Two
Ifinish my shift, convince Daddy that a trip to see Kase is the only chance we may have to buy the land, and agonize for another hour over what to wear.
With the heat wave we’re having, my options are limited.
Eventually I throw on some white shorts and a simple tank top.
After all, this isn’t a date. This is business, pure and simple.
I remind myself of this repeatedly during the three-minute drive from the hotel lot to the McCasker farmhouse.
I haven’t seen Kase in four years. No contact.
No hint that our moment together meant anything to him.
The last thing I want is to give him the impression that I give a damn about it either.
That kiss and the way his roaming hands felt on me are ancient history.
I park and check my reflection in the rearview mirror.
My sandy-brown hair is tied back in a ponytail, and my bangs fringe my face.
My mascara hasn’t melted in the heat, and a light coat of lip gloss shimmers on my lips.
I could have gone totally natural, but the truth is, no matter what I tell myself, I do care.
I scold myself for that fact and exit my Jeep, giving the door a good hard slam before I ascend the stairs to the front porch. The door opens before I can knock, leaving only the rickety old screen door between Edwin and me before he opens that too.
He melts my uncertainty with a smile. “June, come on in. I’ll get Kase. He’s been in the barn all day.”
I step inside. “If it’s not a good time, I could come back later.”
“Nonsense. He needs to hang it up for the day anyhow.”
He leaves me in the kitchen, and I hear the back door squeak open and slam shut.
“Kase!” Edwin shouts out toward the field and the barn that sits in the back.
As the seconds tick by, I take in the interior of the house.
The first floor is cut up into four areas—a kitchen, dining room, den, and a narrow staircase that leads to the second floor.
It’s a decent-sized home, but the layout gives the house a traditional, poky feel.
The wood floors need refinishing. The paint on the walls is dull and dated.
As far as I can tell, nothing but country breeze cools the first floor.
The McCasker farmhouse has a roof and four walls but lacks the charm and luxury I’m used to at the hotel.
I hear my father’s voice in my head and faintly regret that I can see his point. There’s not much here I would cherish so much not to sell. Then again, not many people were raised in a four-star hotel.
“What are you grinning about?”
The sound carries through the screen door.
Those five little words and knowing Kase uttered them does something to me instantly.
I stop my perusal of the house and stare at Edwin’s back blocking my view.
Kase is only a few feet away. My mind races to imagine what he looks like now.
How has he changed? If only Edwin would move aside so I could see him…
“June is here to see you,” Edwin says.
“June?”
My heart pangs with disappointment. He doesn’t remember me. He doesn’t remember…
“June Bell… Ring a bell? I saw her at the hotel today. Told her to stop by.”
“What the hell did you do that for?”
The frustration in his tone is unmistakable, and now I feel it too. The tempo of my heart picks up for reasons altogether different now.
“Kase, you haven’t exactly been a social butterfly since you got home. Didn’t figure it’d hurt to spend time with someone other than me.”
“Goddamnit.” Kase mutters the curse low, and his voice drifts away slowly.
My girlish anxiety over seeing him again has taken a sharp turn. Years of wishing for something more, for anything, funnels into a blinding indignation.
Edwin turns back and finds me in the kitchen. He’s shaking his head and avoiding my gaze. “That boy is something else. I’m sorry, June.”
I can’t find the right words, and his father doesn’t deserve my anger.
I should go. No way he’s going to agree to sell the land, with or without Kase’s blessing.
But if I accept that and walk away now, the whole thing is a waste.
If this is the end of the road with the McCaskers, I decide now it’s going to be on my terms.
I walk around Edwin and march out onto the back porch. Kase’s figure is already small in the distance, rounding the barn. I could call after him, but if he kept walking away, I’m not sure my heart would ever recover.
I follow his path. The grass in the field is overgrown and brushes against my calves. The sun is melting into the horizon, but the air is thick with summer and the smells of the farm—meadow flowers, grass, and the dairy cows that graze nearby.
I hear a loud splash just as I retrace his journey around the barn.
I stop at the bank of the creek that runs along the south side of the property.
Kase’s clothes and boots are in a heap a couple feet away.
All the fiery words I planned to throw at him get stuck in my throat when I see him with water up to his waist.
I shouldn’t be here. A voice in my head tells me to leave. Still, I can’t seem to move. He hasn’t seen me yet, and I’m riveted to the man before me. His back is broad and muscular. No doubt, he’s a far cry from the lean boy who’d tempted my teenaged heart.
He dunks under, and when he rises again, he strokes his fingers through his damp hair, sending rivulets of water down his back. Good God.
Then he turns. Our eyes lock. My mouth is dry, and once again I’m searching for words. His features are more chiseled than I remember. Golden stubble covers the strong line of his jaw. His cheekbones are more defined. His eyes are still a vibrant blue, like the clearest summer sky.
I don’t know how the hell I feel about this man one minute to the next. All I know is that if he weren’t Kase McCasker, the one who barely knows my name, I’d be searching for reasons to stay and get to know him better.
“Sorry. I’ll go.” My voice is strangled and awkward. I turn to leave, shaking my head as I go.
“June, wait.”
I whip back. “Oh, now you know my name?”
He frowns. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Really?” I glare down at him, unable to hold back any longer. “You didn’t seem to a minute ago. Then again, it’s been four years. Not sure why you’d remember me. Not like I mattered enough to see even once when you came home.”
His lips tighten, but his eyes bore into me with an intensity I’m not ready for.
I’m mad, but I’m hurt more. I’m ready for a fight, but all I really want is…
What do I want? An apology? Acknowledgment that he wanted me as much as I wanted him, even for a fleeting moment?
“I just thought after that night…” My tone is softer now.
“I remember everything, June.”
I shake my head. “You just walked away from me like the sound of my name hurt to hear.”
“It does, but not for the reasons you think. And I wasn’t walking away from you.”
“Really? Sure looked like you were walking away. Awfully fast too.”
“Jesus, June, give me a break. I smell like a barn.” He points to the pile of clothes at my feet. “No one told me you were coming by. You think I wanted to see you that way?”
Feeling less justified in my anger, I drop my hand from my hip. “Sorry. I just… I should go.”
I turn to leave again, and this time his voice doesn’t stop me. I cross the field quickly, but I don’t go back through the house. Cutting through the side yard, I’m nearly at my Jeep when I hear Kase behind me.
“June, wait.”
When I turn, my jaw goes slack. He was a sight in the creek moments ago. But this close…
He’s still drenched, shirtless, his jeans zipped but unbuttoned and his boots unlaced like he’d thrown on just enough to chase after me.
I ball my hands into fists to keep from reaching for him and sliding my fingers through his damp hair.
His chest moves under quick breaths. It’s irrational, but I want to touch him everywhere.
Over his shoulders. Down his wet pectorals.
Hell, every ridge of his abdomen is permanently imprinted on my mind now.
“Damn…” His voice is a physical rasp against my skin.
I flicker my gaze back up to his. His lips are parted as his eyes search mine.
“What?” I unball my fists and rub them down the sides of my shorts, suddenly nervous that he’s seeing me this close up now too.
He shakes his head slightly. “Four years, huh?”
“Four years, Kase. And not a word.”
“I had my reasons.”
“You made me feel like I meant something to you. What reasons did you have for not breathing a word to me since then?”
“For God’s sake, you were sixteen. We were just kids. What was I supposed to do?”
I swallow over my hurt pride, but I feel what I feel. I refuse to believe that even my teenaged brain overestimated the power of the moment we shared.
“I was old enough to kiss. Old enough for you to put your hands on me like you did. Old enough to make me want a lot more.”
He exhales shakily but takes a solid step toward me. His tone is low when he speaks again. “Believe me, that kiss wasn’t anything close to what I wanted to do to you.”
A rush of heat simmers under my skin with his admission. How many times had I fantasized about that night at the falls? How many times had I tried to imagine what it would have felt like to give myself to him?
“Well, it’s too late now,” I whisper, not trusting my voice not to waver. I stare down at the overgrown grass between us. “I came here to talk about the land. That’s all.”
He’s quiet a moment. “What about the land?”
“Sounds like your dad is open to selling again, but he says it’s up to you. Now that you’re home, I came to talk some sense into you.”
A heavy silence falls between us. When I meet his eyes again, my heart slams against my chest. How can one man have this kind of power over me? He’s a crush, and I’m woman enough to know how ridiculous it is to feel this way.
“Forget it. I shouldn’t have come,” I say.