Chapter 14

14

CARSON

I hate this not knowing when I'll see Nikki again, but she clearly needs time to figure out what she wants. Still, all I can think about is proving myself to her, and ensuring sure that I'm the man she wants.

Of course, that doesn't help if she doesn't want a man in her life at all.

I text her a few funny jokes and memes throughout the day. That night, I send her a close-up photo of my freshly finished bright green diecast Dodge Charger.

She responds with a string of bombs exploding and happy face emojis.

The next morning I force myself not to message her until just before noon, with a photo of the stack of four parcels before I drive to the post office.

Very suspicious business around here. Sending new cars to Austin, Miami, Chicago and Toronto. My first Canadian order! I hope the moose like it.

Nikki: Look at you, working away on your top-secret mission in the lab. And here I am, an agent out in the wild.

She sends a photo from where she's sitting, showing half of Main Street. So she's right in front of the library.

I hurry to mail my packages, then roll up in front of the bench where she's still sitting taking notes. I jump out and sit beside her. "Am I allowed to disturb you for a few minutes? Do you take a lunch break?"

"I was going to grab a sandwich at Corina's in a bit. What's up?"

My fingers slip through hers so naturally that it feels like we've been together forever. At least, a tiny part of me wants that to be true.

"Working, as always. Mailing suspicious packages that apparently upset the townsfolk, just like Grandpa did." My eyes roll as Nikki laughs.

Then she straightens up. "Oh! I forgot to tell you about some of the family research we've been doing. Your family and the Wolfe family go way back. It looks like your great-grandfathers bought a whole bunch of land together."

"Really." A tiny prickle of worry chases between my shoulder blades. I don't know what to think about Nikki or her friends peering so deeply into my family business. "Are you searching for anything in particular?"

She squeezes my hand. "No deep, dark secrets, promise. Just regular local history."

Her soft, brown eyes melt the tension right out of me, even as her face falls. "I'm so sorry." Her bottom lip is already wobbling. "I didn't mean to piss you off."

My arm slips around her. "Sorry, kitten. For just a split second, I felt a twinge that an outsider was prying through our family history." My lips graze her forehead. "But you're not an outsider. You're…"

She looks up at me, practically holding her breath. My lips drop to her ear. "See, I'm torn between wanting to tell you that you're mine, and wanting to take things slowly so that I don't frighten you away." Her expression is unreadable. "Should I have waited to tell you that?"

"No. Um. I…" She takes a deep breath, backing away before turning to face me head on. "I was thinking about what you said about your grandpa. I found some old records at the bank. They were in a library archive so old it wasn't even loaded onto microfiche or digitized or anything."

Another prickle. "…And? What did you find?"

Her fingers twitch, picking at the denim covering her knees. "He wasn't just mailing a little money here and there to people. Well, he was. But he was also having money sent directly from the bank. The manager helped him disguise it in cardboard envelopes. The official bank label made it look like it was just a report about the recipient's account or mortgage or something."

I shrug noncommittally. "The stuff that people get away with in small towns, I guess."

Nikki's eyes are huge. "Carson, he sometimes paid off people's entire mortgages if they were down on their luck. Or paid all their bills for six months. This wasn't just sending a single mother a few bucks for groceries." She grabs my hand. "Your grandfather literally changed people's lives."

I have no idea what to say to that. "Huh."

"The thing is, there's no indication that he ever stopped. For all we know, he's still doing it."

Staring down at the sidewalk, an old memory floats to the surface. "I once dropped in on Grandpa unexpectedly. He swept a bunch of paperwork from the dining room table into a huge basket and stashed it in the bedroom. Everything had been laid out in neat piles, and he just shoved it out of sight in a heartbeat. I was only eighteen at the time, so I didn't think much of it, but…"

"I won't tell anyone, I promise." Nikki grabs my hand. "I just think it's a really sweet family secret. I mean, your family has a real life Santa Claus, kind of." Her teeth begin to worry her bottom lip again. "But it does go to show that sometimes rumors are true. And men do collect their secrets, don't they?"

Lifting her hands, I kiss the back of her knuckles. "Nikki, I'm crazy about you. In case it's not painfully obvious, I want you." Reaching out, I spin my finger in a circle over her head. "Every time I see you, there's this halo of birds and flowers floating around you."

She smiles, then flinches slightly when she notices a dozen people strolling around, fetching their lunches, some of them staring at us.

"Nikki, you promised yourself you wouldn't date until you're twenty-five, when theoretically you would know more about yourself and your life goals. I understand you having that rule because other shitty men did shitty things to women that you know." She nods. "I'm over thirty. I have my ducks in a row. A really, really straight row. These ducks are incredibly well trained."

She squeezes my fingers and smiles, giving me the nerve to ask the question. "Is there a single red flag about me?"

"No."

Thank goodness.

"Okay. So at this point in our wild secret operation, can we assume that there is a possibility, no matter how big or small, that you might consider a real relationship with me at some point?"

"You mean moving here to become a wild mountain woman?"

"Yes. And my girlfriend. Eventually, when you decide you're ready, my wife."

Nikki is perfectly still for several seconds. Then she nods. "Yes. There's a distinct possibility. But I think I need to at least sleep on it."

Clutching her hand, I hold it to my heart. "Look at what you've just done. It's racing a mile a minute. Now I'm all frazzled and might have to take the afternoon off work."

"Don't you blame me for that, big man. You just want to get back to your basement to…" She trails off as she looks around conspicuously, clearly wondering if anyone can hear us.

"It's almost like this public conversation should be private, right?" I laugh, then kiss her forehead before whispering, "I'm sorry that I met you four years too early. I will totally wait for you if you want. But my life is an open book to you, kitten. Search my family history. Rifle through my house. Interview my brothers. I will have no secrets from you – I want you to know every part of me."

My lips catch hers in a brief but heartfelt kiss.

"Because every part of me already belongs to you."