Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
BEAU
I wasn’t sure how to talk to Isla. So, I just…didn’t.
She was a conundrum, for sure. One minute she was this demure, quiet, obedient wallflower, the next she was hitting me with biting sarcastic remarks.
After my comment about some secrets needing to stay on the trail, I could tell she was burning with questions, but I didn’t have answers for her. There had been people who had disappeared in Timber Gap. And decades later, they either didn’t want to or had never been found.
It was part of the lore of our tiny town, and I wondered if she knew that and had come digging to write a book, or if she’d just accidentally stumbled onto the one place that would be a wealth of source material if we let her in.
Mom had called several times, once to let me know the woman who’d been scheduled to rent the western cabin had gone missing. Only for me to shock her and confess I knew exactly where Isla Rothschild was.
She was in my bed. She was in my space. She was creeping inside my head with every curious look she shot my way, and I knew deep down if I let her, she’d crawl right inside my very being and refuse to leave, sort of like my wayward charge, Ashe.
I wasn’t sure if I had the mental fortitude to take on another stray, but Isla Rothchild was working her way into my life, whether or not I wanted her there.
For days, she’d been sitting on my couch or my bed when I’d been forced back into the cabin by the intermittent rain that’d stopped my timber clearing efforts, typing away on her tiny laptop, completely absorbed by whatever story had come pouring out of her.
It was fascinating, and having her there didn’t feel like an invasion, but I also wasn’t sure how to break this loaded silence between us.
Part of me was afraid of what might happen if I did.
Because while she’d looked terrifying during our initial meeting with her wild brown hair a chaotic disaster, once she’d cleaned up, she was fucking stunning.
If I’d met her anywhere else, I’d probably have been intimidated enough not to approach her. But since she still couldn’t put weight down on her ankle, she wasn’t going anywhere.
My truck was parked three miles away at a trailhead, and while I’d carried her and her heavy as fuck pack the mile back to the cabin when she’d been hurt, I couldn’t carry both three miles without hurting one or both of us. Especially since it’d been almost constantly raining for days.
“Are you ever going to talk to me?” she asked from her perch on the couch, a blanket tucked around her lap with her injured ankle propped up and wrapped with the Ace bandage I’d found in my first aid kit. It hadn’t seemed broken, but it was still swollen and angry looking. Every time I saw it, it made me feel terribly guilty that Ashe had unintentionally hurt her by trying to steal a fucking peanut butter granola bar.
Shrugging, I turned back to the parts of my chainsaw laid out across the kitchen table. I’d had to disassemble the chain from the blade and oil it to keep it from rusting, but I was using it as a distraction to avoid talking to her.
“Not much to say.”
“Me man,” she mocked, throwing her voice into a low octave. “Me play with power tools and only communicate in grunts.”
I wanted to laugh at her impression of me, but she wasn’t wrong. I just wasn’t sure how to navigate the fact she was here to pry into my community and uncover secrets people had buried for a reason.
“Do you want me to leave?”
“Not sure how you’re going to manage that.” She could barely hop herself to the bathroom without wincing. There was no way she was getting out of here on foot, and it’s not like she could crawl three miles to the nearest vehicle. Although now I had images in my head of her crawling in an entirely different context that I needed to shut the fuck down before I embarrassed one or both of us.
“I’m sure I could figure it out. You clearly don’t want me here, and I have a book to write.”
Nodding toward her laptop, which had been glued to her since the morning after I brought her back here. The same morning I’d woken up wrapped around her like it was the most normal thing in the world with a raging hard on, I’d been mentally chastising myself about days later.
“Don’t seem to have an issue so far.”
She nodded, almost looking shy. “I’m not sure what happened. Maybe that knock to the head helped break something free, but the words started flowing again. Something about this place has unlocked what I’ve been trying to get to for months.”
While I’d never written a fictional story in my life, I had my fair share of moments when I wasn’t sure how to move forward with my life, and sometimes the fear of the unknown was almost crippling.
“I almost don’t want to leave, but…”
She wouldn’t look at me when her voice trailed off, and for some reason, I found myself echoing her statement. I didn’t want her to leave either. I didn’t know why, but I knew it was true.
“So, don’t,” I replied, glancing to the side and watching the low flames in the fireplace dance.
“But you don’t want me here.” Her voice was a whisper, and maybe it was time I disabused this idea she had that I didn’t want her in my space.
Because whether or not she’d been invited, Isla had wormed her way into my life, and I didn’t want her to leave. I’d never believed in instantaneous mutual attraction. I’d thought my parents were crazy when they’d told the story of how they met, not far from where Isla had come crashing into my life. But as I looked at her, I watched the uncertainty flicker across her face in the dim firelight and found myself taking a seat on the cushion beside her, pulling the laptop off her legs. I knew deep down inside of me it’d leave me reeling when she left.
“That’s not true,” I murmured, giving into the urge to touch her, brushing a few strands of hair off her cheek, and enjoying the way her eyes widened as I tucked them behind her ear. “I’m not sure how this all happened, but I’m pretty sure you’re meant to be here.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, turning her head to rest against my palm while my thumb traced the soft skin on her cheek.
“I’m saying don’t leave. Stay. Finish your book.”
Her dark brown eyes studied my face, her breath catching as she nodded. The tip of her pink tongue peeked between her lips, tracing the inside of her bottom lip. “Are you sure?”
Nodding, I slipped my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward, tracing my lips along the side of her cheek. “Stay.” The word was whispered into her skin, and I almost let myself give in to the urge to kiss her, even if it was reckless.
But of course, Ashe had to ruin the moment. We pulled apart as we heard the thump of him knocking over the glass of water she’d had on the coffee table.
“Hey!” Isla shouted as we watched in horror, the liquid splashing against the side of her laptop.
“Fuck,” I groaned, reaching forward to save it and tucking it under my arm before I lunged at Ashe, catching him by the scruff of his neck. “You’re going outside, you little asshole.”
He didn’t even fight me, going limp in my hold as I pulled open the front door and deposited him on the porch. His brown eyes were sad as I closed the door in his face, and we both knew that he could open the door if he’d have wanted to, but I think even he realized he’d fucked up this time.
Isla watched me from the couch with worried eyes as I tossed a bag of rice onto my kitchen table and dug around in the cabinet for a plastic container big enough to pour it in. After I’d arranged a makeshift drying tub and gently nestled her laptop into it, I lifted my eyes to meet hers, a grin pulling at the corner of my lips.
“Now I guess you have to stay.”
“Guess so,” she shrugged half-heartedly, looking equally upset as I was at our predicament. Which was not very much at all.
Whether either of us was prepared for what was to come, Isla Rothschild was here to stay.
At least until she found what she was looking for.