Page 20 of Melt the Ice

“Did you tell Miller?”

She shakes her head, but her gaze stays focused on her boots.

My hands rest on the counter on either side of my hips, crossing one ankle over the other before asking. “Why not?”

Her eyes lift to meet mine, lips pressing into a thin line before exhaling sharply. “Because, like I’ve already said, I can take care of myself.”

My fingers flex against the counter until my knuckles ache, so I don’t reach for her. Lord knows I want to grab her shoulders and shake the stubbornness right out of her. “Sure, but you don’t have to anymore.” I pause, shifting my weight to my other foot. “Plus, it’s not just you out here.”

“You think because you have a dick you can tell me what to do?”

My mouth falls open, the comment coming so far from left field that it takes me a second to register it. The fear hidden under the bite. Not of me, but of needing anyone at all. I tuck that away for later, but right now, a laugh rips out of me, bouncing off the kitchen walls. Swiping at my eyes, I look at the very unamused woman sitting in front of me.

“I’m glad you remember I have one of those.” I step forward, letting my fingers trail lightly down her cheek, fully aware that I’m pushing against every boundary she has. “You were pretty fond of it, last I checked.”

She gasps, cheeks flushing as her grip tightens around her water bottle, the plastic crackling under her fingers. Point one for Lucas.

When she doesn’t immediately fire back, I drop my hand and lean against the wall. My voice is softer when I speak, the humor completely gone. “Look… I’ll keep showing up, I want to be here. But I need to know you want me here, too. Not just for the ranch. For you.” My throat works to swallow around the lump lodged in the back of it. “If you don’t want me around, I’ll go. But I can’t keep pretending we’re ships in the night. Not with you.”

“You think I need you to show up?” She snaps, crossing one leg over the other, a shield more than anything.

“Let me reintroduce myself, Lucas.” My name a hissed breath, followed by that stupid lift of her chin. It gives me the perfect view of her lips, lips I’d love nothing more than to kiss the sass right out of.

“My name is Scarlett Arias, and I don’t need saving. I don’t need a single person on this planet to do a thing for me. I can, and have, done it myself for years. Whatever you think you’re accomplishing by ‘showing up’ isn’t my damn to give.”

“Jesus, Scarlett!” My palm hits the wall before I can rein in my frustration. She flinches, clearly caught off guard by my outburst, and guilt washes over me as I watch her wide eyes harden once again. “I’m sorry. I just–”

I let the breath leave me until my lungs threaten to collapse. “This is hard for me. You being here. I thought, hoped—” I swallow. “I thought it would feel like before.”

Her stare is flat, bored almost. “Sounds like a personal problem.”

Something in my chest tightens until it feels like it might snap, like standing on the edge of a cliff, wondering if I can trust the parachute on my back. I slide my thumb along my chain before I stop and run it over the smoothness of my dad’s ring. “The ranch is yours, but I don’t have to come with it.”

She gave me a half-hearted shrug, one that has defeat bleeding from me. “Then don’t.”

There’s not a flicker of softness for me to hold on to. Is this who she really is, or did I spend twelve years believing in the girl who used to fall asleep reading fairy tales to me in the sunflower field? Deep down, I know better. I know my girl is in there, I know what we have, or had, is real.

I hold my hands up in surrender. “Got it. I don’t know what happened these past twelve years, but I’m on your team. Always have been.”

Her lip curls. “My team?”

I don’t get to answer before she’s out of her chair, stepping into me, and jabbing her finger into my chest. “Yeah? That why you were working with my father to take the ranch from me? You’re the buyer he had lined up, aren’t you?” Her hands fly through the air, frantic and accusing. “It makes sense. You’re here, already own part of it. Was this your way of getting back at me for not reaching out after all these years?”

My stomach turns violently. She couldn’t be more wrong. It was always about saving this place for her, even if she never came back. I promised I’d take care of it. “Scarlett, I’ve never spoken to your father.”

I haven’t. Everything that was lined up for this sale was handled by the same lawyer Scarlett used to claim the ranch. I never spoke to anyone, and it was only because Ms. Anna had put in the will that, should Scarlett not claim the ranch, for whatever reason, by her twenty-fifth birthday, I had the opportunity to buy it before it went to market.

“Right.” She scoffs, rolling her eyes as she steps away. “You sound just like him.”

She turns, taking away my opportunity to say anything else. Storming down the hallway, she slams her door so hard the walls shake. I stare at the empty space she left behind, heart pounding, breath tight as I try to figure out what the hell just happened.

I shake my head, clearing the past half an hour from replaying yet again, and head out of the house. The clink of her screen door closing echoes behind me. By the time I reach the rehab, my pulse still hasn’t slowed. Miller’s head jerks up from behind a stack of paperwork. “Got a minute?”

His brows furrow. He knows the foundation kids are still here, and usually, there isn’t anything that can get me away from them. “Lettie said she saw someone cut the fence the other day, and he ran off to a white truck.”

He takes his glasses off, softly setting them on top of the stack of papers in front of him. “When was this?”

I shrug, “Don’t know. She tripped over a root trying to get back to the kids. Apparently, the truck drove by. Said she needed to be close enough to protect them. She’s handling it herself.”