Page 5 of Love, Hate, Love

“Yes. I can’t have a thief staying with the rest of my staff in the bunkhouse. It’s not fair to them.”

Didn’t matter how many times the wordthiefhad been hurled at me. It still burned like a fresh brand every time. At least I’d gotten better at controlling the urge to flinch, hiding how hard it hit. I’d always detested thieves, and now I was walking around as one of the most infamous of them all. I’d gone from getting an invite to every hot party there was in New York City, being courted by the handsomest and most successful men, to being a pariah in one of the smallest towns in the U.S.

I’d really hit my lowest.

We walked around the larger building I’d spotted before, and that was when I saw it.

He stopped beside what could only be described as a shed, and I realized I hadn’t quite hit bottom yet.

Chapter3

Kade

What the hellhad I been thinking? I hadn’t seen her in years. That should have dulled something. After what had happened? It should’ve dulledeverything.

Instead, her presence hit me like a tsunami. No warning. No mercy. Just Leah, reaching into my chest and getting a grip on me like she always had. Touching at something I’d thought untouchable.

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but it hadn’t beenher, the girl who had always been able to undo me. The Devious Debutante might be a woman, but the girl who’d lived in the house across the creek was still there. She might’ve grown up since I’d seen her last, but Leah was still there. I hadn’t been counting on that when this plan had been getting ironed out. Her blonde locks weren’t the wild mess I remembered, and she looked thinner than she used to, moresophisticatedthan she used to, but she still fidgeted when she was nervous. She still tried to hide in the shadows as soon as attention shifted her way, like the wallflower she could never be.

Those sky-blue eyes were just as bright when she looked at me. For a second, they’d been almost hopeful when they met mine, until I’d quashed any chance of a cordial relationship, let alone anything close to what we’d had, with a swift dismissal. If she’d known it had taken all my restraint to not carry her suitcase for her, she’d have worked me around her little finger. How was I possibly going to have her here for an entire year? What the hell had I done? What did I do now? The only option I had at the moment was to get her situated and get away fast.

I opened the door to the cabin and flicked on the lights. Elijah, the stable manager and all-around fixer, was supposed to have had this place cleared out, cleaned up, and livable. A quick glance around made it clear that our standards on what was considered livable might not have matched up this time. At least she had it to herself and it wasn’t a prison cell. That was something.

Damn it was cold, though.

I knelt by the wall, fidgeting with the controls on front of the electric baseboard heater. It wasn’t on? No wonder it was so frigid in here.

“You need to turn the heat up manually when you come in.” I made sure to keep any concern out of my voice. Damned if I’d let her work me over. She’d burned me when I was barely a man, and it wouldn’t happen again.

“Where’s the thermostat?” she asked, looking about the small space as if in disbelief that this was to be her new home.

“It’s on the baseboard, down there.” I pointed to where I had just been kneeling.

She walked into the middle of the room and shivered as she looked around.

“Wait, where’s the bathroom?” Her tone was even, but she was chewing on her lower lip.

She was taking it better than I would’ve expected, at least pretending to be calm.

“The bunkhouse has bathrooms and a kitchen you can use.” I motioned to the building no more than ten feet away, visible through the cloudy window.

We were about at the end of autumn, and the temperature reminded you every night if you happened to forget. Was it going to be miserable to traipse out in the cold in the middle of the night every time she had to pee? Most definitely, but I didn’t trust her enough to have her stay in the house with me. And I sure as hell wasn’t putting her in the bunkhouse surrounded by men so she could stir up trouble there. This would have to work, even if it wasn’t ideal.

“It’s”—she let out a sigh, as if she were coming to terms with the place—“exactly what I expected from you.”

I caught her shivering again. It might’ve been this place or the temperature. I had to get out of here before I forgot who she was, what she’d done. She wasn’t some wronged innocent who needed protection. She didn’t need me to take care of her.

“You can go next door to the bunkhouse until it warms up. Everyone is expecting you. Chuck is the ranch foreman. He’ll find you tomorrow and show you the ropes. Elijah is the stable manager and also handles a lot of the maintenance if something breaks or you need something.”

Great. Now I’d made it sound like she had one of those New York supers she was used to at her beck and call.

“No one will be waiting on you,” I added. “If it’s light when you get up, you’re late.” I gave her shoes a pointed look. “And I hope you’ve got some sturdier clothes in that suitcase. It’s going to be hard to shovel shit in those.”

Her chin lifted an inch as she stared right back at me. “As much as I appreciate your experience in this area, I’ll be just fine. I don’t want you worrying about me when you’ve clearly got your own issues going on.”

She’d be fine here. I wasn’t her protector. I wasn’t even her friend, not anymore. And this was Leah. She’d give as good as she got, which might’ve been why she could crawl under my skin the way she did. She was one of the toughest people I’d ever met, even when she’d just been a kid.

I walked back into the house and went immediately to the cabinet, pouring myself a whiskey. I threw it back and poured another before settling onto the couch, resisting the urge to drink until I was numb. I’d never been an alcoholic, but her being here felt like my brain had gotten tossed into the spin cycle.

---