She couldn’t help but smile. “You sound like my brother, Jake. He goes on about those courses of his.”
“You’ll have to give them a go. They’re pretty amazing.”
She shook her head. “No way, thanks. I’ll take hot yoga or maybe a swim, but that’s about as sporty as I get.”
Ty eyed her legs again, which she admitted didn’t look too bad, and then pulled the truck forward.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Cypress has a way of changing people.”
“Not me.”
He just shook his head. Did he think she needed to change? He had made that comment about her bags, but so what? She was visiting family, and she had no idea for how long. She wouldn’t let this nature guy make her feel bad or that she needed to be different than she was.
She could do that all by herself, thanks.
***
“Rick and Harmony live over near the main lakeshore,” Ty said. “I’m sure they’re back from the school thing by now.”
“With Nick?”
“Yeah. He’s a great kid.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
He didn’t say anything to that. Her voice sounded a little sad.
“I haven’t seen Nick since he was an infant,” she explained.
He hadn’t expected that. “Then you’re in for a good time. That kid is terrific.”
She just nodded, her face turned away from him.
He stopped the truck in front of the gorgeous two-story house where Rick and Harmony lived. It was set on a large lot, and had a beautiful view of the central lakeshore across the street. A deep porch stretched across the front of the house, dotted with Adirondack chairs and a hanging bench swing. Columns and a railing enclosed the porch, making it look very inviting.
The house was painted a dove gray and the roof was peaked slate. The large carriage lights on either side of the wide front door were lit. Anyone would find it all very welcoming, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Cassie was a little uneasy.
“Their house is lovely,” she said in a small voice.
Ty just made a sound of agreement and shut off the engine. He climbed out and she did likewise. She stared up at Rick and Harmony’s house, suddenly very still. Then the front door opened.
“Hey, Cassie.”
They both looked up at the front door, where Rick now stood with a big smile on his face.
“Hi, Rick,” Cassie said.
Rick stepped down, slowly coming closer to them on the walk. He looked as uncertain as Cassie did for that brief moment, and then he smiled again.
“I’ve missed you, sis.”
Cassie blinked her long lashes and Ty could tell she and Rick were both getting choked up. He had to get out of there and fast. This was a family thing and, from what little she’d said about it, she hadn’t been around this family much.
“Cassie!” Jake shouted as he barreled out of the house and down the steps to wrap his sister in a bear hug. “God, it’s been too long.”
Apparently this Chapman didn’t have trouble with the love stuff. After a slight hesitation, Cassie returned the hug and buried her face in Jake’s neck. Rick placed a hand on her shoulder and one glance up at the open front door showed that both Harmony and Jake’s wife Claire held back to give the siblings their time. He shared a small smile with each of them and stepped back.
“Ty, come in and join us for dinner?” Harmony asked.
Ty shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ll leave you guys to your reunion.” He walked back to the truck. “Besides, I have to get home.”
Rick took in a deep breath, and then nodded to Ty. “Thanks for getting her here safe and sound, man.” He walked to the back of Ty’s truck. “Give Jake and me a few minutes to handle her mountain of stuff and you can get out of here.”
Ty dropped the lift gate and reached for the first piece of luggage. Jake finally released Cassie and came over to wave him away. Ty just laughed off the attempt and the three men made quick work of her bags, carrying them into the house to pile them in the marble-tiled foyer. When he closed the lift gate, he found her standing close to him. They were alone for the moment.
“Thank you, Ty.”
He looked down at her and smiled. “No problem, Cassie.”
She looked much smaller to him now, especially after hugging her brothers. He would guess, without her heels, she’d be about the same height as Harmony. Five three or four, maybe. He noticed that hesitancy was back again, too.
“I’ll see you around?” she asked.
It was a question he had no problem answering. “More than likely.”
She flashed him a smile, it was bright and genuine, and he felt a kick to his gut.
“Aunt Cassie?” a little voice called from the porch.
If he hadn’t been watching her so closely he would have missed her stiffen at Nick’s call.
“Yep.” She turned to face the house again. “That’s me.”
“Come in, Aunt Cassie.” Nick’s little face was all lit up as he leaned out of the doorway. “We have pizza!”
Ty chuckled and left the Chapmans to their pizza and their reunion. As he drove to his house, located in one of the more densely populated villages in the property, he breathed in Cassie’s scent. It lingered in the truck’s cab. Something flowery, maybe. Sweet, too. Like one of those sugar-dusted flowers he’d seen in the bake case at the coffee shop.
Man she was hot, though. He’d more than noticed that on the drive back from the airport. That body of hers, with that short skirt inched up her smooth thighs on his truck seat. Those gorgeous blue eyes that caught his gaze a couple of times. Those lips that were still full and ripe even when she was frowning.
She was a contradiction. That was for sure. Tough as nails and a little cold and then a tender marshmallow when her big brothers hugged her. Yeah, she was a contradiction all right. And a complication he didn’t need right now.
As he pulled into his driveway, he gave his house the once-over. It was smaller than Rick and Harmony’s, but just as nice. Quaint front porch set with a couple of chairs. Clapboard siding and deep eaves. All the houses in Cypress looked very traditional but he knew they were state-of-the-art at their guts. Wired for just about everything and supremely comfortable. It was his house but he spent just as many nights out on the far lakeshore. Sometimes he just needed to sleep under the stars.
He stepped through the door from the garage and greeted his mother standing in the kitchen. Sharon Walsh was a pretty woman, in her mid-fifties but wearing it well. Her hair was wavy like his but the hazel eyes she’d passed on to him looked tired tonight.
“Hello, Tyler.”
Studying her, he weighed the evidence. Today hadn’t been too bad, apparently. Tonight he didn’t see the telltale crinkles from pain around those eyes so much like his. She looked neat and comfortable in her black yoga pants and pink knit shirt.
“Hi, Mom.” He bent down to kiss her offered cheek. “Good day?”
“Very.” She reached into the oven and pulled out a casserole. “I went into the town center and talked with Lettie this afternoon. Stopped in the market and even had the energy to make baked ziti.”
Ty breathed in the scents of tomato sauce and baked cheese and grinned. “Smells fantastic.” He watched her as she placed the dish in the center of the farmhouse table and sat down. He caught it then. The slight wince.
“Are you feeling okay, Mom?”
She waved a hand. “I’m just a little tired, Ty. But I feel good. I promise.”
His mother had been fighting fibromyalgia for the last few years, and had her good days and bad. Today, apparently, had been one of the good ones.
He washed his hands, and then grabbed the pitcher of iced tea from the fridge and poured them each a glass. “So how is Lettie?”
His mother laughed and he smiled to hear the sound.
“She’s a pistol, that one! You know, she takes credit for every hook-up in Cypress.”
Ty almost choked on
his iced tea. “Hook-up?”
“Oh, you know. She likes to say she sees connections between couples even before they do.” She served them each a portion of baked ziti, his much larger than hers. “Like Rick and Harmony Chapman?”
“Maybe.” He dug into his pasta, and then shrugged. “They were together way before we moved here, though.”
“Jake and Claire, then. I hear they got together right before Christmas. Did you see any sparks?”
“Sparks? Nope. I’d only just started at the Institute. How was I supposed to see sparks?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Lettie says electricity was practically arcing across the town center every time they came close to each other.”
Ty couldn’t say anything to that. He’d sure felt something in the truck cab with pretty Cassie Chapman, though. And a pull out there on the sidewalk. But sparks? He doubted any such thing existed.
“Did you hear from Hank?” he asked her.
His mother frowned at the mention of Ty’s sister’s ex. “He called. Said you could pick Riley up tomorrow at ten. No later, apparently. He’s going to a gun show up in Orlando.”
Ty bit back a curse, and then nodded. “Did he say how long we can keep her?”
His mother picked up her glass and he knew she was stalling.
“Mom, what did Hank say?”
She put down her glass and sighed. “He said to bring her back by three.”
“By three? That’s all we get to see her this weekend?”
“He’s her father, Ty. Your sister hadn’t expected…” She sniffed. “She made no provisions. No will. He’s her father and that’s that.”
“I want more than ‘that’s that’ for my niece. I want to be able to see her anytime we want to.”
“So do I.”
He could see the color rising in her cheeks and dropped the subject before she got more upset. His mind worked as he ate, though. Riley was only three years old. She was all they had left of his reckless sister and he loved her as if she were his own.
He thought of the family reunion he’d witnessed tonight. Of the separation the Chapmans had withstood over the past few years. That kind of estrangement wasn’t what he wanted for Riley. He’d figure out how to get their little girl a permanent place in their lives.
Problem was, he was damned if he knew how to do it.
Chapter 3
Cassie sat on a stool at the raised granite counter in Rick and Harmony’s house the next morning, nursing her cup of coffee. She still wore what she considered her pajamas, just a pair of Juicy sweatpants with a T-shirt. She rubbed her hands over her face as she stifled another yawn. The sun was barely up but she couldn’t stay in bed a minute longer.
She hadn’t slept much last night, and for the first time in a long time she couldn’t blame it on partying too hard or drinking too much. No, she’d barely eaten the pizza and hadn’t drunk more than a sip of the beer Jake grabbed her from the huge stainless fridge. They’d all tried to include her in their conversations but she’d still felt so out of place.
Her brothers’ wives were wonderful. Sweet, welcoming, and each of them just perfect for her very different brothers. Harmony brought out a warmth in Rick that Cassie couldn’t remember seeing since before their mom died over sixteen years ago. And Claire was just the woman to keep her daredevil brother Jake’s feet on the ground. Cassie briefly wondered when they would add a little one to the family gatherings. If the kisses, cuddles, and steamy looks they exchanged were any clue, it wouldn’t be very long. The thought of another Chapman baby felt bittersweet to Cassie.
Not that she didn’t like Nick. She did. He was a terrific kid, just like Ty Walsh had said. She had no clue how to act around him, though. Her circle of whatever they were, she couldn’t think of the people she’d hung around with as friends, had no leanings toward having children. None of them did commitment, and starting a family called for a massive dose of commitment.
She placed her empty cup in the sink and looked around the large, open kitchen and the spacious great room. She hadn’t really known what she’d expected but, after seeing the beautiful exterior and landscaping outside, the interior didn’t disappoint. It was large, bright and furnished with obvious care. Harmony made a wonderful home for Rick and their son. It was warm and comfortable and left a hollow feeling in the pit of Cassie’s stomach. She didn’t belong here.
As much as she loved her brothers, and she’d missed them even more than she’d thought, she felt like an intruder on their domestic bliss. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. She felt like a phony.
“Hey, you’re up early,” Harmony said as she walked into the kitchen.
Cassie smiled at her sister-in-law. Harmony looked so pretty and fresh, even this early in the morning. She wore sherbet-striped pajama pants and a soft-looking long-sleeve shirt in a light green. Her honey-colored curly hair was pulled up and off her face and her hazel eyes were bright. Their color reminded her of Ty’s friendly gaze, and Cassie shoved that thought aside. She couldn’t entertain the attraction she’d felt instantly toward him. Nope.
“Good morning.” Cassie leaned back against the counter. “Your house is just lovely, Harmony.”
“Thanks.” Harmony held up a hand. “And before you even start, you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”
Cassie laughed softly. “Expecting my defection already? What, am I a flight risk?”
Harmony smiled. “No, but Jake was staying with us and he headed out to the tent-cabin almost as soon as he got here last fall.”
“Tent-cabin?”
Harmony put in a coffee pod and started her own cup of coffee brewing, and then faced her again. “I used to live on the far lakeshore before I married your brother. I loved it, but it was a little rustic for Rick.”
Cassie laughed. “Yeah, I can’t picture my big brother roughing it.”
Harmony got a faraway look in her eyes and Cassie guessed she was thinking about the times they’d shared out there in her tent-cabin, whatever that was.
“That part of the lake was originally going to be developed and it might be someday but right now it’s still pretty wild out there.”
“Don’t you miss it?”
“Oh, I get enough of a nature fix with my job.”
“Plants.”
Harmony nodded and grabbed up her cup of coffee. “Yep.”
Cassie couldn’t imagine making any part of nature a career choice, but who was she to judge? She had no career choice to speak of herself. “Ty mentioned it,” she said.
She’d thought once more about the guy, darn it.
“Again, I’m sorry we couldn’t get you last night,” Harmony said. “I’m so glad Ty was able to pick you up.”
Cassie thought about being closed up with Ty in his truck. The fresh scent of him. The easy strength of his hands on the wheel. She couldn’t think about the hot wild animal tamer as anything more than her brothers’ buddy, though. He really wasn’t her type and she knew in her soul she sure wasn’t his.
“He seems like a nice guy,” Cassie said.
Harmony’s eyes narrowed a bit as she tilted her head to the side. Just what was she thinking about? Cassie saw a glint come into her gaze and worried that the woman had matchmaking on her mind.
“Ty lives in one of the villages here in Cypress, you know.”
Cassie put on the mask of cool disinterest she’d perfected over the years. “Yes. He told me.”
Harmony toyed with her coffee cup, looking down into the brew. “He spends a lot of time out at the tent-cabin, though.”
That surprised her, but maybe it shouldn’t have. “Your place?”
Harmony looked up and smiled. Apparently Cassie’s feigned disinterest wasn’t fooling her sister-in-law. “He likes to rough it a little.”
Cassie felt a tingle go through her. Ty would look amazing out there in the woods, with the lake at his back. Maybe with his shirt off as he chopped wood or fished or whatever he did out there. Rough, all right
. And so hot the thought was making her breathe fast.
“Oh,” was all she could say.
She didn’t miss Harmony’s chuckle and had to smile. Oh, Harmony wasn’t an innocent was she? She knew just what she was doing, talking about Ty.
“Want another cup?” Harmony asked, turning back to the coffee maker.
“Maybe, yeah. Thanks.” Cassie took in a deep breath, and then blew it out. “So I was almost afraid to ask you this last night. Did Rick tell you why I was exiled down here?”
“Exiled? Ha!” She faced Cassie again. “You sound like your brother did when he was first stranded down here over four years ago.”
“He seems very happy here.”
Harmony blushed a little as she handed Cassie another cup of coffee. “We both are.”
Cassie took the cup and took her time, adding creamer and a little sweetener. She knew Harmony was watching her and letting her decide what to say about the circumstances that brought her down to Cypress. “So, did Rick tell you?”
Harmony nodded. “I didn’t see the pictures and I don’t care to. I just want to say that you’re Rick’s sister and mine now, too. We’re happy you’re here.”
Cassie’s throat grew tight so she took a long sip of her coffee. Harmony’s simple, earnest declaration made Cassie feel welcome and, well, loved. She set the cup down, and then placed her hands flat on the cool granite counter. “Thank you.”
It wasn’t much but it was from the heart. She’d figure out a way to show her appreciation and soon. First things first, however.
“So, Harmony. Do you know where I can find a job?”
Harmony’s brows shot up in surprise. Then, she grinned.
Cassie couldn’t help but wonder just what her sister-in-law was thinking. Oh, well. In for a penny.
She only hoped she wouldn’t fail at whatever job Harmony had in mind. She couldn’t bear to disappoint her family.
Not again.
***
By Monday morning Ty’s stomach still churned with frustration. It was always the same for him after bringing Riley back to her father’s place. He never exchanged a word with his sister’s ex or the guy’s wife. Hank was an older guy. Much older than his sister Tracy had been when they’d had their affair. With kids grown up and out of the house. Riley always looked a little sad to say goodbye to her uncle, but Ty tried his best to keep things light. Even now he could feel the warmth of her little arms wrapped around his neck and it made him miss her all over again.
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