Chapter 13
A warm body nestled against Dax’s chest, and he wrapped his arm around soft curves. Fatigue kept his eyelids shut, but he couldn’t argue with waking up slowly in bed with a beautiful woman. Even if being a gentleman all night was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
But morning had dawned, and he could indulge in bed for a few minutes with Vanessa in his arms.
Moist breath hit his face seconds before a wet tongue slid across his cheek.
“What the hell?” He reared his head back and found big brown eyes staring back at him.
Frankie whimpered then lunged forward, landing another good-morning kiss before hopping out of the bed and barking.
Dax groaned and wiped the puppy slobber off his face. “Dude, not cool.”
Frankie responded with another bark then trotted into the hallway.
Stretching into a sitting position, disappointment pressed down on Dax’s lungs to find the room empty. Alarm moved him out of bed. He grabbed his clothes and hurried to dress. He’d slept so well beside Vanessa, he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her while he’d slept.
He pounded down the steps and followed the sounds of sizzling bacon.
His heart rate slowed along with his pace.
He spotted Vanessa in front of the stove with her long black hair tied on the top of her head.
She still wore the same clothes as the night before.
Her feet were bare as she swayed along with the notes of classic rock coming from her phone.
A part of him didn’t want to interrupt her.
He could stand there all day and watch her move along with the music.
But the magnetic force that had existed since the moment he’d met her drew him across the room.
He stopped short of pulling her against him and nuzzling her neck.
They might have spent the night together, but he hadn’t earned that type of intimacy with her.
Not yet anyway.
He laid a gentle hand at the small of her back and kissed her cheek. “Good morning.”
She turned around, a smile wide on her face. “You ruined my plan. I wanted to bring breakfast up to you as a thank-you.”
“You can thank your dog for that,” he said, resting his hands on her hips. “I woke to a faceful of Frankie tongue. Not exactly what I was expecting.”
Giggling, she wrinkled her nose. “Been there. Not a good way to start your day.” Raising on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his. “Better?”
“Not sure. Maybe we need to try it again.”
Rolling her eyes, she obliged, circling her arms around his neck.
He held her closer. Heat ignited in his core as his hands skimmed down her back toward her bottom.
The doorbell blasted into the room, and he groaned. “Can’t catch a break.”
She smoothed her palms on his chest and frowned. “Autumn’s stopping by today, but she won’t be here for at least another hour.”
“Any chance she decided to come earlier?”
Vanessa shrugged. “Maybe, but I bet she’d call or text to let me know.”
“I’ll grab the door, you watch the bacon.” Dragging himself away from her, Dax walked to the front of the house. A quick peek out the window had his irritation growing at being torn away from Vanessa.
He opened the door to Ben Besler, his coworker at Sunrise Security and a Marine who’d served with his brother and Reid overseas. Madden and Reid Sommers had left the service with their fair share of scars—both mentally and physically—but war had taken a bigger toll on Ben.
For reasons Dax didn’t know or understand.
“Morning,” Dax said. “What brings you out here?”
Ben twisted the bill of his baseball cap and grunted. “Madden gave me measurements for the window that was busted last night. I got my hands on a replacement. More rain’s coming and this temporary fix won’t hold—not to mention it isn’t safe. I can install it if she wants.”
Appreciation beat back the annoyance at the interruption. He swept his hand inside, allowing Ben to step past him and into the house. “Go ahead and ask her, but I’m sure she’d be thrilled.”
As he followed Ben, he called out, “Vanessa, you got a visitor,” not wanting her to be alarmed by seeing a man she didn’t know preceding him into the kitchen.
Vanessa scooped bacon onto a plate then set it on the counter before wiping her hands on a dish towel. Curiosity widened her eyes, but she kept a pleasant smile on her face. “Hello,” she said then glanced at Dax.
“This is Ben,” Dax said. “We work together. He brought you a new window, if you’re interested.”
Her mouth fell open. “Are you serious? That’s amazing.” She closed the gap between her and Ben and squeezed him in a big hug.
Ben stiffened, his discomfort palpable. “No big deal. I just ordered new ones for my place. If Dax can give me a hand, we can install it pretty quick.”
Dax spotted the time from a clock on the wall and winced. “I have to tend the horses at my place. Can you wait a little bit?”
“Would rather not.” Ben worked his jaw back and forth.
Dax resisted the urge to argue. Ben wasn’t a bad guy; he just happened to be as prickly as a damn cactus.
“Besides,” Ben continued, “Madden said he’d handle your chores. He figured you’d rather stay here than tend the horses.”
Okay, so Madden might be right, but that didn’t mean Dax wanted his decisions made for him, but he wouldn’t drag Ben or Vanessa into that drama.
“Fine, but I’m eating this bacon and drinking some coffee first. Wait,” Dax said, directing his attention to Vanessa.
“You do have coffee, don’t you?” He’d taken Vanessa to the grocery store the day before, but she’d only picked up a handful of items. He hadn’t planned on staying the night with her, so hadn’t paid attention to whether she’d have any caffeine at her place.
“Yeah, I just need to find the coffeepot.” The horror etched on her face mirrored his thoughts. “Oh God, what if Grandpa doesn’t have one? I didn’t even think of that. Mine’s in a box somewhere, but that could take forever to find.”
Ben grumbled something under his breath and turned and walked out of the room.
“Is he all right?” Vanessa asked.
“He’s really into his coffee,” Dax said, struggling to keep a straight face.
Laughing, she playfully slapped his chest. “I doubt that. But seriously, he seems upset. He doesn’t need to help with the window if he doesn’t want to.”
Dax trapped her hand with his, keeping it in place on his pec.
“He’s a good guy. He wouldn’t have showed up first thing in the morning if he didn’t want to help.
I don’t know the details of what he survived while serving in the Marine Corps with my brother, but I know it was rough.
He’s still trying to figure his stuff out—he just doesn’t hide it like the rest of us. ”
The side of her mouth trailed down. “That’s admirable.”
“What is?”
“Not pretending to have everything together.” She lifted one slender shoulder. “I like that better than someone who puts on a happy face to make everyone else more comfortable.”
He tossed her words around. “I never thought of it that way.”
She kissed the tip of his nose. “You’re not the only one who has some wisdom. Now help me find the coffeepot.”
He snatched a piece of bacon from the plate then helped her rummage through the cabinets. Something in his soul settled, calmed in a way he’d never experienced. Starting his day with a beautiful woman and falling into step with simple domestic tasks just felt right.
And he hoped he’d have more mornings like this to come.
* * *
The sound of the guys installing the new window floated upstairs while Vanessa and Autumn sat on the floor in her mother’s old bedroom. Vanessa stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned against the bed while Autumn poked inside one of the boxes they’d pulled out of the closet.
Frankie slept on the bed, soft snores competing with the banging downstairs.
“This is wild,” Autumn said, pulling out a framed photo. She stared down at it for a second then flashed the front toward Vanessa. “This is my dad and your mom as kids.”
Vanessa took the metal frame and grinned down at the children playing on the banks of a river. “Every single photo I’ve seen of the two of them broadcasts happiness. How had things changed so drastically?”
Autumn screwed her lips to the side. “I wish I knew. I learned at a young age not to ask questions. They made Dad mad, Grandpa sad and Mom nervous.”
“So, nobody ever talked about my mom? Never shared memories? Never wondered about me?” Vanessa hated how small her voice sounded, but it broke her heart to think that as soon as her mom had left town, she’d been scrubbed clean from everyone’s lives.
Not to mention that Vanessa didn’t appear to be a blip on anyone’s radar, even as she’d sat in Chicago and wished to know the family she’d never met.
Frowning, Autumn shook her head. “Sorry. I know that must be hurtful. I always wanted to know my aunt, to meet you. The only time I heard my dad speak about your mom, I overhead a fight with Grandpa. I’d been outside and when I came in, they were yelling.”
“About what?”
Autumn scrunched her nose and looked away. “I’m not sure you want to know.”
“Tell me,” Vanessa said, bracing herself. “Please.”
Autumn sighed. “It was about a year ago. Gramps told my dad your mom was dying and that you needed us—you needed family. Dad said you were the reason this family fell apart. That your mom brought shame on the Kemp name because she wouldn’t listen to reason.
She was ungrateful and selfish, and running away was the best decision she’d ever made. ”
Anger fisted Vanessa’s hands in her lap. Sensing her turmoil, Frankie leapt onto the floor and cuddled beside her. She ran her palm over his silky fur until her heart rate slowed, sadness flooding in to smother the anger.
“I don’t understand,” Vanessa said. “It’s not like they grew up in the 1920s when getting pregnant while unmarried was the end of the world.
And why would her brother be so much more upset than her own father?
Grandpa and I started writing letters when I was a teenager.
He was so happy I reached out. He didn’t see me as this stain on the family name, why would my uncle? ”
Autumn shrugged and tucked a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear. “He’s always been a pious prick.”
Vanessa stared down at the photo again. “Doesn’t look like it. At one point, our parents weren’t just siblings. They were friends. Something changed that, and it has to be bigger than my mom getting pregnant.”
“Any idea what else it could be?” Autumn asked.
She debated telling her about the buried shirt and hammer that were taken, along with what she’d found in her mother’s room.
As much as she’d love her cousin’s insight, she didn’t know her well yet.
Trust had to be earned, and at this point someone was sending a clear message that Vanessa wasn’t wanted here.
She needed to hold some cards close to the vest for now.
Standing, Vanessa scooped the picture with the unknown boy from the dresser and passed it to her cousin. “Do you know who that guy is?”
“Yikes,” Autumn said. “I don’t but looks like someone didn’t like him.”
“But look at my mom’s smile,” Vanessa said. “And your dad is happy, too. I can’t help but think this guy might know something. Any chance your dad would tell you who it is?”
Autumn snorted. “Yeah, right. He’d flip if he knew I was here.
If I come home asking questions about his past with your mom, the bulging vein on his neck will explode.
But wait—” She dipped back into a box and pulled out a yearbook.
“Did you look for him in here? Might be hard to figure out his identity, but we could narrow it down.”
“I looked at it a little bit, but mostly to see pictures of my mom. There’s no harm in trying again.”
“Good. I love seeing all the old clothes and hairstyles. My parents should be in here, too.”
Vanessa plopped down on the ground beside Autumn and they poured over the pages. They giggled over the fashion choices and Autumn explained silly traditions that she’d participated in high school as well.
“And you graduated three years ago?” Vanessa asked.
Autumn nodded. “Yeah. I wanted to go off to a big college and really get that experience, but my parents wanted me to stay closer to town.”
A pang of sympathy echoed inside Vanessa. She’d had dreams that had been put on hold because of her parent as well. She just hoped Autumn was happy with the choices that would affect her life and not her parents’.
“So, are you going to school closer to home?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m taking classes while living with my folks. I’m not sure what I want to do now. My plans have kind of changed a little.” Autumn shifted, her body a bit tense, as if the discussion made her uncomfortable.
Vanessa searched for the right thing to say to bring back the positive energy between them. “I understand that more than anyone. I never thought Cloud Valley, in my grandfather’s house, is where I’d end up. But I’m really excited about where I’m heading.”
Unease skittered across Autumn’s face and she buried her focus in the yearbook.
“What is it?”
“Dad always thought he’d inherit this place.
We talked about how we’d change things, what we’d add, and how to make it a profitable ranch again.
I planned to take classes focusing on agriculture science, but now that doesn’t seem too useful.
I’m just taking business classes for now until I figure out what I really want to do. ”
The admission sat like a heavy rock in the pit of Vanessa’s stomach. She’d been so excited about her new adventure in her new home, she hadn’t stopped to think about what other people lost because of her gain. She searched for words but came up empty.
“Oh look! There’s my mom,” Autumn said, pointing at the page. “She’s with my dad and Ethan. This is when they went on a class trip, senior year. I can’t believe the school’s been making kids go to Typhoon Ranch for so many years.”
Vanessa found the photo and her heart dropped to the shaggy rug. Her aunt, uncle and the man she’d met at the hardware store all grinned at the camera and held up blue shirts with cartoon bulls in the center.
Just like the one she’d found buried in the garden.