Currant Creek Valley

chapter SEVEN



HE WAS IN HEAVEN. Complete culinary heaven.

After finishing the best meal of his life, Sam sat back in his chair and wiped at his mouth with his napkin with a sense of total satiation.

Everything had been perfect, from the roasted fennel tomato soup at the beginning to the chocolate mousse layer cake he had just finished. He didn’t consider himself any kind of foodie, though his late wife had done her best to educate his palate, but he did know when something tasted just right. This meal definitely fit the bill.

Though the waitstaff had been attentive and helpful, Sam’s only regret was that he had missed the chance to see Alexandra. What was the point of coming out here to her restaurant if he didn’t have the chance to tell her how delicious everything had been?

He was about to ask his server if he could finagle a few minutes of her time when the kitchen doors swung open and she walked out. All that silky blond hair was gathered under a tall chef’s hat—a toque, he’d learned once when Kelli had been watching the Food Network from the hospital bed—and she wore a white jacket and black trousers. She looked crisply professional but every bit as beautiful as always.

Suddenly the whole evening seemed brighter. He didn’t find that a particularly comfortable realization.

“So?” She gestured to his table.

“I’m not sure I want to ever move from this spot again. That was fantastic. I can’t even describe how good it was.”

She plopped down into the chair opposite, snagged his wineglass and took a sip without asking. “Go ahead. Try.”

She really needed validation? He found that hard to believe, when she could produce such miraculous creations. “You do understand I’m not exactly a food critic, right? When I was a kid, a gourmet meal for us was a bucket of chicken. I’m only a dirt-poor kid turned soldier turned construction worker. Not sure if my opinion really holds all that much weight.”

“It does.”

“Okay. Well, I can’t tell what was my favorite part of the meal. That soup where all those flavors mixed together perfectly, the beef tenderloin that literally melted in my mouth or the roasted potatoes with the herb crust. What was that?”

“Oh, this and that. Rosemary, oregano, thyme and a few other secret things.”

He leaned back in his chair. “It was all divine. Every bit of the meal. But you knew that, didn’t you?”

“It’s always nice to hear it from somebody else.” Her grin was bright and infectious and he wanted to kiss her again, right here, right now, in full view of all her coworkers and the remaining patrons.

“When does your shift end?” he asked on impulse. Yeah, she had shut him down the last time when he asked to see her again but he couldn’t resist trying again.

“Now. We’re basically done for the night.”

If he were smart, he would thank her for a lovely dinner, head to his motel and try to sleep a little after a long day, preferably without frustrating dreams of her.

But sometimes the smart way seemed the coward’s way and he felt like living on the edge tonight.

“Up for another game of pool?”

She wanted to say yes. He didn’t know how he was so certain but for just an instant, something in her expression indicated she was seriously tempted, then wariness washed in like a dark cloud skating across the sky.

“I better not. I left Leo with Claire and Riley and told them I would swing by to pick him up after my shift.”

She paused, as if weighing her words. “I was planning to take him for a little walk to help us both unwind. You’re welcome to come along, assuming you can keep up.”

Laughter bubbled up. If he could keep up? He was used to twenty-mile forced marches in the middle of the night in the desert, carrying seventy-five pounds of gear, and she was implying she could out-hike him.

He could fall for this woman in a big way if he wasn’t careful.

Tonight he didn’t feel like being very careful.

“I’ll have to pry myself out of this booth first. After that delicious meal, that’s easier said than done.”

“Got a jacket handy, soldier? I was planning to hike up the Woodrose Mountain trail. It’s got a nice view of town from up there but the mountains are chilly once the sun goes down. The trailhead is just at the top of Sweet Laurel Falls Road.”

He loved the quaint place names in Hope’s Crossing. Glacier Lily Drive, Willowleaf Lane, Sweet Laurel Falls Road. Whoever went around with the naming pen had had a romantic streak. “I can find a jacket. Give me thirty minutes to run back to my motel for one and some hiking boots.”

And a flashlight or two, he thought, just to be safe.

“That should give me just enough time to change and pick up Leo.”

“Perfect. I’ll meet you at the trailhead in half an hour.”

She nodded. “I have a few things to wrap up here before I head down the canyon. It might be closer to forty-five.”

“That works.”

Though she had been the one to issue the invitation, he had the impression she wasn’t entirely thrilled now at the idea of spending more time with him. Again, he had to wonder why. Awareness sparked and snapped between them every time they were within a dozen feet of each other. She had to sense it. Did it make her antsy, too?

She returned to the kitchen and he quickly settled his check then hurried outside the restaurant to the lobby of the Silver Strike Lodge, a massive timber structure built in the style of old national-park lodges that somehow managed to look rustic and elegant at the same time.

The lobby wasn’t crowded but it was busier than he might have expected for the off-season. Then again, it was Friday. He could imagine the resort did a fair business with Colorado residents looking for a quick weekend vacation.

He had self-parked—he hated paying for valet parking when a few more steps could get him his own damn pickup truck—but as he passed a short line at the valet stand, one of the men standing there stepped out.

“Sam! You’re just the man I wanted to see,” Brodie Thorne exclaimed.

He stood with an older man with a shock of silver hair and a very well-cut suit.

“Hey, Brodie. What’s up?”

When he was first starting out in the construction business, he might have been nervous when the guy cutting the checks told him he wanted to talk, but he knew he was doing a good job at Brazen and had no concerns on that score.

“Nothing, really. I just wanted you to meet Harry Lange. Harry, this is the man we were talking about at dinner. Sam Delgado.”

The name rang a bell but he wasn’t sure why. He tried to figure it out as he shook the older man’s hand. “A pleasure.”

“The pleasure is mine. It’s rare I get the chance to meet a genuine hero.”

He glanced at Brodie, who shrugged with an apologetic smile. He hadn’t told Brodie much about his time in the Rangers but he fully expected the man had vetted him before bringing him to Hope’s Crossing to finish the project. He would have heard things, just as he probably knew all about Sam’s role in his father-in-law’s downfall.

He shifted and pretended to misunderstand Harry’s reference. “I’m not sure I’d call it heroic, but you’re right. A good finish carpenter is tough to find these days.”

The other man gave a rusty sort of laugh at that, earning him a surprised look from Brodie.

“Full of yourself, are you?” he said.

“About the things that matter in my life now,” he answered.

“I like a man who doesn’t live in the past. How are you enjoying our little corner of paradise, Mr. Delgado?”

He thought of Alex and this tangle of anticipation churning through him. “Everyone has been very welcoming.”

“Good. That’s what we like to hear. I understand you’re thinking of moving your construction business up this way.”

He glanced at Brodie, wondering just how much the two of them had talked about him over dinner and why his name had come up. This was the part he disliked about being an independent contractor, having to carry on polite conversations with people who might someday want to hire him. Especially when right now he wanted to be somewhere else.

“Not just thinking about it,” he answered. “The wheels are already in motion. I’m committed. I’ll be checking out houses tomorrow, as a matter of fact.”

Not that it was any of the man’s business. He wasn’t sure if he liked Harry Lange. The man held himself with a confidence that bordered on arrogance. He was trying to figure out how to politely excuse himself from the conversation when Brodie spoke.

“Sam, Harry is the major shareholder and founder of the Silver Strike Resort Group,” he said.

Was that supposed to impress him? He waited until he knew a man’s character before he cared much about his accomplishments and how much was in his bank account. “Looks like that’s working out well for you. It’s been nice talking with you but I need to go. I just made arrangements to meet up for a late-night hike with a beautiful blonde who said if I was late, she wouldn’t wait around for me.”

Harry laughed. “Let me guess. Alexandra McKnight.”

He stared. “How did you know?”

“Beautiful, blonde, smart-mouthed. That’s Alex. Besides that, I saw her talking to you at my restaurant. I like you, Mr. Delgado. I trust Brodie—and Alexandra, for that matter—to recognize quality, and I think you’ll be a good addition to this town. I’ve got an opportunity that might interest you and I’d like to talk to you about it. I don’t have much time to waste on this one. When you’re done with the real estate agent, come and see me at my home office.”

He rattled off an address, just assuming Sam would snatch it out of the air and remember it.

“I’m sorry. That’s not convenient for me.”

Both men looked at him, surprise on their features.

“How do you know until you hear what I have to say?”

“I meant meeting Saturday won’t work for me. I’m picking up my son in the morning so he can spend a couple days with me. He’s staying with my brother and his wife in Denver.”

“Bring him along. I like kids. I’ve got a couple grandchildren myself and I’m about to gain a whole passel of step-grandchildren.”

“Is that right?” Brodie asked, sounding surprised. “I hadn’t heard you were making things official. You didn’t say a word, all through dinner. When’s the big day?”

“Don’t know. I’ll show up whenever Mary Ella tells me.”

Mary Ella. He knew one woman named Mary Ella, had just met her that morning, in fact. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Harry Lange was about to marry Alexandra’s mother.

He wasn’t sure if that changed his ambivalence about the man at all but he had liked her mother. If Harry had convinced Mary Ella to marry him, Sam had to be inclined to think more favorably about him.

“If you don’t mind me bringing my son along, fine. I can be there tomorrow, late afternoon.”

“Great. See you then. Now I suggest you get a move on, son. Alex is a woman of her word.”

He had already figured out she would be. He nodded to both men and hurried to his pickup.

At the motel, he quickly changed out of slacks to cargo pants and suitable hiking boots. Back in his pickup, he was keying in the street address she had given him to his GPS when his cell phone rang.

Maybe she was backing out. Surprised by the fierceness of his disappointment, he reached for his phone and was happy on several levels when he saw his brother’s home phone number, the one Ethan used to call him.

“Hi, Dad!” his son chirped when he answered.

He suddenly missed Ethan with a fierce ache. “I thought you would be sleeping. I tried to call earlier but Aunt Cheri said you were still at Luke’s party. How was it?”

If not for the huge birthday celebration thrown by one of Ethan’s classmates—the party he had been hearing about for weeks—Sam would have driven down to pick up Ethan that night to bring him back with him.

“It was really fun! Luke has a swimming pool and a slide and a trampoline. I was very careful to follow all the rules. Only one person at a time is permitted to jump on the trampoline, Luke’s mom said so. It’s a safety issue. I waited to jump until everyone else was done and having cake.”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about having a son afraid to do anything he wasn’t supposed to. Pretty ironic payback for a guy who had broken as many rules as he could, once upon a time.

“I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” he said.

“What time do you think you’ll be here?” Ethan asked. “I want to set the alarm on my watch.”

He laughed, even as he had another qualm. Since Kelli died, Ethan had been obsessed with setting alarms, keeping to schedules, probably out of some need to control the world around him that had turned so confusing and scary.

He wanted Ethan to be a regular kid, breaking rules, taking chances, missing the bus once in a while. Embracing life.

“I should be there around ten, then we’ll come back here and have two whole days together. You’re really going to like Hope’s Crossing, I promise. Remember how nice it was when we came that day last month? They’ve got a park here with a cool climbing wall and a rocket you can play on inside. In the winter, we can go sledding and maybe you can learn to snowboard.”

“I don’t know about that. My friend William said his brother broke his leg snowboarding.”

Further evidence of Ethan’s fears. “It can happen sometimes, but it’s a pretty fun sport if you know what you’re doing.”

“I guess.”

“We can talk about it. We have a few more months to go before it snows again. Meantime, get some rest and I’ll be there after breakfast tomorrow. I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you, Dad.”

“I love you, Eth. More than anything.”

They hung up and he stared out at the night for a long moment. His son was his priority. He had to be, especially during the transition phase while they both tried to adjust to their changing circumstances.

Ethan had lost so much. First his mother, then the relationship he had once had with his grandparents. Now he was losing something else important—his home for the past eight months, the cousins he loved and the aunt and uncle who had stepped up to help Sam.

Was it any wonder his son wanted to control as much as he could in his life? It was up to Sam to give him the most stable, supportive environment he could when they finally settled into life here in Hope’s Crossing.

He was somber as he followed the GPS directions to the trailhead. As much as he wanted to see Alex again, he almost wished he had never gone to her restaurant earlier—and certainly that he hadn’t pushed so hard for an opportunity to spend more time with her.

He liked her, probably too much. When he was with Alexandra, he could forget about the weight of responsibility dragging at him like that seventy-five-pound pack he’d been thinking about earlier—the constant worry that he wouldn’t be able to give his son what he needed, that he wasn’t enough.

He needed to be focusing on Ethan and creating the best life he could for the two of them, not remembering that moonlit kiss the other night.

He would enjoy his impromptu hike with Alex tonight and spend the time trying to ease things back to a friendly footing, he decided. He didn’t see what other choice he had.

Still, when he drove into the trailhead parking area and his headlights picked up the sight of her waiting on a bench overlooking the town, a brown furry dog at her feet, he was aware of a fierce burst of something warm and bright he hadn’t known in a long time. It felt suspiciously like happiness.

Leo barked a soft greeting when Sam parked and headed toward them. He reached down to pet the dog at the same moment he leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek in greeting.

“You smell delicious,” he said, then could have kicked himself for the spontaneous words. That sounded very much like a come-on, after he had just told himself to keep things friendly.

“I probably smell like a kitchen, since I’ve been cooking all day.”

“You know us men and our stomachs.”

She laughed. “Yes, but I also know you can’t possibly be hungry. You just had a divine meal, which I happened to have fixed myself.”

“Men don’t always have to be hungry to want to eat,” he pointed out.

“Are you talking about food or sex?”

So much for casual friendliness. He shrugged. “Either. Both. Does it matter?”

She shook her head but he saw she was fighting a smile. “Come on. Let’s work off some of that...hunger...on the trail.”

She took off, the dog trotting ahead of her on a leash. He didn’t even have time to hand her a flashlight. She didn’t really need one—the moon was huge and full and lit up the terrain with a pale, unearthly glow.

The trail wasn’t steep but the climb was steady. This part of the route was also only wide enough for one across so they didn’t have much chance to talk.

He didn’t mind. It was probably better that way since he couldn’t seem to keep his big mouth shut. Despite all his good intentions, everything he had said to her since he pulled up to the trailhead had been provocative.

After maybe fifteen minutes of hiking, she paused at an area where the trail widened and the trees thinned, presenting a vivid view of the glimmering lights of the valley below. She pulled a water bottle out of the deep pocket of her jacket. Even as she drank, she didn’t release her hold on the dog.

“You’re not letting him off the leash?”

“Not yet. He’s obviously a runner or he wouldn’t have wandered down Main Street the other night. I don’t want to take the chance of him losing his way, not with all the pitfalls up here. Bear, cougars, coyotes. Moose.”

“Moose?”

She flashed him a look. “For your information, a bull moose could take out a Jeep if he had enough mad on.”

“Yet you have no problem hiking up here in the dark.”

“I’m tougher than I look, soldier. Besides, wouldn’t you have been sorry to miss that view?” She gestured below them.

They stood, her shoulder brushing his arm, and admired the lights of the valley spread out below them.

“Beautiful,” he answered. Lame as it seemed, he wasn’t only talking about the vista. In the moonlight, she seemed otherworldly, too, glowing with life.

“I don’t know how anybody could ever want to leave this place.”

She spoke almost reverently and he gave her a careful look. “You haven’t ever wanted to go anywhere?”

“Been there, done that,” she said, settling onto a slab of granite that looked as if it had been carved out of the mountainside.

“Oh?”

She was quiet for a long moment, the only sound the wind moaning in the tops of the pines and rustling the new leaves of aspen trees around them.

“After college, I lived for two years in Europe while I was in cooking school,” she finally said.

Wow. He hadn’t expected that. “What part of Europe?”

“France first and then Italy.”

She spoke with a reluctance, her tone guarded, and he had to wonder what she wasn’t saying. “You didn’t enjoy it?”

“Parts of it, I really loved. The architecture, the art, the food. I mean, how can you not love all that fabulous food?”

“But you didn’t stay.”

“I planned to, but...I finally decided it wasn’t the life for me.”

“Why not?”

She hesitated. “I missed my family too much.”

Even through his envy at all she had, he sensed that wasn’t the whole story.

“Don’t take them for granted. Your family, I mean,” he said when she didn’t seem willing to add anything else. “If you get along with them, consider yourself lucky.”

“I do. Believe me I do. You mentioned a brother. What about your parents?”

“Don’t have any. It’s just the two of us.”

“You had to have had them once. It’s kind of a biological imperative.”

“Technically, yeah. Our dad, if you want to call him that, took off back to Colombia when Nicky was only a few months old. We never heard from him again.”

“You don’t know what happened to him?”

He shrugged. “I barely remember him, if you want the truth. We didn’t miss him much after he left. I tried to find him years ago when I was stationed in that part of the world. I’m not sure why. Stupid curiosity, maybe. Or maybe just to tell him off for abandoning his kids.”

“You couldn’t find him?”

“Not a trace. The trail went cold.”

Judging by the little he knew of the man, he had probably come to some violent end while trying to screw somebody out of money or drugs, but he decided not to mention that.

“What about your mother?”

She wasn’t going to stop until she heard the whole grim truth, he sensed. He rarely talked about his parents but something about the night and the woman seemed to wrest the words out.

“She wasn’t really much of a mother. She was in the life, you know? Drugs, alcohol. The whole thing. Nicky and I were in and out of foster care from the time I was ten until I turned eighteen. Not always together, though I tried.”

“What happened when you were eighteen?”

He remembered that time, both the determination and the fear. “I found a compassionate judge who gave me custody of him.”

“How old was your brother?”

“Fifteen. The biggest smart-ass you could ever meet when he was a kid, but now he’s a hotshot attorney with a great wife and a couple kids. He just got a job in Belgium working for an international company there.”

He wasn’t sure how, but he and Nick had somehow made it work. He had done odd jobs for two years, until his brother graduated high school at seventeen, when Sam had enlisted. With his army wages, he had managed to live on nothing, saving every penny to help Nicky through school.

“You sound proud of him.”

“I am. It’s amazing that he came out of what we did and became somebody.”

“So did you.”

He shifted, uncomfortable with her words. Before he could find some way to deflect the conversation—and before he quite figured out what she intended—she leaned in and kissed him, her mouth warm and soft against his.

He sensed the kiss was completely spontaneous, that she hadn’t given it much thought ahead of time and probably wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t acted on impulse, but he wasn’t about to argue.

She was here, touching him, kissing him, and that was the only thing he cared about.

After that first delicate brush of her mouth against his, as soft and sweet as butterfly wings, she started to ease away, as if she believed he would be content with that little taste after he had savored so much more than that the other day.

Knowing only that he couldn’t let her go yet, he grasped her hands in his and tugged her closer. Her fingers fluttered in his like that butterfly but after a moment’s hesitation, she opened them and twined them together with his, all while her scent—vanilla and spices and delicious female—made his head spin.

So much for good intentions. He forgot all the reasons this wasn’t wise. With the sparkle of stars overhead, the sprawl of lights from the town below and the cold mountain air that smelled sweetly of spring wrapping around them, the moment was perfect. He didn’t want it to end.

He kissed her, tasted her, until they were both breathing hard, until his body ached, until he wanted nothing so much as to find a soft patch of grass somewhere and explore every warm, curvy inch of her....

She was the first to pull away and he realized she was practically on his lap. He wanted her to stay exactly there.

“You are one fine kisser, Sam Delgado.”

He smiled against her mouth. “I’m good at a lot of things.”

Her body trembled, ever so slightly, but before he could stop her, she slid out of his lap and gave a light jump to the ground, reaching for the leash she had dropped in the midst of their kiss. The dog hadn’t gone far; he was curled up on the ground looking far more comfortable than either of them right now.

“I like you very much, Sam,” she said, “and I would be lying if I didn’t admit I find you incredibly sexy, but I’m not going to sleep with you. I suppose it’s only fair to tell you that up front.”

He managed a rough laugh, dangerously close to falling hard for Alexandra McKnight. “Just because a woman happens to enjoy the way I kiss her doesn’t automatically mean I expect her to fall into bed with me.”

In the pale moonlight, her features looked almost fey. “Then you are truly a man among men. Come on, Leo. We should probably be heading back.”

He stood for just a moment on the mountainside with the cool breeze rippling his hair, then shook his head to clear away the lingering arousal and followed after her, wondering just how the hell his best intentions had gone so wildly off the rails.

* * *

ALEX GRIPPED THE HANDLE of Leo’s leash so hard she was quite sure when she finally made it down to the trailhead, she would have an imprint on the skin of her palm that would last for days.

She was completely self-deluded to think she could keep things casual and friendly with Sam.

The only reason she had invited him along on this little walk with Leo was to convince herself she had the strength of will to resist this attraction that simmered between them. Ha. That certainly turned out well, didn’t it? A half hour into it, she was once more in his arms.

She couldn’t seem to help herself. Her brain warned her to keep a safe distance but the rest of her just wanted to grab hold and not let go.

Leo led her down the dark trail, easily dodging the small rocks and weedy growth along the way. He moved fast, probably eager for bed, and she followed right behind him, hoping she didn’t trip and go sprawling. Wouldn’t that be a lovely conclusion to the evening, if she ended up in the emergency room?

She was aware of Sam not far behind her. The beam of his flashlight cut ahead of all three of them, but he was silent, concentrating on the trail.

By the time the trailhead came into view, endorphins pumped through her and she could feel each beat of her heart.

“Why are you running so hard?” Sam asked when they reached their vehicles.

She caught her breath. “That wasn’t a run, soldier. That was just a little stroll down a mountainside. It’s not my fault you can’t keep up.”

“I wasn’t talking about the pace.”

Yeah. She figured that out. She hated feeling like a coward but she had a very powerful feeling it wouldn’t take long for her to fall head over heels for this strong, sexy man who’d raised his younger brother and nursed his dying wife and who made her feel as if she would catch fire in a dry wind. For some crazy reason, she suddenly remembered the phrase Frankie Beltran had said to Claire, telling her Sam was hotter than a two-sided firecracker.

She was the firecracker, at least where he was concerned. He only needed to look at her out of those big, long-lashed dark eyes and she wanted to explode across the sky in a big flash of heat and color and sparkles.

“I like you, Sam. A lot. But I told you I’m not going to sleep with you and I mean it. I don’t do relationships very well. Casual, flirty and fun I can handle but I’m not interested in more than that.”

“Nothing wrong with casual, flirty and fun. For now.”

She pounced on the last two words. “See, right there. That’s the problem. I only want the now. And actually, I don’t even want that in this particular now. Nothing personal, but I just don’t have the energy for you.”

He studied her in the moonlight and she felt exposed to the bone, as if he could sift through layers of skin and muscle and sinew to the very heart of her.

Oh, the wonders of self-delusion. She thought she could handle a man like Sam the same way she treated the fun-loving ski bums and river guides she usually dated. It was no coincidence they were usually a few years younger than she was and more than willing to let her set the terms and make up the rules.

Sam was different. With him, she felt extremely out of control, as if she were floating down level-five rapids with no life preserver, no raft, no helmet, no protection but her own wits. Flimsy help, there.

“This is an important time for me, preparing to open the restaurant after months—years, really—of planning. I just can’t afford the distraction.”

“Distraction.”

He spoke the word softly and it hovered between them like a pesky deerfly.

“Yes. What else would you call this?”

He was silent for a long moment. “You’re definitely distracting. I can’t seem to get you out of my head, try as I might. I thought seeing you again would help in that department but I think we’ve only made things worse.”

He sighed. “As much as I’m tempted to give you all the casual, flirty fun you can handle,” he went on, his voice low, “I think you’re probably right. This isn’t a good idea.”

She was so busy trying to ignore the burst of heat from his words, it took a moment for the second part of what he said to seep through.

“It’s not? I mean, no, it’s not. What a relief that you agree with me.”

“The timing isn’t great for either one of us.”

“Horrible,” she agreed.

“Neither of us is looking for a relationship right now.”

“Absolutely right.”

“So no more midnight walks. Are we agreed on that?”

“Probably smart.”

They both looked at each other for a long moment and then Sam smiled, one edge of his mouth lifting just a little higher than the other. “It’s too bad, really. I like you right back, Alexandra.”

“No reason we can’t still be friendly with each other.”

“Except every time I’m with you, I’ll want to kiss you again.”

“You’ll get over it.”

He laughed and unexpectedly reached out and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head with an affection that stealthily sneaked into her heart more effectively than a passionate embrace.

“I’ll do my best.” Too soon, he released her and she opened her car door and climbed inside.

“Good night, Sam.”

“Night. Thanks for the hike and the company.”

“You’re welcome.”

She closed the door quickly, firmly, and shoved the transmission into Reverse. She didn’t quite squeal her tires, but it was close as she backed out of the parking space then quickly headed toward her house in Currant Creek Valley before she could surrender to the fierce urge surging through her to turn off the engine, fly out of the SUV and jump back into his arms.