This Crazy Love: Swoon Series Read online

  “Ash stocked the fridge the day before yesterday before she left. You don’t need to worry about it,” Jackson replied, as he pulled some things out of the refrigerator. “Like I said, you’re welcome to stay as long as you need. The bedrooms are empty. It’s not gonna feel right if we’re counting pennies. It might have been a few years, but you and Remy are family in every way it counts. When it’s time to go shopping, whoever happens to take care of it is fine.”

  Suddenly, I wanted to cry. Between my body’s abrupt and intense reaction to Jackson and finally arriving somewhere I hoped I could feel safe, I was so discombobulated I couldn’t think clearly. The fear that had ruled my life for the last few years was hard to forget. I was about to cry over groceries and the simple offer of help from an old friend.

  I was so accustomed to this emotional roller coaster I just rolled with it. Thank God my lungs worked this time. I took a deep, steadying breath and managed to stem the tide of tears threatening.

  “Okay,” I said softly.

  Restless, I glanced around. Their kitchen was an old farmhouse style with counters lining three walls on one end and a massive island in the center. It had been updated since I’d last been here. There were new stainless steel appliances, bright blue curtains, and a round table with chairs across from the island.

  Stools ran along one side of the island, and I slipped my hips onto one. Glancing over, I saw Jackson had pulled out eggs, a few red peppers, and cheese.

  “How about I slice the peppers?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jackson replied.

  He handed them over, along with a chopping knife and a cutting board, and I got to work. Within a matter of minutes, he had scrambled eggs with the peppers and cheese ready. I almost groaned when I took the first bite. I hadn’t even noticed how hungry I was.

  By the time we finished eating, the sun was fully up and the clock read eight thirty a.m. This lull during our meal felt downright domestic. Amidst my body’s response to Jackson that just wouldn’t quit, I was savoring the simplicity of the moment and how mundane it was.

  Once upon a time, I had wished for excitement, a change of pace from the winding roads that brought me back to the Blue Ridge Mountains. No more. All I wanted was peace, quiet, and preferably boredom. I craved a routine where nothing out of the ordinary happened.

  After I loaded the dishes into the dishwasher, I paused to look out the window over the sink. This farm was tucked into a valley in the mountains. I could see the far end of the pasture outside the window. Mischief stood at the edge of the herd, his head lifted as he looked at something in the distance.

  My heart gave a hard thump. I could do this. Maybe, just maybe, I might be glad to be home in these mountains.

  When Jackson left the table to go to the bathroom down the hallway, I figured I would head upstairs to shower. I didn’t know what I was going to do for the rest of today, but I needed to start with a shower. I’d left before dawn this morning for the roughly four-hour drive here and hadn’t even bothered to shower. Seeing as I wasn’t even supposed to be staying in the empty condo where I snuck in late last night, I hadn’t wanted to waste any time there.

  As I stepped through the archway from the kitchen into the hall, I ran smack into Jackson.

  “Oh!”

  When I collided with him, my body felt as if it had been shocked with a live wire. I needed to move away, but for some reason I couldn’t do it quick enough. For just a moment, maybe even seconds, I stood there frozen, right where his arms had come around to steady me when I stumbled at the impact.

  Let’s face it, running into Jackson was an impact. He was basically a wall of muscle. And he was warm and alive under my palm where it landed over his heartbeat. When I looked up, I almost wondered if I saw desire in his eyes, his blue gaze darkening.

  Just as I became aware of the hard and rapid beat of his heart under my palm, I gathered myself together enough to step away. Tangling within this oh-so-inconvenient desire for Jackson was this urge to wrap myself in his strength.

  Jackson was a good man. I knew that, without a doubt. He was not the kind of man to ever use his strength against a woman.

  I had completely underestimated how much I craved being held. I knew my cheeks were flaming red when I looked up at him. He was quiet, his eyes searching my face. I wished I knew how to read his expression, but I had far too many doubts about my ability to perceive anyone accurately anymore.

  With another one of his slow smiles, he winked. “Slow down.”

  “Um, okay,” I muttered and hurried past him, practically running up the stairs.

  I loved the charm of this old house, with its wide plank glossy hardwood floors, its tall ceilings, and windows deep enough for me to stand in. Yet, I promptly discovered one drawback. I wasn’t a spoiled girl, but I wouldn’t have minded having a bathroom right off my bedroom. As it was, I had stripped down to nothing before it occurred to me I needed to walk down the hallway to get to the bathroom.

  Glancing out my window, I saw Jackson ambling toward the pasture as Mischief trotted to meet him at the gate. Clearly, he would be busy with something for a little bit. I grabbed a towel from the tidy stack on the dresser and wrapped it around me before running down the hallway with my bag of toiletries.

  After a steamy shower, I felt half human and convinced I could get my body’s runaway response to Jackson under control. With a deep breath, I tucked the towel under my arms and peeked out the doorway. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I stepped out.

  It so happened my bedroom was at the far end of the long hallway from the bathroom. I tiptoed quickly down the hall. Just when I thought I was in the clear, the door at an angle across from my bedroom opened. I nearly jumped out of my skin and dropped my towel on the floor.

  Chapter Four

  Jackson

  Shay stood in front of me. Naked. With the fluffy white towel in a rumple at her feet, every inch of her was bared to me. Her skin was flushed all over, with her golden hair damp and slicked back away from her face.

  I couldn’t fucking help it. I mean, my God, I don’t think any straight man could have kept from taking a nice long look at Shay. Her breasts were plump and full, her nipples a deep dusky pink and tightening under my gaze. My eyes tracked the dip at her waist and the lush curve where her hips flared out. I managed to force my eyes up, although my cock practically stood up and waved at her.

  She gasped and leaned forward, snatching her towel off the floor and flinging it around her body. “Sorry!”

  I wanted to tell her there was absolutely nothing for her to be sorry about, but I thought perhaps that wasn’t the right thing to say just now. When my eyes met hers, and I saw her cheeks flushed pink, the urge to kiss her was so strong, I had to order myself not to.

  “I have to get dressed,” she murmured, dashing past me, the door to her bedroom slamming behind her.

  My hands literally itched to reach for the doorknob and open it. Apparently, I may not have been able to control my cock, which was so hard I could feel my zipper against it, but I could keep my hands to myself. Thank fuck.

  I hadn’t even remembered why I was in the hallway. Turning, I walked back into my bedroom. Oh right, I meant to go downstairs and get another cup of coffee. It wasn’t reasonable, but I decided against it. I needed to get a handle on Shay being here.

  Even though I’d only showered an hour ago, I took a cold shower and went downstairs. After getting that coffee, I headed to my office, which was upstairs in one of our renovated barns. This farm had been in my family for generations.

  My father had passed away two years ago. To this day, I wasn’t quite so sure he hadn’t simply died of grief. The medical report said he had a heart attack. Yet, he never bounced back after my mother passed unexpectedly from ovarian cancer that was caught way too late, only a year prior to his death.

  The property had been transformed from its working farm days with our new ventures. Since we had the space, we were one of the few resc
ue programs in the area for larger animals, such as horses, goats, and the like. That’s how we ended up with Mischief.

  At the moment, we had eight horses, four dogs, five cats, seven chickens, two roosters, a few rabbits, a pair of goats, a mini pig that turned out not to be mini, and an actual mini pig. The pigs in question were both affectionate, and the small one, Squeaky, loved to follow people around. The not-so-mini pig was gigantic at this point. Gloria was everyone’s best friend, and meandered around visiting whomever she came across.

  Pushing through the barn doors, I turned down the side hallway and jogged up the stairs. This was a newer barn. We’d renovated the two older barns roughly a quarter mile away, through some trees and over a small rise, into the adventure lodge with guestrooms and a large restaurant in the lower portion of one of the barns. A massive kitchen served guests as well as our staff. We ran tours for hiking and various wilderness adventures in the mountains surrounding the area.

  There were a few small cabins scattered in the trees. Some were for guests and others housed staff who lived on-site, which was almost everyone who worked here. We had a staff of about fifteen between everything associated with the lodge, and running the rescue and office. Ash and I were both first responders and veterinarians, so that was something else layered onto the rest. Suffice it to say, we were busy. But our father’s vision to transform the farm had come to fruition.

  It was safe to say I was never bored. I was also rarely distracted. Yet, today when I sat down at my desk to take stock of just what the hell I needed to do, my mind kept spinning back to the sight of Shay bare in front of me.

  When Remy asked me if she could come here, of course I said yes. I hadn’t even hesitated. I knew Shay had been through fucking hell. Plus, she was a friend—one of Ash’s closest friends and Remy’s younger sister.

  I recalled thinking she was beautiful the last time I’d seen her, but then, I had successfully put her in the best-friend’s-younger-sister-don’t-you-dare-touch category. That, despite one crazy kiss years back, when she was in college. Somehow, I’d managed to shove that out of my mind and consider it a fluke. Now, I was quite sure that was going to be impossible.

  My office phone rang on my desk, effectively nudging me into awareness. This line only rang for two reasons—outside calls for the vet clinic, or internal calls from anywhere on the sprawling lodge.

  Dani Love’s name flashed on the screen. Dani ran the kitchen and helped out with managing guest reservations online. I didn’t know what we’d do without her. Tapping the speaker button, I said, “Hey, Dani, what’s up?”

  “Hey, boss, we had a problem with an order of cheese. I’ve gotta head into town. Need anything else?” she asked.

  Town, in this case, was Asheville, a good forty-five minutes away. “No, I think I’m all set at the house. Ash went a little nuts shopping for Shay last week before she left.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Your friend is here. Are you going to bring her down to meet me today? You better,” Dani ordered.

  I’d been in such a rush to leave the house, it hadn’t crossed my mind I would have normally planned to bring Shay around and introduce her to everyone this morning. I needed to get a grip and behave as I usually would. As unsettled as I was by my intense reaction to Shay, I needed to get it under control. Stat.

  “Oh yeah, I need to take care of a few things here at the office, and then I’ll go get her. When do you think you’ll be back from town?”

  “Before lunch.”

  “Gotcha. How about I aim for lunchtime?”

  “Perfect. I’ll make her something amazing.”

  After I got off the phone with Dani, I threw myself into work for the rest of the morning. Fortunately, I had a few regularly scheduled appointments, including one with a geriatric diabetic dog, a rather rotund little black-and-white sweetheart of a mutt named Emma.

  “Well, Emma, you did great today,” I said, scratching behind one of her ears as her tail thumped happily on the stainless steel examination table.

  Her owner, Nana Tuttle, pretty much matched her dog. She was round and sweet with her once black hair mostly silver now.

  “Nana, you’re managing her diabetes just fine,” I commented, glancing to her. Emma’s tail thumped again, her gaze expectant. “Oh, that’s right, you’re waiting for a treat.” Turning, I fished a small treat out of the jar we kept on the counter.

  Chapter Five

  Jackson

  After Emma left with Nana, I glanced down at my watch, realizing it was time for lunch. Somehow, by force of will, I had temporarily stopped my mind’s replay of Shay naked in the hallway this morning. As soon as I became aware of that, the full vision in all its glory flashed in my mind. Fuck me. It was not smart to lust after Shay. She was my best friend’s little sister. She was also here because she had escaped a disastrous relationship that, according to the news and Remy, had almost gotten her killed.

  I sobered. It was hard to reconcile what happened to her with the Shay I had known growing up. Shay and Ash were the same age. At twenty-eight, she was five years younger than me. I recalled her as full of heart and saucy. Like Ash, she picked up strays in her life, left and right. Her ex, Clint Glover, the son of a high-profile politician in North Carolina, however, hadn’t been a stray. He’d most definitely capitalized on her tendency to think the best of others, to give everyone a chance.

  Shay’s feisty personality was like sunshine and steel spun together. I’d seen a few hints of that since she arrived this morning, but I wondered how much life had changed her. I knew more than I wished about how events could shape a person and send a life skidding onto a different path. With a mental shake, I powered down my computer and turned to leave.

  When I stepped outside the barn, Shay was leaning against the fence with Mischief nuzzling her shoulder. Since I’d last seen her, with nothing more than a towel to cover her glorious curves, she’d changed into a pair of fitted jeans that did little to disguise her glorious body. A loose blouse swirled around her hips. The sun was high in the sky now, her dark blonde hair sparkling under its bright rays.

  As I walked toward her, my cock stirred. What had once been nothing more than a passing appreciation of Shay’s beauty had turned into full-blown lust.

  For now, it would be just Shay and me in the house with Ash gone for now. I hadn’t even considered this could be a problem when Ash and then Remy asked if Shay could stay here. If I could get my body to behave, it wouldn’t be.

  I crossed the gravel area between the barn and the house. Shay turned when I got close, a guarded look in her eyes. “Oh, it’s you,” she said.

  “Hey, Shay,” I replied, doing my damnedest to ignore the way my pulse lunged. Shay was all cool green eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips. With her slightly crooked mouth, her slow smile was endearing. “I came to find you. I want to take you around to meet everybody at the lodge. There’re quite a few of us. Dani wants to feed you lunch, so I figured we could start there.”

  “I’d love to meet everyone. I’m just glad y’all invited me to stay.”

  “You’re like family, Shay,” I stated, a repeat of what I said earlier this morning.

  Uncertain what else to say, I turned and started walking in the direction of the lodge, roughly a quarter mile from where we were now. Shay caught up to me quickly, and immediately asked, “How long will Ash be away? She said she was traveling, but not much else.”

  “She’s chasing after some guy she met on the rodeo circuit,” I explained, striving to keep my tone level. I thought the guy was an ass.

  “Ah, she mentioned some guy she met when she was playing somewhere out in Texas.”

  “Yup, that’s the one.” Ash had spent most summers traveling to play small music venues. Her guitar was an extension of her body, and her voice was pure heaven.

  “So, what would you like me to do around here?” Shay asked.

  “There’s always something to do. With Ash gone right now, we could use the most help with t
he rescue. Seeing as you love animals, I figured you wouldn’t mind. I can take you over there this afternoon and get you up to speed on the schedule. It’s mostly feeding every morning and evening, and then coordinating with me on any who need some vet care. Other than that, it’s staying on top of calls and emails about potential rescues and adoptions. We try to take every request, but here and there, we’ve got to hunt down better options. We can usually make do unless there are significant problems with aggression. Even then, we’ve got short-term solutions.”

  “I can certainly handle that. If you need any other help, just say the word.”

  We crested the small rise between the main house and barn compound, and the old barns that had been renovated into the adventure lodge came into view. My great-grandparents had found this beautiful piece of property nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was tucked into a small valley, and the mountains rose around us. To me, these mountains felt as if they were cradling you. They were nothing like the massive mountains out West that towered above. These were intimate, filled with winding roads, small valleys, and nooks and crannies. Dense, fragrant greenery surrounded you in the spring and summer.

  Shay stopped, her breath coming out in a little gasp. “I forgot how beautiful it was,” she said reverently.

  Glancing to her, my eyes landed on a fine scar, just along her hairline. I didn’t want to think about why it was there. The moment I forced my eyes away, they snagged on her lips, and she glanced to me.

  Fuck me. Shay Martin had a straight line to the pulse of my desire.

  I had to clear my throat to speak. “It is. Come on, Dani’ll be waiting,” I said, perhaps too brusquely.

  Although Shay had grown up in these mountains, I didn’t know if she’d been back since her parents died. They had been killed by a tornado when they were on vacation. That had only been a few years ago. I knew she didn’t visit much the year before they died, and knew now it was likely her ex who kept her from coming. Fury lashed at me thinking about that. Shay and Remy had been close to their parents. I recalled Remy’s concern about Shay, but we hadn’t known just how bad things were until it all blew up.