Passion in Bloom (Hometown Heartstrings #2)

Chapter 13

Heather

“A hem.” I raised my brows as I waited in front of Todd’s first step.

Roarke flinched, not paying attention and listening to the old man so intently that he wasn’t aware that I’d come up here.

When I didn’t see Roarke at the ranch, another man told me that he had the day off. Janelle texted me back that I could just finish my workday at home, and I was glad for that exception.

Before I headed home to tackle the few minor things that needed to be done, though, I thought I’d drop off my check here. Todd was old-fashioned like that, wanting an actual paper check.

I hadn’t counted on walking into a conversation about me though.

“Oh.” Roarke turned fully, furrowing his brow at me.

A slight wince of discomfort crossed his face as he likely realized I’ve overheard a fair bit of gossip about me.

“Who’s there?” Todd leaned up from his rocking chair as I climbed the few steps to his old farmhouse, probably another former ranch rental.

“Oh.” He nodded at me. “We were just talking about ya, hunny.”

That hun ya never failed to make me smile, but it was a weak one now.

At least you’ll own up to the fact you were gossiping about me.

Roarke rubbed the back of his neck, like he wanted to look anywhere but at me. And he should feel that embarrassed. Caught red-handed. After all the times I’d told him that I wanted him to butt out of my business, it seemed he just couldn’t help himself.

“I heard,” I quipped dryly, casting a long, withering look at Roarke. “Anyway, while I am still renting that cabin, here’s my rent.”

“Ah. Thanks, hunny,” Todd said, accepting the paper without seeming to suffer under any shame or regret to be talking about me. He appeared oblivious, unaffected by the potential of gossiping about me.

“Yep.” I dipped my chin at him and headed back down the steps.

Seeing that slight swelling on Roarke’s cheek bothered me. It was all the reminder I needed for why I had left the workday to seek him out.

But I wasn’t in the mood to scold him in front of Todd about interfering in my life and picking a fight with David.

Actually, the fight left me altogether. I doubted he’d picked a fight with David as a grandstanding act of looking like a bigger guy or a stronger man. It wouldn’t take long for David to say something that would stir up heat. If I had to guess, he’d said something bad about me, and Roarke simply hadn’t liked it.

As I walked back to my car to leave, without a word for Roarke, I realized that the sensation of being defended like that should’ve impressed me. It should’ve made me feel good that I had someone in my corner like that. And not only that, but from someone who as of yet was agreeable about not making demands of me.

Still, I couldn’t take complete faith that his intentions wouldn’t get me back in the position of being owned. Obligated.

Trapped.

I kept my eyes open as I drove toward my cabin. Once my car struggled over the bumpier road, I lost the ire and frustration that pushed me to hurry to find Roarke.

Roarke is not David.

He’s not the same.

I shook my head when I parked and got out of my car. I wasn’t sure when that mantra would actually stick, but now wasn’t the time to focus on any man in my life. Feeling guilty for taking off, I sat down in the comfy armchair, pulled out my laptop, and got to work on the few essential things that needed to be completed for this day’s worth of work.

With those tasks finished, a restlessness filled me.

Cleaning and tidying my cabin didn’t preoccupy my mind. No matter what I did and how busy I kept my hands, I kept replaying the memory of all that Roarke had said and done.

Texting Fergus and Nance like we usually did in a group thread didn’t distract me either. I was lost in there anyway, not following what the heck they were joking about with someone in the Star Wars universe of knowledge.

After a long shower and light dinner, I felt like I was a caged animal, pacing in a too-small container. I’d been antsy before, but when I stopped and realized that it was Roarke hogging all my thoughts, I had to appreciate how little I’d been obsessing with fear and worry about David.

“You just had to get under my skin,” I muttered as I grabbed my phone and keys, needing to move and get some fresh air. I couldn’t stay cooped up in this cabin for a long night, being home earlier than usual. And I couldn’t stay cooped up with my conflicting and increasingly confusing thoughts, either.

“You just had to get into my head,” I mumbled as I stepped outside, planning to do a little walk outside. Setting foot out here was a risky move. Being in the open made me feel vulnerable, like David could just pop up, tuck me over his shoulder, and carry me away.

He couldn’t. Not like that. I’d fight and scream, for one thing.

He’d need a car to abduct me, and I saw no sign of any parked nearby.

It was just the crisp, cool, clean air greeting me out here.

And you.

I narrowed my eyes at Roarke walking through the thin woods than blocked a direct view of his cabin from mine. Dressed in jeans and a light jacket, his hands in his pockets, he seemed to be out on a simple walk. Just like I was.

I sighed, wondering that he could’ve been hung up on me all evening since realizing I’d overheard him talking to Todd.

Instead of being confrontational, instead of rushing back into my cabin, I gave in to this stupid pull to approach him.

Without a word, as if we both understood we were drawn to the other, we walked over the leaves and crunched them with twigs.

I met him in the middle, and as he stopped and opened his mouth, I held up my hand.

“Why?”

He whooshed out a long breath. “Why what?”

I shook my head, stepping up close to him and narrowing my eyes at the swelling on his cheek. “Why’d you fight him?”

“Because I didn’t like his attitude.”

I huffed, fighting not to smile. “That’s no excuse.”

“Do I need an excuse?” he challenged.

Needing to move, and feeling far too exposed with his warm gaze on me, I walked slowly, further from my cabin. It wasn’t a conscious plan to go toward his place, but it was easier to stick to the path.

“My reason was to defend myself. In case it matters, he punched me first.”

“Oh. And I’m sure you weren’t aggravating him.”

“Of course not. I was merely...talking to him.”

I shook my head, hating how good and comforting it felt to have him walking alongside me. “I would prefer it if you didn’t make this a big deal.”

“If I didn’t make what a big deal?” he asked.

“David being here. His attitude.”

He shook his head, giving me a stronger whiff of his spicy yet clean soapy smell. The damp hair on his head told me he had just showered, and stupidly, I wished I could see him like that. Bare and wet. It should’ve frightened me how quickly my mind shut up and desire took over around him, but I was sick of trying to resist it.

“I’m not ‘making a big deal’ out of anything, Heather. If he came in here harassing anyone, for what seemed to be no righteous reason, I would stand up for them.”

“You always root for the underdog?” I challenged.

“Are you the underdog?”

“Stop changing the topic.”

“I’m not.”

I glanced up at him, noting his stern and serious expression.

“You told me to back off. To butt out. I am trying to. I can see you’ve got baggage. That you’re skittish and want your independence. Fine. You do you. But I’m not the kind of innocent bystander who can step back when someone is being bothered.” He cleared his throat. “If I can help out anyone in a time of stress, I damn well will try.”

It was admirable, that he could be that chivalrous. That he possessed such a deep sense of a hero complex, but I’d been burned by David pretending to have the same trait and it wouldn’t be a simple case of me lowering my guard again.

But Roarke is not David.

At this rate, I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to believe that and know it wasn’t just lust coaxing me to give him a chance.

“All right. You do you,” I parroted, throwing his words back at him. “But I do not appreciate you talking to our landlord and trying to sneak in security measures. Or having conversations about me and my residence here.”

“You cannot be this na?ve, gorgeous. You cannot.”

“I’m not na?ve,” I argued, despising how much I enjoyed the thrill of butting heads with him again.

“Then what’s your plan? Huh?”

I shrugged. “I don’t need to change my plan. It’s the same as it was before he showed up in Burton. All I want to do is keep to myself and mind my own business.”

“And you think that’ll work.”

I swallowed hard, not liking how brutal he was like this. But then again, it was smart to be challenged. It has to work. “I think he’ll move on sooner or later.”

“Why are you protecting him?”

I stopped short, glaring at him as we stood near his cabin. It slipped my mind how far we’d walked, just talking.

“Why are you protecting him?” he repeated. He shoved his hands back into his pockets. The somber expression on his lean face didn’t suggest that he’d let me off the hook without an answer to this direct question.

I didn’t owe him a reply. It was my business, not his.

Yet, I hated the idea that he could think that. That he could seriously, for one second, think that I actually wanted to watch out for David.

“I’m not,” I said.

“You’re not protecting him,” he said. It should’ve sounded like another question, but the echo was more of a confirmation of what I said.

“And you’ve convinced yourself that fighting back won’t work.”

I shook my head. No. No way in hell would fighting David end well. He had too many loopholes. He had too many connections, seemingly everywhere, to never get in trouble.

“You mean to tell me that you think that asshole would really give up and just let you go?”

I stared at him, wishing I could tell him that I did.

Deep down, though, in that fearful nugget of honesty in my soul, I felt certain that was a dream. A fantasy. Something that would never, ever happen.

“Do you think he’ll ever retreat and give up?” he asked, calmly and quietly as he stepped closer to me.

No.

But admitting that would seem too much like I was giving up.

If I couldn’t run and hide forever, what other option was there?