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“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.” A good mood generated by one Dakota Brenton.
Thinking of him again—and wondering about that secret tattoo—she peeled off her clothes and headed for a shower, a chuckle bubbling out of her. The number of people who had butted in on their date was record breaking, but she’d learned a little more about Dakota through each of them. She’d been able to trust him more because of what she’d seen when those people had interacted with him. While some of the people had been his family members and had to love him, most of them were not relatives yet still loved him. A man who could manage that kind of appeal to so many different people had to be worth getting to know.
Right?
As Leah stepped into the shower, sudsing up the foot that had made contact—even through her sock—with Fey’s puke, her thoughts wandered to the way Dakota kissed and held her on that park bench. She’d surprised herself by throwing the kissing topic out there, but it was as if she couldn’t stop herself. Something about the darkness in the park made kissing Dakota allowable… as if the night wouldn’t tell anyone what she’d done. Dinner had been so wonderful and then the setting by Brenton Lake had been so romantic with the starlight, mountains, and fresh, woodsy air. If she could have put together a dream date, that would have been it.
The banter between her and Dakota had been like a tennis match all night, so when he’d sat beside her, she’d been eager for the match to continue. Then she went and upped the skill level by adding in kissing. Touching her lips now as hot shower water beat down on her skin, she was happy Dakota hadwantedto kiss her. He’d hesitated for only a moment—no doubt as shocked as she was that she’d mentioned kissing—and then he was all in.
He was gentle at first, gauging her responses. A part of her suspected he knew she’d been through something traumatic in the past and he wanted her to feel safe with him. In New York, she doubted she’d ever feel safe again, but with Dakota, here in Maplehaven, maybe it was possible. Perhaps the whole world wasn’t a nasty place with nasty people who did nasty things to good folks.
Such good folks.
Leah put a fist to her chest where her heart ached at the thoughts circling around her mind now. She flattened her other hand against the shower wall to brace herself for the usual wave of despair to crash over her.
Only it didn’t.
Dakota flashed into her mind instead, short-circuiting the regular loop of gloom. Then Heidi and Kyle, Principal Myers, her students and their families. Fey. It was like a comic book battle. Despair versus the good souls of Maplehaven.
Maybe Maplehaven was winning.
Shutting off the water, Leah got out of the shower, dried off, and slipped into her pajamas. She picked Fey up from her perch on the bathroom vanity and escorted the kitten out to the kitchen.
“What do you say, Fey? Time to call it a night?”
Fey yawned and licked Leah’s chin.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
She turned to go to her bedroom, but the blinking light on her answering machine caught her attention. The only person who’d call her was Heidi, and she knew Leah had her date with Dakota. Was Heidi too curious to wait until Monday to hear how the evening went?
Laughing and wondering why Heidi hadn’t texted her instead, Leah hit the message button.
Leah?a man’s voice said.
Leah froze beside the answering machine.
I hope this is the right number. I tried your cell, but I guess you changed that number. Really shed off New York all the way, huh? Well, it’s been two months. I thought that was enough time to give you before contacting you. I know you probably didn’t want me to, but I’m still hurting over here. All by myself. Wondering if Vermont is making things better for you.
There was a pause and a sharp inhale.
All right. Guess it probably is if you’re not home on a Friday night. Out partying, maybe? Give me a call. I miss you.
She blinked rapidly at the answering machine as tears rolled down her cheeks. Fey licked her nose and rubbed her head along Leah’s jaw, but that wasn’t enough to bring Leah from the brink. Dammit, she’d been so happy a few moments ago. Why did she have to ruin it by listening to that message?
From Carter Bennett. Her fiancé’s brother.
Now she was right back in New York with all the hurt and fear and…
She sat on the couch, trying to catch her breath as images flickered in her mind—images she’d never be able to fully delete from her memory.
And Carter had sounded so… so lost. She was lost too. Or had been. She didn’t feel as lost and maybe Maplehaven had something to do with that. Perhaps she needed to pass on to Carter that moving helped. He deserved some relief from the misery losing Chase, his younger brother and Leah’s fiancé, had caused.
She had to call him back.
Squinting at the time on the clock atop the fireplace mantle revealed that it was 11:00. Late, but if she knew Carter—and she did—he was still up and working on programming the next big video game. He worked from home and set his own schedule, which involved going to bed at 2:00 in the morning and getting up at 10:00 a.m. He started his workday at 10:30, took breaks throughout the day, then power-worked from 7:00 at night to 11:00. He’d probably be wrapping up the day’s work right now.
Drawing in a deep breath in search of some fortitude, Leah picked up the phone and dialed Carter’s number. He answered almost immediately, no doubt because he was in his office with the phone right by his computers.
