Page 100 of Holding Ground

His eyes drop to my pants. “Great minds.”

I lift an eyebrow. “Aren’t you cold?”

He shrugs and steps inside. “It’s not that long a walk across the yard. You could go shirtless too. Give it a try.”

A laugh escapes me as I close the door behind him. When I turn around, we stare at each other for a beat, the weight of everything pressing down between us.

“How are you?” I ask.

He takes two steps forward, erasing the distance between us, and pulls me into an embrace, tucking his head into the crook of my neck. I relax into his arms, wrapping mine around him and taking in the warmth and security of his body surrounding mine.

“I wanted to tell Kate to leave about a hundred times during her visit.”

I nod, squeezing him harder.

He pulls back and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “When I went back into the house after she left, I talked to Baylor. I wanted to see how she felt about the visit. She was already changed into a dress that Kate brought for her, and she demanded that she be able to sleep in it tonight. She’s amped up, for sure, but I can tell there is still some uncertainty about what it all means.”

“That makes sense. It’s a big change for her.”

He nods. “I know. I just wish I knew the answer, that’s all. I still don’t feel like I can trust Kate.”

I bring my hand to his chest. “That will take time.”

He sighs and tips his head back, staring at the ceiling for a beat. “Yeah, yeah, I guess. I just wish I could be sure.”

“Elliott, listen,” I say, and he lowers his chin and meets my eyes. “I’m a grown woman, not a child, but I can say I’m glad I found out more information about my birth mother. I haven’t spoken to my cousin since, and I don’t know that I will, but regardless, I’m happy to stop wondering. To stop making up scenarios in my head about what she looked like, what she might have been like, what that side of my family was like. I have to believe that Baylor will be the same as she gets older.”

“I just don’t want her to be hurt.”

My chest tightens. Neither do I, though I’m not sure I have any right to that feeling. “One thing is for certain. You don’t want her ever thinking you kept her mother from her. What Kate does from this point forward is on Kate, not you. You’ve given her a chance to right her wrongs. Baylor will understand that as she grows up.”

He lets his forehead rest against mine. “When did you get so smart?”

“Years of repressing my feelings did wonders for me.”

He chuckles, then brings his lips to mine.

This is the closest I’ve felt with him since Kate made her reappearance, and since I discovered something more troubling might be happening with the development. Both things can jeopardize everything we have, and as much as his ex’s reappearance affects him and Baylor, the Kate thing seems minor compared to the development thing.

The thought of that, and how Elliott would feel if I deceived him, whether intentional or not, has me pulling back from our kiss.

He tilts his head. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just a long day, that’s all.”

A line forms between his brows. “Anything I can help with?”

I shake my head. “Nothing a good night’s sleep can’t fix.”

That’s a lie. Because if what I suspect is true, a night of good rest won’t change anything. Especially not how Elliott—and the rest of the people in this town—will see me.

I’ll be the enemy…the outsider. Again.

CHAPTER

FORTY-TWO

Elliott