“I’m sorry. Rod Malcolm is such a pill,” she said. “He’s one of our regular customers, but every now and then he takes a real dislike to a person. Of course, you’re welcome here any time.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Her stomach was in knots, though, a sick feeling that recalled her days in school when she’d walked down the halls between classes, braced for taunts about her father’s criminal exploits.
“We’ll take the check,” Liam said to the waitress.
Tory waited for her to retreat to the cash register before telling Liam, “That has to have been about my dad. He used to come to Silver Falls all the time.” She was more disconcerted than she cared to admit. Rod was a life-size manifestation of her worst nightmares. This was what she’d always dreaded about coming back to Chance Creek: facing the disdain and outright hostility that a mention of the Cooper name could summon. “I guess I haven’t been gone long enough. I’d hoped everyone would forget about Dale.”
“The past never seems to go away here,” he said shortly. He pulled out his wallet as Tess came their way again.
“You’re a Turner. What do you know about worrying about the past?” Tory asked.
“A lot.”
Liam breathed a sigh of relief when they got back to Runaway Lake but realized he hadn’t asked Tory if she wanted to go home instead. She hadn’t said a thing when he’d turned this way rather than toward Chance Creek. Best to keep quiet, he supposed. He wanted her to stay.
Which meant he’d probably better distract her from what had just happened at Thoughtful Coffee.
As they reached the beach, he cast a look around and spied the shed a hundred yards away that housed the canoe, along with a number of paddles and life vests.
“Come on.” He didn’t look back to see if she was following. He’d long since figured out the trick to breaking into the boathouse. The key to the rusty padlock was hanging from a tiny finish nail that had been inserted into a nearby birch tree. It hung on the far side of the tree, and he’d discovered it purely by accident one day when he was teasing a chattering squirrel who seemed to be scolding him for being on the property illicitly.
The young birch had grown so much during the Hunts’ absence that the key was out of reach from the ground. He quickly shimmied up the trunk, grabbed it and jumped down.
Tory watched him open the lock. “Adding theft to trespassing now? I told you I’m going to law school, right?”
“It’ll be fine,” Liam said. “I’ve done it a hundred times.” He pulled open the door. “Help me carry this.”
Twenty minutes later they were paddling out onto the still waters of the lake, Tory in the bow of the canoe, him in the stern.
She was beautiful, Liam thought, and he realized he’d already become comfortable with Tory. Back at the restaurant he’d wanted to deck that Rod guy for the way he’d talked to her, and then he wondered how many times he’d called a Cooper similar names—either in his head or out loud—over the years.
He’d gotten used to thinking of them as enemies, and now that had to change—
Later, he told himself. Just focus on the present. He was out on a lake, away from his work and responsibilities.
Sharing a canoe with a woman who pushed all the right buttons.
What would it be like to be with Tory?
He imagined a tangle of sheets, sunlight drifting across a bed, the two of them alone in a cabin in the woods—maybe one of the treehouses at the lodge if the little aloft houses were in better shape. A long, lazy encounter during which they could explore each other’s bodies.
Sounded good.
The sunlight glinted off her auburn hair. Tory’s paddle dipped into the water and lifted out again. She was examining their surroundings with interest. He wondered if she had as many memories here as he did.
They were innocent memories, but his thoughts now were far from clean. He kept picturing undressing Tory, and if he kept this up, he’d find himself in an uncomfortable predicament.
“Don’t you wish we could stay here forever?” She tilted her face back to soak in the sun.
“Yeah.” His voice sounded rough. Was his longing audible?
He sure hoped not.
Tory was enjoying the smooth glide of the canoe through the water. “It’s so calm and beautiful here.” So peaceful she could almost forget the encounter with Rod at the café. She wondered if Rod had known her father—or maybe Steel. Was he aware of the way some of her family members skirted the law?
Why else would he attack her like that?
“Sometimes in the afternoons the wind kicks up. Not quite as nice then, but mornings and evenings are pretty great.”
Liam sounded strange, and Tory wondered if he was second guessing allowing her to stay. Maybe he wished he’d taken her home after the drama they’d just gone through.
Liam was the kind of man who spoke his mind, though, she told herself. If he wanted her gone, he’d have summarily dumped her on her doorstep instead of bringing her back here.
He’d kissed her—twice—last night. Probably would have kissed her some more if she hadn’t declared her intention to go to sleep after his comment about Steel.
She shouldn’t be disappointed that he hadn’t, but she was.
Liam’s kisses made her think all kinds of interesting thoughts, and while Rod’s unpleasantness had jarred her, her body warmed every time she remembered the feeling of being in Liam’s arms.
Wrapped up in her troubled thoughts, she kept paddling until the sunlight, the activity and the calm, repetitive action soothed her. An hour stretched to an hour and a half on the water, and Tory realized they’d reached the other side of Runaway Lake. From here, the
