Every Step She Takes (Who's Watching Now Book 2) (19 page)

“Travis, this is my sister, Rachel Lafferty. Rachel, Travis Barnett.”

Travis stood and shook the hand Rachel extended. “Grace has told me all about you. It’s a pleasure.”

“Funny, she’s said almost nothing about you.” Speculative eyes studied him. “I intend to remedy the situation. Nice to meet you, Travis.”

“Is it any wonder I don’t bring men home more often?”

Rachel laughed. “Don’t be a spoilsport. In fact, why don’t you go away so I can talk to Travis without interruption? Lark is out front petting a very odd looking dog, and I know she’d love to see her favorite aunt.”

Her mother’s hand stilled over the plate of cookies. “I thought she had plans.”

“Her plans changed.”

Grace stood. “Good, I’d love to chat with my niece.” She squeezed Travis’s arm as she passed. “Don’t scare him away, Sis.”

“Now why would I do that?”

Grinning, she left Travis to her sister. He was a big boy and could handle himself. Squaring her shoulders, she headed around the house, wondering what Lark had done now. Whatever it was, Grace was willing to bet it wouldn’t come close to the crap she’d pulled. She paused a moment and closed her eyes, praying it never would.

“A mutt doesn’t seem like your style, Aunt Grace.”

She dropped down onto a patch of grass beside her niece and stretched out her legs. “I’m not the purebred sort. Too high maintenance.”

Lark stroked Wylie’s ears before glancing over at her. “You drive a Porsche.”

“I like to go fast.”

The girl grinned. “I got my license.”

“So your mom mentioned.”

“Not that she ever lets me drive. She won’t let me have a car either, even though I’d pay for it with my own money.”

“You mean with your trust fund.”

She hunched forward, blond hair hanging across the shoulder tattooed with a little bird on a leafy branch. Even Grace hadn’t had the balls to get a tattoo when she’d been a teenager. Part of her had to admire her niece’s audacity.

“Same thing. My dad left me that money.”

“I don’t think it’s about the money. I think your mother is worried about your safety.”

Blue eyes flashed. “She’s worried I’ll do something stupid like get pregnant if I have more freedom. I’m not an idiot.”

Grace plucked a blade of grass and shredded it, choosing her words carefully. “You’re smart, but you don’t have a whole lot of life experience. Has it occurred to you she’s concerned for your emotional wellbeing as well as your physical safety?”

“She doesn’t like my boyfriend.”

“Why not?”

The shoulder hunched again. “She never likes any guy I date.”

“I don’t think that’s true. She liked Kevin.”

“He didn’t even go to my school, and I hardly ever saw him. She hated Gavin.”

“Wasn’t he the one who drove you into the city to get the tattoo?”

“So?”

“Come on, Lark. The kid was a punk. What doesn’t she like about your current boyfriend?”

Her niece let out a long sigh. “Mom thought he was okay in the beginning, but now she’s a mental case because she thinks we’re going to have sex.”

Grace smile. “You sure don’t mince words, do you?”

“What’s the point? We’re both adults.”

“Now there’s where the problem lies. You aren’t an adult. You’re still a child.”

Lark rolled her eyes. “I thought you were cool.”

“I am.”

“A cool aunt would just ask me if I needed help getting birth control.”

“Do you?”

Tears ran down her niece’s cheeks. “I don’t know. I really, really like Web. He says he loves me and if I loved him back, I’d do it with him.”

Grace’s fists clenched. “How do you feel about that?”

“Confused.”

She took a deep breath. “Want to hear a story?”

“Oh, my God, this isn’t going to be some fable to make me see the error of my ways, is it?”

Grace smiled. “No, it’s a story about me when I was sixteen.”

“This should be good. I’ve heard Grandma and Mom talking when they thought I wasn’t listening. They’re afraid I’m going to turn into you.” She brushed the tears off her cheeks. “Were you really that bad?”

“Yes.” She pushed a hand through her hair. “I had a boyfriend my sophomore year in high school, and I adored him. We ran track together, and he was good—almost as good as me. He was two years older, a senior, and he got a full-ride scholarship to college.”

“He left you to go to school?”

She swallowed hard. “He asked me to the prom, and I was thrilled. Afterward, he wanted to take me to a motel. He
expected
me to go.”

Lark stared at her with wide eyes. “Did you?”

“I told him to drop dead. No boy was going to tell me what to do.”

“What happened?”

“He dumped me at my house and took off. Then he went out and got drunk with his friends. Sometime early the next morning, he crashed his car into a big rig on the highway and died.”

Lark covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, so was I.” Grace let out a long breath. “I was heartbroken. Worse, I felt guilty.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Of course not, but I didn’t believe it then. I never told Grandma and Grandpa what happened that night. They just thought I was upset because he died, but your mom knew. She was away at college by then, but I called her. She tried so hard to make me see I wasn’t to blame. I saw a therapist—actually a few therapists.”

Lark reached over and picked up her hand. She squeezed hard.

“After that, when I liked a boy and he wanted to sleep with me, I said yes. I was so vulnerable and stupid not to value myself more. All I cared about was them. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to any of them. I quit track. I hung out with the wrong sort of friends. It took me years to get my act together. Sometimes I’m still not sure…” She bit her lip.

Lark leaned against her shoulder and let out a shaky breath.

Grace closed her eyes to hold back an avalanche of emotion. A few stray tears trickled out. “Don’t ever, ever let yourself be pressured into doing something you aren’t ready to do. No one gets to make those decisions for you.”

She nodded. “I won’t. I’m sorry, Aunt Grace.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry about. I love you, and I don’t want you to have to live with the same mistakes I made. Believe me, no boy is worth it. You’ll know when you’re ready.”

“I am worth it, aren’t I? I’ll talk to Web.” She lifted her chin. “If he dumps me, he dumps me.”

“If he dumps you, he’s a moron and not worthy of your time, anyway.”

“You’re right.”

“Damn straight.” Grace stood and pulled Lark to her feet then grabbed onto her for a quick hug. “I should go rescue Travis. First your grandma grilled him. Now your mom is taking her best shot.”

“Who’s Travis?”

“A man I met in Alaska.” She poked her chest. “He may not be as cool as yours truly, but I think you’ll like him.”

“Well, let’s go check him out. Can your dog come?”

“Wylie pretty much does what he wants.”

“Good for Wylie.” Her niece paused and touched her arm. “Aunt Grace?”

“What?”

“Thanks.”

* * * *

Grace looked—drained. Her eyes were shadowed and held a vulnerability in their depths that made him want to jump up and pull her into his arms. Travis was pretty certain she wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. Accompanying her was a pretty blond girl with damp eyes—her niece, he assumed. What had the two been talking about to elicit such a flood of emotion?

Grace exchanged a long look with her sister and gave a short nod. Rachel’s shoulders sagged, and relief flashed across her face. Apparently, the two didn’t need words to communicate.

“Travis, this is Lark. Lark, Travis.”

The girl gave him a shy smile. “Hi.”

He smiled back. “Hi, Lark. How are you?”

“Good.”

Grace picked up a cookie from the plate. “Want to take a walk through the vineyard? I need to burn off a few calories since I can’t stop eating these things.”

“Sounds great.”

As he turned, the girl gave her aunt a discreet thumbs-up.

Grace grinned. “We’ll be back in a while.”

“If you see your father out there, tell him not to be late for dinner.”

“Sure thing, Mom.”

Travis kept quiet until they’d left the yard with Wylie trailing along behind and entered the rows of grapes. Hard green balls hung from the vines. To his uneducated eye, the fruit had a lot of maturing to do before harvest.

“You okay?”

She glanced over at him. “Why do you ask?”

“Your niece looked like she’d been crying, and you were…tense.”

“Girl talk. Lark’s going through a rough period. I hope I helped her.”

“Is that why you came up here this weekend?”

She nodded. “Rachel’s worried about her daughter, and she knew I could offer some personal experience that would make Lark think twice before she does anything really stupid.”

He took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. “Obviously, that talk cost you plenty.”

“It brought back some old memories.”

Stopping, he turned to face her. Pain dimmed the clarity of her eyes. With his free hand, he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“You, Grace Hanover, are a giving person.”

“Lark reminds me of me.” She grimaced. “She reminds everyone of me. Anyway, I’m tough. I can take one for the team.”

“You aren’t tough at all. You just act like you are.”

“Not true. I had to be tough or curl up and die.” She stepped back and spread her arms wide. “See for yourself—still alive and kicking.”

Tanned, toned skin exposed by shorts and a tank top grabbed his attention and held tight. But it was the heart and spirit inside that knocked the breath out of him. He was in serious danger of falling for this woman. His only choices were to run like hell while he still had the chance or convince her their fragile relationship could withstand eight hundred miles of separation.

He squared his shoulders. He’d never been one to turn tail in the face of adversity. If Grace knocked him on his ass, he’d deal with it.

“Cat got your tongue?”

He smiled. “No, I was thinking.”

“Hope you didn’t strain a muscle.”

“Funny girl. Grace?”

The amusement slipped from her face. “What?”

“I’ve told you before, if you ever want to talk, I’ll listen.”

“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I’ve wallowed in enough emotion for one day.”

“The offer stands.”

She nodded, stepped forward and kissed him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Before he could deepen the kiss, she slid out of his arms.

“I was going to show you around the vineyard. Let’s get moving.”

She reminded him of Wylie back on the trail in Alaska—skittish and afraid his newfound friends would turn on him. Slowly the dog had learned to trust. He’d be patient with Grace, give her the time she needed. No matter how damn frustrated he was in the meantime.

Wylie sniffed under the grape vines, butt in the air, tail wagging. After a moment, he moved on, nose held high to sniff the breeze, eyes bright and full of life.

Waiting for Grace would be worth it.

* * * *

“I like him. So does Kane.”

Grace stepped through the open sliding doors and glanced over her shoulder at her sister. “You like most of the guys I date.”

“They’re always polite and charming for the whole two minutes I spend getting to know them before you dump them and move on. Is that what you’re going to do to Travis?”

A light breeze blew her hair around her face as the sun sank low over the western horizon. Out on the lawn, Travis, Kane and her brother Will, played Frisbee with Rachel’s two younger daughters. Her parents and Will’s wife, Sharon, sat at the outdoor table, enjoying glasses of wine while Lark had retreated to a corner of the patio after dinner to spend the last half hour on her phone texting.

Grace dried hands still damp from washing dishes on the seat of her shorts then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We’re not exactly dating. Our relationship is—complicated.”

“It must be. You never bring men home to meet Mom and Dad. I’m honored that
I
get to meet some of them on occasion.”

“I didn’t really have a choice.” She nibbled the edge of her nail then jammed her hand in her pocket. “Uh, there was a bit of a situation in Alaska.”

“I saw your byline on the Casey Sutton story. Fishing article, my butt!”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me.”

Rachel’s gaze narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “What happened?”

“There may have been a teensy incident with a hit man.”

Lips tightening, Rachel grabbed her hand and pulled her down the steps.

“Aren’t you going to join us?”

She glanced over her shoulder. “In a minute, Mom. I have something to discuss with Grace first.”

“Seems like you could have had a private conversation while you were doing the dishes since you wouldn’t let me help.”

Grace shrugged. “We did, but Rachel’s being bossy. You know how she is.”

Out on the lawn, Kane laughed and missed the Frisbee Jade tossed to him. He bent to scoop it up. “I’ve missed you, Grace. No punches pulled. You have to stay on your toes with my sister-in-law, Travis.”

“That was apparent about two minutes after I met her.”

Grace smiled and skipped a couple of steps to keep up with Rachel. “Glad we understand each other. Be right back.”

She dug in her heels when they reached the front lawn. “We could have talked on the patio.”

“I expect I’ll raise my voice, and I didn’t think you wanted Mom and Dad to hear all the details of your Alaskan adventure. Spill it.”

Grace dropped onto the wooden glider under the spreading arms of an oak tree and sighed. “I wasn’t the only one who learned Casey Sutton’s location when his girlfriend opened her big mouth at a party. I suppose I should consider myself lucky I was the only reporter who headed up to Alaska.”

“Yeah, who else was there?”

“Travis. His buddy is a federal agent, and he sent Travis north to retrieve Sutton.”

“Your friend works for the government? I thought you said—”

“No, he has a private investigation company, but he used to be a Navy SEAL. His friend wanted the best, and that’s Travis.”