Mixing Temptation (2 page)

 

Chapter 1

Fourteen months later. . .

S
OMETIMES LIVING LIFE
to the fullest involved breaking into his brother's kitchen on a Saturday morning. Though Josh doubted the small-­town cops would write him up for B&E seeing as he had a key to the place. Plus, he'd grown up in the old farmhouse, and still lived in the apartment over the barn. And his brother should be resigned to his early morning baking sessions by now. Even though his siblings questioned his motives for delivering pie after pie to a woman who didn't seem all that interested in dating him, that hadn't stopped him from using the kitchen during his downtime.

He'd spent the past year and change sharing his homemade baked goods with the quiet, reclusive Caroline. From the pecan pie recipe he'd perfected in the aftermath of a logging accident that had left him searching for ways to reclaim his short-­term memory, to his first key lime creation covered in whipped cream. Yeah, baking had proven oddly useful.

Josh Summers spread a thick layer of the homemade topping on the pie and tried not to think about covering the woman determined to keep him locked in the ‘friend zone' with the leftovers. After what Caroline had been through, well hell, he understood why she needed time. But that didn't keep him from hoping for more—­especially since she'd kissed him in the back room of Big Buck's Bar a few months ago.

And then asked him out.

But she never picked a time or place for your first date. . .

“What are you making?” a familiar voice demanded as the back door to the Summers' family farmhouse slammed shut.

“Testing out a new key lime pie recipe,” he told his older sister without looking up from his creation. Katie Summers—­no, make that Katie Trulane now that she'd married the number two at Moore Timber, the logging company that also served as their employer—­crowded in at his side. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of her long, red ponytail swinging forward and threatening to land in his pie topping.

Of the four siblings, Katie and Josh had inherited their mother's red hair and green eyes. Thankfully, their looks were the only trait she'd passed on to them. Their mom had walked out on her family when Josh was a kid and never looked back. But the Summers siblings stuck together—­even at seven in the morning on a freaking Saturday.

“Is that pie for me?” Katie asked hopefully.

“Nah,” another all too familiar voice called out. “Josh stopped baking for us months ago. He's still trying to woo his lady friend with sugar.”

“Shut up, Chad,” Josh muttered. He dipped the spatula into the bowl of whipped cream and then returned it to the pie laden with cream. Josh had woken up early, slipped out of his apartment over the barn and into the farmhouse kitchen with the hope that he'd be in and out before his siblings stormed Brody's home.

“Shouldn't you all be in bed? You're married”—­he shot Katie a pointed look—­“and you're engaged.” He glanced over his shoulder at Chad. “Plus, you don't live here anymore.”

If Josh had what his brothers and sister had fought so hard to find—­love with the promise of happy-­ever-­after and homes of their own—­he would stay the hell out of Brody's kitchen on a Saturday morning and while away the hours in bed.

“Lena worked the overnight shift last night, so I stayed here,” Chad said with a shrug as he headed for the pot of coffee Josh had made upon breaking in. “I heard you banging around down here and thought I'd see if you started the coffee.”

“And I have a sixth sense that tells me when a bowl needs to be licked,” Katie said. She made a grab for the nearly empty whipped cream bowl. Now four months along with her first child, Katie had bypassed morning sickness in favor of sugar. And she'd appointed herself his designated ‘helper' which amounted to licking the bowls then handing them back to him to wash.

Josh swatted her hand away. “I'm not done with that. Why don't you go feed your goats first?”

“Liam volunteered to take care of the animals this morning.”

“When you kick a man out of bed at dawn to feed your barn full of rescued animals, it's called coercion,” Josh pointed out.

“He offered because Liam is a smart man and he knows I'll be grateful,” she shot back. “Now, please,
please
let me lick the bowl.”

Josh rescued the last of the whipped cream, spread it on a not-­quite-­perfect pie, and handed over the bowl. His sister took her treasure to the kitchen table Brody, the oldest brother and their ringleader since the Summers siblings had lost their father to a sudden heart attack, had built.

“Feeding her cravings again?” Brody's deep voice announced his presence in the kitchen.

Well, speak of the devil.

Though Brody has always been the ‘Most Likely To Follow the Straight and Narrow' of the siblings.

“This one is not for me,” Katie said. “I just get to share in the licking duties.”

“Caroline?” Brody asked with a sigh.

Pretending to be preoccupied with his pie, Josh nodded. He'd listened to dozens of long-­winded speeches and participated in countless debates hosted by his nosy siblings about his dead-­end relationship with the Big Buck's dishwasher.

She lives over an hour away from Independence Falls.

Josh had shot down Brody's protest by reminding his big brother that he'd fallen for a woman who'd lived on the other side of the country. Of course, Kat—­Josh's former doctor and the woman partly responsible for helping Josh reclaim his short-­term memory in the wake of the logging accident—­now lived upstairs.

It's been a year and you still haven'
t shared so much as a pizza.

There was a thread of truth to Chad's argument. But Josh had countered with
she prefers my pies.
And he'd left out the fact that they always shared them in the back room of Big Buck's Bar, hidden away from the curious, small-­town gossips that ­peopled Independence Falls and the neighboring university town where Caroline currently lived and worked—­Forever, Oregon.

Josh didn't want to talk about the fact that Caroline was technically in hiding. His siblings—­apart from Chad who'd been sworn to secrecy—­didn't know her full story and Josh planned to keep it that way. And even Chad had never learned the reasons why Caroline had run from her duty to serve her country. If his siblings found out that she'd been attacked by her commanding officer and still feared him, if they learned that there was a warrant out for her arrest . . .

Yeah, his brothers would probably sit on him—­with Katie standing nearby and cheering them on—­until Josh agreed to try dating a woman who could to split a damn pizza in public without fear of getting arrested if the local police stopped by to say hello.

“Any luck with your favorite Big Buck's employee?” Chad asked.

“Mind your own business.” Josh took a step back and examined his creation. It screamed homemade and key lime was sure as hell an odd choice for fall in Oregon, but Josh had wanted to try something new.

“But you, baby brother, are my business,” Chad said, adding a heavy dose of melodrama to his voice. “And I'm worried about you. When was the last time you got laid?”

Fourteen months ago. . .

“Also none of your business,” Josh said as he opened the fridge and set the pie inside.

“I'm just saying maybe you should rethink your strategy,” Chad said. “But if you're happy sharing desserts—­”

“She's not ready,” Josh snapped. “She's been through a lot . . . not that it's any of your damn business.”

Katie set the spatula in the bowl and pushed it away. “It's not,” she said. “But Josh, maybe you should take a step back and consider the fact that whatever happened to her won't fade into the background.”

Yeah, he'd thought about that. And he'd questioned his sanity pursuing a woman who might never be ready to move on with her life.

“A while back,” Brody said, “you said you wanted to settle down. But you've honed in on this one woman . . .” He shook his head and turned to the coffeepot.

“You haven't even brought her over for dinner,” Katie said. “I've only met her at the bar.”

“I think that was a good decision on my part,” Josh said. “You'd interrogate her and probably scare her off.”

Plus, she'd be terrified that one of you would ask too many questions.

“But Josh, you have to admit, the pies aren't working,” Chad said. “You need a new strategy to win her over.”

“Why don't you bring her flowers?” his sister suggested. “Or a baby goat? We have three that are just weaned. You could stop by the barn and pick one out. They're so cute.”

Josh stared around the kitchen at his brothers and sister. He wanted what they had—­futures filled with love and family. (Although he'd probably bypass the barn full of rescue animals on a piece of land adjoining his family homestead.)

But he was done playing games. He'd been up front and honest with Caroline. They talked over pie. He knew about her past. Or at least enough about what she'd been through to know she needed time. But more than that, he'd gotten to know
her
.

She liked ice cream with apple pie. Her humor tended toward dry and sarcastic—­which matched his. And she shared his fascination for how things worked—­everything from her dishwasher to the mechanical harvester he operated when cutting down trees.

“One of the things I like about Caroline,” he told his siblings as he headed for the back door. “She's not playing some weird game, waiting for me to bring her flowers or, shit, a
baby goat
. Pregnancy is messing with your mind if that's your dating advice, Katie. Now, I'm going to take a shower.”

He stormed out of the kitchen. But paused on the back steps and called over his shoulder: “And don't touch my pie!”

Walking to his space over the barn, he couldn't escape the feeling that his brothers and sister might be right. Not about the damn goat or his plan for trying to date her. Still, he wanted to settle down. And instead of dating, he'd spent the past year baking for a woman struggling to get her life back on track. He knew for a fact that life offered second chances, but Caroline seemed too afraid to take hers.

Maybe it was time that he stopped waiting for her to make the next move. Maybe he should ask her out.

Today.

Over key lime pie.

C
AROLINE HEARD THE
engine rev before the motorcycle turned the corner of the two-­lane country road leading into town. And she ran for the bushes. Ducking low in the underbrush, she waited for the bike to fly by her.

Not a cop.

The Forever, Oregon, police force wasn't large. And only a few of the officers rode motorcycles. But still, she had to be careful. Although watching her back, refusing to borrow her boss's car for fear of getting pulled over, led to long walks from her borrowed room in Noah's childhood home just outside of town to her job at Big Buck's Bar—­on the opposite side of downtown Forever.

Sometimes Noah's dad gave her a ride to town. And once in a while, her boss stopped by to pick her up. But the house was out of his way now that Noah and Josie had a place of their own.

And if Caroline had any hope of getting her life back on track, of moving on, then she probably needed to stop hiding in the bushes every time a car came down the road.

She dusted off her blue jeans and climbed out of the brush. Back on the shoulder of the road—­she wouldn't hit sidewalks until she reached the university on the outskirts of Forever—­she started walking with her backpack slung over one shoulder.

Another car came around the corner and she dove for the trees. But this time she wasn't fast enough. The vehicle slowed to a stop in the middle of the road. And her stomach turned over as dread put her nerves on high alert.

But one look and her panic eased. She knew that truck and she recognized the woman leaning out the window, her long blond hair whipping across her face.

“Caroline,” Lily Greene called out. “Want a ride?”

She glanced at the blue pickup, which belonged to Lily's boyfriend, Dominic Fairmore. On any other Saturday, she would have climbed into the truck. Lily—­a Forever, Oregon, native, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire, and for a few weeks most Big Buck's patrons would rather forget, bartender—­knew Caroline's secrets. And Lily still grappled with her own set of fears, though she now faced them with Dominic by her side.

But today Dominic wasn't riding shotgun. Caroline didn't recognize the man in the passenger seat. She knew the uniform though—­air force dress blues.

“I can walk—­”

“Ryan won't mind making room,” Lily said as she guided the truck over the shoulder on the opposite side of the road.

“But you're headed out of town,” she protested again. Lily might trust the man in uniform, but Caroline couldn't take that risk.

“We'll drop Ryan at his parents' place first and then I'll take you to Big Buck's. I'm guessing you have plenty of time before you need to be at work.” Lily nodded to the passenger door. “Come climb in.”

Lily Greene, I'm never sharing a plate of Josh
's brownies with you again.

Lily knew damn well she had plenty of time. She'd planned to walk to work. “Lil, I don't want to take you out of your way. And I need to get in early. I fell behind on the dishes last night,” she lied.

“Then we'll turn around and drop you first,” Lily said. “It's a lot faster by car than on foot.”

Caroline couldn't think of another reason not to accept the ride. If she kept protesting, Mr. Air Force would start asking questions.

“Fine.” Caroline looked left, then right, and crossed the street. When she reached the other side, she found Lily's passenger standing beside the open door.