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“You can come to New York with me if you want?”
“No, but thanks. I like Ryker, I feel safe here, and I like the people. I’m not a big-city person like you and Charlie. This is home.”
“Ava, I really need you to know that when I left I was angry and hurting. I didn’t make contact because when I finally came to my senses I thought you and Charlie would be okay without me. I was wrong, and selfish for what I did, and I need you to know that and how sorry I am.”
“I hated you after I stopped missing you.” Her words were so quiet he had to lean in to hear them. “You were my hero, the one I went to when it got too much with Mom. Then suddenly you were gone. It was like you’d died.”
Dylan fought the urge to touch her. Wrap his arms around her, and hold her close. She wasn’t ready for that, and he wasn’t entirely sure he was either, but one day, he promised himself, he’d do that.
“I know you don’t trust me, and that we’re almost strangers, but I promise this time after I leave I’ll stay in contact, okay?”
“Okay.”
He knew it was a small step they’d just taken, but a step nonetheless. They fell silent, slurping their smoothies, and Dylan decided that before he left, if he did nothing else, it would be to see his little sister settled into a hairdressing apprenticeship. Even if it took several arguments with his mother to achieve that.
Chapter 17
Piper hadn’t slept well again last night. Like the last five, she’d spent time thinking and dreaming about Dylan Howard and his hot body.
“Three weeks,” she muttered. “Why the hell is the man still here?”
The sex they’d had should not have made such an impression on her. Okay, so she didn’t have a great deal of experience, but Dylan had taken her places she’d never dreamed she could go, and had achieved that in a matter of minutes. It hadn’t been long, with sweetly whispered words; no, it had been anything but that. And it had been wonderful, amazing, and a million other words.
She’d told him it was a one-time thing, but she’d be lying to say she didn’t want more. The problem was, Piper didn’t think she could take more without getting emotionally invested in him. And that was a good enough reason to never go there again.
The man was turning out to be a royal pain in her butt. She could usually dismiss men as quickly as they came into her life, but not him. He was like something burrowing under her skin.
She’d woken early, gone for a ride today, then cleaned the house and was doing the afternoon shift now at the cafe in the hopes that she could forget about him. If he just left town it would make things easier. Then she wouldn’t have to see him.
Piper had avoided going anywhere Dylan might be after that one awkward conversation when he came into the café the day after they’d had sex. He’d told her they hadn’t used a condom, Piper had told him it would be okay, and if not she’d let him know. He’d apologized and muttered something about never being unprepared before, then left. Since she’d gone into hiding. The bar, the tea shop... she’d avoided them all. The man was turning her into a recluse.
Thankfully, he’d not come into the café, so perhaps he was feeling the same as her.
“I’ll start on the baking for tomorrow, Piper, seeing as we’re quiet.”
She ran Phil’s Place, and owned part of it with her cousins. She loved it here, loved the small empire the Trainers had built together, especially as they’d started with nothing. But lately... well, lately it had not been enough.
“Your family are all heading in.”
Sure enough, there they were. A smile found its way to her lips. She loved each and every crazy one of them.
“I thought you guys were leaving early for the thoroughbred sales in Bay Springs?”
“Jack had to take out a group, and I needed to do some stuff at the bar, so we’re heading there now. We need coffee and food to go,” Luke said around a yawn. He’d worked four late shifts at the fire department and now he had a few days off. “It’s a six-hour drive.”
“So you won’t be back till sometime late tomorrow?” Piper said as she began to make coffee. Bailey liked hers milky, Joe black, Jack white with two sugars, and Luke liked hot chocolate.
“When’s Aunt Jess back, Pip?”
“Three days.” Her mother was visiting friends.
“Buzz is staying with you down at the main house,” Joe told her.
“No worries, he’ll keep me company. Now you all go on and enjoy yourself.”
“Right then, family, let’s get moving.” Joe got to his feet. “You’re the only Trainer left in town, Pip, so don’t do anything to destroy our pristine reputation.”
“Ha ha.” She accepted the hug from Jack, kissed the others, and then there was silence once more.
