Second Chance Mates (9 page)

"Can you get a salad on your way back?"
called Cade as she stepped through the doors.

Clara paused long enough to look at him
over her shoulder. "Sure," she agreed, feeling oddly domestic. It
reminded her of so many evenings with Colton, or the three of them
together. Instead of allowing herself to crumble with the longing,
she took the evening in her stride.
This is what it feels like
to be normal.

Slipping on her sandals, she padded
through the house and opened the front door, so relaxed she didn’t
think to check the peep hole. When she saw who stood on her porch
she wished she had. She wished she'd just ignored the door, only
given that Stanton was a nosey bastard, he would probably have
followed the scent of the steaks out back and come looking for her
anyway.

"Well, hello there." Mr. Stanton ran
his eyes over her and flashed his teeth in what she thought he
probably thought was a friendly smile. Really he just looked like
he was snarling which given that he was a shifter of the bovine
persuasion, and quite literally bull-headed, probably wasn't that
dissimilar.

"What do you want?" she asked none too
politely.

"Is that any way to greet a guest?"
Stanton pulled off his hat and made to step forwards but she stood
solidly in the doorway with no intention of yielding to the odious
older man.

"You're not a guest," Clara pointed
out, "and this is hardly business hours."

Stanton sniffed the air and ran his
eyes over her again. "I see I'm in time for dinner."

"In time to interrupt dinner," Clara
clarified as she looked past him to his truck. Of course he'd
brought two of his men with him, big dudes with crossed arms that
made their muscles bulge as they idled against the truck featuring
Stanton's decal of a bull. They seemed to be shifters of some
variety, though she couldn't say what with the distance between
them. All she knew was that they weren’t lycan.

"Perhaps a glass of iced tea on the
porch." He nodded to the swing Colton had spent a whole day
assembling and hanging. Oh, she'd loved sitting there with him,
kicking their legs and making it rock. It gave her the shivers to
think of letting Stanton sully it.

She didn’t move. "Could you cut to the
chase?"

"I came to see if you'd reconsidered my
offer. It was
very
generous."

Behind her, footsteps made the
floorboards creak and she felt Luke as he came to stand behind her.
Mr. Stanton stiffened for a moment as he took in Luke's large
build, his nostrils flared in recognition of the big
cat.

"I see you have company already,"
Stanton said, snidely.

"Yes, I do."

"What's going on, Clara?" Luke
asked.

She looked up at him, saw the concern
etched on his face as he took in the hired muscle and Stanton,
clearly wondering at the need for three big men against one woman,
before returning his gaze to her. "This is the property developer I
mentioned. The one who wants to buy the land and put a ton of
condos on it. Make it some kind of gated development," she told
him.

"Which will be sensitively done, of
course," cut in Stanton. "And you will be well compensated for it.
Actually, seeing as you love the area so much, I thought I'd throw
in a condo for you too. All mod cons. Air conditioning for hot
nights like these. A view of the lake." Stanton smiled again,
probably expecting her to fall all over his latest offer. After
all, she'd been saying no for more than a year now, he probably
didn’t expect her to hold out much longer. He'd been before, before
Colton died and Colton had told him in no uncertain terms that they
would never sell. Then Colton had died and Stanton kept on coming.
She wondered just how far he would go to get her land when he
realized whatever offer he pushed at her would be
rejected.

Not for the first time, she wondered if
he would have stopped coming if Colton had been here to see him
off, and how awfully convenient it was for Stanton that her husband
died. No, she wouldn't think like that. She refused to. Stanton was
a snake but he couldn't possibly be responsible for Colton's
accident.

"The land isn't for sale," Clara said
for the umpteenth time.

"I don't think you properly understand
my offer," said Stanton, his voice taking on that 'now you listen
to me, little woman' voice he'd used to patronize her with time and
again.

"I understand it just fine."

"It's a better offer than anyone else
will give you," Stanton said. "You'll have a mortgage free home and
money in the bank."

"And I'll lose my land, my
home
and I'll be surrounded by people, and cars, and noise." Men like
Stanton never got the concept of home, didn't understand what it
could mean. He understood money and profit and that was it. He
could never understand the beauty of the land, its tranquility,
everything it meant to her and what it would mean to the
community.

"You'll have friends and company,"
Stanton countered, glancing at Luke.

Probably wondering who he was, thought
Clara, and she decided not to volunteer the information. It was
none of Stanton's business who she entertained.

"I'm not going to sell," she said
again. "If you'll excuse me, I'm making dinner and I don't want it
to burn." Not necessarily a lie but that steak smelled so good and
she did have a salad to throw together. And she really, really
wanted Stanton to go away before he completely spoiled her good
mood. She made to close the door and Stanton stuck his shiny
cowboy-booted foot over the threshold, blocking the door's
path.

"Clara..."

"Don't Clara me," said Clara
indignantly. Clara was family and friends. Clara was what Colton
whispered when they made love. Stanton did not qualify on any count
to call her so familiarly.

"And move your foot," said Luke, his
voice cold. He moved forwards, his body pressing against her back
and it was reassuring. She was glad to have him at her back,
literally.

Cade called something from the living
room and Luke twisted his body slightly, answering him, something
inconsequential about dinner. A moment later, Cade joined them at
the door, laying a protective hand on her shoulder. The two of them
flanking her gave her strength.

Stanton took a double take at Cade,
probably because he was a younger version of Cade with the same
stance, not to mention dark hair and blue eyes, then cut a glance
at Luke and finally down to her.

"I'm going to say this for a last time,
Mr. Stanton. I'm not going to sell and I don't
ever
intend
to sell my property. Now move your foot out of my
doorway."

"I think you'll find you're going to
have to sell," Stanton sneered. "I know about your position with
the bank and I know you can't last on your savings forever. I'm a
generous man so I'll leave you forty-eight hours to rethink my
offer. I think you'll find me less generous after that."

"I won't reconsider. I'm happy
here."

Stanton glanced at the men at her side
again and gave her an oily little smile. "Yes, you certainly are
the happy little widow," he sneered.

Clara bristled but before she could
snap, Cade wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she felt Luke
stretch to his full height, his hand settle on her shoulder. "You
heard the lady," said Cade. "She wants you off her property and so
do I."

"And I suggest you don't come back,"
growled Luke.

Stanton settled his hat back on his
head, pushing up the brim with his forefinger. "You have my
number," he said, looking her straight in the eye, his expression
cold. "Forty-eight hours."

Clara didn't wait to see Stanton step
off her porch. Instead, she simply slammed the door shut behind him
and, with shaking hands, locked it.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Cade wrapped
his arms around her and she leaned her head against his chest.
What the heck?
She slid her arms around him too.

"I hate him," she mumbled into Cade’s
t-shirt. "He comes every couple weeks now, sliming around and
trying to get me to sell. I won't. I'll never sell this
land!"

"He's gone for now," said Luke,
stepping away from the window flanking the door. "Hopefully for
good."

Clara huffed skeptically. "He'll be
back."

"Then we'll make sure he gets the
message," said Luke, his voice cold but his hand warm as he rubbed
her back. "Don't worry."

Clara raised her head, sniffed the air
and her eyes went wide. "The steaks! They're going to
burn."

Cade laughed as she extracted herself
from his arms. "I do love a woman who gets completely distracted by
food."

"You'll be distracted if dinner burns,"
she chided.

"Come on. I took the steaks off the
coals already." He grabbed her hand, tugging her after him, Luke
following behind like her rear guard. "You go sit outside and chill
with Luke. I'll get the salad."

***

Cade looked down at the sleeping form
of Clara and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. She looked so peaceful
and innocent with her hands curled under her head, her lips pouting
slightly as she slept. He was surprised she'd fallen asleep given
her agitation at dinner, but then maybe it was the amount of food
she'd packed away when he thought she'd just been
picking.

"She okay there?" asked Luke, as he
shut and locked the folding windows before dropping onto the
armchair.

"Fast asleep."

"What do you make of that developer
guy?"

"Stanton? I remember Colton mentioning
him. He's a mid-sized employer around here though I don't know
anyone who works for him. I don't like the way he's been bugging
Clara."

"She's set on staying, huh? I can see
why. This place is a dream."

"Yeah. Colton used to say that." Cade
smiled as Clara stretched and her feet ended up in his lap. He took
one, gently massaging it. She purred sleepily. "I guess Stanton is
kind of a pest. He doesn't seem to be getting the
message."

"You reckon there's anything we can do
to help him get the point?"

Cade shrugged. "I don't think Clara
would appreciate us getting up in her business. I'd rather wait and
be asked even if my instincts tell me that next time Stanton turns
up I should beat his ass back to the road."

"You too, huh?"

"I'm bothered about what he said about
the bank. I tried asking Clara about it a couple times but she shut
me down."

"Think she's struggling
financially?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I wish she'd tell
me."

"Have you noticed she hasn't yelled at
us today?"

Cade laughed, quickly tempering down
the noise in case he woke her. "And she didn't tell us to go
either. Another point in our favor."

"Maybe she's getting used to
us?"

"She's always been used to
me."

Luke grinned. "She didn't seem too
pissed about the sun lotion thing." His grin faded as Cade's eyes
darkened. "Call it the acid test. And it wasn't like I jumped her,"
he reminded his friend.

"Yet."

"Yet," agreed Luke.

"I'm going to take her upstairs. If she
wakes up on the couch she's going to be stiff and cranky." Cade
edged off the sofa, moving her feet onto the cushions. Bending at
the knees, he slid his hands under her back and knees, lifting her
like she weighed nothing. He was out the room before Luke could
offer to help, not that he needed it.

As he walked up the stairs, he caught
another whiff of her shampoo, a light, fruity scent that made him
breath deep then kiss her forehead.

Depositing her on the bed, he took a
look at the shorts and t-shirt she wore. Should he remove them and
risk her wrath like the other day when she fainted, or let her be
pissed that she slept in the clothes she'd worn all day? Carefully,
he undid her shorts and slipped them off, leaving her clad in her
tee and panties. It didn’t escape his notice that they were pink
and lacy, a one hundred percent improvement on yesterday. Was she
dressing up for him? He swallowed hard and looked away.

She couldn't object to him removing her
shorts, could she? His cock certainly didn’t mind. Just the touch
of his hands on her thighs had him hard. He gave it a tug through
his jeans then felt slightly guilty as he looked down at her. Best
not think of sex. Or how good it would feel if she woke and drew
him down to her, where he could rest between her legs. Best think
of anything else. Like, like...he couldn't think of anything.
Damnit, his mind had turned to mush.

He yawned. It was kind of early to turn
in but his body was warm and relaxed and he'd done plenty of manual
labor, something he enjoyed but his regular desk job didn't allow
him the opportunity to do. Her bed looked awfully inviting. Far
more so than the floor downstairs, given that he was much too tall
to sleep on the couch.

As Cade looked down at Clara's blonde
curls spilling across the pillow, he slid off his jeans and folded
them over the back of the chair, then his t-shirt, and got in, the
sheets cool against his body. As if she somehow registered the
weight of another body joining hers, Clara shifted and moved
towards him, her arm sliding across his chest and her leg wrapping
over one of his, her body pressed to his side. Instantly, his
softening cock was as hard as a rock again.