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Chapter 6

SIX

“Girlfriend, he was definitely looking at you like he wanted to have his wild way with you,” Piper whispered.

“He’s a family friend. There’s no way.” Bella’s elbow bumped the container of hot fudge, and she swore as she caught it. She was so on edge. Falcon had been everywhere she turned tonight, always close, always watching. There was something different about him, and all her joy of the evening had vanished.

She felt like she was back home on the ranch, watched by her brothers, haunted by her past. Falcon knew so much about her, that the past she was trying to walk away from seemed to crawl across her skin again now that he was here.

The door to the walk-in freezer opened, and Keira and Tori squeezed in.

“We can’t think of a better place for girl talk?” Tori asked as she pushed a crate of potatoes to the side. “It’s freezing in here.”

“It’s Falcon,” Piper said. “He’s running around out there like a little mouse, in every corner. He’ll definitely find us and hear us if we talk out there.”

“Why is that bad?” Keira asked. “We’re talking about him?”

“Obviously,” Piper said. “We need a vote. Does it seem like he’s interested in Bella?”

Bella felt her cheeks heat up as both Keira and Tori stared at her.

Tori cocked her head, then gave a slow nod. “That might explain the weird vibe I’m getting from him.”

“Right!” Bella threw her hands up. “I wasn’t imagining it, was I?”

“No.” Tori paused. “You think he’s undressing you with his very hot mind?”

“I think he is,” Piper said. “You can feel the heat rolling off him. He can’t take his gaze off her.”

“I did see him check out your ass,” Tori said.

“Oh, God. He did not. ” Bella put her hands on her butt in defense of her curves. “There has never been a romantic spark. Ever.”

“I think he’s had a change of heart,” Piper said. “How do you feel about that?”

Bella leaned back against the cold metal wall, her mind whirling. “No.” The response was automatic. “Absolutely not.”

“That’s an emphatic no.” Tori nodded with understanding. “Just Falcon, or any man?”

“Any, but especially him.”

“Why especially him?” Keira was leaning against one of the shelves, playing with a carrot.

Bella looked around at the women huddled in the cold freezer with her. She didn’t know them that well. They were best friends with Maddie, who had married Bella’s brother, so she’d gotten to know them, but they weren’t her people, not really, as much as she wanted them to be.

They didn’t know her past. All the shadows that Bella could never escape. She knew they wouldn’t betray her to the press, leak a story for a few bucks, but the habit of never trusting anyone outside her family was so deep.

She realized then as she stood in that freezer that she couldn’t let them in. She didn’t know how. Not really. So she shrugged, suddenly wanting to shrink into the cold metal behind her.

Tori’s face softened. “It’s okay, Bella. We all have secrets. We all have pasts that make us wish we had a magic eraser so we could simply make it vanish.”

Piper smiled. “You guys all know mine. It’s such a relief not to be hiding anymore.”

Bella could imagine it was. And a magic eraser? Damn. She would give up all her billions to be able to use that on her past. Not on her Hart family, though. She’d keep every vivid memory she had before she’d give up her family, which she’d gotten because of her past.

Le sigh.

Keira put her arm around Bella and kissed her cheek, a gesture so sweet that Bella suddenly wanted to cry. “You don’t need to tell us anything, Bella. But if you don’t want Falcon to stay at your house, tell him.”

Tori nodded. “Boundaries, girl. You can make them all pretty and fancy, like red silk rope with pretty tassels and some diamonds sprinkled in there, but they’re still boundaries and you’re still in charge of who you let in.”

“If he’s wanting to stay at your place so you can shoulder his manly issues, then you don’t need to do that either,” Piper said. “You just don’t.”

“Right?” Keira rolled her eyes. “He just shows up suddenly in your life and wants a couch? Who does that?”

“I did that,” Tori said. “I totally did that to you. And you let me sleep there.”

Keira grinned. “Yes, but you didn’t bring an overload of testosterone into my house. You brought bestie energy. Totally different.”

“Right?” Tori raised her brows at Bella. “Want me to ask for your couch tonight? And then you can just tell him that girls trump boys, and he’s not invited.”

“Oh! I’ll stay too,” Keira said.

“I’m not staying at her house,” Piper said. “I have a hot ball of testosterone waiting for me tonight. I love you guys, but I can’t give up a night of that deliciousness.”

“See?” Tori said. “This is why I’ll never date again. One whiff of that aftershave and boom, a girl forgets everything that makes her strong, powerful, and badass.”

Bella felt her tension ebbing as she listened to the three women banter. They were so funny, so nice, and two of them were as committed to being single as she was. She took a breath. Maybe these were her people. Maybe she could become besties with them. Right? Maybe? She wasn’t so broken, was she?

The door suddenly opened, and Meg popped her head in. “Wow. There are a lot of women in here.” She grinned. “Bella, I’m hitting the road. I want to get back to the ranch tonight.”

Tori raised her brows. “You know Falcon well. What do you think?”

“Oh, no, no.” Bella quickly moved past the women and grabbed her sister’s arm. “They just want you to score his hotness, which we can’t because we know him too well. I’ll just walk you out. See you gals!” She pulled Meg out of the fridge and escorted her toward the door. “Thanks for coming out.”

Meg stopped. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing—”

“Liar. You’re a Hart. You can’t lie to a Hart. It’s against the law.”

Bella sighed. “Not here.”

“Here. Now. You know how it festers. This is a fester-free zone.” Meg leaned in. “You know that it will get better if you put it out into the Hart Universe so I can belittle it until we’re both laughing through our tears.”

Bella smiled. “We’ve had a lot of tears.”

“And laughter.” Meg tucked her arm though Bella’s. “Release the fester, sis. Set it free.”

Bella started laughing. “All right.” She looked around and didn’t see Falcon. She lowered her voice. “Falcon asked to crash on my couch.”

Meg nodded. “Okay.”

“And I don’t know if I’m okay with that.”

Her sister looked at her with sudden amusement. “Is sixteen-year-old Bella having a fan girl moment?”

“No, but…he’s being weird. And the girls said…they said he was checking out my butt. They think he’s into me.”

Meg’s eyes widened, but unfortunately, she didn’t laugh it off. “What do you think?”

“Maybe.”

“Holy crap.” Meg took a step back. “ Holy crap, Bella. Falcon is….” She didn’t need to finish. They both knew who he was.

Dangerous.

A loner.

Uncommunicative.

And loyal. So damned loyal. He’d always shown up when he was needed by the Harts. Every. Single. Time.

Meg leaned in. “If he were into you, would you be interested?”

“No. I’m trying to get away from my past, not lean into it.”

Her sister let out a low whistle. “I’ll tell you one thing. Don’t mess with him. If you’re not interested and he is, tell him straight up.”

“And if he’s not interested, but I give him the speech?”

Humor glinted in Meg’s eyes. “He’ll probably be afraid to ever speak to you again, he’ll be so scared of giving you the wrong impression again. That won’t work.”

“No.” Bella saw Falcon walk in from the patio. “Here he comes. We’re all done here. What do I tell him about crashing on my couch?”

Meg followed her gaze. “What do you want to tell him?”

“I—” Bella paused. She’d been about to say she wanted to tell him no, but just as she was about to say it, he saw them, and flashed them a smile. His trademark devilishly sexy smile that made her belly flip every single time she saw it. “It’s complicated.”

“It sure is.” Meg waved as Falcon neared them. “Hey, Falcon. I’m going to jump on the jet and head back to Oregon. You want a ride?”

His gaze went to Bella. “If you don’t want me to stay with you, just tell me.”

Dammit. Everyone in her life was much too observant.

She took a breath. “Honestly, I’m feeling conflicted about it. I came out here to forget about my past. To try to find out what it would be like to be someone other than Bella Hart.”

His brows shot up. “Bella Hart is pretty fucking awesome.”

“I agree,” Meg said.

Bella’s throat tightened. “Thanks, guys. I just?—”

“I don’t need to stay. It’s fine.” Falcon’s gaze was shuttered, unreadable. “I’ll be in the area for a few days though. Text me if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll see you around.” And with that, he gave them the typical Falcon nod and then turned around and strode across the ballroom, heading toward the patio.

“That man is an enigma,” Meg said as they watched him leave. “He keeps everything so locked down. I have no idea if he’s into you romantically or not, but he was pretty adamant about how awesome you are. As your sister, I appreciate that.”

Bella watched him walk out of sight, around toward the front of the estate.

“Question for you, Bella,” Meg said.

“What’s up?”

“If he were interested in you, is there any chance at all that you might want to follow that path? Because if there is even the tiniest chance, then I think you need to consider that you might never have this opportunity again. Falcon doesn’t reach out often, and we both know that.”

Bella looked at her sister, her heart starting to race. “If I said he could crash on my couch, it doesn’t mean anything, right?”

“It doesn’t mean anything unless you both decide it does.”

Bella watched Falcon disappear from view. “All I want is to start a different life,” she whispered. She felt so desperate for change that she could barely breathe. “He’s only my past.”

“At the moment, yes, but he could be your future.”

“I don’t want that future,” she whispered.

“Then there’s your answer.” Meg put her arm around her. “I love you, Bella. Don’t question your choice. Believe in yourself, and know that I love the heck out of you, as do all the rest of the Harts. As does Falcon. You’ll never lose that, no matter what path you take. You know that, right?”

Bella nodded. “I know.” She looked at Meg. “I gotta go.”

Then she took off running across the ballroom to go get Falcon before he drove away.

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