refrigerator quietly hummed. A shiver broke free when her bare feet hit the cold kitchen tile.
It was weird, wandering through the condo alone in the dark, knowing Billy was as much a stranger in this place as she was. A tickle in her throat reminded her she’d worked up quite a thirst. She plucked a wine glass from the dish rack, turned the faucet on low and gulped three cold glasses before the dryness disappeared.
Eden rested her backside on the counter. The digital clock on the microwave read one-fifteen. They’d been in bed roughly four hours.
Every single time he’d touched her had been different tonight, urgent, sweet, raunchy. He’d been amazingly attuned to her needs just by looking into her eyes. She was half-afraid the man knew she’d fallen in love with him again.
Again? Why won’t you admit Billy’s always had your heart?
She meandered into the sparsely furnished living room, too keyed up to sleep. No magazines littered the coffee table. The shelves held not one paperback book. She didn’t want to skulk away without so much as a thank you for the orgasms. Plus, she did have that whole confessing her love for him thing to get through.
A single window separated the living and dining areas. She skirted the small desk, pulled back the heavy curtain and stared outside, watching the moonbeams throw shadows across the pavement.
As she turned away in the darkness, her thigh bumped the desk, scattering stacks of papers and file folders. Eden muffled a curse, set down her water glass and tried to straighten the piles.
That’s when she saw an envelope addressed to the City of Spearfish.
Her stomach dropped to her toes. The contents of that flimsy envelope held her future.
Then she noticed something else: the envelope hadn’t been sealed.
Did that mean Billy wasn’t certain of his decision?
No. Billy was completely confident where his career was concerned. Still, the open flap stuck out like a sore thumb.
Or a dare.
She reached out and touched the stiff paper, then dropped her hand as if it’d been burned. She really shouldn’t. No. She couldn’t. Peeking would be wrong. Unethical. A breach of trust. If he ever found out…
But the devil on her shoulder reminded her Billy was in the other room making noise which put a chainsaw to shame.
Eden gnawed her lip, racked with indecision.
The jangle of her cell phone broke the eerie silence.
Her gaze encompassed the room as she tried to remember where she’d stashed her purse. She followed the sound to the far corner of the couch. By the time she dug out the phone, it’d stopped ringing.
The blue light glowed as she scrolled through the messages. Ten messages? In the last hour? All from Shelby?
Why would Shelby call her ten times?
She dialed Shelby’s cell number. Shelby answered on the second ring. “Eden? Thank God! Where are you? I’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour.”
“Why?” In the background, Eden heard sirens, the squawk of police radios and people shouting. She felt the first stirrings of real panic. “What’s up?”
All sound stopped. For a second Eden was afraid they’d lost the connection. Then, in a normal decibel range, Shelby said, “I’m in a police car now so I can hear you.”
“Shelby, what the hell is going on?”
“I’m outside the community center. You’d better get here fast.”
After hearing Shelby’s next words, Eden plummeted to the carpet. “When? No. I’m okay,” she lied. “Of course. I’ll be right there.”
Dazed, she snapped the phone shut.
“Eden? Baby, what’s wrong?”
How long had Billy been standing there? In shock, she just stared at him. Through him. She couldn’t seem to make her legs work.
Billy crossed the room. “What is going on?”
“Seems your concerns about the electrical system were dead on. The community center is on fire.”
He hauled her to her feet and held her.
Eden dug her nails into the bare skin of his shoulder blades. “Oh God.” Another horrifying thought jarred her. “What if Thomas snuck in and spent the night?” Hurriedly she redialed Shelby’s number and relayed the information about the young boy. She shut the cell phone with a snap and looked up.
“Come on.” Billy ushered her toward the bedroom. “Get dressed and we’ll go.”
Eden stared mindlessly out the window of her car as Billy drove. She’d called Shelby to relay the information the building might’ve been occupied.
Seemed to take forever to reach the center. Fire trucks, police cars clogged the side streets after blocking off Main Street. When Eden saw the flames licking fifty feet into the air, she bailed out of the car and ran.
She stopped and gaped at the broken shell. The windows had blown out. The roof completely collapsed. The brick interior walls were charred black. Smoke billowed and curled into the cool night air. She gripped the barricade and watched the firefighters lugging equipment. Cops trying to get control of the growing crowd. But her gaze kept returning to burning building.
Desolation took root and settled deep, increasing that sick feeling.
“Eden?”
A large hand jostled her shoulder and she looked up into the grim face of Detective Danley.
“I’m so sorry. The fire department got here as soon as they could but it was already too late.”
Was he talking about Thomas? She swallowed hard. “Did they find him?”
A frown creased the Detective’s brow. “Find who?”
“Thomas Fast Wolf. A twelve-year old boy who sometimes sneaks in and sleeps here. He has family problems…” Tears blurred her vision. Images of sweet Thomas danced in her head until she wanted to throw up.
“Eden!” Shelby trotted up and hugged her.
She was too numb to move. The detective pulled Shelby aside and they conversed in low tones. Eden didn’t bother to listen; her heart was so heavy with grief she thought she’d collapse beneath the weight of it.
Shelby returned and shook her. “Listen to me. Thomas isn’t in there.”
Eden blinked at Shelby. “What?”
“After you called me I called Nathan LeBeau. He’s had some dealings with Thomas’s parents so he drove over and checked the Fast Wolf house.” Shelby grabbed her hands. “Thomas is home. He’s been there all night.”
Immediately, Eden began to cry.
Shelby hugged her again. “It’s just a building. No one was hurt, that’s the important thing, right?”
People started to gather around her and offer support. The community outpouring stunned her, but with nothing left but a burned out skeleton, there was no doubt the direction the city would take with the community center.
Finally at about four, the blaze was under control; there was nothing left to burn.
Exhausted, Eden looked around for Billy. Several times in the last few hours she’d wanted him by her side, needing his quiet strength. Wishful thinking because he couldn’t have offered it in front of all these people anyway.
As she wound her way through the emergency vehicles, Billy stepped out of the shadows.
Tempting to throw herself into his arms and damn the consequences. Did it really matter if these people knew she needed Billy Buchanan? So what if the mayor and the whole city council saw them? Billy’s report wouldn’t matter now. Her job was history.
Billy kept his gaze trained on the building. “I overheard the firemen talking. They think it was a gas leak since it spread so fast. Not the electrical system after all.”
So cold. So clinical. Eden’s hope shriveled and died. He’d already reset the distance between them. His job, his time in Spearfish was done. She wanted to cry but she found she didn’t have any tears left.
“You okay?” he asked, finally looking at her.
“Not really.” Eden exhaled the breath she’d been holding. “I can’t believe it’s gone. Makes your job easier, doesn’t it?”
“
Eden—”
“I suppose you’ll be heading back to Chicago sooner than expected?”
Billy’s mouth stayed unsmiling, his tone flat. “Actually, I’m leaving tomorrow.”
The sweet, romantic night she’d spent in his arms meant nothing? It’d been his way of saying goodbye? “I’m sure you’ll be glad to get back. It appears your time here was wasted.”
“Wasted? What the hell are you talking about?”
Eden gathered her courage even as her heart shattered. “I saw your recommendation letter to the City Council.”
“When?” he demanded.
“Tonight. At the condo. When you were sleeping.”
Although she hadn’t read the document, by the expression on his face, she knew what his final recommendation had been.
Billy exploded. “For Christ’s sake—”
“Don’t you dare yell at her.” Shelby bulled her way between them. “Leave her alone, Mr. Buchanan.”
“You stay out of this.”
“No. I’ve watched you waltz around the community center, charming her, getting her to trust you. She’s lost enough tonight with losing her pride, too.”
Billy reared back, speechless like he’d been slapped.
As Shelby herded Eden to her car, Eden discovered she had more tears left after all.
Chapter Seventeen
One week later…
Eden shoved the box in the backseat and slammed the door. “That’s the last of it.”
“Thanks. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. You’ve been the best boss I’ve ever had.” Shelby launched herself into Eden’s arms and sobbed.
“Hey. We promised no crying, remember?”
Shelby sniffled. “I’m gonna miss you, though.”
“I’ll miss you, too.”
She shuffled back and straightened Eden’s collar. “Promise you’ll email me and let me know what’s going on?”
“Scouts honor.” They wandered through the piles of boxes spread out on Eden’s driveway.
A black Ford F150 pickup pulled up to the curb and parked.
“A friend of yours?” she asked Shelby.
Shelby fidgeted beside her Grand Am, strangely hesitant. “No. Yours?”
“No.” Who could it be? Then Billy jumped from the cab.
Holy crap. What was he doing here?
Shelby moved in front of her. “You want me to stay?”
Eden murmured, “No. I’ll be okay.” What a lie. She’d been an absolute mess since Billy left, just like ten years ago. If she thought she’d been hurt then, it was nothing compared to the total annihilation she’d experienced the night of the fire.
Tires squealed as Shelby roared away.
Billy stalked toward her. Did he have to look like he didn’t have a care in the world?
“What the hell is this?” He gestured to the boxes. “You going somewhere? I’ve been trying to call you, going crazy because you never answer.”
Maybe he wasn’t as blasé as she’d first believed. Deep circles marred his face, along with a scruffy beard. “Hello to you too, Billy.”
He stared at her. His eyes roved over every inch of her face. “Sorry. I-I—” He scrubbed his hands over the stubble darkening his chin. “Are these your boxes?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are leaving town,” he said flatly.
His anger surprised her. Why did he care? A sliver of hope unfurled and she called herself every kind of fool. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. These boxes were for Shelby. She can’t wait around for the new community center to open, so she’s taking a job in Cheyenne with her cousin.”
A profound look of relief crossed his face. “Thank God.” Billy hauled her against his body, locked his mouth to hers and kissed the daylights out of her.
She pushed him away. “Stop. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you. For us.”
“What? But you left.”
“For a lousy week.” Billy imprisoned her head between his hands forcing her to meet his eyes. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to go back to Chicago and hand in my resignation in person. So, I have a few things to say to you and you’ll damn well listen. No interrupting.”
“I don’t interrupt.”
He lifted a brow.
“Okay,” Eden said, “so maybe I do.”
Billy smiled and some of the tension in his eyes vanished. “First off, you never read my recommendation to the council or you’d have known I’d urged them to keep the community center right where it was.”
“You did?”
“Yes. And second, maybe if you weren’t so damn determined to think the worst of me, scared that I’m always going to leave you, you’d realize that I love you and I’m not going anywhere this time.”
Tears stung her eyes; she was too stunned to interrupt.
“I’d planned on telling you the night of the fire.” He brushed the wetness from her face. “Truth is, I’ve never stopped caring about you. It took being with you again to drive the point home. So maybe I was young and stupid and we’ve wasted ten years, but we have lots of years left ahead of us. I think we can make it work. I want to try. Robert and Jim asked me if I wanted to buy into Feather Light as a partner.”
“What did you say?”
“Yes, immediately, before they changed their minds.” Billy pressed his forehead to hers. “When I came back here, I saw you’ve built a support network of friends who’ve become your family. I want to set down roots with you. Be part of a community. I want a life with you, Eden.”
When she didn’t speak or move, Billy moved back so he could peer at her. “Say something.”
“You told me not to interrupt.”
“Smart ass. Please. Talk. Yell. I don’t care. Your silence is killing me.”
Eden let her finger trace the worry lines by his eyes. He looked so vulnerable, so unsure of her reaction it made her ache inside. “Oh God, Billy, I’m so in love with you—”
His lips slid over hers in a gentle kiss as tears fell freely from her eyes. “Say it again,” he whispered against her mouth. “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear you say it.”
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I wanted to die when you took off for Chicago, even when I planned to track you down and kick your ass for leaving me again.” She wrapped her arms under his shoulders, taking refuge in him, his strength, his warmth. “Everything in my life went to hell in one night, but losing the community center wasn’t the worst of it. It was losing you all over again.”
“Didn’t you know I’d be back? I’d do whatever it took to convince you we belong together.” He placed her left hand on his chest. “We’ve always belonged together.”
Billy’s heartbeat thundered beneath her palm. She gazed into his eyes, wondering how she’d ever doubted this man’s feelings for her.
“Marry me. Right now. The courthouse is open until five.”