Passion in Bloom (Hometown Heartstrings #2)

Chapter 19

Heather

A t work the next morning , I almost forgot that I was supposed to be scared and on edge. Sleeping with Roarke made me calm. I woke up refreshed, actually resting through the night. I didn’t know what kind of dark magic it was that this man’s hard, hot body could act like a security blanket I needed, but it had. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d rested so thoroughly. It seemed he’d gotten up well too, smiling and turning me on with that sleepy voice again.

I bit back a little smile at the soreness between my legs as I walked into the bank’s rear entrance door. It’d been a while since I had sex. And I’d never taken a man as rugged and well-endowed as Roarke.

It was a good reminder, though, and as I switched my work bag to my other hand to type in the employee code on the panel at the second door to get to the office space, I smiled.

I want it again.

The concept of expecting something with him wasn’t right. Not with my supreme need for independence. But we fit so damn well. There was no keeping score or tabs. No obligations or favors or expectations. Just natural attraction that we were both terrible at resisting for long.

“Well, someone looks like they got up on the right side of the bed this morning,” Janelle said in greeting from the breakroom door. She grinned, nursing her coffee.

Or I look like someone who got fucked all over the bed this morning.

I cleared my throat, hoping I wouldn’t blush at the memory when Roarke used up the last condom he had.

“Morning,” I replied instead.

“It looks like letting you work at home was the change in your routine that you needed.”

I nodded. Or...caving to this lust for Roarke Canton is what I needed. “I appreciate your flexibility, Janelle.”

“Oh, no worries.” She dismissed me with a wave but wasn’t done talking yet. “In fact, I have something else to run by you that might make you smile even more.”

“What’s that?” A raise? It was way too soon to count on that.

“A manager at another branch was asking around for someone to fill a supervisor role. It’d be at a new bank in Wisconsin Dells, but I might have hinted at you being a possibility.”

I set my laptop bag on a table. “Wow. Really?”

I felt good that she’d think of me. Knowing my boss had high opinions of me was a form of praise I never had in Chicago. Since I’d worked in the legal firm where David was employed, everything was biased. Praise, discipline, reports, and rumors. They were all touched by his control and skewed to distort what really happened. That man hadn’t only tried to take over my personal life as my boyfriend, but as someone at work too.

“Yes. You’ve impressed me from day one, Heather. You’re one of those young go-getters who will never let the boss down.” She laughed lightly. “I can just tell.”

“Thank you.” It could’ve sounded like flattery, but she didn’t have any ulterior motives with me. She was honest.

“What would you think about that?” She held up her hand before I could answer. “I know you’ve only just started here, but I truly think you’d do well with more responsibilities. You have room to grow, to be challenged. I think you’d appreciate moving up.”

“I do like my job here,” I said.

She nodded. “But it’s still below your qualifications. I’ll admit that I thought of you because it would be a relocation. Given what you, um, said about your past, it seemed like maybe it wouldn’t be hard to leave Burton again. To get that new start—again.” She smiled widely. “I would hate to see you go, but I would love for you to go after your dreams.”

And being in Burton had been the opposite of my dreams for so long. When I was younger, I convinced myself that staying in this small town would be equivalent to letting my dreams die.

That escapism that I sought before wasn’t the same though. Now that I’d been here for almost two months, and now that I was seeing that old, rickety cabin as home , my first instinct wasn’t to think about rushing out of town and starting over somewhere else again.

The idea of moving and starting over in another place almost seemed...daunting, not exciting.

I’d never imagined staying here. To be stuck in this town around people who’d formed such a crappy opinion of me without any cause.

After last night though, I couldn’t be honest with myself and think that way anymore.

Lying with Roarke and talking about the future adjusted my perspective. I didn’t tell him much about my past. I hinted at vague things that he’d likely already heard from others in town, the details about my childhood and family. I did not even consider mentioning facts about David. My ex was a part of my past that I never wanted to think about again.

Talking, even loosely, about the future was interesting. When he scrolled and looked at properties to rent or buy around here, I knew he did so because his cabin was toast. He had to find somewhere to live. Envisioning him settling in Burton for good, with a mortgage to tie him to this area, got me to thinking that it wouldn’t be that terrible if I did the same.

If I tried to stay. If I eked it out and gave Eric’s theories a chance—that people in town wouldn’t judge me forever based on what they saw and experienced when my parents were alive.

Am I too stubborn to want to leave again?

Am I clinging to a fantasy that life has to be better elsewhere because it wasn’t so great here?

On that train of thought, I was hard-pressed to admit that life was bad here. Last night was fun and amazing, full of sex, cuddles, and vaguely talking about the future with Roarke.

It hasn’t been that bad staying here...

Except for David.

Him showing up in town was the dark mark on my life.

Another job somewhere else would be a means to get away from him again.

But I couldn’t tell if that would last. I didn’t want to stay on the run forever. I wasn’t sold on the concept of putting roots down, but I didn’t look forward to being adrift.

Maybe I’m wrong about waiting him out. My “plan” to not engage with David and ignore him might not work after all. He was still here, as far as I knew, plotting and watching.

What’s to say he wouldn’t move to another place and follow me and stalk me again?

I rubbed my face, tired of all these thoughts and worries. Too many questions to field this early. The glow of last night with Roarke slipped away from me, and I sighed heavily as I headed to my desk, granted an easy out of replying to what Janelle told me. She’d gotten a call and hustled to her office, calling out over her shoulder that we could talk more about this job idea later.

Before I could get going on work, Nance popped up at my door. She knocked a couple of times, but that was pointless since I already saw her smiling at me.

“Hey,” she greeted. “I couldn’t help but overhear all that.”

I nodded. “Wisconsin Dells,” I confirmed. “That’s a surprise.”

“It’d be a heck of a move.”

“Yeah. But maybe it’s one I should make.”

She surprised me with how adamantly she shook her head. “No. No, girl, no.” After furrowing her brow, as if searching for the words she wanted to use, she smiled again. “If you want my unsolicited advice, I say you stay.”

I smiled slightly, touched that she’d want me to be here. We’d become fast friends, and I valued that connection.

“You are welcome here, Heather. I see it. I know it. You shouldn’t have to feel otherwise just because some old-timers were too quick to judge years and years ago.”

“I know.” Or I was trying to open my eyes and mind to that notion. I couldn’t properly guess or gauge how people in town felt about me because I didn’t go out. Other than at the food mart, where I saw Ashley, I didn’t know how people were changing their views of me. I made it a mission to mind my own business and keep to myself, and that was what I did. It didn’t give me many opportunities to see how people perceived me.

“I’ll think about it,” I told Nance, not in any position to commit to any sort of strong answer.

She seemed satisfied with that and left me to work, but not before saying we’d chat more at lunch.

Janelle was done with her call sooner than I thought she might be. I stalled before getting busy, making a coffee for myself in the breakroom and saying hi to Fergus. I’d just sat in my chair again when Janelle stepped into my office.

“I forgot to ask about the project. The toy drive and charity donations?”

I nodded. “Yep. It’s going.” She wasn’t a micromanager, but the officials in charge of the effort in the county offices seemed to be epic micromanagers. “I have the drive documentation on here,” I said, patting my laptop I had yet to pull out of the bag I’d taken home yesterday. “I’m collecting it all and getting it ready for the due date you gave me.”

She exhaled with exaggerated relief. “Good. Good. Thank you. They have been nagging me daily about it, as if we’d forget.” She rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure they have to follow up with lots of towns,” I said. “I’ll make my rounds again today since I paused yesterday. It’s all here.” I slipped my laptop out of the bag now, ready to open it and show her.

“Oh, no. No need to show me now.” She waved her hand at me as if she was putting out a fire. “I saw the files updated on the shared drive. I know it’s there. I merely wanted to check in with you about it so I can mentally cross that off my to-do list.”

“Got it.” I saluted her. “It’s all going well,” I told her.

It was funny how I almost could have said that about my life.

That all was going well with me. Having a sexy, strong man shouldn’t have made me consider a one-eighty on staying in town, but it wasn’t just the orgasms we shared. It, somehow, wasn’t just sex between us.

I didn’t know what to call it or how to define us. I didn’t want to label or define us at all, but I couldn’t deny that I wasn’t eager to leave.

Him.

This job.

Or this town.