River's Return (River's End Series, #3) (22 page)

She simply didn’t know and could not define what they were. But hearing his confirmation that he was not, in fact, sleeping with other women, made something swell and expand in her chest. She could not stand it if he ever left her house, crossed her lawn, and did the same thing with Celia. Not ever again. She felt like scratching Celia’s eyes out when she imagined her doing so in the past. Allison would wilt with humiliation and jealousy however, if he chose to do so now. After her.

Because Shane was right, and if Allison were completely honest, there was an instantaneous, deep, and implausible connection between them. It made no sense. It was wrong, but it was right. It was only for now. She had no other answers.

She let him sway against her and didn’t comment again on their status. They finished eating dinner and dessert, which he practically begged her to eat. Who didn’t love a man who encouraged you to have dessert?

He drove her straight to her house and got out to open her door for her. “You’re staying?”

“Not tonight,” he said softly. They stood at her front door and she frowned.

“But you’re driving my car.”

“It’s our first date; and I want you to remember it. The beginning, the middle and the end. I’ll bring your car back tomorrow.”

“Are you for real?”

He brought her body up against his as his head dipped down and his mouth met hers. He didn’t lift his face off hers until she melted and was practically wilting against him. “I’m for real.”

He smiled a small, secretive smile. Somehow, as her knees started shaking and she felt desperate for him to stay, she realized that was his point.
His
seduction. She was being wooed and seduced by the one man in River’s End everyone told her to stay away from. The one man to watch out for. Shane didn’t date. Shane just played around. Shane was a man-whore.

Shane was also the man who brought her heart back to life. Now, she felt a sharp hammering in her chest, when, for four years, it had lain limp and dead, just barely pumping her blood in sad, pathetic efforts.

Shane showed up the next morning in her car. He had a smile, and a bag of pastries and cups of coffee to eat breakfast with her. Allison was a little unprepared for the magnitude of her attraction and joy at seeing him. She could not wait for lunch and dragged him upstairs to finish what last night’s kiss had started.

She would not, however, even try to label it.

****

He felt her hands coming up behind him before resting on his shoulders and sliding down his back. Goosebumps broke out all over his skin. The warm water from the shower came down over him, but Allison’s hands felt like soft silk, gliding over his shoulders and back up towards his collarbone. There was something so soft and caring about her touch. It was healing almost. Whenever she touched him, he wanted to lean into it. Her hands drifted into his hair and pulled as she finger-combed through it. He tilted back into her touch and sighed at the little tugs on his scalp.

“I’ve never seen it out of the ponytail,” she said, muffling her words while kissing his back.

“And you…?”

Her hands traveled down to his waist and around his to his stomach. “Like everything else on you, it somehow fits.”

“Do you wish I looked different? More like Patrick?” He turned fully toward her then. She was naked too and her body looked beautiful. She had white, alabaster skin. Shane never knew what
alabaster
meant until he saw her smooth, pale skin. Her arms, hands, neck, ears, and face were covered in little, brown freckles that appeared to be sprayed wherever the sun touched her. He loved each one. Her breasts were huge, white globes that filled his hands. He had large hands to fill, and pretty much considered hers a perfect fit, maybe even made just for him. She was curvy and confident, yet had moments of self-consciousness, or shyness that made her all the more vulnerable, which endeared her even more to him. Like his opinion mattered so much to her.

“No. I don’t know how it happened, but it feels like we are just a match. Do you wish I looked different?”

“I think you’re beautiful. I never dreamed after meeting you at Charlie’s conference, you’d be standing in a shower naked against me. Thought about it a lot though…”

“You did? How? I mean, there was nothing like that between us.”

“These,” he said taking her small hand in his and kissing the ends of her fingernails. “These red, red fingernails that didn’t totally fit the rest of you. I wondered why they were such a loud color when the rest you appeared so muted.”

She smiled. “Simple. To distract people’s eyes from all the freckles.”

“Seriously?” He tilted his head back in a laugh.

“So serious. They are all over my hands, but the red draws the eyes to my fingertips. I use my hands a lot to teach.”

“Among other things,” he mumbled, smiling when she pretended to elbow him in the side. “And I really like the red; oh, and these. I was sure, they were awesome and I was so right.” He tucked his hands under her bare breasts and lifted them up as he talked. He rubbed the ends before she tried to feign another swat at him again.

“You were thinking all that while I was trying to have a serious, grownup discussion about your nephew?”

“Uh-huh. I was. You gonna punish me for that, teacher? I had this little outfit in mind…”

“One you thought of then?”

“Yup.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are unbelievable.”

He took her hand in his and dropped it to his impressive package. “That is true.” He smiled wickedly while he said it. She rolled her eyes, but her hand stayed there as his other hand stayed on her breast.

She went quiet as he rubbed, and so did she. Finally she said, “What kind of little outfit?”

The grin that split his face was enough to crack it. He suddenly let go of her and wrapped her up in both his arms. With a screech, she grabbed his neck for support. He took her fully in his arms in a giant bear hug.

“A little, naughty, private school one. But on second thought, just how you are now? Perfection.” Instead of putting her against the shower stall and finishing what all the flirting and petting had started, he kept her tight in his embrace and stared down into her face. It felt like his heart might expand so much, it could explode in his chest. No one ever made him laugh so easily. Or filled him with so much joy. Or made him so happy. He held her as he dipped his lips on hers in a long, lingering kiss. He lifted his head and stared dreamily into her eyes. Letting her feet slide to the ground again, he said, “I love you, Allison.”

Her eyes grew huge and her mouth opened. Speechless again. He was really good at making her speechless.

“Shane… I… don’t know…” She fumbled and her skin started to flush. He shook his head and pressed his lips on hers.

“I told you I don’t pretend. I feel that way. You are not required to do anything with it.”

She took a deep breath and leaned her forehead against his. “I want to. I’m just… I’m so scared of everything. Of being hurt again. After doing all of this once and having it so epically crash and burn. And then, that voice in my head, as awful as this makes me, but that voices keeps saying:
if I can’t make it work with Patrick, how can I make it work with anyone else
? We were perfect for each other. The same type. The…”

His lips stopped her sentence when he kissed her and lifted himself off her, leaving her silent and dazed. “Allison,” he said, in an authoritative, yet gentle tone. He leaned his head down so she was looking him right in the eyes. “Just try to understand, this is a first for me. It’s overwhelming. I never even dated a woman. I never called one
my girlfriend
. I never even wanted to. I’ve never been faithful. But with you? It’s the easiest, most natural thing in the world. I don’t have to try to be faithful, or commit… I just am. I don’t even notice another woman. And if I see an attractive one, I just think of all the ways she isn’t like you. I don’t know what that means. About Patrick. Or our futures. Or what makes things endure. I just know how I feel.”

“I feel overwhelmed too.”

He smiled and kissed her again. “Why did you sneak up behind me? My long, flowing hair? Want me to cut it?”

“No. I don’t want you to change a thing about you,” she said, kissing him right back. She let her hands drift downwards again to explore the part of him that was so different than any other man’s.

Chapter Fourteen

THE FOLLOWING MONDAY, AFTER school, Allison drove past the main house and down a long road that took her to a newly constructed house. It was much smaller than the main house, with an A-frame design. The huge windows overlooked the beach, the river and the valley, and had two ends flanking the A which led to more house. When she entered, she found an airy, open living area, kitchen, dining room and a loft above. Bedrooms were located in the wings of the house. It was bare still and needed more furniture and decorations, but the basic bones revealed a beautiful, spacious house.

When Shane came over to her house after Allison finished tutoring, he looked glum. “What’s wrong?” Allison asked him.

“The main house is big and empty and pointless. I live there alone. I hate it. I mean, when was there ever an occasion to even call it the ‘main’ house?”

“Weren’t you always leaving anyway?”

“Yeah, but I always came back.”

“And you expected everyone to sit there, waiting, for your return indefinitely? Keeping things exactly the same? Everything changes, Shane.”

Nodding, he curled up on the couch near her and didn’t leave that night. Or the next. Or the next. He kind of unofficially just remained
there.
She had no idea what to think about it; but was glad they didn’t argue or feel the need to discuss it. It was just so.

Progress for Erin was frustrating and slow, but not to Allison. She saw Erin advancing in huge leaps and giant steps. She knew the lessons were the building blocks of the entire foundation. Having lacked them previously, Erin could not move forward with her reading with any kind of accuracy, comprehension, or fluency. The process was excruciatingly hard for Erin to grasp. Her dyslexia was pervasive enough to make any kind of learning difficult, even the very system designed to teach her.

For the next several weeks, Allison’s days fell into a pleasant pattern and she discovered a sense of satisfaction she had not felt in four years. She looked forward to her school days and teaching, feeling almost totally engaged with her students. A renewed interest in all of them and how they learned independently stemmed from her work with Erin. She saw the results, day-by-day with Erin, which fueled her ambition and inspired Allison in ways that she never experienced, or even remembered feeling since Gabrielle.

Each day after school, Allison went to the ranch. Erin came in from working the horses and they sat down together and started her program. They worked diligently for forty-five minutes, took a break, and worked another forty-five. The entire household respected what they were doing and how important it was. Charlie even gave them a wide berth and plenty of quiet. Erin had to have complete silence to concentrate. It took her several sessions, but she learned to trust Allison. Now, with a strong bond firmly established between them as tutor and student, they also became friends.

Allison was surprised after the first week when Erin started to open up and talk to her more intimately. It started with little comments and questions about dyslexia, which Erin compared to what she experienced in school. It was a pretty tragic picture as Erin described it. The school’s demands inevitably conflicted with her inability to understand the material. It was like asking someone with a broken arm to catch a ball with it. Physically, it was an impossibility. The way her brain processed language prevented her from ever learning to read without unique and specific instructions designed to overcome her handicap.

The longer they worked together, the more passionate Allison found the entire experience. All teachers should have been taught to spot and screen for dyslexia. And the proper instruction should have been readily available as soon as it was detected. It was a travesty, and so wrong, to Allison. She sighed as she started to realize the ramifications of the issue, and the experience. She felt a passion about enlightening others to the affliction. Her life in general had not been ignited by anything for years. She wasn’t sure where her goal would lead her, but something in her gut told her after she and Erin were finished, she had to search out some other avenue to pursue this neglected issue.

After Erin and Allison finished working, Allison often went out to dinner with Shane, or ate dinner at the ranch, and sometimes, he came to her house and she cooked for him. He more often than not spent the night at her house on those dinner nights. He discovered he really liked being with her. There were several very awkward moments where they ran into Celia, or Jett. Jett was still clueless, however, and often stopped to talk to both of them. Allison recognized Shane’s sudden discomfort as he fidgeted nervously and made lame excuses to get away. She felt a little vindicated knowing because of her, he now owned up to his part in the affair. Allison was annoyed, however, and sometimes even jealous knowing Celia had experienced Shane in the same way as she. But without Celia, and Shane’s presence at her house, Allison would have been just a neighbor. There was no way she or Shane would have given each other a chance, or a second look. For she was as much of stretch for him to look twice at as he was to her. They were polar opposites and it was more than just a miracle that either of them ever noticed the other.

One of Allison’s most favorite days ever was when she came home from Erin’s and found Shane already there. He was hard at work, sinking fenceposts.

“What are you doing?” She waved at the stack of lumber she saw along the side of her house.

He was sweating, and his hair was pushed back with a red bandana, hanging loosely over his shoulders. He so rarely wore it down like that, it made him look dark and disreputable. His arm muscles bunched in the hot sun. The sleeves were ripped off his t-shirt and the leather vest he wore over it with his jeans only added to his hotness level in Allison’s mind. How could this man, this sweating, large, dangerous-looking man smile at her as if she were the hottest piece of ass he had ever encountered? That’s how he made her feel. Objectified? Yes, but the way he did it, and his ability to see through her usual, conservative, school marm look was shocking. It did strange things to her insides, making them twist in desire. She was smiling shyly, relishing his attention.

“Building you a fence, sweetheart,” he answered while driving the post digger into the lawn.

“I see that. But why?”

“So I can stop feeling obligated to have friendly, but totally uncomfortable chats with our neighbors. I love being here, but I hate being stared at. This six-foot, wood fence should eliminate some of that.”

“It must be expensive.”

His gaze slid over her, eyeing her up and down as if she were standing there in leather and tats, or some other kind of skimpy, revealing outfit, rather than the slacks and blouse she wore all primly buttoned up. Her French braid really said
sex me up.
She nearly rolled her eyes as his suggestive glance penetrated her prissy exterior. “Worth every penny if I can feel less guilty.”

She bit her lip. “First of all, you didn’t even ask.”

He shrugged. “If I pay and do the labor, I don’t see why you’d care.”

“It’s my house,” she reminded him.

“My girlfriend.” He smiled as if that were any kind of answer, or permission.

“Second, they still live there.”

“I know. But this way, Jett won’t feel the need to greet me every single time he goes outside, or to walk over for idle chit-chat, and I can avoid Celia’s glares at me whenever I see her.”

She had to laugh as she stepped towards him. “You do feel guilty.”

He finally set the post hole digger down and placed his hands on her waist. She didn’t even care about the dirt on them. She lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed his mouth. He always seemed to freeze and lean into her whenever she touched him. Or kissed him. Even if she barely touched a hand to his skin. He really liked her affection. She never considered herself a particularly affectionate or petting type of woman. But Shane was so eagerly receptive to her and was always hugging her, touching her, and kissing her mouth or forehead. They were always sweet, caring gestures that melted her previously conservative resolve. He was impossible to resist and she liked him
so
much. A crazy amount, which was still alarming to her emotional system.

He lifted his head up and gave her a rueful smile before ducking and saying, “I do feel guilty. Do you think… I should tell Jett? If it were you cheating on me, I’d sure want to know. Maybe I should just come clean.”

“I think if you ever want to visit here with any kind of peace in the future, you need to make it their problem, and theirs alone.”

“Seems like the coward’s way out.”

“It is. But such is the situation.”

“I won’t ever fuck a married woman again. I swear.”

His tone turned so glum, she had to press her lips together to hold in her laugh and smile. He was so downtrodden about it now. She didn’t have the heart to punish him anymore. She decided not to scold him about his language, or talking like that, or doing married people in the first place.

Within one week, Allison’s new fence enclosed her back yard and ran along the side of her front yard. And Shane was right, it did help. Jett really had to strain to see over the fence, and  Celia couldn’t see over it at all, thereby physically reducing their encounters, even when they were outside, or in their driveway. It was a relief for Allison and Shane. They did not feel so much under a microscope, or perpetual victims of Celia’s anger, disgust, and jealousy. Even Jett’s chattiness as a friendly neighbor slowly ceased.

It was the best few months Allison spent in years. Obviously, it had to be years since she knew the exact date when her life went south emotionally. But now? Life felt almost fun sometimes. Light. Carefree. Sexy. All the good things that were formerly disintegrated in her life seemed to be returning.

****

The school year was close to winding down; and the grand opening for the Rydell River Resort was scheduled. It was shaping up like a huge holiday for the Rydells and everyone from River’s End was eagerly anticipating it. She heard the scuttle. People liked the idea. It would make River’s End a destination spot for tourists, and possibly attract new people to the small, fledging town. It might even put them on the map. Even Shane got involved during the last week leading up to it.

They had to finish getting the ranch ready for guests. The new cabins were all cleaned and the yards around them were landscaped. Acres of lawn were mown, allowing plenty of access to the river. Even a covered picnic area and fire pits were provided. All ten cabins were booked immediately, most with parties of at least four people. There was a sense of excitement that even Shane could not resist.

He never took an active part in the ranch because he felt like a failure for not liking horses. But now with the resort, the ranch was about
people.
And he liked all kinds of people. So the ranch now interested him, no doubt, for the first time.

They hired a whole crop of new employees. Erin dealt with the horses and scheduled all the opportunities for guests to take horseback rides around the area. She also handled the daily care of the whole stable of horses. Jack helped her, but stayed busy training and breeding the Nokota horses. Being a rare form of mustang, breeding them allowed the Rydells to make a lucrative profit, since they were one of the only breeders on the West Coast. Kailynn’s two brothers took over the housekeeping and laundry services of the guest cabins, along with handling the guest check-ins/check-outs and any other miscellaneous requests.

It surprised everyone when both brothers asked for them to be permanent positions after they were first posted. It wasn’t an obvious fit at first, but Jack knew he could trust both Caleb and Jordan. Their biggest failing was a lack of incentive. They usually needed someone to point them where to work and what to do. As long as Jack kept on them, however, they did their jobs.

The family was searching for an outside firm to handle the accounting and bookkeeping needs of both the ranch and resort. It was too much for Jack now, especially without Ian there any longer to relieve some of the burden.

On Friday, May 3
rd
they opened the Rydell River Resort to guests. The guests had their own entrance and a small office was designated for check in. All ten cabins were occupied within hours. Never before had strangers stayed overnight on Rydell land.

Shane saw several of them from a distance, rambling around the cabins, and venturing down to the river. There were young kids running around, frolicking in the fields, and also heading towards the river. The parents weren’t far behind, staring, pointing, and talking. Shane saw the ranch and its landscape with new, fresh eyes. It was extraordinary and so special. The perfect vacation spot.

All the visitors went to the stables at one point; and Erin was soon flooded with dozens of questions. She loved it. Shane could only grin as he watched her. Erin remembered how much in awe she was of Jack and his horses during her first few weeks at the ranch. She managed to transfer that thrill into a long, interesting narration of all the work they did at the ranch. Many people stopped to gape at Jack, who was often out training the young horses. Shane knew the public scrutiny would irritate Jack, but Erin had already warned him in a long lecture that very morning. She demanded he let people not only see the horses, but also to receive them with grace and courtesy. They were paying for that pleasure, and they all wanted the guests to come back. Public approval and satisfaction improved all of their futures, not just Jack’s.