eyebrows and stared at him, taken aback by words that didn't match his actions over the last week.
"You look surprised Kaitlin."
I glanced down at the dirt no longer able to look him in the eye. "I am, 'cause you've been avoiding me… but thank you."
"Kaitlin, I –" he paused and shook his head. "No need to thank me. I'm not the creator, but I can definitely admire the creator's work."
I smiled and shook my head. "You have an interestin' way with words"
"Well, now that I finally got a smile out of you, how about you let me help you to your feet?" He jumped up and reached his hand toward me with a goofy smile. I tilted my head to the side staring up at him.
"Why, it's still pouring cats 'n dogs out there."
He shook his head and laughed. "I didn't say we were leaving."
"Then why would I get up from my comfortable spot?" I asked scooping up a hand full of rocks and letting them fall through my open palms.
"So I can dance with you." He said in almost a whisper.
My mouth went dry and I swallowed down my nerves. "There's no music."
He cupped his ear and winked. "Sure there is, if you just stop and listen." He bent down lifted my hands and pulled me to my feet.
"Logan, this is silly." I managed to say even though my tongue didn't seem to want to form words anymore.
"Trust me." He lifted my arms up and rested them on his shoulders. With a move so subtle, I barely noticed his hands were around my waist pullin' me toward him. He smiled down at me.
"I've wanted to do this since the spring dance, but you were scooped up by your cousin before I had a chance." He shrugged. "This was worth the wait."
I laughed nervously. "So you were coming over to see me?"
He shifted and trailed his fingertips down the line of my cheek and over my lips. He closed his eyes, pulled in a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, I was, until Joe showed up and ruined my chances for a dance."
I tilted my head to the side. "Do you know my cousin?"
"No. I didn't know he was your cousin at the time or I would have interrupted your dance with him."
I laughed. "What makes you think I would have let you?"
He grinned. "You couldn't take your eyes off of me all night."
I stopped swaying and stepped back. "You've known how I felt about you this whole time?"
He pressed his finger against my lips. "Don't be embarrassed Kaitlin. The only way I know that is because I couldn't take my eyes off you, either." He pulled me back into his embrace with my head resting just over his heart. We swayed to the sounds of rain bouncing off leaves and thunder cracking just outside the cave.
"Kaitlin you feel right in my arms." He whispered against my ear.
My stomach fluttered like an army full of butterflies dancing through the sky.
I wasn't quite sure how much time had passed while I was in his arms – or for that matter, when I'd given this stranger my heart.
"Kaitlin, I think the rain's stopped; you should start back toward home before dark." I shifted in his arms, and opened my eyes to the fading light.
"Yeah, I should be gettin' home…" he slid his hands passively up then down the outline of my waist. My heart galloped at the sensation. "Logan –"
At the sound of his name he dropped his hands and stepped back.
"I have to go Kaitlin," He spun on his heels and darted out of the cavern. "I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early." He called out, gone before I could stop him.
Paramount
Logan
Two days had passed since I danced with Kaitlin in the cavern. I'd had work to do that day but when I saw her sitting there lost in her thoughts, I couldn't make myself turn around and walk away. I'd never wanted to just be near someone, but this girl was stirring up feelings in me that I couldn't seem to control.
I was trying desperately to keep my distance from her. I'd thrown all my energy into finishing the barn Uncle Henry insisted we help build, praying we would find Scott soon before I gave in to something that could never be. We'd come close to catching him a few times, but he always managed to slip by us. I just couldn't figure out why he kept coming back to this spot. In all the years the company had been looking for him, he had never stayed in one spot for any length of time, so why now? What was it about this place that he would risk capture or worse?
I shook my thoughts off and tried to focus on the task at hand. I dipped the brush into the bucket of white paint, sliding it up and down over the bare wood. The sound of a horse trotting up the rocky path toward the house caught my attention.
A lanky man wearing a ten gallon hat, rode up next to Kaitlin astride a sleek, muscled mustang. He hopped off his horse and followed her down the clothes line. She paused to look up at him and laughed when he poked her side. Before I realized what I was doing, I'd tossed the paint brush to the ground and started to make my way across the field.
Uncle Henry grabbed my shoulder and halted my steps, just as Kaitlin looked over at us through a gap in the line of clothes. She frowned at me then looked back over to the blonde guy. The man pivoted, kissed her cheek, then jumped on his horse and left the same way he'd come in.
"Looks like Billy decide to pay his bride-to-be a visit before he heads down to Atlanta. The word is he's going to buy a house down there for himself and Kaitlin. The boy thinks it's best to get her out of this town and away from all the rumors."
I shook my head and let out the breath I was holding. "Uncle Henry, where do you get your information?"
He slapped my back and laughed. "People in small towns like to talk, Logan. All you have to do is listen and you can find out all kinds of stuff."
I gritted my teeth and met his eyes. "Did they happen to mention where we can find Scott?"
He pinched his brows together studying me. "No smart-mouth, they didn't."
"Then I'm not interested in their gossip mills –" Uncle Henry continued to frown, then glanced in Kaitlin's direction and back to me. A look I'd never seen before crossed his face and was gone just as quickly. I was kicking myself for allowing Billy to get under my skin. I had to get these feelings under control, and fast.
"Logan, you don't look so good. Why don't you go back to the farmhouse and get some sleep?" he interrupted. "Robert and I will take the morning shift."
I wasn't about to argue with him after what I'd almost done. If he hadn't stopped me, I would have crossed a line that I swore an oath not to. I needed to get away from here and quick. I'd almost come unglued seeing Billy touch her.
Why her, why now?
I rubbed my hand over my face. "Yeah, I think I will. It was a long night."
I needed to take a walk and cool off before I made my way back to our farmhouse. If I thought my growing desire for Kaitlin was a problem, I quickly realized that my sudden jealously was going to be my downfall.
The humidity was so thick you could almost see the moisture hanging in the air; sweat trickled down my back as I navigated across the open pasture to thick woods that followed the mountainside. The shade from the trees helped cool off my heated skin, but did nothing for my heated temper. I heard the pound of hooves hitting the rocky terrain. I didn't turn to see who had ridden up behind me...
"Logan?"
I didn't turn when she called my name, but kept walking. Her boot clad feet hit the ground crunching leaves with every stride. "Logan," she said stepping in front of me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I cleared my throat. "Sure. Talk away, but you'll need to keep up."
She tied Scout's reins to a pine tree and fell in behind me. "The boy who rode up on his horse earlier, he's one of my friends –"
"I was told he's your fiancé…"
She reached out and grabbed my wrist. I looked down at her petite fingers then back up to her flushed face.
"I'm tired of everyone sayin' that! Yes, he did ask me to marry him - out of the blue, I might add," she looked down and kicked at a broken limb. "I tried to tell him no, but he wouldn't accept
no as my answer. He said we'd been friends all our lives and it only made sense we get married and move to Atlanta where his grandfather owns a lumberyard. I don't want to marry him, or move to Atlanta. I don't love him that way. Besides I think he just feels sorry for me anyway, that's the real reason he asked."
I had to laugh at that. If this girl couldn't see how in love Billy was with her, then maybe she wouldn't notice my feelings for her either.
"Don't laugh at me!" she scolded, burning a million holes through me. She was so beautiful…
I had to break the trance so I lifted my face up and stared through the thick canopy of trees, desperately trying to focus on the only sliver of blue sky that could be seen. I needed to be away from her, yet here she was trying to explain herself to me.
I looked down and met her frustrated eyes. "Why are you telling me all this?"
She shifted her weight from side to side. "I don't know, Logan. I just felt like I needed to. I – I wanted you to know."
I leaned over and brushed my lips against her cheek, barely resisting the need to devour her in one gulp and quickly took two steps back. She tightened her grip on my hand and stepped forward, closing the gap I'd put between us. I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand trying to relieve the tension that was building. It took everything in me to resist the urge to run my fingers down her cheek where I'd just kissed her.
"Logan" she whispered, reaching for the hand that was safely cupped around my neck. She sighed.
I couldn't stop from rubbing my thumb over her wrist. Her pulse was racing. "Kaitlin, you need to go back home before I start something I can't finish."
She shook her head and stood on her tiptoes.
"If you're not man enough to do it, then I will."
She pressed her warm lips to mine.
I closed my eyes and took what she was freely offering. But just as quickly as she'd started, she stepped back releasing me from her grasp.
"That's how I always dreamed my first kiss would be. I just didn't imagine I'd be the one doing the kissin." she said trying to catch her breath.
Then, in an instant, she spun around and strode away.
I rocked back on my heels and clung desperately to all the reasons I couldn't go after her.
Conflict
Kaitlin
The next day was a hot, sunny day. Emma and Anna were already splashing around in the spring fed lake that butted up against the back of our property.
"Hurry up, Kaitlin." Anna yelled. "The water feels amazin."
"I'm comin! Hold your horses."
My twin sisters were already climbing up the old tree to the rope swing daddy had put up last summer. Emma made it to the top first and grabbed hold of the rope. She launched herself into the spring with a splash that shot water up sky high.
"Come on Anna!" Emma shouted, bobbing in the water below.
Anna yanked the rope and jumped, screaming all the way down. I knew the exact moment Anna hit the water because her piercing screams stopped. It was my turn next; I grabbed hold of the rope and froze.
"Come on, Kaitlin! What are you waitin' for?" they shouted.
I'd always been scared of heights. Daddy said that when I was old enough to ride Scout I was too scared to get on him – even when Momma would stand right next to me. I always teased them by saying that because I was naturally so close to the ground, it made me uneasy to be away from it.
"Come on, jump... Jump! You're not too chicken are you?" Emma teased.
With my legs shaking, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and pushed myself off the tree branch, but I couldn't let go. I dangled over the water until my arms were burning. With Emma and Anna screaming for me to let go, I hit the surface with a splash, sending water up my nose.
No matter how many times I jumped, I never got use to it.
When I surfaced, Emma and Anna were doubled over on the shore laughing like crazy.
"What's so funny Emma?"
"Nothing Kaitlin…" She glanced toward the tree and then looked back at me. "It's just…" she lowered her voice and cupped one