Caught in the Act (Independence Falls 2)

Never again.

“If you get us lost in the woods,” she said, “this time I’ll be the one to tell my brothers about your supposed sins.”

Chapter 2

LIAM HAD A long list of transgressions—he hadn’t spent the past few years living like a monk—but Katie Summers topped them all. And those sins had been very real. There was a line he knew better than to cross, but he’d blown past it anyway in one wicked night he could never take back.

And the next day, when her brothers found out about them? Well, shit, he’d screwed that up too.

He studied the way her slim hips moved beneath her sundress. With her long, graceful limbs, she looked like a model. Not that he knew much about them, having spent

all of his thirty years living in rural Oregon. Though he’d bet they didn’t drag reluctant livestock through the woods in freaking sandals.

Despite the goats and the rugged surroundings, Katie Summers possessed a cover girl walk, in his humble opinion, and so much more. Her bright green eyes sparkled with a silent I-dare-you. That look had drawn him in years ago and he’d accepted the challenge.

“Do you need help?” she called over her shoulder. “The little one should follow her brothers.”

He tugged on the animal’s makeshift lead. “I’m coming.”

She raised an eyebrow, and something unreadable flashed in her eyes. He’d picked the wrong words, but with Katie he’d never been able to find the right ones.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Liam stepped through the brush, pulling the stubborn goat behind him into the clearing, with the baby trailing behind. Katie had charged ahead as if running from a wildfire. It helped that the goat on the end of her lead line was more compliant. And she didn’t have the smallest member of the four-legged family following behind her, voicing objections every thirty seconds like a child in the backseat screaming: Are we there yet?

Ten paces into the clearing, Katie stopped. Liam walked to her side. Telling himself he was checking to make sure she wasn’t scratched and bleeding from their hike through the overgrown forest, he examined her long, bare legs, allowing his gaze to drift north to where her short skirt met her slim thighs.

“Which way?” she demanded.

“Straight.” Liam looked up from her tantalizing limbs and pointed through the field, waiting for the moment that she recognized where they were. “You should know your way home from here. This place hasn’t changed much.”

He watched as she took in the panoramic view of the Cascades. Her brow drew together, her head turning to the left. He knew the second she spotted the pair of fir trees in the center of the clearing. She sucked in a breath, her eyes narrowing as her hand tightened on the lead. There was no doubt about it—she knew where they were now. And she remembered every moment they’d spent together. He could see it in the way she studied the space beneath those branches.

Seven years ago, he’d met her under the twin firs nearly every day for a month. It had started with a simple picnic. He’d known her forever, grown up playing Little League with her brothers. Chad, the second eldest of the Summers brothers, had been his year in school. But that summer, Liam had been unable to resist the wild, daring gleam in Katie’s eyes, or the way she’d worn her clothes shorter and tighter. Maybe it had been his imagination, or maybe she’d been pushing the limits.

She’d had a rough year. At eighteen, she’d lost her father to a sudden heart attack days after burying her grandfather. After her dad died, it was just Katie and her brothers. Her mother had walked out years earlier and never looked back.

In hindsight, he realized Katie had probably been trying to escape her grief. At the time, he just plain wanted her. So damn much that he’d put on blinders. He thought he’d found someone who wanted the same things he did. He’d pushed aside the warning signs—she was too young, too sad, and too damn innocent.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked. There was an edge to her tone as if she didn’t feel the need to hide her dislike for him when they were alone. How deep did those feeling run?

He shrugged, setting the question aside for another time and place. “Fastest way home.”

“We’re trespassing,” she said, her gaze fixed on those trees.

“Not anymore. I bought it.” He pulled on the goat’s lead. He hadn’t planned on revealing that fact today.

“When?”

“A few years back.” As soon as he had the money. He’d been desperate to make this land his own.

“Why?” This time, honest wonder filled her voice.

“Nice views.” He nodded to mountains visible over the tops of the distant trees. She’d grown up looking out at those peaks, but he’d always lived closer to town on a thumbprint of land in a rented home. His parents—God bless them—had gotten by on a combination of love and timber harvesting. And there had always been more love to go around than money from working in the forest, especially in the winter months.

The fear of getting kicked out of their house, of never having enough to pay the bills, had hung over his childhood. Some kids were scared of monsters under the bed. But Liam had grown up terrified of calls from collection agencies. As his dad grew older, unable to keep up in the field alongside the young guys, Liam had realized the importance of plan B—an office job that didn’t require physical work, and came with health insurance.

“What are you going to do with it?” Katie asked, drawing him back to the present and the piece of land that proved he was walking down the path marked success. The equity stake in Moore Timber his best friend, Eric Moore, had offered Liam in exchange for help running the company was one more milestone on that road—and one he had yet to prove he deserved.

“Thinking about building a home here someday,” Liam said.