“Hardly.”
She pointed at a market with a green awning over the entrance. Family owned markets and boutiques took the place of chain grocery and department stores. Unlike in New York City, most of the residents in Sweetwater had grown up here. They gave meaning to the old saying It takes a village to raise a child and carried that forward toward the elderly, the ill, the sad, the happy, and everything in between.
“This is beautiful, but I don’t understand why I can’t stay at the cabin. You said I was safe there.”
Stella had acted hot and cold all morning, as if she vacillated over trusting that his feelings were sincere. Logan felt her hesitation with every layer of armor she peeled away, but he wasn’t deterred. The article he’d read about Stella and her mother had painted a picture of a loving daughter who took care of her ailing mother, and as Stella softened toward him, it was easy to reassemble the image of who she’d been. Now he needed to make her world safe, so she could go back to being that person again, and be reunited with her mother.
“I’m not comfortable leaving you alone.”
“But you said I was safe. How can I be safer here? Out in the open? What if you’re wrong and someone tailed us?”
“We weren’t tailed. Have a little faith in me. I am a PI, you know.” He shook his head and smiled. “You’ll enjoy it here.”
She smiled as Sugar Lake came into view.
“That’s Sugar Lake.”
“It’s pretty.” She laced her fingers with his. “Who’s the girl you’re handing me off to again?”
Logan parked in front of Sweetie Pie Bakery, owned by Willow Dalton, a friend of Logan’s. A bright pink awning gave way to two large picture windows. He cut the engine and faced Stella. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in waves. She wore a loose turquoise tank top, a pair of jeans, and a wary look in her beautiful eyes.
“I’m not handing you off. I’m hoping to give you a few hours of remembering what it was like to live without watching your back. You’ll like Willow, and you might get to meet her sister, Bridgette. She owns the Secret Garden florist shop next door.”
“How do you know them?”
“I met Willow a few years ago, when I found her skinny-dipping on my property.”
“Oh.” Jealousy filled that word as she tried to take her hand from his.
Logan held on tight. “She’s a friend, Stella. Willow’s great. You’ll love her. In fact, she’s a lot like you.”
The furrow didn’t leave her brow as her eyes rolled skeptically over him. “If she’s like me, did you hook up with her?”
“You’re cute when you’re jealous.” Logan smiled as she rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not, I don’t sleep with every pretty girl I see. I don’t know what makes a person attracted to one person instead of another, but I can assure you, she’s like the smart-ass sister I never had, and I’ve never hooked up with her. More important, you’ll like her.” Logan had met Willow shortly after his father had died, and although she’d been embarrassed about being caught skinny-dipping, and he’d been angry and still reeling from his father’s death, they’d had an instant kinship. She’d seen his sadness and his anger, and rather than run, she’d put her clothes back on and taken a walk with Logan, pulling answers from him like a dentist pulls teeth, one painful moment at a time. Willow’s friendship had helped him that weekend, and in the years since, her family had become like a second family to him.
Logan came around to Stella’s side of the truck and helped her out. “Sweetheart, you wear tension like a second set of clothes, and for good reason, but…” He pulled her into an embrace. Her body remained rigid against him. He crashed his lips over hers, forcing her mouth open with his tongue in a wet, sloppy kiss that made them both laugh.
She laughed as she wiped her mouth. “That was like a bad Jim Carrey movie kiss.”
“Made you relax, didn’t it? I’ll make it up to you later.” He took her very relaxed hand, glad she’d laughed the tension away.
“You bet you will,” she mumbled.
Bells sounded above them as they walked into the bakery and were assaulted by an aroma of sugary goodness that made Logan’s mouth water.
“Oh my God. I think I want to live here and smell this all day long,” Stella said quietly.
Willow’s blond head popped up from behind one of the glass displays.