Snow is Falling, Cocoa is Calling! (The Coffee Loft Series: Fall Collection)

10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

MARCUS

W hen Marcus woke up the following morning, he found himself tangled in his sheets, one leg hanging over the edge of the bed. He’d slept poorly—which was an understatement.

Weird and crazy dreams all night long. He kept mixing up Caitey with that woman from his past. Why was his subconscious doing that?

Caitey was beautiful and exciting. A little shy . . . No, not shy. She was a bit standoffish. Well, that wasn’t it, either. He was having a tough time defining her.

During the time they’d spent at the Coffee Loft, there was a wariness about her despite him trying to put her at ease. He’d failed when he exposed his presence in the woods by staring at her like a weird stalker. He had to work harder now to earn her trust .

When he spotted Caitey’s pure, innocent beauty, her pale skin and dark hair . . . He’d halted like someone had shocked him with an electric wire. And after gazing at her superb and sexy legs, he’d lost his breath for a moment.

That kind of attraction terrified him, too. He was afraid of losing his heart again to the wrong woman. He hadn’t been in any sort of relationship since Shelley.

Attending weddings was the worst. He was only here at the estate because of Logan. He’d do anything for this family. After all, they were like family to him—more than that since they took him in when his parents had a nasty divorce. While his mother worked full-time and tried to keep the household functioning, Marcus was often on his own.

Mr. and Mrs. Hearst often told him he was like a second son.

A knock came at his door, and he finally rolled over and staggered to his feet.

When he cracked it open, Logan was standing on the threshold wearing running shorts and a sweatshirt. “You ready?” he asked.

Marcus blinked. “Ready for what?”

“Our morning run?” Logan furrowed his brow. “Hey, you okay? Are you sick? Because you look pretty terrible.”

Marcus rubbed his eyes, fighting the magnet of sleep. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro. Just one of those rough nights.” He shrugged while Logan gave him a sympathetic look. “It happens sometimes. ”

“Are you referring to your past life as a Navy SEAL or something else?”

“Can I plead the Fifth?” He paused and gave a sardonic smile. “Or all the above? Let me throw on my shorts, and I’ll meet you by the back door.”

Logan gave a thumbs-up. “I’ll grab my running shoes. See you in the rear gardens. We’ll run the perimeter and check the cameras.”

“Sounds good.”

Marcus burst out from a side door connecting a hallway to the kitchen three minutes later and jogged to the rear gardens. Flowers continued to hang on to their stems, but he noticed that some of the bushes had started to shift into winter hibernation. Petals had begun to drop. This wasn’t warm and mild Arizona, after all.

Good thing the wedding was happening soon, so Jenna would have her colorful garden photographs. Marcus had overheard Maggie say something about the wedding cake being ordered from a local bakery, but Caitey would decorate it with flowers and affix the cake topper.

He’d happened to spy the piece on one of the kitchen counters. A glass-blown heart-shaped arbor with a kissing couple created out of fake diamonds, the bride’s wedding dress sweeping behind her.

A familiar pain tugged at his gut.

He pushed it away. No sense going there. Every time he thought about that, the anger dredges rose, destroying his peace of mind. It was long done. Far in the past. There was no going back and righting the despicable wrong that had been done to him.

“Hey, there you are,” Logan said behind him, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “You’re wandering around like a zombie.”

“Just waiting on you, lazy guy,” Marcus quipped back, attempting a smirk that came out more stilted than smirky.

They began to jog, running up and down the stone pathways of the gardens to warm up, doing a few stretches before breaking into a sprint.

It wasn’t long before they passed a rectangular building that housed multiple vehicles in separate slots and entered the rear woods. Marcus pushed himself harder and harder, breathing in gasps by the time they reached the rear fence line.

“Hey, guy, wait up,” Logan burst out seconds later as he came abreast of Marcus. “What’s up with you? I thought we were running as a team.”

“Sorry,” Marcus apologized, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Got lost in my head and pushed myself to see how fast I could take it.”

“Running from demons?” Logan asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Of course not,” he fibbed. “Just distracted, I guess.”

“Okay, if it’s not your mortal combat nightmares from your time in Afghanistan, then is it a certain young woman you’ve met recently? ”

Marcus played dumb. “I haven’t met any ‘certain young women’ recently.”

Logan laughed and shook his head as their pace slowed to cool down.

Marcus stopped at one of the oaks, pulled out his phone, and checked the video feed to make sure there weren’t any glitches or problems.

“If you say so,” Logan said. “But I’ve seen some very specific glances you’ve given the wedding planner since she got here.”

Marcus gave him a side-eye look. “Making conversation at the dinner table doesn’t mean anything.”

“If you say so. But I don’t recall any conversation between the two of you, just a lot of glances from you.”

Logan appeared to drop the topic of conversation while they spent the next thirty minutes making the rounds of the cameras below the house, then hiking back up the slope to the woods near the entrance gates.

“You see anything on the video feed from the last twenty-four hours? Jenna and I hope we don’t get paparazzi trying to get in. Even though we’re not personally famous, the family name still has a reputation for local interest. Jenna was stopped in town last week by an obnoxious reporter wanting details after he saw the announcement in the paper.”

“That’s too bad. Did it turn into an altercation?” Marcus asked.

Logan shook his head. “No, but she jumped into her car and peeled off—from the grocery store, no less. Who knows how the dude knew she’d be there.”

“Wow, bad timing. The guy was probably just a lucky roving reporter and spotted her. Nothing has turned up on the camera feeds so no worries.”

Of course, he didn’t admit that Caitey Belgrave was on the digital feed. No reason to. But he’d indulged that once. To see her pretty, puzzled face as she searched for any sign of life at the Estate when she had arrived yesterday. Swiveling on her high heels while he admired those fine legs of hers.

But the camera had also caught her shock—and real fear—when she spotted him coming out of the woods. Seeing that had bothered him. He’d been stupid to stare at her like that and make her afraid. He hadn’t meant to. At the time, he didn’t think he was in the open enough for her to actually spot him. He should have called out, but she jumped into her car so fast that it was too late to correct his stupidity.

Until he’d found her at the Coffee Loft. The question was, had those thirty minutes at the coffee shop helped her opinion of him, or hindered it?

She was hard to read. Reserved, cautious. Those described her well, but Marcus didn’t blame her. He probably did look like a stalker.

“True,” Logan agreed thoughtfully. “So, if you’re not having Middle East war flashbacks and you’re not checking out Miss Caitey Belgrave, what is on your mind? I’ve known you for too long.”

Marcus let out a belly laugh. “No sense going there. The past is the past, and that’s where I want it to stay. I don’t even think about it any longer.”

Of course, he was lying, but he certainly wasn’t going to do or say anything to spoil Logan and Jenna’s picture-perfect wedding.

Marcus was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed Logan had stopped and was staring up at the sky. The air was quiet and still, hazy clouds shadowing the sun. Not even a sparrow swooped across the garden pond.

“Maybe it’s because I’m sweating after the run, but does it feel like the temperature suddenly dropped?” his friend asked.

Marcus snapped out of his reverie and stared at the sky. “Yeah, I think you’re right. It’s getting cooler, but the days are shortening. It’s November, after all.”

Logan shrugged. “I checked the weather for Jenna, and it’s supposed to stay clear for another few days. At least until after the wedding, and we’re long gone to our honeymoon.”

“Where is that anticipated event taking place?” Marcus ribbed him.

“I booked us a suite on a private island in the Caribbean. Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Not telling where,” he added with a sly grin. “No phones, no internet. Just sand, sun, catered meals brought in by boat, and Jenna in a bikini for an entire week.”

Marcus wanted to groan. He was incredibly happy for Logan and Jenna, but this entire wedding week reminded him of his own loss—the week from Hades four years ago.

He pushed aside the sudden flare of anger and grief, and his thoughts immediately turned to Caitey while he tried to imagine her in a bikini on a secluded beach with a cabana of their own.

Okay, enough of that. Time to take a cold shower.