MacKenzie Fire(79)

The sound of a door rolling open interrupts my next thought and then Maeve’s voice comes from around the corner. “Candice are you in here?”

My eyes bug out and I freeze. Ian does too.

“She’ll be out in a sec, Ma!” he yells. Throwing me my pants, he scrubs his hair, trying to dislodge all the straw from it. He’s only partially successful.

“Okay,” Maeve says. “Tell her to come to the house. I have some responses for her we need to discuss.”

“Responses?” Ian looks at me. “What’s she talking about?”

I’m finally on my feet and mostly dressed, pushing him out of the way. “Nothing you need to worry about.” I zip and button my jeans as I try to get out of the pile.

He grabs me before I can get past him.

I’m all set to complain, but then he’s leaning down and kissing me warmly on the lips. It kind of puts a spell on me and I forget that Maeve wanted me for something.

“Tell me all your secrets,” he says playfully.

I sigh in defeat. That’s all he needs to do is give me that look and I’m ready to surrender. “Fine.” I blink a few times trying to remember what the secret is. “Oh, yeah. So I’m putting together a baby shower for Andie.”

“What for?”

“To try and help her get some friends.”

Ian detaches himself from me. “Say what, now?”

I sigh out heavily, annoyed that I have to explain myself when Maeve needs me. “She doesn’t have any friends in town if you haven’t noticed. And that’s all because of Hannah spreading rumors around town. I’m going to fix all that.”

“How are you going to do that? And how do you know all this shit anyway?”

“Tate told me all I needed to know. And I’ve decided that all Andie needs is an opportunity to meet with these girls on her home turf and they’ll all see what a great person she is and want to be her friend.”

Ian snorts. “You think so, huh?”

I cross my arms as the fever from our sexy time dissipates quickly into the freezing cold air. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”

He lifts an eyebrow. “You’re getting that look on your face again.”

“What look?”

“The one that begs me to take you down into the straw again … calm you down.”

I reach out to hit him, but he catches my wrist.

“Calm me down … who do you think you are?”

He pulls me close, until our chests are touching again. “I’m your guy, that’s who.”

“My guy?” I suppose it’s kind of silly, but it makes me go all warm inside to hear him say that. I can’t feel the cold anymore. Even my nostril hairs have thawed.

“Yeah. If you want me to be.” He looks down at my chin, like he’s afraid to look me in the eye.

I sigh with a mixture of happiness and sadness. “I’d love for you to be my guy,” I finally admit. “The only problem is that we live a million miles apart.” I’m not even sure that I’m talking about actual distance or the fact that we come from different worlds.

“So? You’re here now, right?”

I know his words were meant to be encouraging, but all they do is remind me that I won’t be here for long. I move away from him and smile. “Yeah. I’m here now. But I have to go talk to Maeve.”

He gestures towards the barn doors, his voice sounding resigned. “Go ahead. I’ll feed Candy for ya.”

“Thanks, Ian.” I walk away and leave him there to take care of my chores once again because being around him anymore is going to start making my heart hurt.





Chapter Thirty-Six





“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NONE of them can come?” I ask, hands on my hips.

Maeve tries to smile, but it looks more like she has a stomach cramp. “No matter what date I mentioned they all said they were busy. I got the impression that they weren’t really, though.”

“How? How did you know?”

Maeve sighs heavily and sinks into a chair at the kitchen dining table. “I talked to Janet, one of their mothers first. She assured me her daughter was free, but then when I talked to her daughter, she told me she was going to be at Janet’s for the entire day. I called Janet back and she said it was news to her.”

My eyes narrow to slits and I shake my head as I realize how far Hannah’s poison has spread into the town. “She is going to be so sorry…”

“Who?”

“Never mind.” I grab my jacket off the back of my chair and put it on as I head down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Maeve asks, calling out from the kitchen.

“Into town. I’ll be back in an hour or so.” Storming out of the house, I head right for the barn. Ian is coming out the door when I get there.

He takes one look at me and goes on the defensive. “Whatever it is, I’m not responsible for it.”

“I need you to take me into town and back me up if necessary.”

“Back you up?” He laughs. “You want me to bring my rifle?”

“Yes, if you think it’ll help.”

Ian grabs my hand as I try to walk by.

“Hold up there a second.”