“They do?” Wolf had told her, but she hadn’t wanted to believe it.
Stef shook his head. “No one comes into my town to stay without a background check.”
There was a reason his fiancé called him the King of Bliss. Stef took his town seriously. “Well, I’m glad to know I passed the test.” His face lost its previous bright smile, but he continued to look at her with a softness in his eyes. “What happened to you wasn’t your fault. Not even the part where you got fired from the FBI. You didn’t realize that reporter was taping you, did you?” Shame filled her. She didn’t like to think about Jana. “No. Jana had been my friend for a long time. I was a bit surprised she sold me out the way she did. But it was my fault. I shouldn’t have talked about it.”
Stef patted her shoulder. “Well, I understand how hard it is to forgive yourself. I really do. Anyway, it was obvious to me that you needed a place to stay and maybe a second chance. Why do you think the cabin you’re in was so cheap?”
Laura stared at him for a moment, surprised he would even make the statement. “It was part of the deal I made with Bart Vickers. He needed someone to work the day shift at the gas station, and he just happened to own…damn, I’m stupid. You own it all, don’t you?”
His head tilted slightly in acknowledgement. “I have my fingers in just about every pie in this town. I’m Bart’s silent partner in the gas station, and I owned most of the cabins in the valley at the time. I’ve sold them off as needed. I like to take care of my family.” She knew she should be upset about the deception, but there was genuine love and compassion behind most of the things Stef Talbot did. “Well, I thank you. And I would like to buy my cabin. Now that everything’s out in the open, there are a couple of old bank accounts I can get into. I should be able to come pretty close to market value.” He nodded. “I’ll have my lawyer draw up the paperwork immediately. I am very glad to know you won’t be leaving us.” She was startled at the thought. “Why would I leave?” His shoulders moved up and down negligently. “It’s obvious to anyone who sees you with those two men that you have a past.”
“Yes, and that’s what it is—the past.” It wasn’t going any further. It didn’t matter that her libido had come back online for the first time in years. For five long and lonely years, she’d had nothing but her vibrator. Even that hadn’t gotten much use. At first, she’d tried because she wanted to make sure everything still worked. Her parts functioned, but her heart wasn’t in it. The only times she’d worked herself up to a froth had been when she thought about them. When she’d pictured Rafe’s handsome face working over her or the way Cam’s shoulders bunched as he climaxed, that was the only time she could really enjoy it.
“You know we found out a lot of things about those two,” Stef said, his voice all smooth and silky. “They appear to have spent an enormous amount of time and money searching for you.”
“They feel guilty.” But the words were starting to ring a little hollow.
Laura let her eyes seek them out. They stood together talking.
Rafe looked intent on what Cam was saying. They had always been an odd partnership. Rafe was the big-city hottie who understood fine wine and good clothes. Cam was a backwoods, gorgeous nerd who cared far more about his computer than when a wine was bottled. He liked beer and watched an enormous amount of science-fiction television. Yet they fit together. Somehow, someway, Rafe and Cam had become odd halves of a whole.
Once there had been three pieces to their little puzzle. Had they really missed her? For more than just simple guilt?
Stef’s voice broke through her thoughts. “They put their lives on hold. Can I ask you a question?”
She wanted to say no, but had a feeling Stef would press anyway.
“All right.”
“Did you love one of them?”
Tears clouded her eyes as she shook her head.
Stef nodded. “That’s what I thought. You loved both of them.” Her throat felt far too small. She couldn’t even manage a yes. She looked at them. Really looked at them. They were older. Rafe had lines across his forehead that hadn’t been there before. There was a little slump to Cam’s shoulders that she didn’t remember. She had missed them. God, she had missed them so much.
They started to walk toward her. She took a short step back, but the stage was behind her.
“You could run again.” Stef didn’t sound enthused about that choice.
“No.” She was done running. She had found her home.
“Then I want you to think about what you were looking for when you came to Bliss. You were looking for a second chance.” She had been looking for a place to hide. “They hurt me, Stef.
They just about killed me.”
She could have sworn his eyes misted for a moment before he spoke. “We do that sometimes. We do it to the people we love the most. We do it precisely because we love them. I know you’re scared.
In the end, this is all the time we have. I would take it if I were you. I would take it and milk it for every moment it’s worth, and if it all falls apart, at least you have a home now and people whom you can always count on. Holly will stand by you, and Nell will protest at their front doors if they hurt you again.”
She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the thought. She had never had friends the way she had them here. And she’d never loved the way she had with Rafe and Cam. What if she could have it all? Even if only for a few days?
Stef leaned in. “It’s better to hurt because you tried with every ounce of your soul than it is to regret not trying. My wife taught me that.”
“She isn’t your wife yet.” The wedding was still a few days away.
“Oh, but she is. I see now that she was always my wife. She’s the other half of my soul. The wedding is just a party. The marriage is already well under way. It was rocky in the beginning, but I wouldn’t change it.” Stef took a step back as Rafe and Cam walked up to them.
Cam strode up like an angry bull, his eyes assessing Stef the way he would a perp in an interrogation room. “What did you say to her?” Rafe was all about her. His hands found her shoulders. “Bella, you’re crying. Are you all right?”
Rafe’s hands on her felt wonderful, but she was worried that Cam was about to start a fight. She moved between them. “He was saying that I should dance with you. It’s only fair. I danced with Rafe.” Cam turned, his attention shifting from Stef to her in the blink of an eye. “What?”
He stared down at her like he couldn’t quite believe what she’d said. And his eyes weren’t exactly on her face. A little laugh escaped.
That was Cam. He wasn’t good at hiding what he felt or wanted. He’d never been able to play the games he needed to play to move up with the Bureau. Rafe had smoothed the way for him because they were friends. She loved the fact that Cam almost never had a mask on.
She reached out and took his hand. “I said I would like my dance now.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
She had to lead him to the dance floor. He shuffled behind her, an almost shy look on his face. She moved to the center and stepped close to him, putting her arms around his neck. His handsome face turned mulishly stubborn.
“If this is some trick, you should know that I’m not leaving. You can’t say that you gave me my dance and now I have to go. If you think that you can send me back to DC after one measly dance, then you don’t know me.”
She laid her head against his chest. It felt so good to hear the beat of his heart. “I know you, Cameron Briggs. I would have to get a tow truck to haul your ass out of town if you didn’t want to go. I just wanted to dance.”