Page 47 of Hideaway Heart

Veronica came over to greet Kelly, a huge smile on her face. “Hi, I’m Veronica. Thank you so much for coming.”

“Thanks for inviting me. I’m Kelly.” She glanced down at the salad she’d made. “I brought a salad, but it’s nothing much.”

“This looks amazing!” Veronica took the salad from Kelly. “Is that arugula?”

“Yes. Arugula, strawberries, feta, shallot, pecans, a little mint.” She made a face. “I’ve got the dressing in my bag—it’s store-bought vinaigrette, sorry.”

Veronica laughed. “Listen, a couple months ago, I would not even have been able toidentifyarugula, so don’t feel bad. I’m still learning my way around the kitchen. Come on in the house, I’ll get you a glass of wine.”

“That sounds great, thanks.” Kelly followed Veronica, who belatedly looked at me over her shoulder. “Oh, hi, Xander.”

“Hi, Veronica.” But it was obvious she could not have cared less about me as she eagerly led Kelly toward the back door.

“Adelaide cannot wait to meet you,” I heard her saying. “When she found out you were coming, she went into her room to get ready and hasn’t come out since.”

Kelly’s laughter faded as they disappeared into the kitchen.

Fishing a beer from the cooler, I dropped into the chair opposite my brother and twisted the cap off the bottle. Took a long swallow.

“So how’s it going?” Austin asked, glancing at the kitchen window. Through the screen we could hear Kelly and Veronica chattering a mile a minute, like they’d been friends forever.

I shrugged, scanning the perimeter of his yard. “Okay.”

“Veronica said you and Kelly don’t get along?”

“It’s not that we don’t get along.”

“What is it?”

I tipped up my beer again. “The situation is just difficult.”

My brother laughed. “Because she doesn’t like you?”

“Turns out, shelikesme just fine,” I couldn’t resist telling him.

“Oh yeah? From what Roni said, I thought she was giving you a hard time.”

“She was, but we called a truce. Now she’s...” From inside the house, I heard her laugh. “She’s driving me a little crazy.”

“In what way?”

I rolled my shoulders. “I know this is going to sound shocking, but I might have made a mistake.”

“What did you do?”

“I kissed her.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Thatiskind of shocking. I’m surprised you’d make a move on someone you’re assigned to protect.”

“It wasn’t a move, okay?” I sat up taller in my chair. “It was a tactic.”

“A tactic?”

“Yeah. I took her to Backwoods last night, and she wanted to have a drink in the bar before we left. Some asshole came up from behind and was about to tap her shoulder.”

“Ah. Lives were at stake, and you had no choice but to kiss her.” He raised his beer to me. “You’re a hero.”

“Don’t be a dick. It was the only thing I could do in the moment to protect her.”