Chapter 16

“Are you going to hum like that all day?”

Aria glanced up from the sink to see Ember stalk into the kitchen, her expression nothing short of annoyed. Her sister plunked down at the ancient wooden table and pulled a bowl from the center where Serenity kept them due to sheer lack of cabinet space, then poured out a bunch of cornflakes.

“Probably,” Aria responded cheerfully and went back scrubbing the carrots she’d picked up from Voodoo Grocery a few minutes ago with the intent of making Isaiah carrot salad for lunch.

When they’d parted last night—reluctantly—it had been contingent on the premise that he’d come by so they could see each other alone before he had to get back to the barn for some final touches. She’d stayed away from him all morning, allegedly so he could focus on finishing the project without distraction, but that was just a lie she’d told herself.

Really, she didn’t want to rock the boat. If she crowded him, he might become a flight risk and she couldn’t stand to think she might be the one who pushed him away.

He hadn’t left town, as she’d discovered from Cassidy. She’d been afraid to ask, afraid to hope. But he was still here, still working on the barn. Still taking up an enormous amount of real estate inside her.

His continued presence might not mean anything significant. Or it might. She tried not to assign too much importance to it, or the brief conversation they’d had regarding the possibility of them hitting the county line together. It was hard enough to reconcile that they were now a couple. Or something. That had yet to be established, but she didn’t think it would help to slap a bunch of labels all over everything when she didn’t quite know what she wanted to call their relationship yet.

It felt fragile and precarious and like if she put any sort of stock in the things he’d said last night, she’d only wind up heartbroken.

All she knew was that the humming seemed to be involuntary, an expression of the huge thing inside her that she couldn’t contain. Ember could find another place to eat breakfast at—Aria glanced at the clock—eleven-twenty if she didn’t like the music.

“Judd doing okay?” Aria asked her sister, strictly to be polite. Serenity had ingrained that kind of thing into her. If you were in the kitchen with another human, you chatted about everything and nothing companionably. All women in Superstition Springs held the same philosophy.

Except Ember apparently. “Why are you asking? Afraid I’ve lost my kid somewhere? Or do you just want to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else to criticize my mothering skills?”

“Um…” Geez. Aria rolled her eyes at her carrots and started scraping off the skins into the scratched porcelain basin. “Maybe I was just curious. Who’s criticizing your mom-ness?”

Ember sighed. “Who isn’t? I’m doing it all wrong according to Serenity. Mavis J is suddenly an authority on proper discipline of a seven-year-old. Augusta Moon makes snarky comments pretty much every time she sees me. I’m chalking that one up to the fact that she’s convinced I used to…date her husband, though.”

Yeah, it wasn’t hard to fill in the pause with another word that better described what she’d actually done with Matthew Moon, but as per usual, Ember hadn’t confirmed or denied the rumors Aria had heard for years. “What do you think about the job you’re doing?”

Surprise flew across Ember’s pretty face, but she squelched it fast. Also typical. Ember didn’t like anyone getting the drop on her. She fiddled with a long curl of strawberry-gold hair as she chewed her cereal deliberately before swallowing and answering.

“He seems okay, doesn’t he?” She didn’t wait for an answer, clearly deeming the question rhetorical. “Grows like a weed, so obviously I’m not starving him.”

Her sister’s tone said she wasn’t so keen on the concept of chatting. Not a new revelation. Some days, Aria wondered why she’d been so upset about the fact that both Havana and Ember had taken off when in reality, they hadn’t been all that close in the first place. Ember and Havana always fought and as the youngest sister, Aria had often been forgotten. She and Havana were building their relationship back up again, but Ember…totally different story.

Which begged the other question her sister had never confirmed—why she’d come back home when she so clearly didn’t want to be here. It was only a matter of time before she got fed up and left again. Would it be something to beat her to the punch and leave first?

Havana bustled into the kitchen to form a party of three that should have been a party of one who was expecting the man she’d just started seeing. Dating. Falling in love with. Take your pick.

How was she going to get them out of here before Isaiah showed up? The last thing she wanted to do was admit that she’d veered hard to the right in her quest for Tristan and landed in Isaiah’s lap, almost literally. A blush heated her cheeks as she recalled exactly what he’d felt like under her backside as he’d held her on the banks of the spring.

“Just in time,” Ember muttered as she glared at Havana. “Maybe Aria can start cross-examining you now instead.”

Please. That was not what she’d been doing, but obviously Ember her had her own interpretation of what kinds of things sisters were supposed to discuss.

Lifting her hands in a what’s-up gesture, Havana peeked in the sink to presumably see what Aria was working on. “Nice carrots. I’ve got nothing to hide. Examine away.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ember jumped in before Aria could clarify that she’d only been asking simple questions. “That I’m trying to hide something?”

“Sounds like a Freudian thing to me,” Havana said with a laugh, which made Ember’s face crinkle up in a scowl. “Overly defensive much? Only someone trying to hide something would jump all over my comment.”

“I lost the bet,” Aria offered abruptly, determined to get her sisters to stop arguing at any cost, even if she had to hedge a little on why she’d lost. Both of them turned in her direction instantly, the words on their lips dying as she gave them a pained smile. “You both win. Tristan didn’t ask me out. Totally not interested. It was fine though. He was really sweet about it.”

“Honey, you lost that bet a long time ago,” Ember advised her with a sly wink. “How’s Isaiah, by the way? Oh, don’t look so shocked. At least four people saw you head to the springs with him last night.”

Havana clapped her hands in glee. “Story time. Everyone knows what happens at the springs when you go with a man you like.”

“Not me,” Aria muttered, ducking her head. She should have just grated the carrots and closed her mouth. “It wasn’t like that. It was…”

Spiritual. That was the only way to describe how truly soul-deep she’d felt the connection to Isaiah. That’s the only reason she’d gotten the courage to blurt out the idea she’d been kicking around about leaving with him—and he’d said he was thinking about it. That made it real and she’d been running that scenario through her head today too. But all of that would sound stupid out loud.

“That good, huh?” Ember cackled. “Guess that means you’re babysitting, and none too soon. I’ve been wanting to check out this bar in Bastrop, so it’s perfect timing.”

“A bar?” Havana wrinkled her nose. “That’s a dumb place to troll for a man.”

“I’m not trolling for anything,” she shot back. “It’s field research. I’m thinking of opening my own place. What makes you think I’m hot for a man anyway? They’re all losers.”

“Isaiah’s not,” Aria protested at the same moment Havana said, “Speak for yourself. My fiancé is brilliant. A liquor license is frightfully expensive, so word to the wise if you’re serious.”

That was the first Aria had heard about Ember having permanent plans that involved Superstition Springs. It put a squiggle in her stomach to think that her sister might be here to stay on the eve of Aria deciding it might be time to find her own adventure. Jury was still out on whether she could actually do it, and this new twist threw the concept into an even more uncertain light.

Oh, goodness. Why would she let anything Ember did sway her? She’d never had one lick of consideration for Aria’s feelings on the matter when she’d hightailed it out of town. Havana either. Aria was an adult who could jolly well make her own choices about a future that may or may not include living here.

And she felt daring enough in that moment to do it.

“I am serious,” Ember said as she crossed to the sink to deposit her empty cereal bowl. As she rinsed it out, she called over her shoulder to Havana. “You and Caleb have been recruiting all of us like mad, spouting on about pitching in to make the town viable. This is my contribution, a sure-fire hit. People always like to drink, don’t they?”

“What do you know about running a bar?” Havana asked.

“What do you know about running a town?” Ember countered with raised eyebrows in what Aria did think was a fair point. “I can learn something new, same as you. Thanks for the vote of confidence, by the way.”

Havana sighed. “It wasn’t a vote of no-confidence. Why do you always think I’m not on your side? I’m glad you’re here. This town needs locals far more than new blood, especially those of us who grew up here. We’re the ones who are going to sell the town to newcomers. Right, Aria? I’m counting on you to take the reins on some stuff.”

Just as Havana’s pointed comment sank into Aria’s stomach, coating it with greasy guilt, her sister shifted her gaze to connect with hers. Well, of course she’d think Aria was on board with digging in to make the town a success. Why wouldn’t she? Aria had never breathed a word of her dream to be the one who did the leaving this time.

Wouldn’t they all be in for a shock when she picked up and sailed out of town without a backward glance?

“That’s kind of rich coming from you,” Aria muttered before she could help herself.

Havana did a double take. No shock. Aria never spoke that way to her sister, but maybe it was time for a change around here.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Havana asked, one hand on her hip, and it was nearly comical how much she looked like Ember, who had just said the exact same thing to something Havana had lobbed at her.

“That you never think about how I’m the only one who never left,” she said and apparently it wasn’t only a man who could rile her temper. “You and Ember took off without even a backward glance. You left me here. And now you’re expecting me to help figure out how to get people to stay?”

“Oh, honey.” Her sister’s mouth crinkled as she absorbed Aria’s ire. “Are you still upset about that?”

“What was your first clue?” she spit out and took a deep breath. Long the peacemaker, she couldn’t keep ruffling feathers. It just wasn’t her style. “I mean, I’m not still upset. It was a long time ago. It’s just…”

How was she supposed to explain that while she’d worked on forgiving Havana and Ember for abandoning her, it didn’t mean she was okay? That it didn’t still affect her. It did. It was one hundred percent the reason she couldn’t figure out whether she was coming or going with Isaiah.

That’s when a knock sounded at the door. Isaiah. Happy to cut off Havana’s laser-eyed focus, Aria’s gaze flew to the still-closed door as she weighed how badly she needed to see him against how quickly she could get her sisters to vacate the premises before she let him in.

Isaiah won, solely because there was little a solid dose of him couldn’t fix. She darted across the living area and let in her caller, who was here to see her.

The moment she flung open the door, Isaiah blew across the threshold and gathered her up in his arms to drop her into a blistering kiss. Every nerve in her body ignited, draining her of all sense of time and place. The man had a wicked way with his mouth that rendered her mute and stupid, but then what did speaking and thinking matter when he was kissing her? She had no interest in either, not when he held her like he’d found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

“That was worth the price of admission.”

Dully, she registered Ember’s sarcastic voice through the haze of Isaiah that had stolen her wits. She broke off the kiss with extreme reluctance and nuzzled his face with hers. “I think our audience needs to go before you do that again.”

“I scarcely noticed them,” he murmured, his eyes warm and inviting and most importantly, trained on her and not even bothering to check out the women in the kitchen. “How fast can they leave?”

“Fast enough,” Havana called with a forced laugh. “We know when we’re not wanted. Come on, Em. Let’s go hang out at Ruby’s so you can tell me more about your ideas for a bar.”

“Really? Because I have a lot of ideas.” The sarcasm hadn’t quite drained from Ember’s voice but she followed Havana from the kitchen all the same, skirting Isaiah and Aria who gladly moved a few feet closer to the longhorn-uterus painting to give them room to exit Serenity’s apartment.

“Where were we?” Isaiah slammed the door shut with one foot, all without losing his hold on her. That was talent she could appreciate.

“You were kissing me. And I was swooning,” she reminded him with a grin, more than happy to forget all about that scene with Havana. “You’re a really good kisser.”

“You’re a really fun woman to kiss.” He demonstrated by giving her a perfunctory peck on the lips, then pulling back in a tease that had her growling in frustration, which only made him laugh.

The rumble of it against her torso settled inside her warmly and if he hadn’t been holding her so tightly, she’d definitely float away in a bubble of bliss. “I missed you.”

“Yeah? You could have come by the barn. There was some stuff you could have done, like hand me tools and bat your eyes at me.”

“Then everyone would have known we were an item.” A silly excuse. Everyone knew, obviously, if Ember could be believed. “I wanted to keep you all to myself. A secret for us only.”

His gaze heated, turning his blue eye molten and his brown eye the color of melted chocolate. “Like the roof? I’m a fan of secrets that involve me and you and no prying eyes.”

She shuddered as she contemplated all the delicious things that could happen in such circumstances, some of which she’d only recently gained half a clue about and the remainder of which she desperately wished to be given more than just a clue. “We’re alone now. Serenity is with Caleb at the bank in La Grange and won’t be back for another hour or so.”

Isaiah groaned, tilting his head to hers until their foreheads touched in a gesture that felt far more intimate than it should. “I did not need to know that. You really enjoy testing my will, don’t you?”

“Not a test.” She shook her head. “Am I not being clear enough that you light me up inside too? That I’m more than willing, eager in fact, to get to the next level. Show me what it’s all about.”

But he did the exact opposite of what she’d expected and backed off, taking all his warmth and solid muscles with him as he pulled away. When he’d put a firm five feet between them, he stood there running a hand through his short dark hair, staring at the floor. Her heart twisted painfully as she watched him struggle to speak.

Which loosened her own tongue faster than his. “What, Isaiah? You’re fine with kissing but I’m not pretty enough to undress all of a sudden?”

“Don’t drag that up again,” he said with frown. “I’ve already told you plenty of times how beautiful I think you are. That’s not going to change overnight.”

Those were just words, though, and his actions spoke far louder. She’d never said anything so bold to a man before, so it was possible she had pictured the wrong outcome when she’d thrown herself at him, but she was pretty sure that no one with a Y chromosome had ever rejected an offer like that from Ember twice in a row. Or even once.

“Then please. Do tell which part has changed overnight.”

“The part where I can’t seem to stop myself from getting caught up in you, only to be reminded that there are more factors involved here than doing whatever I want without considering the consequences.” His eyelids slammed shut for a brief moment, as if in a quandary. “The barn is nearly finished. Tristan can do the rest without me. It’s a good time to cut ties, and I just…”

“Want to tell me this is over?” she guessed quietly, even as the phrase tore through her. She would’ve sworn she’d been prepared for this. She wasn’t.

Obviously that was why he wasn’t taking her up on her blatant offer. Once again, she’d discovered a man’s depth of character just as he was showing her the door.

“No! Aria. Geez.” Isaiah shook his head and plunked down on the couch behind him unexpectedly, then braced his hands on his knees as he stared up at her. “I was having a hard time thinking about leaving in the first place and now that I’m falling in love with you, it feels impossible.”

Her heart tumbled from its perch and fell right at his feet. Which seemed like as good a place as any to lay her own revelations on the line. She dropped to her knees between his and gathered up his beautiful face with both of her palms, praying everything she was feeling inside could somehow be communicated through her eyes because her throat wasn’t working so well.

They stared at each other for a long moment. I’m in love with you too. She couldn’t be sure if she said it out loud or not. Surely, he could hear it weeping from her skin as there was no way something so big and huge could be contained by banal flesh.

“Isaiah,” she murmured and leaned into a kiss that wasn’t anything like the first one. This was more of a transfer of souls, a connection that bound them together in ways she had yet to figure out. While she’d rather be done with all the talking, she had more to say. “About the thing I brought up last night. About going with you. Isn’t that the answer?”

More to the point, she wanted it to be.

A shadow stole over his expression. “It’s all I’ve thought about today, though I told myself I wasn’t going to. It’s madness, Aria. I can’t take you away from your home, nor should you ask me to. Just like you don’t want to hold me here, I don’t want to be responsible for forcing you to leave.”

“But that’s the thing,” she croaked, emotion coloring her voice as the decision clarified for her in an instant. “You’re not making me do anything. You’re opening doors for me. We belong together, can’t you see that? I want to be wherever you are.”

That’s what her prediction had meant. You’ll feel intimacy all around so no matter where you go, love will follow. She wasn’t supposed to stay here at all.

Isaiah was already shaking his head. “Aria. The reasons I’m leaving are the same reasons why you can’t go. You deserve better than to be tied to someone like me.”

She flinched. “Someone like you? Someone good and kind, who makes me feel floaty and bonds me to the ground at the same time? A man who refuses to take advantage of me and then leave is who I see in front of me. You’re someone I can talk to. I feel comfortable with you, more so than anyone else I’ve ever met. What more could I possibly ask for, let alone deserve?”

“I’m not…” He sighed, a great heaving of his chest that she felt in hers. “There’s more to me than meets the eye. We barely know each other. You’re putting all your hope in something you know nothing about.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Suddenly furious and not at all sure where the surge of heat had come from, she shot to her feet, almost taking his nose off in the process. “You just told me you were falling in love with me. Why would you even say that if you already knew you were going to throw up all these roadblocks?”

“I don’t know. Because I’m selfish,” he ground out. “Far more selfish than I would have guessed. I shouldn’t have told you.”

“But you did.” Because he’d been speaking from the heart. That much, she believed beyond a shadow of a doubt. “And it’s too late to take it back.”

“I’m not trying to!” Cursing, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, this is not how I expected lunch to go.”

“Hint, when you kiss a girl and talk about falling in love with her, your next move is almost never going to be explaining all the reasons why that doesn’t matter because it’s not going to work out anyway.”

Like she knew. Maybe this was how all relationships went. Ember had to have gotten her all men are losers spiel from personal experience. The longhorn-uterus picture over his head blurred as she stared at it, trying not to cry in frustration.

He just nodded, mute all of a sudden. Which tripped her temper again. “What did you expect anyway? Why even come over if you were just going to say sayonara?”

“Because I’m weak,” he said wearily with a small smile. “And making good decisions is my Achilles heel lately. I couldn’t stay away from you, which is a running theme here, by the way. If I’d been able to stop myself from seeking you out over the last few weeks, we never would have made it past that first time on the roof.”

But they had. Because they’d connected. But he seemed fine with just throwing all of that away. She crossed her arms and glared at him, giving him the full brunt of her Irish. It was just like Ember and Havana had said. The second a man came into her life, voila. Her previously unriled temper made an appearance.

“Well, guess what. I get a say in this too and I’m not sorry that’s how it happened.” She almost stamped her foot and resisted at the last minute. “I’m in love with you and you can’t make me stop. Also? If you leave, I’ll just follow you. What are you going to do about it?”

His gaze locked onto hers, spearing her through as he assessed her face, presumably to gauge how serious she was. Which she was happy to clarify.

“Deadly serious,” she informed him. “So now that we have that established, stop acting like Shrek and start trying to figure out how to make this work instead of pushing me away. Because that’s what I’m worth, buster. And so are you.”

For whatever reason, that made him laugh and the sound of it lightened her heart—and her mood. They had a shot, she could feel it. If she could just get him to agree to leave together, this could work between them.

“So that’s it then? You call me Shrek and I’m supposed to fall at your feet?”

“Pretty much.” And then she squealed as he bulleted off the couch to catch her in his embrace. She melted into it, gratified at least to have gotten him over whatever hump had caused him to stop touching her, and let herself drown in his warmth. “Are you through making me dizzy with all your back and forth then?”

“Probably not,” he admitted easily. “But it seems as if you’re largely unimpressed with my attempts to be noble, so let’s try this. I’ll stop pushing you away if you agree to give me time to do the figuring out you’re asking for. I don’t know what that looks like. But if you’re willing to stay on the boat for the discovery process, welcome aboard.”