Waves of people roam through. Sweat trickles down my back. My smile’s robotic by now as I hand over samples and recite the details of each drink. “It’s a light-bodied ale with a crisp, clean finish. Perfect for summer. We use locally sourced hops and a special strain of yeast to make it a really unique craft brew.”
“This is my favorite stop every year,” one woman says. She’s not from Scandal, and I don’t recognize her.
“I appreciate it,” I say, and I really do. People like her have kept us alive all these years, and I wish I could repay them with more than strained politeness.
“You’ll be here next year, right?”
I’ve been spouting off Jules Creek facts all day and letting them know that all flavors are limited. Each time I have to tell someone who hasn’t heard news of the impending sale about it, is just another cut adding up until I’m shredded.
A citrus-and-cedar cloud wafts through the air just as a hot hand lands on the small of my back. “Yes. Jules Creek will have a booth here next year.”
Calder’s deep voice washes over me, and my mouth drops all the way open.He’s here?He can’t be. But his touch is familiar. His smell. That voice. I turn, and I’m in his arms.
A lock of his dark hair falls over his forehead. His expression is tense, as if he’s not sure how I’ll react, yet there’s heat and adoration there too. “Hey, rosy.”
My knees tremble, and my vision gets watery. I’m in Calder Cross’s arms again. He’s wearing a looser gray shirt than normal, buttery-soft under my hands. One of his own, not one from the boxes in the basement. A tear slips out, but he sweeps it away with the pad of his thumb.
“Oh, good,” the woman croons. “Are you…are you going to be there as well?”
Calder doesn’t look at her when he answers. He strokes his gaze over my face. “I’ll be right here next year, and for as long as our master brewer and part owner wants to keep participating.”
Am I so hot and tired that I’m hallucinating? I was about to accept that he’d returned to Scandal, butthat?
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m sorry it took me so long.” His dark eyes dance back and forth between mine. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing because I was terrified you’d tell me not to bother, but it didn’t matter anyway, because I was coming back to you no matter what.”
“You were? But I haven’t heard from you.”
“I’ve been working day and night to arrange it all.”
“To arrange what?” I ignore everything—the fair, the customers. It’s only me and Calder right now.
“The sale of CFC. And tracking my brothers down to convince them to keep all this.” He swallows, and the fatigue hementioned is carved into his face. “I flew to Vegas to confront Bowen, working the entire way. Then to LA to hunt Landry down.” The corner of his mouth kicks up. “I told them we aren’t getting rid of either Cross company, and they can have as little or as big of a roll as they want. They aren’t thrilled about an intrusive older brother, but I said no matter what they like, I’m landing on their doorstep at least once a year.”
The band around my chest loosens. He cares so much about them. There’s so much more to Calder than the man I first met.
When my palms land on his face, his scruff tickles my palm, and I run a thumb over his bottom lip. He’s real. Right here in the middle of the street fair. The energy of the crowd around us grows quiet, but I can’t take my attention off the devastating man before me.
“Why?” I whisper. “You were all free.”
“I was not a free man. You captured me, and I want to stay caught. But I had to do right by the people who rely on CFC to care for their families, so I also took the time to meet with all my clients.Allof them. I met extensively with my employees and explained why I was severing ties completely.” He turns his face to press a kiss into my palm. His persistent five-o’clock shadow tickles my skin. “I told them I want to go home. The woman I love is there, and I want to build a life with her wherever she’ll have me.”
He loves me?My hope rises like a helium balloon, but I’m not convinced. There’s no way this can be happening.
“What about your brothers?”
“I told them I’d never leave them alone. I will be the bane of their existence if they try to lock me out of their life. They also don’t like that I’m lifting the ranch and the brewery out of debt, but I don’t care. It’s my gift to you. To us.”
He’s taking care of the bills? By himself?
Much as I want this man, and much as I love Jules Creek, I have to talk sense into him. “Calder, you can’t. It’s not your responsibility.”
“It’s done.” He hugs me tighter against him. “I don’t want another family to create any goddamn memories in my home.”
I’m going to melt, and it has nothing to do with the heat, but I can’t let him risk his life’s work. “We all have to agree. You can’t go broke over it.”
He laughs and dips his head so his mouth is close to my ear. “If you think that’ll break us, you have no idea what a rich asshole I am.”
