Chapter Fifteen
Sadie
My mind kept wandering back to kissing Beckett at the corn maze.
As far as kisses went, like dating, I didn’t have much experience.
My first kiss ever had been with Fionn on my thirteenth birthday, but that had happened only because Orla had dared him to give me a kiss as a present.
He’d accepted the challenge and for a fraction of a second, our lips had touched.
Then we’d both blinked at each other before wiping our mouths and vowing never to do that again.
Despite our differences in station, Fionn and Orla were like siblings to me and that kiss with Fionn had felt all wrong to both of us.
My second kiss had been with Cian. It had been aggressive.
He’d planted his lips on mine at a holiday gathering of dignitaries my father was entertaining.
The move had been more about a show of possession than an act of affection as had the kisses that followed.
Usually, I pictured a kissing scene from one of Orla’s borrowed romance novels when Cian kissed me.
I imagined I was the heroine and Cian was the hero—the kind-hearted hero who wanted nothing more than to make me happy.
My imagination was only so powerful though, and every kiss with him left me wanting something else.
Something like what I’d experienced with Beckett today.
His kiss had been tender. He wasn’t trying to brand me with brute force.
The way he’d cupped my face as we’d instinctually deepened the kiss had been so gentle.
It made me feel precious to him. When the kiss had heated up—quickly—it still hadn’t been a dominance display.
Instead, it had been a mutual desire for each other and something I definitely wanted to explore more before this date ended.
“I should have driven over to Hartley’s Nest instead of you picking me up,” I said as we passed the entrance gates.
Beckett shrugged in the driver’s seat. “No big deal. It’s not as if Hank’s cabin is hours away.” He sent me a little smile. “Besides, I rather like chauffeuring you around Greenridge, Miss Sadie.”
“I rather like passengering around Greenridge with you,” I said, thinking back to fumbling around with remembering how to drive. Luckily, Hank’s daughter’s old car hadn’t ended up wrecked from my inexperience.
“Well, you’ll be navigating around town more now that your business is officially open.” Beckett headed for the farmhouse where a few other vehicles were parked. “How do you feel about going into strangers’ homes?”
“I feel okay about that,” I said. “And they’re not strangers. They’re clients.”
“True, but if anyone acts sketchy, you let me know.” Beckett’s hand tightened on the steering wheel and his jaw tensed. “The Hartley brothers can be intimidating if we need to be.”
A vision of the five of them lined up and ready to defend me sent a flash of heat through me. “That’s a great deal of muscle.”
“And we’re not afraid to use it if need be,” Beckett said.
“I’m sure all the clients will be nice,” I assured him.
“People interested in mindfulness tend to be gentle souls looking for a way to live in harmony.” Not that I’d encountered many people interested in mindfulness before coming to Vermont.
Back in Verdalach, the word mindfulness didn’t exist. If the people who had attended today’s event were an indication, however, I had nothing to worry about.
Beckett parked between Jimmy’s old pickup truck and a car that looked as if it belonged in a metal scrapyard instead of on the roads.
“That’s my dad’s old car,” Beckett said as his SUV quietly powered down. “Old Benny needs to be euthanized, but Vanessa won’t let us put it out of its misery. She drives it, we maintain it, and all of us hold our breaths waiting for it to finally disintegrate into a pile of rusted ash.”
We got out of Beckett’s SUV and Old Benny didn’t look any better up close.
“Is it safe to drive?” How was Vanessa not scared to death to have her baby ride in this dilapidated vehicle?
“For now.” Beckett shook his head. “I keep saying we need to steal it one night, drive it into the woods somewhere, and let the forest absorb it, but I get out-voted every time.” He guided me toward an area where curls of heavenly-scented smoke rose from a huge grill.
“You’d think for a family that is concerned with the environment, we could all convince Vanessa to get something more Earth-friendly.
She likes to point out, however, that simply throwing Old Benny away before his time is done would be adding to the garbage pile unnecessarily.
She’s not wrong, but at this point, I honestly don’t think it will take the car that long to decompose.
It’s like seventy-five percent there already. ”
I gave Old Benny one last look, laughing at how out of place it looked next to Beckett’s shiny hybrid SUV.
“Uncle Beckett!”
His niece, Amelia, ran up to him and locked onto his legs.
I’d met the child on one of my planning visits to Hartley’s Nest, and she was a real cherub with wild black curls and brown eyes like her daddy Isaac’s.
She adored Beckett, which he had explained was because he had all the fun tech gadgets that kids loved.
I was certain it was more than that.
Beckett crouched in front of her and poked her in the belly. “Is there still food left or did you eat it all already?”
“The food’s not done cooking yet, silly!” Amelia pushed her hair out of her face then pointed at Jimmy tending slabs of meat on the grill. “See? Mr. Jimmy is just cooking now, Uncle Beckett.”
“That’s a relief.” Beckett stood and rubbed his belly. “Because I’m so hungry I could eat a black bear.”
“We’re not eating black bears!” Amelia erupted into a fit of giggles.
“That’s too bad. How about moose?”
Amelia laughed harder as she shook her head. “No moose either.”
“Well, what meat is Jimmy cooking?” Beckett asked.
“Chicken and steak,” Amelia said.
“I guess that will have to do,” Beckett said, “but Sadie was looking forward to having some grilled rhinoceros.”
Amelia fell right to the ground, clutching her stomach as she cackled. “Rhinoceros! Grandma Beth wouldn’t let us eat rhinoceros!”
Isaac strode over. “What have you done to my child that has caused her to be inflicted with such giggles?”
Amelia pointed up at Beckett. “He said Sadie wants to eat grilled rhinoceros!”
Isaac held a hand down to his daughter and pulled the pixie to her feet. “That’s silly. Everyone knows we only eat rhinoceros on Christmas.”
Another round of squealing laughter launched out of Amelia and the sound was so joyous I wanted to bottle it and offer it to my new clients.
“I guess I’ll have to make do with chicken or steak tonight.” I feigned disappointment and Beckett slid his arm around my shoulders.
“It’s not too late if you’d rather go out to eat instead,” he said. “Maybe this family dinner is too lame for your tastes.”
“Nonsense,” Logan said as he came over. “Hartley dinners are never lame.” He elbowed Beckett.
“However, I’m not sure about this particular dinner because a Hartley is not manning the grill.
” He angled his head at Jimmy still standing in front of the grill and now handing Mrs. Hartley an empty platter.
“Somehow he was granted grilling rights.”
“Now, now,” Beckett said. “Jimmy has surprised us at every turn. Why shouldn’t he be good at grilling too?”
“The question is,” Joshua said as he joined our circle, “how did Jimmy acquire his grilling skills? Exactly what kind of meats has he been grilling over the years?”
A collective shudder rippled through the small group around us. Except for Amelia who had run off after her Husky dog, Dasha, and two other dogs, one of which resembled an actual wolf.
“I still maintain Jimmy is an okay guy.” Beckett pointed to his brothers. “Deep down, you know that too.” He arced his arm out to include the rest of his family. “We all know it.” He took my hand. “C’mon, let’s get a drink before these morons say anything else that’s ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?” Isaac shot back. “Who’s the one saying his girl wants grilled rhinoceros for dinner?”
After relishing being called Beckett’s girl for a moment, I laughed as Beckett dragged me away. “They’re so much fun.”
“A real hoot,” Beckett mumbled, but he loved being with his family. That had become clear the more I’d witnessed them interacting.
My older sister, Maeve, and I had been close. Only three years existed between us and we’d been good friends. She’d always listened when I’d talk against Verdalachian ways. She’d agree with me sometimes, but she’d always defer to tradition and duty.
In fact, she’d been the one that was supposed to marry Cian. Not me. As the eldest daughter, it had been her job to help our father form alliances. She’d been proud to fulfill her royal obligation.
An obligation that had fallen to me after she’d died.
Would Cian hunt down a cousin of mine or something in a last-ditch effort to gain the power he so craved? My sympathies went out to my cousins if that was indeed what was happening, but I didn’t have enough compassion to return to Verdalach and alleviate them of the burden.
Especially now that I’d met Beckett and his lovely family.
We grabbed drinks and when Beckett and Hunter entered into a passionate video game discussion, Carina called me over to where she and the other ladies were sitting around a fire pit.
“How was your date?” Vanessa asked as soon as I sat in the empty seat beside her. “Did Beckett stay off his phone long enough to notice you?”
I angled my head at her. “Off his phone? He never took out his phone.”
“What?” Vanessa’s eyebrows raised, and when I scanned the circle, Flora, Carina, Sylvie, and Ashley had similar expressions of shock on their faces.
“He didn’t use his phone on our date,” I said. “We had fun walking through the maze and had cider donuts and a slushie. It was a nice afternoon.” I left out the part where we shared a kiss hot enough to torch the cornfield.
“And he kept his attention on you the whole time?” Sylvie asked.
“Yes.” My cheeks heated, maybe because of the fire pit but more likely because of the memory of that kiss.
“This is unprecedented,” Vanessa announced. “My baby brother is normally glued to his electronics. He’d rather have his hands on tech gadgets than anything else.”
“Except for Sadie, it seems.” Carina held up her hand from her seat on my other side. “High five, girl. You did it. You proved to be more interesting to Beckett than technology.”
I lightly slapped my palm to hers—a gesture I only understood because Amelia had shown me how to do it the other day. It was meant to be congratulatory, and apparently having Beckett’s undivided attention was a big deal.
Sylvie raised her beer bottle. “Cheers to Sadie for unplugging Beckett.”
The other women raised their drinks as well and I felt as if I’d accomplished something important.
“Thank you.” I saluted them with my own drink before taking a sip. “I’m not sure I did anything, but—”
“Oh, you did,” Vanessa interrupted. “Not only did you improve his aura, you also put that look on his face.”
I looked over to where Vanessa motioned with her drink to find Beckett staring at me while Hunter showed him something on the screen of his phone. When he realized I’d caught him looking at me, he winked and sent me a charming smile that melted me a little in my seat.
“He’s smitten,” Flora said. “I recognize that look. It’s the same one Darius gives me right before we—”
“All right, all right!” Vanessa put one hand over her ear. “I know you’re all in love and shit, but I don’t want to hear anything about Darius’s sexy times look.”
The other women laughed.
“Sometimes I forget that our guys are your brothers,” Carina said. “It feels as if we’re just one big friend group.”
A friend group. What a delightful notion. And did the fact that I was now sitting among them—that I’d received a sexy times look from a Hartley brother—make me an official part of the friend group?
I wished for that to be true. Wished for it with every part of my heart.