Crushing on Love (The Bradens of Peaceful Harbor, Book Four) Read online

  “That’s okay,” Steve said, shocking—and upsetting—her. “The mountain isn’t going anywhere.”

  Her thoughts came to a sudden halt. He wanted her to go out with Will? Then what was that look? She didn’t want to go out with Will. She wanted to go scouting with Steve.

  “So, it’s settled, then.” Will pulled out his phone. “Put your number in there, sweetheart. I’ll pick you up around seven?”

  “Um…” She gave Steve what she hoped was a look that said, You really want me to go with him? and Please say no.

  He shrugged.

  What the hell did that mean? She picked up Will’s phone and reluctantly put her number in his contact list. “Can we make it nine? I want to try to do some scouting first.” And figure out why Steve is playing with my head.

  “Anytime you want.” Will grinned and slipped his phone into his pocket.

  “I’ll bring her down the mountain so you don’t have to try to navigate up at night,” Steve offered. “I’m coming back into town anyway.”

  “You are?” Shannon asked. Did he have a date? Her mind trailed back to the image of Steve and Rachel talking and the way Rachel had touched his arm. She wondered if he had a date with her. Wouldn’t Rachel have said something if she were seeing Steve?

  Steve nodded and turned back to his friends. “Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk with you guys was about the ranch.”

  Holy cow, she’d nearly forgotten this wasn’t a social visit. He’d changed gears so quickly she wondered if he was upset with her for Will asking her out. His tight jaw and rigid back told her he was purposely trying not to look at her, and that stung.

  “I was hoping you’d consider putting the land into a conservation trust,” Steve said with a serious tone.

  “We thought you might want to discuss that,” Mack said. “Nothing personal, Steve, but we’re done with the ranch, the land, the whole deal.”

  “Done with it?” Steve asked. “It’s been in your family for generations.”

  “Buddy, so has your old man’s property,” Will said. “But I don’t see you clamoring to get on board.”

  The pained expression that came over Steve’s face made Shannon want to reach for his hand, softening the sting of his pushing her toward Will. His rigid exterior was obviously due to this conversation and not the fact that Will had asked her out.

  “The truth is,” Mack said, “we need the money from the sale of the ranch. We’re keeping our mom’s family’s little house near town, trying to rent it out at the moment. But, Steve, while you’re up on that mountain living off the land, the world is getting more expensive by the week. I want to settle down and have kids one day, work a regular job, and not sweat it out on the ranch from dawn until dark, worrying about animals and agricultural costs. And Casey wants to get his master’s degree. We’re just not married to the land the way Mom and Dad were.”

  “I forgot your parents also owned that little house near town. I’m glad you’re keeping it,” Steve said. “And I get it, about needing the money. I just thought it was worth a shot.”

  “We appreciate that,” Mack said thoughtfully. “You should know that CRH Enterprises is nosing around.”

  Steve sank back in his seat, grinding his teeth together. “Please tell me you’re not considering selling to them. They’re a conglomerate of land-raping assholes. They’ll strip the land and turn this place into a housing development quicker than you can cash their check.”

  “We’re not doing anything yet,” Mack assured him. “The property won’t formally be on the market for another sixty days. Our agent just said they were sniffing around.”

  “Can you do me a favor and keep me in the loop?” Steve rose to his feet, tension billowing off of him.

  Shannon pushed from her chair. She had so many questions, but she’d already opened her mouth once, and that had landed her a date with the wrong man.

  “Of course,” Mack said, rising to his feet. “We’re not trying to screw Weston, Steve.”

  Steve nodded. “I know. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Just give me those sixty days to see what I can come up with.”

  “No worries, buddy.” Will put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I don’t know what you have in mind, but if you have a way to put the land into conservation and we can still get the equity out of it, you know we’re behind you. And I’m sorry about the comment about your pop’s ranch. I was just making a point.”

  “No worries,” Steve assured him. “We’ll see you around.”

  “Right. Tonight,” Will reminded him. “You’re bringing Shannon down the mountain?”

  Steve turned a possessive gaze to Shannon that nearly stopped her heart.

  “Yeah,” Steve said. “Right.”

  “Cool.” Will smiled at Shannon. “See you tonight, sweetheart.”

  “Can you send me a text real quick?” Shannon asked Will. “That way I’ll have your number in case I get hung up or something.” She didn’t want to make things any more uncomfortable by telling Will she didn’t want to go out with him now, but she had every intention of canceling their date. She’d already spent two hours talking to Cal last night when she’d really wanted to connect with a certain other man. The man who was currently looking at her like he didn’t know if he wanted to claim her or curse at her.

  The ride back up the mountain was tense. Steve looked like he was chewing on nails. She knew he was upset over that company looking into purchasing the land, and tried to lighten the mood.

  She opened the bakery box, scooped frosting on her finger, and held it out to him. “Can I entice you into a little sugary delight?”

  He managed a smile, and his gorgeous, troubled eyes shifted to her, but his smile didn’t alleviate the darkness she saw in them.

  “Come on. Sugar fixes almost everything. Just try it.” She pushed her finger in front of his mouth. “You know you want it.”

  “Shannon,” he warned huskily.

  She touched the frosting to his lips, earning a soft laugh. “Come on. Open up. Just don’t do that sucking thing.”

  He held her hand and took her finger into his mouth, sucking harder than before and doing that swirly thing with his tongue that sent shivers straight to her core. She snapped her mouth shut to keep a sound of pleasure from escaping and cleared her throat to try to mask her emotions.

  “Better?” Her voice cracked.

  “Mildly,” he said a little angrily.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “The frosting? Yeah, I do,” he said. “The pink-frosted cupcake stays at my cabin tonight. It’s not going anywhere near Will’s mouth.”

  “I meant the land!” She laughed, but her stomach was doing flips with the hint of jealousy he’d just revealed.

  “Oh.” He stared out at the road with a serious expression. “No.”

  “Why not? And why do you care if I go out with Will?”

  His tense expression gave nothing away.

  “Steve,” she urged.

  He stared straight ahead.

  “God,” she said, exasperated. “You’re like a child.”

  “I assure you, I’m all man.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you want to go out with me, so why do you care?”

  He gave her the deadpan look again.

  “Whatever.” She wondered if he knew how crazy he was making her, or if he was too tied up in knots over the land to realize it. “Why won’t you talk about the land? It’s obviously bugging you.”

  “Because I don’t have an answer.”

  “That’s why we should talk,” she said sharply. “That’s what friends do, you know. They talk about things, figure things out.”

  They rode the rest of the way in tense silence. At his cabin, he helped her from the truck and she kept hold of his hand.

  “Talk to me,” she urged.

  “I need to get out and do my rounds. Check on those partying kids.” He freed his hand and reached into the truck for her grocery
bag and the bakery box. “I’ll carry these up for you.”

  “I can carry them.”

  He stalked off toward her cabin with the bags in hand, leaving her no choice but to fall into step beside him. The big, brooding pain in the butt. They followed the narrow path through the woods, weaving around rocks and trees. Her quaint log cabin and rented Jeep came into view. Her cabin was smaller than Steve’s, with a front porch barely big enough for two people. She unlocked the door, acutely aware of his close proximity, and he followed her inside the cozy living room. A beige sofa sat against the far wall with an end table on one side, taking up most of the space. The tiny kitchen had a stove with a microwave above it, a sink, and enough counter space for a coffee machine and two plates, or a grocery bag and a bakery box. She hoped. Opposite the kitchen, the refrigerator was tucked into an alcove beside the bathroom, and on the other side of the bathroom, a narrow staircase led up to the bedroom loft above the kitchen. It was small to begin with, and with Steve’s broad shoulders, it felt even tighter.

  “You can set those on the counter,” she said. “Care to tell me why I’m getting the silent treatment?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a prick.” He looked around, and she wished she knew what he was thinking. He walked over to the end table and picked up the framed photograph of her family she had set there. A small smile settled on his lips.

  “Do you miss them, being so far away?” he asked.

  “Always. When I’m in my own apartment I miss them, and believe me, I know exactly how silly that sounds. But when you grow up in a big family, you’re used to noise and people and talking about everything, because everyone always wants to help and be part of your decisions.” She leaned against the counter, thinking about her family. Before coming to Colorado for the initial research project, Shannon had felt restless, oppressed by her close-knit hometown and living under the constant watch of her four older brothers. She’d had a hard time figuring out what she wanted out of life separate from what those who loved her wanted for her. At the suggestion of her older sister, Tempest, she’d taken the assignment and come to Colorado as an exercise in introspection. She’d thought she would love doing research, but all that time alone on the mountain had made her realize that loving the work wasn’t enough. She didn’t just enjoy being around people; she needed social interaction, and she wanted more from her work. She wanted to make a bigger difference. More what, she wasn’t sure, but the solo research wasn’t doing it for her.

  He set the picture down, and his expression turned solemn. “And I’ve just made you lonelier by clamming up. I’m sorry. I was just thinking about the land.”

  He was so complex—hot, cold, stoic, sensitive. She found him even more intriguing because of it. Some people were open books, like her and her mother, while people like Steve needed to be finessed and pushed through every page, like her father and her brothers Sam and Nate. Tempest always said they were the most interesting people. The ones that loved the hardest.

  “You know my cousin Treat is a real estate investor,” she offered. “You could probably talk to him about it.”

  “The feud between my family and your uncle Hal’s taught me not to do business with people you care about,” he said casually.

  “That’s a pretty crappy rule.” She knew his father and her uncle Hal had purchased land together and his father had somehow broken Hal’s trust, which was the impetus for what had become a forty-year feud between the families. She didn’t know all the details of their reconciliation, but she knew Rex and Jade’s relationship had brought it all to a head. After they’d made amends, Rex and Jade had bought the property the two men had been feuding over and had built their home on it.

  “It is, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “Crappy but important.”

  “What are your alternatives?” She didn’t know what Steve earned, but she didn’t think it was enough to purchase the estate.

  He shrugged. “I’ll talk to a few connections, see if I can get them interested in purchasing the property and putting it into a conservation trust.”

  “Maybe I can come up with something.”

  He ran an assessing gaze over her.

  “What?” She was good at coming up with solutions for other people’s problems. It was her own she had trouble with.

  “Nothing. You’re just not like anyone I know.” He reached into the box and grabbed the cupcake. “This is coming with me.”

  She followed him to the door. “You’re seriously going to hold my cupcake hostage? For a man who says very little, that says a heck of a lot.”

  He stepped closer. So close his chest touched hers when he inhaled.

  “What exactly does it say?” he challenged.

  “That maybe you don’t want me to go out with Will.” She didn’t recognize her breathy voice.

  His eyes narrowed, and he lifted the cupcake with a devilish smile. “Or maybe it says I like pink frosting.”

  She wasn’t going to let him off that easy. “I think it says you like me.”

  “Do you?” He dropped his eyes to the cupcake, then shifted them to her mouth, lingering there so long her lips tingled with anticipation.

  Kiss me.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t do a freaking thing, and her entire body ached for his touch. He raised a brow, silent as the day was long. Damn him. No man had ever had this effect on her. She had to break their connection before she took the kiss she so desperately wanted.

  “Should I come by later?” she finally managed.

  His eyes grew sinfully darker.

  “To look for habitats.” The words flew from her mouth and he smiled. Ugh! He was messing with her again!

  “See you later, Butterfly.”

  She watched his perfect butt as he walked away. She needed to up her game if she was going to figure out how to beat him at it.

  Chapter Four

  AFTER TAKING CARE of his duties, Steve made a few calls to the contacts he thought might take an interest in the Cumberland property. He knew it was a long shot, but he wasn’t going to give up before trying everything he could. When Shannon came over to ask him to go with her up the mountain, she was too sweet—If you come with me, I’ll go with you when you traipse all over the mountain tomorrow doing whatever it is a grizzly guy like you does—and too insistent—Grizz, you know you want to see those cute little foxes. You can’t tell me you don’t want to trek up the mountain one more time. You love doing that—to deny.

  They’d been scoping out fox habitats for the past two hours, and she’d been tossing out ideas to help him save the Cumberland property. She was as excited about the prospect as he was frustrated by it.

  “There are tons of nonprofits that could probably help raise funds,” she said, stepping around a big rock. “What about private investors? There are lots of philanthropists who are interested in land conservation. I bet we could find a list of them with a quick Google search.”

  She was an anomaly to him. Astute and animated. She’d pointed out animal prints, scat, and markings on trees without missing a beat in sharing her ideas for the land. The more time they spent together, the more difficult it became for him to keep a sense of distance between them.

  “I’ve made some calls, put some feelers out.” He looked up toward the darkening sky, and his gut fisted. “Shouldn’t we head back so you can get ready for your date?”

  “Not yet.” She ducked beneath a branch. Her hair got tangled and she inhaled a sharp breath, bent over beneath the branch.

  “I’ve got you.” Steve began untangling her hair. The scent of lilacs rose from the silky strands. Without thinking, he said, “Your hair smells like spring.”

  “Uh-huh. Want a real turn-on, mountain man?” she said teasingly. “It’s organic.”

  “You do realize I could give your hair a tug for that crack.” He’d like to give it a tug, all right, when she was naked and on her knees. Or in his bed. Or right her
e against a tree…

  “Careful, you never know what a girl likes.”

  Great. Now he was hard.

  In an effort to distract himself, which wasn’t easy with her bent at the waist in front of him, he said, “You should tie your hair back when you’re out here working.” So my mind doesn’t wander.

  She poked his stomach. “You could have mentioned that an hour ago.”

  “You were out here researching for weeks. How’d you get untangled then?” He unwound the last strand. “Okay, you’re free.”

  “Thank you.” She straightened her spine and ran her fingers through her hair. “I remembered to tie my hair back when I was working alone.” Her eyes slid down his body. “You’re a bit of a distraction.”

  He’d like to distract her, all right, but she had another man waiting for her tonight, and it was his own damn fault. He could have stopped it.

  “Maybe you’re just too excited about your date to concentrate.” His gut twisted at the thought of Shannon going out with Will, but he couldn’t afford to get any more tangled up in her than he already was.

  “Hardly,” she said, pulling him back to the moment. “Are you sure this is gray fox territory?” She walked around a group of pine trees.

  He’d guided her to this area because he knew that just ahead, beyond a thicket of trees, there was a fox den, but he’d given her no forewarning, wanting to enjoy her reaction. When he’d been out looking for the partiers earlier, he’d checked on the dens, and was happy to see they were all in use again this year.

  She rounded another group of trees and turned a wide smile to him, pointing to scat—fox poop—on the ground. The sun was just beginning to set, casting an orange glow behind her.

  “This whole mountain is fox territory,” he said. And I’m looking at the foxiest thing around.

  She took a notebook from her backpack and began taking notes and sketching the area. Evening brought a different sort of peacefulness to the mountain, as diurnal creatures settled in safely for the evening, giving way to nocturnal wildlife. The air turned crisper, stealing the vanilla-butterscotch smell of ponderosa bark and bringing out sharper, earthier scents.