---

Having a sprained ankle was decidedly not the worst thing that could have happened to her, Chelsea had decided. Sure, it was kind of a pain in the ass to have people fussing over her, and the pain—at least for the first day—wasn’t the best. But much to her surprise, her foot started to feel better faster than she would have thought and considering Deanna had given her orders to rest even if it felt better right away, Chelsea was taking full advantage of those orders.

With her foot propped up on the couch and her laptop open, she was writing. She’d been inspired ever since her hike, and even though she kept trying to tell herself it had nothing to do with what Lucas had said, and the support he’d given her for writing, something had shifted. Whatever it was, the words were flowing and she wasn’t about to fight it. It had been two days already since the hike, and her story was coming along nicely.

She was so caught up in it, Chelsea hardly noticed when her cell phone started to ring on the coffee table. Reluctantly, she saved her work and picked up her phone but was instantly less aggravated when she recognized the number on the screen.

“Oh my God. How are you?” Chelsea all but screeched into the phone.

There was a familiar laughter on the other end, a sound Chelsea had missed too much in the last few months.

“It’s good to hear your voice too,” her older sister Amber said. “I know it’s been way too long but things have been crazy. How are you doing? I can’t believe you’re still in Cedar Springs.”

“I know.” Chelsea propped herself up a little bit on the couch. “But it turns out, I actually really like it here.” She laughed and her sister joined her because they both knew how Chelsea hadn’t even wanted to go to the small mountain town in the first place. “It’s unreal here, Amber. You have to come visit. Please tell me that’s why you’re calling. You’re finally going to come visit, right? Our brothers are actually really cool. I mean obviously, Declan and Cal are awesome. But Ian and Mitch are too. Hard to believe we ever said differently, isn’t it?”

“So hard.” There was disbelief laced through her sister’s voice, but also humor as well. “But I’m not surprised, not really. I mean, of course they’re going to be good guys. I’m honestly more surprised you let yourself find that out.”

Out of the two of them, Chelsea had always been the biggest holdout when it came to getting to know the older brothers. But not at first. Years ago, when everything went down, both sisters had wanted to meet their older half-brothers. It was Mitch and Ian who wanted nothing to do with them. A fact that Chelsea mostly took exception to.

She could be very stubborn when she wanted to be. And her attitude was, if they didn’t want to know her…she didn’t want to know them. Amber had always been a little more pragmatic about the situation. The way Amber was about everything.

Amber was the most reasonable person Chelsea knew. She planned out everything in her life, and executed her plan perfectly. With Amber, nothing was left to chance, which was how she’d managed to graduate from college so quickly, complete an internship with an amazing company in her field of accounting, and practically secure her career for the rest of her life.

“At any rate,” Chelsea said. “Tell me you’re coming to visit. You must be done school by now. You need a break.”

“I want to come see you, I do, and I want to meet everybody. I can’t believe all our brothers are married or are getting married. And Mitch is having a baby? I suppose if I’m going to be an auntie, I should get to know my brother, after all.”

“Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?” Chelsea knew her sister too well. And she knew if Amber intended on coming to visit, it would already be planned out.

“Well…I think I need a little break after my internship, so I’m actually going to be visiting a friend. Do you remember Josie? She was my roommate.”

“Of course. At least, I remember you talking about her. I don’t think I ever met her. Why?”

“Well, she lives in this tiny little town in Nebraska called Hope Falls. And I’m going to have a quick visit with her. And then hopefully I’ll hear about the job.”

“The job with that big firm? I thought that job was a for-sure thing?”

“It is. I mean, I think it is. Either way, I won’t be able to come visit until later.”

Chelsea’s heart fell, although she knew that was likely going to be the answer she got.

“But I totally want to come,” Amber said quickly. “And soon. Maybe for Christmas?”

Chelsea didn’t bother telling her sister she might not even be there for Christmas. Because the more time that went by, she couldn’t imagine herself being anywhere else. Especially because she certainly hadn’t made any plans. Just like the rest of her life, she thought with a sigh.

“You are going to be there. Right? I mean, do you have any plans?”

She could’ve lied. She could’ve told her sister she had all kinds of plans. But there was no point. Amber knew her better than anyone else and besides, it was always good to get a second opinion on things. Chelsea took a deep breath, and started talking. She spent the next few minutes filling her sister in on everything that had been going on in Cedar Springs. Namely, her indecision on what to do with her life and the two men who figured largely in that decision.

She finished the update with a retelling of the hike, subsequent spraining of her ankle and conversation with Scott. When she was finished, Amber sighed, and Chelsea could almost see her shaking her head.

“Wow.”

“That’s seriously all you have to say?”

“No.” Amber’s voice changed. “What I really have to say, Chels, is that you need to follow your heart and do what you want to do.”

There was no way her pragmatic, organized, rational sister had just said something as fluffy as “follow your heart.” But she had.

“You want me to what?”

“I know it sounds crazy coming from me.” Amber laughed. “But I mean it. We’re different people, we work differently and I think, for you, following your heart is the best way to be.”

There was a sound in the background and before Chelsea could say anything else, Amber said, “I have to go. But I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

Chelsea said her good-bye and hung up before she could even tell her sister about the Halloween party the Grizzly Paw was hosting in a few days.

But it was too late for that, so Chelsea put her phone down and picked up her laptop again. Instead of opening up the file for her book, she clicked over to the email invitation for the Halloween party at the Paw. She was scheduled to work it, but Samantha told her not to worry about it if her ankle wasn’t up to it.

Chelsea flexed her foot a bit. It wasn’t feeling too bad. It would probably be better in time for the party.

Which meant she needed a costume.

With a sigh, Chelsea put her laptop away and sat up from the couch. The time to rest was over. She needed to go into town and scrounge up some kind of costume. Besides, the fresh air would definitely do her some good.

---

---

“So you’re saying that everything was fine when you locked up last night?” Officer Rhys Anderson must have asked him the same question at least three times.

Lucas wasn’t stupid; he knew the officer was trying to catch him in an inconsistency. But there wouldn’t be an inconsistency because the story was the same. He locked up the construction trailer and everything was fine. He’d returned that morning to the red words scrawled all over the trailer.

“Like I said.” Lucas struggled to keep his voice level. “When I left last night, everything was exactly the way it should have been.” Lucas repeated himself. “When I drove into the yard this morning, this is what I was greeted with. Again. I’ve got to tell you, Officer, this is getting a little tiresome. Is there some reason you’ve been unable to catch whoever is vandalizing my property? Because I’ve been patient up until now, but—”

“But what?” Rhys dropped his notebook to the side and stared down Lucas. If he thought Lucas was going to take any kind of vigilante justice, he was wrong. Mostly.

Lucas was getting tired of this and fast. But he’d never been the type to take the law into his own hands, of course, but he would if he had to. The problem was…he really didn’t want to. Not as the new guy in town.

“Look, Anderson.” He shook his head with frustration. “I need you to figure this out, okay?”

Cedar Springs was a small town and not for a minute did Lucas think that that wasn’t the reason the perpetrator hadn’t been caught. He was also very aware that Scott Harding and Rhys Anderson were friends. And more and more, all signs were starting to point in Scott’s direction. And Lucas was doing his best to stay impartial.

Rhys picked up his notebook and started jotting down what, Lucas had no idea. He looked up and said, “We’ll find whoever is doing this. In fact, I was going to ask you about your security cameras. I noticed you had some installed since the last time I was here. Did you get any footage?”

Lucas scratched his head. “You’d be the first to know if I did.” The fact that he’d broken down and had the cameras installed only to still have issues, was annoying to say the least. Especially since Lucas hadn’t wanted to install them in the first place. He’d heard stories from other project managers about losing trust with the workers when cameras went in. But he’d been left with little choice.

“They need a little fine tuning,” he told Rhys. “I wasn’t able to get a good image this time.” It wasn’t a total lie. “But it’s not much more than a shadow. I’ll adjust them.” The truth was, the image was little more than a shadow but he had been able to make out part of it. And although it probably wouldn’t be enough to find who was responsible, he should just tell Officer Anderson what he knew, but…Chelsea.

It was a situation he really didn’t want to be in.

Rhys nodded. “You might even find that just putting up some signage that the areas are under surveillance will be enough.” Rhys shook his head. “Honestly, we’ve never had anything like this happen in Cedar Springs. But I assure you, we will get to the bottom of it.”

Lucas waited until the officer was back in his car and left to go do what, Lucas no longer knew. He’d tried to play nice, but he was losing patience quickly.

He pissed away a whole morning dealing with the vandalism stuff, and that made him angrier than anything else. He could pick a dozen other ways he’d rather spend his morning and none of them included dealing with some environmental activist group.

Lucas had just settled into his desk when Craig, his lead foreman, knocked on the door of his office and walked in.

“Where’s lunch, boss?”

“Lunch?” Lucas looked at his watch. Shit, it was already lunch. He really had wasted the whole morning.

“Isn’t it a sandwich day? The guys have been looking forward to those paninis all morning. I’ll tell you, I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea when you suggested bringing in lunch, but after seeing the way the guys look forward to it…I guess it truly is the little things. Or maybe it’s the roast beef. Either way, we’re hungry. Where’s lunch?”

Shit. Lucas flipped open his day planner and noted that today was one of the days he had booked in Scott Harding to cater some sandwiches for the crew. “They’re not here?”

Lucas knew without even hearing the answer what had happened. He hadn’t figured Scott for a petty man. But obviously he’d misjudged him. And to the detriment of his own business, that he wouldn’t provide the service he been contracted to because of a girl.

Even as Lucas thought it, he corrected himself. Chelsea wasn’t just a girl. Chelsea was a woman, one he was quickly developing feelings for. Very quickly. Clearly Scott was too. Judging by the situation, he was still mad that Lucas and Chelsea went on a hike.

Lucas shook his head. “Look,” he said to Craig. “I don’t know what to tell you. They should be here but there’s a good chance we won’t be getting sandwiches from Scott’s Stop any longer.”

“Well why the hell not?” The other man shook his head. “I don’t know much, but what I do know is I have a whole crew of hungry guys who were promised lunch. And they’re not going to do any work until they get some.”

With a sigh, Lucas pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, slipped his credit card from the sleeve and handed it over to Craig. “Take the guys to the Paw for lunch. Burgers. That’s it. Keep the receipts, and get back to work as quickly as you can. I’ll go look into the sandwiches.”

The very last thing Lucas wanted to deal with was sandwiches, of all bloody things. He tried to calm himself down as he walked down Main Street. It would do no good to confront Scott and start a fight. No good at all, except it would make him feel a little better. And there was that.

Lucas could definitely use a little stress release.

But no, he needed to keep it as simple as possible. And not mention Chelsea.

The thought of her must have conjured her image, because when he looked up, there she was, across the street in front of a little store called Live Love Lake.

All thoughts of talking to Scott—and sandwiches…and vandalism—vanished from his head. All he could see—heck, all he could think about—was Chelsea.

“Chels!” he called.

Her face lit up into a beautiful smile when she saw him, and his heart skipped a beat. Which was ridiculous. His heart never skipped a beat. It was stupid, it was cliché, and it was something that only happened to men who got wrapped up in the whole idea of love.

He waited for traffic to clear, and he ran across the street, giving her a kiss on the cheek in greeting.

“Why work, when I can run into you?” He laughed. “Seems like a much better way to spend my day.” That was an understatement, for sure.

“You can’t argue with that. It’s nice to see you. And thanks for sending flowers,” she said with a beautiful smile that made the flowers more than worth it. “You really didn’t have to. It was just a sprained ankle. And it’s feeling a lot better now.”

He looked down at her foot, which he could tell she was still favoring a little bit. “I’m glad to hear that. And you know, anytime you need a piggyback out of the bush, I’m your man.” She laughed, and he took her hand instinctively.

“Well, hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.”

“The ankle? Or the hike?”

She looked at him sideways. And didn’t answer right away. “The ankle, of course.”

He grinned. “Good, because that means the hike can happen again. Maybe this time we should go on a real date.” It wasn’t a question, but nonetheless he waited for the answer.

She didn’t answer him, but instead asked, “Seriously, what are you doing down here? I came looking for a Halloween costume. Don’t tell me you did the same.”

Halloween costume?

He’d completely forgotten Halloween was coming up. Not that he would’ve remembered. He was not at all a Halloween kind of a guy. But that could change. Especially if Chelsea was into it. He would have no problem getting a costume. The thought took him off guard. Because he realized, he would have no problem doing any of the things that Chelsea enjoyed.

Dammit, he was one of those guys who fell for the whole idea of love.

“What’s happening on Halloween?”

Her face lit up. “Don’t tell me you’re a Halloween guy?”

“Okay, I won’t tell you that. But seriously, I do like a good party. What’s going on?”

“The Grizzly Paw is having their annual Halloween— Of course, I have never been, but it’s supposed to be a great time. And now…since you are kind of a local and all, you have to come. But you need a costume.”

Lucas didn’t even hesitate. “Done. Consider me there. What kind of costume do you have?”

“Well, I haven’t actually found one yet. But I’m just headed in to see Evie now. She’ll have something. In fact, I heard she brought in a whole pile of costumes from the city.”

“Great. I’ll go see her later too. Sadly, I can’t join you right now.”

Chelsea crossed her arms and shifted her weight. He didn’t want to keep her if her foot was starting to hurt. “So, what are you doing in town? You never did say.”

It had been nice not thinking about Scott and all the drama with the construction site while it lasted. But her question brought it all back. Try as he might to hide it, he was sure everything showed on his face. Especially when Chelsea asked, “Is everything okay? I did hear about some stuff going on at the construction site.”

“Yes. There was more vandalism last night, so that’s how I spent my morning. Sure hard to get a lot of work done when you have to deal with that kind of shit. And to top it all off, the sandwiches I ordered for the crew didn’t show up this morning. So now I gotta go talk to a guy.” He didn’t say who, but his eyes drifted down the street to Scott’s Stop. And it wasn’t like there were a lot of options.

“Scott didn’t deliver?” A frown furled her brow. “That doesn’t seem like him.”

“Well, it would make sense if he was involved with everything that’s going on.” He immediately regretted his words, as the lightness completely fell from Chelsea’s face. Her lips pressed together.

“What did you mean by that?” She stood up straight. “You can’t really believe Scott had anything to do with anything that’s going on with your construction site. He’s not like that.”

It was the conversation he hadn’t wanted to happen, but it was too late. “The thought has crossed my mind,” he said truthfully. “He is quite involved in the society that’s causing all the trouble. And when the sandwiches didn’t show up, well…”

Chelsea shook her head hard. “No. He had nothing to do with it.” Lucas tried not to let it bother him how defensive she got over another man. “I believe Scott’s intentions are noble,” she continued. “He’s part of the society because he cares about the environment and the town. But why are you really part of the hiking group?”

The question completely took Lucas off guard and he took a step back. “What do you mean? The hiking group? I’m a part of it because—”

“Because you want to try to put on a show for everyone that you care about the environment? And for nature? And for this town at all? Maybe it’s your involvement in the hiking group that’s more than a little suspicious. Because I don’t know, Lucas.” She shook her head again and looked down. “I don’t know anything at all anymore.”

Before he could say anything, she spun around and started to walk away. “Chelsea,” he called after her. “You can’t just…what…what just happened?”

She looked over her shoulder. “I’m going shopping for a Halloween costume. Lucas, I just need a little space. I just don’t even know what to believe anymore. There’s so much stuff…” She didn’t finish her thought and just turned around and walked away.

As much as he wanted to go after her, Lucas knew when to leave well enough alone. But it wasn’t over, not by a long shot. He was going to talk to her and figure out what in the hell had just happened.

Lucas didn’t do anything if he didn’t want to. If he didn’t feel strongly about what he was doing, he didn’t do it. Period. He’d been accused of a lot of things. But being disingenuous was not one of them.

When he said something, he meant it. When he made a promise, it could be counted on.

The fact that Chelsea would even think he’d only joined the hiking club as a ruse upset him. And it didn’t seem like something she would’ve come up with on her own.

His eyes drifted across the street again to Scott’s Stop.

No, he knew exactly where she got that idea.