Chapter Nine
Zach pulled up outside Tilly’s house, noting the big black truck that was parked in the driveway. A truck that was dusty and looked like it belonged on a ranch and not in Tilly’s driveway.
Did she have a boyfriend who worked on a ranch?
He didn’t like the way that made him feel. The thought of Tilly with another man wasn’t one that sat well with him. The feeling was irrational, considering he had no claim over her.
Plus, she’d never made any mention of having a boyfriend, and he didn’t think that was something Tilly would keep from him.
Had he made a mistake by turning up unannounced? Maybe, but he’d slept till eleven—something he never did—and they’d lost half a day.
Now here he was twenty minutes later, stomach grumbling because he hadn’t bothered to eat. All he’d been focused on was getting ready and getting to Tilly’s place to find out what they needed to do that day.
He also wanted to know if she’d heard from any of the celebrities she’d contacted.
He suspected that most of them would ignore the email.
Or get some intern to check their inbox because they were too busy to worry about things like fan emails.
He knew that was what his mother did. It was very rare she would even think about acknowledging an unsolicited invite to an event—unless the event would give her the attention she believed she deserved.
Man, could he go one day without thinking of his mom?
It didn’t appear so. He needed to work on that. He’d made the decision to put distance between them. Deep down he wanted to mend the relationship with his mother. She was his only family after all.
Maybe he should call her? Or at least answer one of her calls.
The next time she rang, he’d accept it. Perhaps the distance between them had given her time to realize she’d been in the wrong, and she was calling to make amends.
Highly unlikely, but he could wish. Just not right now.
Now he had more important things to deal with.
Zach knocked on the door, rocking back on his heels as he waited.
Tilly opened the door. “Zach! Did you call or text and I missed it again?”
“No, I didn’t do either. I woke up late and came straight over. Did I catch you at a bad time?” He glanced at the truck in the drive.
“Not at all. My sister Chrissy is visiting, but she’s about to leave.”
“I was? I don’t remember saying I needed to go.”
Zach became aware of the woman standing just behind Tilly. Her hair was a caramel-brown color, darker than Tilly’s blonde locks, but he could see the family resemblance.
Tilly rolled her eyes. “Ignore her. Come in. Do you need something to eat? I can fix you some eggs and toast or something else if you want. Or did you eat something on your way over?”
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
He liked Tilly’s verbal overload. Liked the way she didn’t seem to care if she sprouted words left and right without giving anyone a chance to say something.
Her happiness was infectious, and he wanted to grab it and bottle it up so that when he was dealing with the aftermath of a bad incident, he could open it and have her happiness surround him.
“You don’t have to feed me. You already did that last night.”
Throughout this exchange, Chrissy watched him. Did she recognize him? His mother’s show was syndicated. He knew it showed on one of the local channels here because Tilly had watched it. Yet, on the odd occasions when he’d been out and about, no one had rushed up to him.
“You definitely need something to eat. Come on.” Tilly grabbed his hand, and the resulting sparks of awareness and warmth pulled him back to the present.
Once they were in the kitchen, Chrissy planted herself at the table, looking like she had no intention of leaving. Great, just what he needed—an inquisition from Tilly’s sister. Or was he being unfair to her? Was she just interested in the fact that a man had turned up at her sister’s house?
“You’re new in town, aren’t you?” Chrissy asked as he sat in the chair opposite her.
“Yep, been here a month. I work at the fire station.”
Chrissy nodded. “Right. Do you like Marietta?”
Inquisition it was, then. “What I’ve seen of it so far.”
“What’s your favorite spot?”
“Chrissy!” For the first time since he’d met Tilly, he heard anger in her voice. “Leave him alone. Don’t you have something to do at the farm? Take Ranger for a ride? Kiss Ryder?”
It looked as though Chrissy was going to dig her heels in and stay, but she must have seen something in Tilly’s face because she stood and smiled at him. “Tilly’s right. I have to go. It was good to meet you. If you’re not doing anything for Thanksgiving, you’re more than welcome to join us.”
Zach stood as well. “Thank you for the invite, but I’ll be working. It was good to meet you too.” He held out his hand and Chrissy took it. There was not one iota of reaction from his body at the touch. Unlike the way his body seemed to wake up the moment he and Tilly touched.
“I’ll see you later, Tilly. Remember, if you need any help, if you feel like it’s all too much, all you have to do is ask and I’ll be here.”
“I’ll be fine. Thank you,” Tilly gritted out.
Zach moved to Tilly’s side, putting an arm around her shoulders.
She jolted, and her sister’s eyes widened.
But then Tilly jutted her chin out and relaxed against his side.
She fit against him as though she was made just for him, her head the perfect height to lay on his shoulder.
He wouldn’t mind if she did that. “Tilly is more than capable of pulling this event off. I have complete faith in her and know it’s going to be amazing. ”
Chrissy blinked. “Um, I’m sure it will be. I’ll see myself out. Bye, Tilly-Pilly.”
Tilly didn’t say a word as her sister left the house, and Zach didn’t know how to take it.
“Are you okay?” he asked when the door clicked shut and Tilly still hadn’t said anything.
She ducked out of his hold and put some distance between them, keeping her back to him.
Damn, he’d overstepped. Yet, he had to fight the need to pull her into his embrace.
When she turned, her hazel eyes glistened with tears. “No one has ever done that,” she whispered.
“Done what?” he asked, cautiously taking a step in her direction.
“Believed in me. Believed I could finish something.”
“Of course I believe in you. Why wouldn’t I?”
She shrugged, then lowered her head. “Because I never do. I’ve started so many things over the years.
Learning new things. Jobs. Even planning an event.
Things get too hard, and I give up. I get overwhelmed, and it’s just easier to move on than bring it to fruition.
I can’t let this happen this time, but already I’m scared.
” She looked up, and a tear trickled down her cheek. “What if I can’t do this, Zach?”
“Ahh, my sweet Tulip,” he murmured as he wiped the tear away.
His heart hurt. He discovered he didn’t like seeing her upset.
“You’re not going to fail. You’re going to make this event the best thing Marietta has ever seen.
I believe in you. I believe that you can do this. That you won’t fail this time.”
He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. When hers circled his waist, he relaxed. His eyes drifted shut as he rested his cheek on the top of her hair, their chests rising and lowering in unison.
All thoughts of his mother were forgotten. All that mattered was the woman in his arms.
After countless moments, Tilly leaned back. This time there were no tears in her hazel eyes, only determination. “I’m going to do this. And it’s going to be amazing.”
“There’s my girl.” He brushed his lips across her cheek.
The action was spontaneous, but the moment his mouth touched her soft flesh, he realized his mistake.
Now he craved more. Craved to have her mouth under his.
Craved to forget about all the work they needed to do and spend the afternoon on the couch, making out like teenagers.
He found the strength to step back, to not take possession of her mouth, and it gutted him to see the disappointment flash in her eyes before she straightened her shoulders.
“Right. So let me fix you a sandwich and we can get to work.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed. “Need some help with the sandwiches?”
“I’ve got it. Sit down and let me go get my list, and you can look over it while I fix the food.
We can talk about what needs to be added or what’s on there that you think is unnecessary while we eat.
” As she spoke, she didn’t meet his gaze, and again he kicked himself for not kissing her when he’d had the chance.
“Tulip?” This was the second time he’d used her given name, and he liked saying it. Given she wasn’t about to toss the loaf of bread she had in her hand at him, he figured she didn’t mind it either.
“Yes?”
“For the record, I really want to kiss you, but if we start, I don’t think we’d get anything done.”
“I wouldn’t have minded that,” she said shyly, a blush stealing over her cheeks.
Zach inwardly groaned. It would’ve been far better if she’d yelled at him for being presumptuous.
“You probably shouldn’t have said that,” he admitted.
“I did, though.”
Zach sighed. As much as he didn’t want to have this conversation, he needed to. “You tempt me beyond belief, Tulip Bloom, but my life is complicated, and it’s not fair to bring that into yours.”
“Is it because your mom is Kathryn Lancaster?”
Zach froze.
When had she found out who his mom was?
He didn’t think she’d been playing him, but had he been wrong?
Now that she knew he was interested in her, was this a ploy for him to use his connections to get his mom to come to Marietta?
“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that bad, I promise.
” Tilly touched his arm, grounding him, even though he didn’t want to react to it.
“I searched your name last night and clips of you with your mom showed up. I didn’t see them when I looked at footage from your mom’s show on social media because I was only looking at her latest shows. I’m sorry she did what she did to you.”
“What?” Surely he hadn’t heard correctly.
“She made what you and your crew did in rescuing those campers all about her. She didn’t once think about the survivors, or your team, and most especially, how it all affected you. I saw how, each time she dragged you into the limelight, you were pulling away from her.”
Zach was dumbfounded. Even his crew hadn’t seen the way his mother had twisted it all around. They were great guys, but had become a little awestruck with all the attention. The campers were just grateful that they were still alive, so they probably hadn’t noticed it. “You picked all that up. How?”
“I could see the pain in your eyes. I saw it the first time I came up to you in the parking lot after our dinner at the diner. After I mentioned your mom’s name. It’s also how you spoke about celebrities and their egos.”
There was definitely more to Tilly than people saw and thought about her. He wondered if she played into the flighty persona. Gave in to the expectation that, because everyone expected her to fail, she did.
His secret was out.
“I should’ve told you who my mom was when you mentioned her name.
I’m just trying . . .” What could he say without sounding like an ungrateful son?
He’d had a better home life than most people.
Even when his mom had been out of work before she started working overseas, money hadn’t been much of an issue because she’d been savvy with her investments.
“To have space and to be who you want to be without the pressures of being Kathryn Lancaster’s son. Without being the hero hotshot firefighter who saved the lives of a group of campers. You just want to be firefighter Zach Langley. You just want to do your job.”
Again, her insight was uncanny. “All of that, yes.”
Tilly placed her hand on his chest, and he immediately covered it with his own. “Your secret is safe with me. I’m not going to blab it around to everyone. I’m not going to run to the tabloids and tell them that you’re hiding out here.”
Her gaze hadn’t strayed from his. Her fingers didn’t twitch beneath his.
No tells at all that she was lying and would go back on her word.
“I know you won’t.” Her lips were so close.
He could lean down and taste her. He wanted to, badly.
Instead, he brushed his fingers down her cheek with his free hand.
“There’s so much more to you than most people see, Tilly. Why don’t you show it?”
“I—uh—I guess I don’t get the chance to.”
He wanted to shout at the townspeople for their ignorance and mistreatment of this beautiful woman in front of him. “Then we’ll show them. The whole of Marietta is going to see who you really are.”