In the Firelight (7 page)

Rhys flicked his attention to Trinity for a moment, looking slightly confused. “Yeah, and you are?”

As though stunned by his direct attention, Trinity paused and then shook her head a little before continuing. “I’m Trinity. It is, really, so nice to meet you.”

And there it was, Trinity’s dazzling bright white smile with her classic all-American girl looks and big brown eyes. She was such a pretty girl, and she’d have Rhys eating out of her hand in seconds. Probably best, because Shea really did
not
need any type of entanglements. Taking advantage of what was bound to be a long, flirty discussion, Shea looked back to Laura, waving her hand in front of her to break her of her apparent hypnotization.

But, in spite of the wiles that Trinity bestowed upon him, Rhys simply smiled and said, “Nice to meet you.” Then he focused back on Shea.

“So, Shea… I’d like to thank you. You know, for last night.”

Trinity’s eyes about popped right out of her head.

Laura wheezed.

“No, no…” Shea began. “It was nothing, you know. Just helping to get you a tow.”
Oh God, don’t say anymore.

“Yeah, but to bring me back to your place. And then, the phone was out and we couldn’t call…” he smiled and arched his eyebrow at her. “To let a complete stranger spend the night? Not many women would feel comfortable with that. Not many women would have kept me, um, such good company.”

A squeak erupted from Trinity’s wide-open mouth.

Laura dropped the can of tomatoes and it slowly rolled across the creaky wood floor.

Suddenly, Shea realized that Rhys was totally aware of her discomfort. That he was
enjoying
her discomfort. That he was
intentionally
causing
her discomfort.

“What the hell? Don’t make it sound like that.” She looked over to their small audience. “It wasn’t anything like that.”

“Um… oooookay…” Trinity smiled.

“Trinity… really…” Shea explained. “I found him stuck in snow bank. I couldn’t just leave him there!”

“Oh, of course not,” Trinity said with an exaggerated innocence. “So, you, um… you took him home with you. That’s so… huh.” Looking down at her bare wrist, Trinity exclaimed, “Oh, my. Look at the time. I’m late for a hair appointment. Toodles.” And in a flurry of bouncy hair and flouncy scarf, she was gone.

Now Shea was speechless. Breathless.
Pissed!
 
She rounded back to Rhys. “You son-of-bitch! You have no idea what you’ve just done. You have no idea what kind of mouth that girl has. Oh my God! Everyone is going to think we’ve slept together.” She glared back over to Laura. “Laura, if you ever decide to move again and want to finish ringing up my groceries, I’ll be back to pick them up tomorrow.”

With her own not-quite-so bouncy, flouncy exit, Shea made a beeline for the door. Halfway to her truck, she realized Rhys was following her.

“What?” she whirled around and huffed at him.

Rhys cocked his eyebrow and smiled widely, folding his arms over his broad, muscular chest. “Go to dinner with me.”

Shea was pretty sure her brain was going to explode. Her mouth moved, but nothing came out as she shook her head back and forth in disbelief. “Are you out of your fucking mind? No!”

His smile only widened. “Is something wrong?” he grinned mischievously.

“Yes! My God! You don’t even know me!  I met you less than
twenty-four hours ago, and you may not realize it, but you have just sacrificed me to the Snowcreek gossip mill!
Shit!
And she’s going to get her hair done.” Shea’s voice rose and hit a higher pitch with every breath. “And do you know what they’re going to be talking about? You! You and me!”

“Huh, I’m guessing you’re a little perturbed with me.”

“Ya think?” Shea scoffed.

Rhys stepped a little closer, backing her up against her pickup. His body was all but pressed up against hers, stealing her breath away with the sudden movement.

“I know you a little better than that, sweetheart. I know how delicious your kiss can be. Remember?” His whisper hypnotized her for a moment, all her fight fled and left her defenseless as she remembered the soft brush of his tongue. Rhys caged her in with an arm on either side of her and he dipped his lips to hers. He was so close, and Shea began to tremble with want as her eyes drifted closed. Just before his lips touched hers, he murmured softly. “So, is that a, um… no for dinner?”

Her eyes flew open to see him grinning wickedly down at her. “Argh!” Shea pushed angrily at his chest, using every ounce of strength she had to shove him back.
My God!
She had to get away from this man before she lost her ever-loving mind. Quickly, she jumped in her truck, fired it up, and drove away, fishtailing out of her parking space as she hit the gas.

In her rearview mirror, she could see Rhys smiling. And waving.

Son-of-a-bitch.

Chapter 5 ~ The BFF

Shea took deep breaths and counted to ten about fifty times on her way to Michelle’s, knowing her best friend would immediately notice her unchecked frustration.

That man was so aggravating.

Pulling down onto the driveway that dipped low off the side of the road, Shea pulled her truck to a stop and hopped out, walking up to the front door. Shea had known Michelle since her senior year of high school when the crazy kiwi had shown up in their small town as a foreign exchange student. Shea and her had become instant friends, neither of them quite fitting the mold of perfection in the small cliquish school. Shea had dreaded the day when Michelle would leave, heading home to New Zealand. So had Michelle, even more so when she met Robert and fell hard.

By the end of the school year, though, Michelle had turned eighteen, and before her parents could say ‘boo’ about it, her and Robert eloped. Shea had been utterly shocked, but also thrilled that her friend would be staying close. Two years later, they had their first kid, a boy named Sam. Then came Jenna two years later, followed by Joey three years after that.

Michelle’s family had sort of become Shea’s family. After her own disastrous marriage, Shea had returned to Snowcreek about a year after Sam was born. Her ego had been shattered by Gavin. So quickly after she had eloped with him, he had changed somehow, as though he bitterly resented her for saying ‘yes.’ And then it all made more sense when Shea had learned about
her
. Gavin’s ex-girlfriend—the one that got away—was back in town. Shea’s strength and determination were challenged by this old flame. She was a fighter, though. She wasn’t going down easy.

But as her grampa’s health had started to rapidly decline, all the fight in her suddenly fled, and she rushed back to Snowcreek to be with him. She found herself all-too-quickly mourning the loss of the only family she truly had left. Divorce papers arrived the day after his funeral, Gavin’s clear communication that he was done.

After a little while of consoling and supporting, Michelle, who was never one to mope around and mince words, had told her to ‘take a fucking concrete pill and harden the fuck up’ because nobody had it easy. She made sure Shea was never alone for holidays, and Shea became a bit of a foster aunt to Michelle’s kids. The cool kind of aunt who shows up with candy and presents, spoiling the kids rotten, but then leaves when the sugar rush hits its peak.

That said, Michelle’s kids were just as crazy as Michelle—
best birth control ever.

Shea knocked at the front door before opening it anyway and walking right in. The first thing she was confronted with was eight-year-old Sam dressed up like Darth Vader.

“Hey, Darth,” Shea said as though it was perfectly normal to be speaking to the Sith lord. “Where’s your mom at?”

“Kitchen,” the kid growled with a fierce little voice, followed by a
hooooo perrrr
.

“Gotcha,” she replied. The kid turned to stalk down the hallway when Shea called out, “Oh, by the way, be careful, because I think I saw Obi-Wan looking for you.”

The kid froze, lifted his light saber, and quickly barreled down the hallway towards his room.

“Michelle,” Shea whined as she made her way into the kitchen. “Oh my God, this morning… it’s been sheer hell.”

“Awe, what’s up, buddy?” Michelle smiled over at her from the pot of soup she was cooking on the stove.

Shea took a deep breath, wondering where to start. “Well, there’s this guy—”

“Shut the front door! You met someone?” Michelle squealed. She dropped the lid onto the pot and turned to Shea in shock.

“It’s not like that,” Shea argued, shaking her head vehemently. “I mean, really… it is soooooooo not like that.” She slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs. “So, I was meeting with Dennis in Polson last night to talk about that fucked up claim on my grampa’s land.”

“Oh my gosh,” Michelle crooned sympathetically. “No wonder you’re so upset if it has to do with that.”

“Actually, it doesn’t really have to do with that either. I was almost home, only like a mile away from my house, and I found this guy stranded in a ditch on the side of the road.”

“Oh, you poor dear. Did you have to bring him all the way back into town? God, you must be just exhausted. You should be home sleeping.” Suddenly, Michelle’s expression showed a shocked concern. “Oh, no… Shea, tell me you didn’t try and pull him out and into a tree like that last guy?”

“I didn’t try and pull him out. I’ve learned my lesson there. But I didn’t take him back to town either,” Shea grumbled her admission, then rushed on with Michelle’s raised eyebrow. “I was almost home. I just figured I’d call Frankie to come help him. But…” Her voice trailed off.

“But, what?”

“Well, the phones were out. The snow was deep and wet. It was icy, and I was so fucking tired. I sure as hell didn’t want to drive through all that again. So… he slept on my couch.”

“Oh. My. God. You had a guy spend the night?” Michelle’s eyes were wide as saucers and she plopped down in a kitchen chair.

“Michelle, he slept on my
couch
,” Shea repeated.

“Uh, huh… and where did you sleep? Hmmm?””

“You bitch,” Shea snorted with a laugh. “I slept in my bed… alone, thank you very much. Then, this morning, the phone lines were fixed, I called Frankie, and he left.”

“But?” Michelle waved her hand around in a
please-continue
circle.

“But what?”

“Shea, I’ve known you for ten years. You’re leaving something out. And, besides, why would that have you so frazzled?”

Here goes
, Shea thought to herself.

“I was in the store this morning, and he came in there. And, right in front of Trinity and Laura, he said something about me entertaining him all night. Fuck, he made it sound like he slept with me. And, of course, Trinity took it and ran. And, Rhys… he thought it was funny. I was so pissed, but he just laughed and asked me out to dinner.”

“Is he hot?” Michelle asked, resting her chin in her hand and looking eager for more information about this mystery man.

“Michelle…” Shea sighed. “That’s totally not th—”

Michelle smiled. “He is, isn’t he?”

“He’s infuriating,” Shea squealed.

Michelle pursed her lips and studied Shea closely. “Hmmm…” she murmured.

“Really, Michelle,” Shea tried again. “It’s totally not what you’re thinking. He’s only here for a week or two, and, even if he was staying, I don’t want to date. I don’t want any of that shit. Anyway, there’s too much going on with this damn bullshit land claim and the whole developer ski mountain. I don’t have time for anything like that.”

Hearing a truck pull up before the big garage on the side of the house, Michelle stood and looked out the kitchen window. “That’s odd. Robert’s home early.” Her features scrunched up even more, looking trying to see through the steamed up window out into the cold, crisp day. “Well, who’s that, I wonder?”

Shea stood to look out the window with Michelle, but the men had already entered the garage. She only saw the closing door. Then heard a clumping of heavy boots and they made their way up the short staircase that led directly to a doorway entering the kitchen.

“Hey, babe,” Robert smiled at his wife as he walked in and kissed her cheek. “I’d like to introduce you to someone who will be working with our office in the next couple weeks. I was showing him around town a little, introducing him to some of the folks around here. Rhys, this is my wife, Michelle. Michelle, this is Rhys Weland.”

Oh God.
She couldn’t escape this guy.

And he was smiling at her, grinning from ear to ear.

Fucking gorgeous smile
. And that pissed her off all over again.