wasn’t a shrink, but she also wasn’t naive. Clearly Nolan was trying to either compensate for something or fill a void in his life, and she was pretty sure he didn’t need to overcompensate for anything.
And now, to add fuel to the fire, she was spending the night with the one man she didn’t want to be attracted to, shouldn’t be attracted to. But there was no denying Nolan was still just as sexy, just as powerfully commanding in that irresistible way that made her breath catch in her throat and her palms grow damp.
“You built our home.” The words slipped out before she could stop them and now they hovered in the air between them.
“It’s the only home I ever saw here,” he replied.
Pepper turned in her seat. The garage lights lit up the interior of the SUV and she preferred when things were dark. From this angle she saw too much—and she worried what he’d see when he looked back at her.
She started to ask him more but decided none of his life was her business. He’d made that abundantly apparent, and she needed to remember that. Just because he’d rescued her from her burning building and hadn’t left her side since, didn’t mean he wanted to revisit their past. And she had too much on her plate to even think like this.
Clearly, she was exhausted.
“Pepper, I—”
“Just show me to my room.” His blue eyes met hers, and Pepper held her breath. He still had the power to make her tremble without so much as a word. “I’m tired and need my rest. I have a big day tomorrow assessing damage and talking to the insurance and fire department.”
He gave her a clipped nod. “I’ll go with you.”
“You’re not going with me.” Did he really think she needed someone to hold her hand?
She took in his dress shirt, his dark jeans, and realization slammed into her. Pepper closed her eyes and pulled in a breath. “Your date... I hope this didn’t ruin anything.”
“I’d already dropped her off when I was heading home.”
For reasons Pepper didn’t want to delve into, she was glad to know the recipient of the mixed bouquet went home alone.
“Well...if I didn’t say it earlier, thanks.”
Nolan stared at her another minute, his eyes dropping to her lips for a half second, but it was all she needed to know. He was affected by the fact they’d been thrust back together, albeit temporarily—it had made him leave his date.
Maybe coming back to Stone River hadn’t been the best idea, but she was all out of options at the moment. All she had to do was get through this night and then she could make a concerted effort to dodge Nolan Elliott at all costs. Because she wasn’t sure she could resist the temptation if she had to spend too much time with him.
Despite how insistently Pepper protested, Nolan joined her the following morning at Painted Pansies to assess the damage. He used the excuse that he had to drive her, but he wouldn’t have let her face this alone regardless.
The apartment wasn’t a total loss, but she would not be living there anytime soon. Thankfully, the store wasn’t harmed, but an electrician needed to come out to double-check things because the fire marshall was sure the spark that started the fire had come from the outlet her warmer was plugged into.
Nolan had already contacted someone and expected him shortly. Pepper wouldn’t like that he’d taken over, but someone had to because she looked dead on her feet.
And, okay, maybe some of that past guilt was spurring his actions, but he knew that top-notch contractors could get things done quicker than she could if she were left to her own devices. There was no reason she should wait on insurance to get their act together, because they were notorious for being slow, and Nolan was just offering his aid. Money meant nothing to him and he could see that Pepper could use a break.
Pepper walked around the shop and into the back room. Nolan took in the window display with large canvas paintings and the flamboyant bouquets in various heights. Everywhere he looked, there was vibrancy, color, life. He knew Pepper had always envisioned something like this, but she’d been such a free spirit, wanting to travel the world, he’d never really thought she’d set down roots anywhere.
Of course, once upon a time, they’d planned on settling down together. They’d designed a house when they were so young and tossing one dream after another out into the wind, hoping they would catch.
Regret tightened the corners of his mouth. Some things just weren’t meant to be, because when faced with reality, he hadn’t been able to take charge. The death of their unborn baby made him too wary to consider going down that path again.
When someone tapped on the glass of the front door, Nolan jerked around. A middle-aged couple stood on the other side and he shook his head and pointed to the closed sign.
Behind him, Pepper let out a gasp.
Nolan glanced over his shoulder. “You know them?”
Her eyes remained fixed on the door as she nodded and pressed a hand protectively over her stomach. She’d thrown on one of his T-shirts and still had on the same shorts from last night. Her hair had been washed but left down to dry in long, silky ringlets. Desire pulsed through him. He knew exactly what that hair felt like between his fingertips and draped over his body, but now was not the time to get turned on. Still, his fingers itched to touch those luscious locks again, to see if they were just as smooth as he remembered.
“Want me to get rid of them?” he asked.
The tapping grew louder, more persistent.
“They’ve already seen me.” Pepper raked a hand through her hair and finally looked his way. “I hate to ask this, but can you stay? I’m exhausted and this could get ugly. I know we’re not necessarily friends or anything, but—”
“I’ll stay.”
Whoever these people were, Pepper wasn’t happy about seeing them.
She crossed the store and placed one hand on the knob, the other on the lock. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she caught his eyes again. “Their son is the father of my baby. I’ve only met them once.”
A sense of unease roiled through him. Of course, he knew nothing about the father of her baby, other than the fact he was obviously not in the picture at the moment, but his parents showing up here from...wherever it was they were from was probably not good news for Pepper.
He bit back a curse. Why was he sticking around? Whatever Pepper had going on in her life was her concern, her business. He should be at Pebblebrook helping Colt with the ranch or coming up with things he could do at Hayes’s house. Hayes was one of his other brothers, and he would be home from his deployment overseas in two weeks.
With four Elliott boys, there was always someone in need of a helping hand. Nolan hadn’t seen Beau, Colt’s twin, in nearly a year. He’d been too busy shooting one film after the next. That must be the life he loved out there in LA, because he rarely came home.
The
