Forbidden Fling (Wildwood 1)

Ethan smiled.

Delaney settled Hunter on her lap at the table and pulled a piece of paper and a plastic cup of crayons in front of her. And once she had Hunter entertained, Delaney lifted her head and pushed her hair off her face with a casual glance around.

Like a magnet, her eyes found his and held. Excitement. Affection. Lust. He felt every flash of emotion in her eyes click deep in his chest. A smile flashed on her lips a moment before realization hit—the realization that she couldn’t . . . shouldn’t . . . want him—and her expression dimmed. Then she looked away.

“I knew some people would like the idea of having the bar renovated,” Ethan said, trying to smother the tangle of loss. “But I didn’t expect everyone to treat her like royalty.”

“She’s been quite the topic of conversation,” Caleb said. “No one can stop talking about how she’s using local businesses to fuel the renovation. She’s pumping money all over town, and winning a lot of friends for it. She’s either providing business to someone here tonight or to someone who loves or depends on someone here tonight. She’s also offering labor jobs to people in town and paying above minimum wage.

“After everything she’s been through, she doesn’t owe this town anything, and she could have gotten lower prices from the big guys half an hour away. But she’s keeping it all local. If she’s trying to change her image or people’s minds, I’d say she’s succeeding.”

“I don’t think she’s trying to do anything,” Ethan said. “I’m pretty sure that’s just who she is, just how she does business.”

Ethan didn’t want to be impressed. Didn’t want to be touched. He wanted to be able to find something to dislike about her, because evidently the way she’d stepped in and cut the throat on his dreams wasn’t enough to quench his attraction.

“Would you stop?” Caleb muttered, moving in front of Ethan. “There. Now at least it will look like you’re talking to me while you’re ogling her.”

“I’m not ogling.”

“The hell you aren’t. When you can have any woman you want, why go after the one woman who will cause you the most headaches? Sleeping with her is professional and personal suicide.”

Ethan frowned at him. “You’re not usually so melodramatic.”

“Before you go thinking a casual fling with her is no big deal,” he said, glancing around and lowering his voice, “you should know I’ve also heard a little about why she left Pacific Coast. Jeff Miller’s oldest brother manages one of their bottling plants in Los Angeles.”

Ethan’s mind darted back to that night at The Bad Seed when he’d asked her why she’d quit and she’d pointedly avoided answering.

“You know how it’s owned by seven brothers?” Caleb went on. “Well the seventh brother has been living in Europe for about ten years. France. Got in some kind of trouble over there. Jeff said the company scuttle was drugs and embezzling. In any case, the story is that he came here to let the heat die down.”

“People usually leave the United States to avoid trouble.”

“I don’t know about that. But his wife is French and stayed in France with their two kids to tie up loose ends, sell property, that sort of thing, before she came here. He has a degree in architectural engineering, so the family put him to work in the construction arm of the company, which made h

im Delaney’s boss.”

Ethan didn’t like the direction this was taking. And he didn’t like the fact that the information was so diluted from the original source either. He looked past Caleb to Delaney; she was laughing with Hunter, and the knot in his gut pulled tighter.

“Jeff’s brother said there were a lot of late nights between the two at construction sites and long trips searching out acquisition locations, and that it was a foregone conclusion within the company that he and Delaney were having an affair.”

The knot in Ethan’s gut lifted to his throat. But he didn’t know why. Even if it was true, it happened before he and Delaney hooked up.

Key words: hooked up.

Why did he have to keep reminding himself of that?

“And when the wife finally came to the States with the kids, and the husband tried to break it off with Delaney, she got pissed and used their relationship to blackmail him into a promotion and a raise. And when he wouldn’t leave his wife for her in the end, and the shit hit the fan, she was offered the option of getting fired or resigning.”

Whoa. Ethan frowned. Caleb might have had Ethan up to the end, but . . . he shook his head. “That’s not her style. She broke it off with me when she turned in the final application because our involvement was a conflict of interest for me.”

“At least one of you has some common sense.” Caleb shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I heard. And if you weren’t such a sucker for manipulation, I wouldn’t even bring it up. But you are blind to half of your family’s attempts to manipulate you, and you shrug off the rest. You’ve slept with Delaney, and she knows that will be a problem for your family, a family that includes three public servants—the mayor, a deputy, and the town building inspector and planner. And she’s now renovating a property that’s going to be worth well over a million dollars. You do the math. What better recipe would there be to getting what she wanted, the way she wanted it in this situation than blackmail? You’ve got to admit, you are the easiest target in the family.”

Ethan wasn’t going to admit anything—at least not out loud. But inside, his confidence and self-worth were taking some pretty hard hits.

“With that said,” Caleb went on, “I agree with you. I don’t think that’s Delaney’s MO. I don’t think she’s out to hurt or manipulate anyone. But nor would it be the first time I misread a woman. And you’ve got too much riding on this to risk it all on a guess. As your friend, I feel the need to stick toothpicks in your eyelids to keep them open where Delaney’s concerned.”

“Hey, guys.” Shannon stepped up to them and slipped her arm through her husband’s, snuggling as close as her six-months-pregnant belly would allow. “What about Delaney? Her name seems to be on everyone’s lips tonight. Doesn’t she look cute with Hunter? I see a date-night babysitter in our future if we can get her to stay in town.”

Caleb covered Shannon’s hand and leaned in to kiss her temple. “Good plan.”