to be straight with her. A task that would be so much easier if he didn’t like her so much. And she just had to be a Mariners fan and a basketball player? It was like some kind of cosmic joke.

  He briefly considered, and then discarded, talking to Bering about it. He knew Bering wouldn’t judge, but would he approve? He wasn’t ready to admit what he’d done, to open himself to the taunting of a middle-aged cliché, however much he deserved it. What would the rest of his family think?

  “Perfect timing. There’s Jack.” Bering slapped him on the shoulder as Senator Marsh’s SUV pulled up to the house.

  Senators Marsh and Fincher climbed out of the vehicle as Tag and Bering approached. Greetings and handshakes were exchanged. Bering offered refreshments, and they both requested coffee.

  Tag volunteered to fetch it. “I’ll get it. I was going to get myself a cup, anyway.” He headed toward the beverage area, stalling to gather his wits, while Bering gestured at an empty picnic table and led the men across the yard.

  Tag
joined them with the coffee. Small talk bounced around the table for a few minutes until Senator Marsh lowered his cup and said, “So, word has reached Randall that Mammoth Tracks Mining has been sniffing around the valley. They’re quietly trying to purchase mineral rights along the Opal River.”

  Bering and Tag exchanged glances and Tag said, “That might explain it.” He told the two men about the inflated offers Hannah and Shay had received for their properties.

  Senator Marsh nodded. “Yes, obviously word has leaked out. Usually, Mammoth uses a number of other companies to gobble up the outlying land. If they move in here, real estate prices will skyrocket. And I don’t think we need to talk about what this will do to Rankins if they’re successful.”

  Bering exhaled a frustrated breath. “And I thought Cam-Field was the biggest threat we’d face in my lifetime.”

  Senator Marsh gave his head a defeated shake. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years as a politician, it’s that there’s always a bigger monster waiting to take the place of the one just slain.”

  “What can we do?”

  “We’ll fight it legislatively, of course, as much as we can at the national level. But that’s the thing—we’re going to need strength at the state level. Which is what we’re here about.”

  “Okay.” Bering nodded.

  Tag tensed at the senator’s expression, anxiety zinging through him like a fishing line gone taut.

  Senator Marsh went on, “Circumstances have arisen in Randall’s personal life, and he’s going to have to retire at the end of his term. Tag, we need you to run in the upcoming election.”

  “Can we be ready by then?” Bering asked.

  “When will I have to start campaigning?”

  “We will be,” Senator Marsh answered Bering. “We can be. Nothing alarming in that background check and our research has told us that we’ve got strong financial backing coming Tag’s way.”

  He turned to Tag. “Campaigning will have to begin immediately, I’m afraid. We’ve got a lot to do in a very short time. If you agree to commit to this, I’d like you both to fly to Juneau next weekend so we can get the ball rolling. Randall and I have ideas about hiring your staff. My assistant, Maura, is looking at some potential campaign managers. There’s a dinner Friday night that I’d like you to attend—lots of potential donors and numerous important people to introduce you to.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  TAG KNEW HE needed to talk to Ally.

  He’d half-expected to hear from her the day after the party. Normally, he took Sundays off—well, off in the sense that he used the day to catch up on his personal to-do list, which usually included household chores, before meeting his parents and siblings at church. And he rarely missed Sunday dinner with his family.

  Yesterday, he’d taken the opportunity to announce the new campaign plans to them. Not surprisingly, they’d been enthusiastic and supportive, if slightly concerned about timing and logistics. Tag had a few reservations about those, too, but hopefully the trip to Juneau the following weekend would allay many of them.

  No word from Ally all day Monday, either. Not one to leave matters unresolved in any aspect of his life, Tag decided to drop by her cottage that evening after work. He knew the owner, Kenny Bitzle, a retired commercial fisherman who now lived in the lower forty-eight and rented the place out. It was an excellent location, within easy walking distance of the hospital and Rankins’s small cluster of businesses generally referred to as “downtown.”

  After meeting his friend and fellow pilot Cricket Blackburn for an early dinner and a game of darts at the Cozy Caribou, he decided to walk to Ally’s.

  He tried to ignore the eager hammering of his pulse as he neared the house. Surely they could remain friends after they talked this through. It had just been a kiss. Several, technically, maybe? There had been a lot of lip contact in a short span of time, but regardless, after analyzing the situation, she was probably regretting the whole thing as much as he was.

  As he stepped into the street to cross, a car turned the corner. Waving at Mrs. Keller behind the wheel, he waited for her to pass. Back on track, he started to move again but immediately froze because there was a guy standing on Ally’s porch. His back was to Tag, but even from this distance he could see Ally smiling. A burning sensation flared inside him. Was this why she hadn’t called? Was she seeing someone else? Not that she was seeing him, but…

  The guy took a few steps backward, and the movement immediately struck him as familiar. Confusion, anger and finally disbelief tumbled through him as he watched his teenaged cousin pivot, basketball in hand, and saunter down the steps in that easy, loose-limbed way Gareth had of moving.

  Tag instantly recognized his deep voice calling out, “Thanks, Ally. I’ll see you Thursday.” The thudding sound of a ball bouncing, one, two, three times, rang in the air before Gareth climbed into the vehicle, his mom’s SUV, and drove off down the street.

  Tag considered walking away, but Ally had spotted him. Waving, she motioned him over, and he found himself plodding toward her, his legs heavy and weak.

  “Tag, hi.” Her voice was cocoa warm and just as sweet, and if she felt awkward about anything it didn’t show.

  A sharp pain in his jaw alerted him to the fact that he was clenching his teeth. He tried to relax, but it was difficult with a million questions piercing his brain. Gareth had just turned eighteen, old enough to date a woman in her early twenties. Had she kissed him, too? Was Tag even now being compared to his teenaged cousin? Dating an older woman would be a sign of prestige for Gareth, whereas Tag would be viewed as a walking midlife crisis. But he wasn’t middle-aged yet, was he? It was slightly depressing that he even had to wonder.

  “What are you doing? I was just thinking about you.”

  Brown eyes shining with what looked like happiness matched her smile, and despite his cartwheeling emotions, his heart climbed into his throat. She always looked so…together and unaffected. Why was that, when he was the older one? Wasn’t that supposed to make him wiser? More evolved? Okay, maybe not that last one, seeing how jealousy was stewing hotly within him at the moment.

  “Do you want to come in?”

  “I do.” A few steps carried him inside. She shut the door, and he spun to face her. “Ally, I, uh, I need to know what’s going on.”

  A little furrow formed between her brows. “With what?”

  “Technically, he’s old enough for you, but you know he’s still in high school, right? Gareth, my cousin?”

  Her lips parted with a little gasp of surprise. It made a nice change, Tag thought, seeing that display of emotion, as brief as it was. In a millisecond, confusion morphed to her go-to unreadable expression. How could he have ever believed it indicated indifference? Because as he studied her carefully, he realized that while her face was stoic, her eyes were flashing. And just that fast he knew he’d screwed up.

  When she spoke, her voice held a calm, edge-of-cheerful tone. “Surely, you’re not implying that I would throw myself at you and then make a play for your teenaged cousin?”

  Wow. That sounded bad, even though that’s pretty much what he’d been doing. It was painful to admit it. “Uh, not…really.” What in the world had gotten into him? He should be encouraging her to see someone else. Not Gareth. But…someone. He swallowed the bitter, metallic taste on his tongue.

  She stared at him. “You sure about that?”

  Cringing under her doubt-filled scrutiny, he confessed, “Okay, yes.” He muttered an expletive and raked a hand across his jaw. “I’m sorry. I…don’t know what came over me. I didn’t know it was Gareth, at first. I just saw this guy standing on your porch, and I lost my mind for a minute…” How was this honesty helping matters?

  “Wait. You’re jealous?”

  “Apparently.”

  One corner of her mouth ticked up. “That’s a relief, I think
. I didn’t hear from you yesterday, and I didn’t call or text because I was trying to give you time to process what happened, maybe miss me a little.”

  Mission accomplished. And in a manner that was making him look and feel worse by the second.

  “Today, when I still didn’t hear from you, I started to worry. Then I saw you outside just now, and my heart did this nice little somersault because I thought you were coming to see me. But when you got closer, looking all broody and serious, I was afraid you were coming over to let me down easy. I didn’t see a jealousy thing happening, but I think that bodes well, as far as feelings go.”

  “Yeah, I’ll admit this isn’t how this was supposed to happen. I’m sorry. I was totally out of line. You can date whoever you want. Although his mom, my cousin Janie, might not be thrilled.”

  Cocking her head slowly to one side, she said, “Or—wait… Did you stop by to let me down?”

  “I, uh, I was hoping to do it with a lot more finesse.”

  She froze.

  So did he. Then he sighed because what he wanted to do was pull her close and wrap his arms around her.

  “Look, Ally, I’m the one who is let down. I like you, obviously. I’ve already told you that. And I’m beyond flattered that you would even entertain the thought of being interested in me.”

  She stepped toward him, right into his comfort zone, and his pulse took off like a helicopter rotor at full speed.

  “How could any woman not be interested in you?” Her voice was all soft, like she was about to tell him a secret, and his blood went hot as he remembered what happened last time she’d gotten this close. He stared at her full, beyond-tempting lips, now curling up at the corners, and told himself he should take a step back. This perfectly rational message sent from his brain was refused delivery by the rest of his body. Wrenching his gaze upward, he found her brown eyes full of teasing humor.

  “I know for a fact that they all are, Mr. Most Eligible Bachelor. And you can count me right there among them.”