Chapter Ten #2
The guys got to their feet and dragged the troublemaker off the deck while his friend paid the bill. He left Faith a huge tip and, with one last apology, left in a hurry.
“You okay?” Gus asked, angling his head to the side as he looked down at her.
“I’m good.” She moistened her dry lips and pointed to the bar. “I need to cash out so . . .”
“I’ll be waiting at the bar.”
“Waiting?” she asked softly. The air was heavy. It was hot and electric, and her pulse raced, making it hard to breathe. She barely knew this man past a few conversations and a kiss. Faith dropped her eyes and slowly exhaled. But what a kiss. He’d made her feel things she’d only read about.
“To take you home.”
“And that’s my cue.” Walker finished his drink and patted Gus on the back. “I’ll see you on Monday. Tomorrow I’m headed back to DC for a few days. I’ll check in at the . . . um, homestead and get back to you about the . . . thing we talked about.” He winked at Faith and left.
“He’s weird.”
“Can’t disagree,” Gus replied lightly.
“I’ll just . . .” She pointed to the back and made a quick exit, then headed straight for the office. It didn’t take long to cash out, and less than fifteen minutes later, she was sitting in Gus’s truck, her bike stored in the back.
“Is Taco good for a bit?” he asked, maneuvering out of his spot.
“He should be. Candy has him.”
“Good.” They left the parking lot, but instead of making a right toward town, he hung a left.
“Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer, but the look in his eyes heated her blood, and goosebumps spread across her skin.
The air was thick and muggy, yet she shivered and sank back into the seat.
Faith undid the knot on top of her head and shook out her hair, then rotated her neck to ease the tension that simmered beneath her skin.
Her muscles were tight. She was on edge, and yet . . .
Her blood thrummed with anticipation.
“Long day?” Gus turned onto a road that was barely visible from the main one. It was nothing more than a dirt path that wove itself between a stand of pine and fir. The sun had begun its descent, and bright orange and red light glowed above the treetops.
She nodded. “Yes, but I’m off until Sunday. Where are we?”
He glanced her way, but she kept her eyes trained ahead. “Someplace special. Trust me.”
Gus drove for a few more minutes, and eventually, the trees began to thin.
Faith leaned forward and spied water shimmering through their shadows.
He pulled up into a clearing and cut the engine.
She spied a small baby-blue cottage that was missing windows and a porch, as well as a dock that jutted out onto the water.
Beyond that, the entire lake glistened beneath the waning light, the surface smooth like glass.
“Come on,” Gus said.
She slid from the truck and waited for him to retrieve a basket from the back and then followed him out to the dock.
“You must be hungry,” Gus said.
For you.
She cleared her throat and nodded, feeling a pang of something in her stomach. She was pretty sure it had nothing to do with hunger and everything to do with her nerves. They were stretched thin, like a rubber band about to snap.
Faith took off her sneakers and grabbed a blanket from Gus. She spread it out and got comfortable while Gus unpacked the basket. He offered Faith a cold beer, and she leaned back while he got busy with the food. Chicken wings. Fries. Deep fried mushrooms, and, she smiled, wonton nachos.
“I love these,” she murmured, reaching for a plate and loading it up with the nachos.
“I know.”
“How?”
“I’ve seen you order them at The Dock.”
A slow, lazy smile played across his face as he filled up his plate and settled back. “So,” she said, turning her head to the side. “Where are we exactly? I know this is Fire Lake, but I’ve never been down this far.”
He pointed to the left at a structure on top of the treeline.
It was hard to make out in the gathering dusk, but it looked to be at least fifty feet in the air.
“That’s an old fire tower at the edge of the Boone estate.
They don’t use them anymore since it’s a lot easier to look for fire from the air. ”
“Do they have a lot of forest fires around here?”
“When the conditions are right. Drought. Wind. That sort of thing.”
“Human negligence?”
“That too.”
“Are we trespassing?” She sat a little straighter and glanced around. They were secluded, and though she spied lights twinkling around the lake, she couldn’t see anything else.
“The Boone house is down that way around the bend so you can’t see it from here.” He took a pull from his beer. “We’re good. I don’t think the old man will mind anyway.”
“Is this one of the cottages you’re working on?”
He nodded.
“What’s he like?”
Gus turned to her, and damned if her stomach didn’t turn over.
“Porter?” He shrugged. “Not what I expected.”
“I’ve heard he’s sick.”
“Cancer.”
Faith hated the word. She stared across the lake and thought about another time and place.
About a woman who helped to raise her. A woman who’d lost the battle when Faith was fifteen.
Wanda had meant the world to Faith, and it had taken a long time to come to terms with her death.
Wanda had been more of a mother to Faith, than the one who’d birthed her.
Her mother. Guilt and hurt and blame clogged her throat, and Faith stared across the lake, eyes on a boat skimming the surface as it crossed in the distance.
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” she said softly. “Us, here, together. On a day that is normally meant for family and barbecues and fireworks.”
“I can’t offer up a family but we’re having a picnic on the water and in about thirty minutes you’re going to have a front row seat to the best fireworks display in the area.” Gus pointed straight ahead over the lake. “There’s a floating dock out there and a local family do it up right every year.”
“I heard about that,” she murmured, flicking at the crumbs in her lap. “The Wallers?”
He nodded. “That’s commitment.”
“Are you missing your family?” she asked.
Gus glanced her way, then shrugged and grabbed a fry. “We’re all busy but we keep in touch. What about you?” He looked at her. “Where are your people from?”
Faith could lie. She could tell him they were gone. Dead. Say that they didn’t exist. Or make up some other lie that did the job. But she decided to keep things as close to the truth as possible without giving him the goods.
“West coast.” She paused. “And you?”
A heartbeat passed. “My mother is in California.”
“Your father?”
“Not in the picture.”
“Siblings?”
“Got a couple of them.” He glanced her way. “I figure you as an only child.”
“Why would you say that?” He wasn’t wrong, but shit, how did he know?
“Just a feeling,” he replied with a grin.
“What’s your last name?” Faith asked the question before she had the time to think about it or stop it. Her cheeks burned because he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t shared that particular piece of information.
Gus looked at her, a bemused expression on his face. “Now we’re getting into it.”
“Are we?”
“Yeah.” He moved closer. “The name is David.”
“Your last name?”
“Yep.”
“Gus David.” She let the name roll off her tongue and frowned. Somehow, it didn’t suit him.
“You never talk about your family.” Gus’s eyes were intense.
Faith kept her voice light and reached for another chicken wing. “There’s not much to tell. My dad died when I was four and my mother remarried when I was eight and you’re right. I’m an only child.”
“You’re not close with your parents?”
Her heart squeezed, and it took everything Faith had to keep her focus and not give too much away.
Her emotions were sharp edges that cut deep.
She mourned the family she’d never really had, but the betrayal was worse.
It leeched into her heart and soul and fed a slow-burning anger that was always there, lingering beneath the surface.
She was becoming a pro at hiding things. Mom would be proud, she thought bitterly.
“No,” she admitted quietly. “We’re not close.”
Just then, rockets flew into the sky, followed by a series of firecrackers that sizzled and whistled as they flew over the lake.
For the next fifteen minutes, Faith and Gus were treated to the kind of display that must have taken months to plan.
It was flawless. Breathtaking even. When it was over and a smoky haze settled over Fire Lake, she found her body had melted into Gus’s side.
He was warm and strong and felt so damn good she would have stayed there all night if she could have.
“Thank you,” she whispered, afraid to break the spell she’d seemed to have fallen under.
Gus’s mouth was close to her ear. His heat slipped over her body like a glove, and she held back a groan when his breath fell across her skin, leaving a wake of shivers and goosebumps.
“We can stay out here,” he said slowly, “or head back to town.”
God, she wanted to stay with him out here, under the cover of a summer night sky.
“We should probably head back,” she replied after a few seconds. “Candy expected me a few hours ago.”
Gus got to his feet and offered her his hand. Faith stared up at it for a few moments. Then, with her heart in her throat, she placed her hand in his.
She felt as if she were standing above a big ass hole without a safety net. The old Faith would have run, but the new Faith was done with that. If she was to make some kind of life for herself here, she needed to be bold about what she wanted.
And I want him.
But careful too, she cautioned herself as she jumped into his truck. Gus David was only in Fire Lake for the summer, and then he’d be gone. Was she brave enough to get tangled up with a man like him?
Or was he the best kind of distraction? Because as she settled in for the ride back to town, only one thought kept making its way into her brain.
Gus was hiding something as well. She’d watched and listened.
She didn’t know what it was. Didn’t care to know either because it meant that they had a level playing field for whatever this was between them.
Neither one was being completely honest. But more importantly, whatever this was had an expiration date.
And she was good with that. Faith’s heart was still in recovery mode, and she had no plans ever, to put it at risk again.
She was open to something physical and nothing more. And what guy wouldn’t be over the moon about that?