12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Hannah

Teddy played fast and loose with his kisses. A little salt on my skin, and he was all over me, licking my neck and shoulder while I tried to smooth his hoof with my rasp. He had to practically break his neck to get to me, but he wouldn’t be deterred.

I laughed as his big tongue dragged over my skin again. “Teddy, darlin’, I’m trying to do my job here.”

He nuzzled my head, his hot breath blowing my ponytail around.

“You’re a goofy boy, aren’t you? Goofy and troublesome.”

In my line of work, I spent time in close quarters with a lot of horses. They were all good boys and girls, even the troublemakers. I didn’t pick favorites, but if I did, Teddy would be it. He was a sweet, affectionate stallion whose tongue dangled from his mouth when he was happy—which was often. It was simply impossible not to like him, even if his affection made my job take twice as long as it should have.

Once I finished with all four hooves, I gave him a good snuggle and a nice pat, then I packed up my tools and got back on the road. Teddy had been my last of the day, and I was looking forward to a stop at Sugar Rush. I was debating the merits of a muffin versus a donut, which was why I didn’t notice the truck coming up behind me until it was on my ass.

This stretch of road was long and empty. There was no reason for a vehicle to be this close. If he wanted to pass, there was nothing stopping him.

I eyed him in the mirror, making out a vague outline of a man in a ball cap, one arm dangling out his window. I gestured for him to go around me, but either he couldn’t see me or felt like being a dick because he stayed right where he was, about a foot from my bumper.

My stomach twisted. I tried not to jump to catastrophizing, but we were miles from anything with no cell signal. I did not like this. Not one bit. If I drove off the road, I’d have to hoof it a long way to get help. Not my idea of a good time—especially when my stomach was growling for my sister’s baking.

Rolling my window down, I stuck my arm out and waved him past me. Without warning, he slowed down, putting some distance between us. Guessed he’d wised up.

Before I had the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, he sped up again, coming so close I braced myself to be bumped.

My sweaty palms clenched the steering wheel. Instinct urged me to put the pedal to the metal, but the less impulsive part of me told me to keep it steady. The last thing I needed was to lose control of my truck.

I tried to wave him around me again, but he didn’t seem to like that. The asshole laid on his horn and swerved to the side. Holding my breath, I waited for him to pass, but he jerked back into my lane, kicking up dust and gravel.

Pounding heart lodged in my throat, I took the chance to glance at my cell, but it was useless. I’d already known what I would see. No signal out here in the prairie. My brothers had been hounding me to invest in a satellite phone, but I hadn’t bothered. Right about now, I was feeling silly for not listening to them.

The truck swerved in and out of the lane, honking aggressively, before going back to silently haunting me.

“Come on! Just pass me!” I bit out between tightly clenched teeth. “Go around, you idiot.”

Like he’d heard my pleas, the other truck swerved into the left lane and pulled up beside me, giving his horn a jaunty beep. I slid my eyes his way. We were right next to each other.

Cleve Jones.

There was no mistaking the jackass laughing his head off as he finger-gunned me. The man had to be in his forties but behaved like a stupid teenager.

My pulse firing out of control, I flipped him off and mouthed, “Loser,” as clearly as I could so he’d know exactly what I thought of him.

He threw his head back in laughter and slammed his foot on the gas, speeding off down the road. I slowed down, letting him disappear ahead of me.

It took me the rest of the ride to calm down. For a minute or two, I truly believed I’d been in trouble. The darkest part of my mind had even considered I might’ve died out there. And for what? To amuse Cleve—a gray-haired, snaggle-toothed, second-rate farrier who had it out for me because several of his clients jumped off his shoddy ship to climb aboard mine?

If I told my brothers or my father about this incident, they’d be out for blood. There was no way they wouldn’t be. And as much as I’d like to see Cleve taken down a few pegs, I didn’t want any of my family members to wind up in jail. I could take care of myself. If Cleve did anything like this again, I’d contact the police. I doubted it would come to that, though. Cleve had his fun, and now he’d move on.

The asshole.

By the time I parked my truck outside Sugar Rush, I thought I’d gotten ahold of myself, but as soon as my feet hit the pavement, my knees wobbled, and I had to clutch the door to keep from falling.

“Crap,” I muttered, bringing my shaking hand to my face. “Stupid Cleve. I’m not letting that man get to me.”

Slamming my door, I crossed the sidewalk, my focus solely on the entry to the bakery. As I approached, I reached for the handle, but it was pulled open before I could get to it.

Without looking up, I yanked my hand back and blurted, “Sorry. I didn’t see you.”

“That’s all right, Hannah. You can go ahead in.”

Startled, my gaze whipped up at the low, gentle voice, landing on a pair of lively hazel eyes. In the face of Remington Town being a gentleman, I normally would have come up with something snappish, but I wasn’t my best self at the moment.

I attempted to brush by him, but of course my knees betrayed me once again, giving out as my shoulder grazed his chest. He caught me before I could go down, his grip warm and firm on my elbow.

“Careful,” he murmured, far too close to my ear. “Steady now.”

I would have yanked myself free, but the truth was, I needed the support, at least for a second or two. Fortunately, my pride was more powerful than my fear. I carefully extracted myself from Remi, willing my legs to stand on their own.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

My gaze darted around the shop. For once, it wasn’t busy, with only a few people scattered around, sipping coffee and eating sweets. Phoebe was chatting with Camille behind the glass display case, and suddenly, I knew exactly what I wanted.

I felt Remi’s eyes on me as I beelined toward my sister. I did not stop at the counter. Rounding it, I walked right into her, wrapping my arms around her. Luckily, she didn’t have anything in her hands and was able to return my embrace.

She laughed softly. “What’s this all about, Banana?”

“I missed you.” That wasn’t a lie. Phoebe smelled like sugar and everything good and sweet. Her hugs were always warm and fierce, and this one was no exception.

“I saw you this morning. What’s up with you?”

I sighed, letting my head fall on her shoulder. “I got spooked on my way home. Cleve thought it was funny to pretend like he was going to drive me off the road. There for a minute, I thought he was actually going to do it.”

She pulled back, holding my arms. “What do you mean? Cleve Jones?”

Damn. I shouldn’t have said anything. I hadn’t intended to, but the warmth of Phoebe’s hug had loosened my lips. Now, she was worried, and I didn’t want to lay that on her.

“It was his version of a prank…I think. You know he thinks he’s funnier than he is.”

Her brow crinkled. “This doesn’t sound like a prank. What he did was dangerous.”

“Who’s Cleve Jones?” Remi asked with an edge I didn’t recognize.

I guess I’d been so distracted I’d forgotten he was lurking about.

Jerking away from Phoebe, I stared at Remi, my mouth slightly agape. Then I moved to the counter opposite him, leaning on my palms.

“It’s rude to eavesdrop, Remington.”

He cocked his head, his jaw rippling. “I walked in with you. I wasn’t hiding behind a corner; I’ve been here the whole time. Now, tell me about being run off the road.”

Again, my mouth flopped like a fish, no sound exiting it. Phe stood next to me, linking her arm through mine.

“He’s an idiot,” Phoebe explained. “Hannah’s success has emasculated him, so he takes it out on her by trying to steal her clients and being a general nuisance. This is the first time I know of him doing something dangerous, though.”

Remi’s nostrils flared as his narrowed gaze slid from Phe to me. “You’re going to the police, right?”

I shook my head. The thought of doing that was exhausting. “It was a prank.”

Before I knew what was happening, he snagged my hand and lifted it in front of my face. “Is that why you’re trembling? Doesn’t sound like a prank to me.”

I wanted to argue, but my sister squeezed my arm. “He has a point. Cleve may have thought he was being funny, but he went too far. You should make a report, let the cops give him a scare. Maybe he’ll think twice about harassing you next time.”

“I—” Any argument I could have had was eaten up by Remi’s fierce glare and Phoebe’s pleading eyes. I blew out a breath in defeat. “Fine. I’ll go to the station. But not before I eat two donuts.”

Making the report wasn’t as terrible as I’d thought it would be. It had taken less than an hour to recount the incident and leave my contact information. Not that I’d really needed to since the officer had been in Caleb’s graduating class, but I appreciated him doing things the official way.

I made my way outside, exhausted to the bone from my long day of working and everything that had come after. A scorching shower followed by vegging on the couch were my only plans for the rest of the evening, and I couldn’t wait.

My steps came to a halt when I spotted Remi leaning against the brick wall next to the station entrance. He saw me at the same time and straightened, eyeing me expectantly. I drew in a breath, prepared to bustle by him, but he easily fell into step with me.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“Fine.” I glanced at him then faced forward, heading in the direction of my apartment. “You didn’t need to wait.”

“Felt like I should since I was the one who insisted you do this. Are they going to do anything about it?”

I shrugged. “They’ll give him a visit. I’m sure Cleve will deny it happened, and since I don’t have any proof, that’ll be it.”

“They tell you that?”

“They didn’t have to. It’s why I hadn’t wanted to bother in the first place. I don’t want anyone going out of their way for me.”

“Hannah, you deserve people going out of their way for you.”

It was such a Graham thing to say; I sucked in a sharp breath. Too sharp to be disguised. Remi’s head whipped my way, his gaze boring into me. When I didn’t look back, he must’ve decided I’d answered enough questions and didn’t press for more.

I pointed toward the building down the block. “That’s my place. I can get there on my own.”

“I guess you didn’t read the fine print when you signed the contract. This is door-to-door service.”

My lips twitched, almost smiling. “Funny, I don’t remember signing anything.”

“You did. Talk to Dell Rivers about it.”

I snorted a little laugh. “I’ll put that on my to-do list.”

He continued strolling with me, his arm casually bumping into mine. “Phoebe seems like she’s doing well for herself.”

“She’s a goddess.” I winged a brow when he didn’t immediately agree. “I saw you eating one of her lemon bars. I know you get it.”

He chuckled. “Absolutely. I’ve been a lot of places, eaten a lot of different food, and that lemon bar was top tier. It’s no wonder she always has a line.”

We were in front of my building now, so I jerked my chin to Phe’s place. “This is her apartment. Mine is upstairs.”

He tipped his head back to look up at my windows then swiveled to catch my gaze. Those crinkles appeared like a hidden weapon, and dammit if I wasn’t defenseless against them.

“Nice to live close. You two watch out for each other.”

It wasn’t a question, but I answered him anyway. “We do. It’s what us Kellys have always done.”

“Yeah. You were always good like that.” He stepped into my space and placed his heavy hands on my shoulders. “Are you doing all right now that you’ve had sugar and time?”

“I’m fine. It was the adrenaline before, that’s all.”

Hazel eyes darted all over my face as if searching for the truth. I wasn’t sure what he saw, but he nodded like he was satisfied.

“I’m glad I was there to catch you this time, Han.”

The way he was looking at me now was worse than the crinkles. Concerned and tender, like he truly cared and meant what he was saying—exactly the kind of thing that was dangerous to me. My dopamine-deficient brain would latch right on to this good feeling and mix it up into something more than it was. I was self-aware enough to recognize my own patterns, but somehow, I kept repeating them anyway.

Well, that wasn’t going to happen with Remington Town.

“If you could avoid telling my brother about this, that’d be great.” I retreated toward the steps, away from Remi. He slowly let his hands drop to his sides. “Good night, Remington.”

The crinkles appeared again, along with a ghost of a smile. “Night, Hannah Kelly.”

I wasn’t going to catch feelings for Remi, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t human. Standing there, I watched his very fine, muscular ass encased in a pair of snug blue jeans as he walked away. When he turned the corner and disappeared, only then did I head for my door.

But I didn’t get off scot-free for that little sneaky peek. As soon as I passed her door, Phe stuck her head out, a wide grin on her face.

“You and Remi had a moment.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know what on earth you’re talking about.”

“I know what I saw, Banana, and since my windows were open, I know what I heard too. That was a moment.”

If she were anyone else, I would have flipped her off. Since she was Phoebe, I pretended to gag myself.

“No moments were had, nor will any ever be had between me and Remington Town. And you can take that to the bank.”

At most, it had maybe been half a moment, but there was no need to admit that out loud.