I let the phone drop onto the bed and lay back down, curling my body around Sierra’s. In her sleep, she arches her back and moves closer. The sound of the river surrounds us, and my chest tightens when I think about how bad I want this.
Sierra.
A simple life here in Summer Hill.
Together.
Living happily together for the rest of our days.
They say nice guys finish last. What the hell happens to the bad ones?
* * *
“You work tonight, right?” Sierra asks over breakfast. We’re at Suzy’s Cafe, and we’re both well aware of the stares we’re getting from the other customers. I can only assume half of them are jealous. I’m the one walking hand in hand with someone as beautiful as Sierra, after all. And the other half are probably wondering what the fuck Sierra is doing with me.
“Yeah. I’m closing down the bar.”
She makes a face, looking down at her phone. “My mom keeps pestering me to go spend the day shopping with her and Sam.”
“Go with them,” I tell her, reaching for my coffee. We’d talked about walking the deer path I’ve been running. Sierra told me she likes to hike, but gets a little freaked out to go alone, which she should. My mind goes to all the bad things that can happen and it makes my stomach hurt. “If you want to, that is.”
“I haven’t hung out with them in a while.”
“It’s nice you guys do things together.”
“Yeah, it is. My sister and I are total opposites, but we get along for the most part. Same with my mom. I’m way more free-spirited than the rest of my family, and it makes me stick out.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” I say and Sierra smiles. “This might be a dumb question, but when you say you’re going to spend the day shopping, you can’t mean you’re going to be around here, can you?”
“No. They want to drive to Eastmont, which is almost two hours away. They have good stores there.”
Our food comes, and we talk throughout breakfast. On our way out, an elderly woman comes up to Sierra, smiling as she eyes me up and down.
“Good morning,” she says with a thick southern accent. “To both of you.” She brings her eyebrows up and smiles again.
“Good morning, Mrs. Williams. This is Chase.” Sierra turns, introducing me. “And Chase, this is Mrs. Williams. She owns The Book Bag.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say and shake her hand.
“I knew Sierra was seeing someone new. I just didn’t know he was this handsome.” Mrs. Williams winks at me and squeezes my hand. “It’s nice seeing her happy again,” she whispers to me, loud enough for Sierra to hear. “I hope to keep seeing you around.”
“I plan to be here,” I tell her, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Sierra smile. I take her hand the rest of the way to the car. We go back to my place so she can get her stuff, needing to hurry home to shower and change in time to meet her mom and sister. She’s stuffing her clothes from last night into her oversized purse when she gets a text.
“Lisa’s at work,” she tells me with a laugh. “She’s begging for coffee. I didn’t know she had to work this morning.”
“She has to feel like shit.”
“Yeah. Total shit.”
“The bank isn’t open long on Saturday, at least.”
“Right. She’s there until noon. And it’s nine-thirty now…yeah. She’s gonna need that coffee.” Sierra makes a face. “I’m already running late, but I feel bad. I’ll get her coffee. And food. I doubt she ate.”
Watching Sierra, I remember how I felt last night lying in bed next to her. How I want to start over. Make this place my home.
With her.
“I’ll take it to her,” I offer. “I need to go to the bank anyway. Tell me what to get.”
“You don’t have to do that, Chase.”
“I’m going to the bank today. It’s no big deal.”
Sierra looks at me as if it is. “Thank you. She likes black coffee. Easy.”
“That is. What to eat?”
“Blueberry muffin.”
“Got it. Go shop.” I take her in my arms, needing to feel her breasts crush against me one more time. “And if you’re shopping for lingerie and can’t decide on something, feel free to send me pictures.”
The words leave my mouth and intrusive thoughts immediately take over. I have her late-boyfriend’s phone. The phone that he held in his hand. She held it too. Did she send him naughty pictures on it? The parallels are too much for me to handle. It’s wrong, and I fucking hate myself for listening to those messages.
Those messages that I haven’t deleted yet.
“Chase?” Sierra asks. “Are you okay?”
I blink and put my mouth to hers. “Better now.”
We kiss once more, and then she leaves. The second she’s out the door, I feel relief. Not to be away from her, because I’m missing her already, but because of this sudden feeling that I’m teetering on the edge of fucking up. I let out a breath and go into my bedroom, pulling out a bag filled with cash from under the bed. I take a couple thousand out, stick it in my nightstand drawer, and zip up the bag to take with me. At the last second, I grab my phone—my old phone—from the nightstand.
I get the coffee and muffin first, then go to the bank. Lisa is at the front, head resting in her hands.
“I come bearing gifts,” I say, holding up the coffee. The sun is behind me, and Lisa cringes when she looks up.
“Oh my God, I could kiss you.” She takes the coffee from me and chugs it. “Where’s Si?”
“Shopping with her mom and sister. She was running late so I offered to bring this.”
Lisa opens the bag and digs into the muffin. “Seriously, thank you.”
“It’s no problem. I need to talk to Melissa, actually. Is she here?”
“She is, but that’s not what I mean. Well, it is. I needed coffee like it was nobody’s business. And I’m fucking starving and this muffin has those big sprinkles of sugar on the top. So damn good. But I mean for making Sierra happy again. I don’t even think she realizes it. You know she wears those weird outfits, right? Well, she stopped after Jake died. I think it was like too much effort or something. Now she’s back to those damn character-inspired whatever.” Lisa waves her hand in the air. “I can never guess what she is, and I hate when I can’t do something. But my point is, she’s herself again. Part of her died with Jake, and whatever you’re doing, it’s bringing her back to life.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. Suddenly, I realize that’s a whole lot of fucking responsibility.
“And,” Lisa goes on, “I just want to remind you once again that my family owns a lot of farmland in this town. You hurt Sierra, I can kill you and make it look like an accident and scatter your body over the thousands of acres we own.”
I smile, liking Lisa more and more. “If you were going to hide my body, you don’t need to make it look like an accident. Save yourself the trouble.”
Lisa smiles back. “Good point. Then I’d just beat you to death with a shovel.”
“Sounds about right. I won’t hurt her.”
“You better not. Want me to get Melissa now?”
“Yeah, then finish your coffee. You’re gonna need it.”
I pull out my phone while Lisa goes in the back and open Jax’s text. He asked if I was alive. I simply respond ‘yes’ and hit send.
Chapter 19
Sierra
I set my Kindle down, trading it for my phone. I’m supposed to be at the Sunday family dinner in ten minutes and I’m half expecting it to be Mom, asking where I am. It’s Lisa instead.
Lisa: Are you bringing Chase to dinner tonight?
Me: No. He’s hanging out with his brother tonight.
Lisa: Good. We need to talk.
Me: Trouble with Rob again?
She doesn’t respond, so I take that as a yes. I read a few more pages before getting up out of the hammock and going inside, opening a can of
cat food so Dolly and Tinkerbell come running. They like to sit on the screened-in porch with me, but I won’t leave them out there unattended. I might have a slight irrational fear of something tearing through the screen and getting them.
When I get to my parents’, I see Rob and Lisa sitting together on the back patio. His arm is around hers and they’re animatedly talking with Sam and her husband. No one looks stressed. Rob laughs and brings his head closer to Lisa as they talk. I’m not a body language expert, but those two do not look like lovers in a quarrel. And I know they didn’t just have a fight because when they do, they’re all over each other for a day or two after making up.
I catch Lisa’s eye and wave. She gives me a tight smile and whispers something to Rob. He jerks around, face flat before smiling like everything is normal. Lisa stands, shoulders tense, and starts to make her way inside.
“Sierra, dear,” Gran calls. “You look lovely. Did you get a bit of sun today?”
“Too much,” I tell her, crossing the solarium floor to give my grandmother a hug. “I was hiking and thought the sunlight wouldn’t get to me since I was in the woods.”
Gran smiles. “I’ve made that mistake a time or two. Not recently, mind you. Come, dear. Keep me company while I have my tea.”
I shoot Lisa an apologetic glance and follow Gran to the front porch. Storm clouds are rolling in, and the smell of rain on the horizon calms me.
“Have you thought about going back to school?” Gran asks, stirring sugar into her tea.
“Not really.” I look into my cup, watching tea leaves swirl around the bottom. Part of me wants to try to read them, but I know Gran would think I lost it for sure. “Getting into the same grad school twice is pretty unlikely. The program I was in is very selective.”
“But not impossible.”
“I know. Maybe I’ll go back and get a second degree in agriculture. Or business. The more I think about letting Sam run the farm, the more I feel we’re all doomed.”
Gran gives me a wry smile, gracefully bringing her tea to her lips. “You would bring a level head into the equation. Which we need. You would be an invaluable asset to the Belmont Industry.”
I almost choke. It’s the first time Gran has ever hinted that she wants me to come into the family business.
“I’m not really a business person,” I mumble.
Ignoring me, Gran goes on. “There is more to this than men in stuffy suits, my dear.”
“Yeah…I know.” I set my teacup down and look out at the gray clouds. The breeze picks up and a chill comes over me.
“So,” Gran says, changing the subject. “When am I going to meet this gentleman you’ve been seeing? Gloria Freemont tells me he’s quite the looker, even with those tattoos.” She shakes her head, clicking her tongue. “I don’t see the appeal in that.”
I laugh. “A lot of people find tattoos sexy, Gran.”
“You know what I found sexy about your grandfather?”
“Do I want to know?”
“The way he treated his inferiors. You’d never know they were inferiors. When I met him, the farm was struggling. There had been a drought followed by a year of nonstop rain. It nearly wiped out everything. And within the next two years, luck changed and he got the first partnership selling to a national distributor. He made his first million the next year. But he still worked the fields. Took extra shifts to give his employees days off. I’ll never meet another man like your grandfather,” she ends, voice dropping.
Gran married two more times after my grandpa died. She divorced her second husband after six years of marriage, saying she was bored with him. She married six months later to a telenovela star she met in Miami, shocking us all. He wasn’t a legal citizen, so the marriage isn’t technically recognized. He got into some trouble and got deported. She still keeps in contact with him, but I don’t think she ever fully committed to either of those men.
It was my fear after Jake died. I’d never find someone I loved as much. I’d forever think back to what I had, comparing anyone I had interest in to Jake. And they’d fail.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Melinda, my parents’ housekeeper says as she steps onto the porch. “Dinner is ready.”
I help Gran to her feet and go inside, taking my usual spot at the dining room table next to Lisa. She’s quiet throughout the meal, averting her eyes whenever I look her way. As soon as we’re done, she grabs my wrist and pulls me into the living room, away from the rest of the family.
“We need to talk,” she blurts, looking nervous.
“Are you pregnant?” I whisper.
“What? God no.” She looks down at her stomach. “Do I look pregnant? It’s this fucking shirt, isn’t it?”
“No, you don’t. But if you just found out you wouldn’t look pregnant. That’s not the point. What the hell is going on?”
“Chase,” she says, and her voice cuts through the air like a sharp knife.
“What about Chase?”
“He came to the bank yesterday.”
“I know. He brought you the coffee and the muffin, right?”
“Yeah, but he stayed and had a meeting with Melissa to set up an account.”
I slowly shake my head. “I don’t see why that’s reason to sound the alarm. He’s living here, so it makes sense to have his bank account here.”
“It’s not just that though…and I don’t know all the details since Melissa handled it. He put a lot of money into his account. And I mean a lot. I saw the paperwork at the end of the day. He had cash, Si. Two hundred grand in cash.”
Yeah, that’s weird, but I don’t want to say it out loud. “Maybe he took all his money from his other bank?”
“You don’t have to literally take it out in cash like that. It’s just weird and gave me a bad feeling. So I…I got his info and asked Rob to run a background check on him.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, and you should be glad I did.” Lisa’s eyes cloud over with guilt and worry. “He’s been arrested before. Many times. And the most recent was three months ago for breaking and entering.”
I don’t say anything. My heart is in my throat.
“That’s not all.” Lisa swallows hard before going on. “Rob said some of the charges were dropped but couldn’t figure out why. And the same judge wrote them off. He said it seemed suspicious as fuck, so he had his lieutenant look at it, and he thinks Chase might have ties to the mafia or something.”
“Chase is not in the mafia,” I say, trying to sound like I believe it. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Think about it, Sierra. He came to the bank with a duffle bag full of money. He’s been arrested a million times with the charges suddenly dropped, and you saw him fight those guys at the party! Plus, he has that suped up Mustang that had to cost at least fifty grand and he was wearing designer clothes.”
“Maybe he likes nice things. That doesn’t make him a mobster.”
“Sierra, use your head. Something is off about him and he could be dangerous!”
“Nothing is off about him,” I hiss, anger rising. “You don’t know him like I do. And are you forgetting you were the one who told me to go for him?”
“That was before I knew.”
“Maybe you should have run a background check on him first.” I let out a huff, shaking my head.
“Sierra, be logical.”
“Oh, I am logical. I’m not the one running unwarranted background checks and creeping on someone’s bank information. I like Chase. He makes me happy. Oh, right. You said it’s weird seeing us together.”
“What?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Right. Act like you don’t remember telling me it’s weird seeing me with someone other than Jake. You remember Chase fighting, but don’t remember what you said.”
“I said that? Fuck, I’m an asshole.”
“Yeah, you are.” I spin on my heel, giving Rob a look on my way out. I grab my shoes and head out, pissed because it feels like they betrayed me, going
behind my back to get dirt on Chase.
And because I’m struggling to not believe it all to be true.
* * *
“You should really lock your doors.”
Chase’s voice comes from behind me, and I jump, heart going a million miles an hour. I’m upstairs in my reading room, lost in thought and grumbling at myself for thinking it would be a good idea to reorganize my bookshelves at nine at night. Or ever. Because I have a lot of books, and now I have a huge mess. But after dinner, I needed to stay busy. It was the only way to keep Lisa’s words out of my head. She’s called me twice and texted a few times to say she was sorry for saying it was weird to see me with anyone other than Jake. I believe her, and know she does feel bad. Lisa’s always been one to spout off when she’s drunk. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last time.
“Chase,” I say, voice all breathy. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Exactly. Anyone could have walked in. And up the stairs.”
I grip my copy of Harry Potter and stand, eyeballing Chase. He’s wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, looking sexy as hell. His wavy brown hair is a tad messy, adding to his sex appeal, and the stubble on his face accentuates his good looks.
“I texted you,” he goes on, stepping over a pile of books.
“Oh, I heard my phone but thought it was Lisa. She’s been texting me all night.”
“Dakota wanted me to read her a bedtime story, that’s what took so long.”
He comes closer and my heart skips a beat. “That’s sweet of you to do.”
He gives me his trademark shrug. “She’s a cute kid. Actually makes me a bit sad I didn’t get to know her sooner.”
The knot in my chest loosens and Chase takes me in his arms, greeting me like usual. I let the book drop and hold him tight. We kiss and in that moment, one thing becomes abundantly clear to me: I don’t care if Chase is dangerous. Who he is…what we have…I don’t want to change a thing.
“What are you doing?” Chase asks, looking at the books on the floor.
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