Page 11 of Legends: Easton (Legends of Fire Creek #3)

Bailee pushed the shopping cart at a leisurely pace behind her grandmother, who moved through the grocery store like a woman possessed.

With a list in hand, Darby Anne navigated the store like someone who visited often.

Her list was sorted according to where items were in the store, so they started at one end and snaked through the aisles.

She wasn’t sure why Gran brought her along.

She obviously didn’t need Bailee’s help, not as she did when Bailee was a young girl visiting in the summer.

Back then, Gran would send her to various parts of the store to retrieve needed items. Now, Bailee’s only purpose was to keep the cart handy for when Gran added groceries to it.

As the items piled up, Bailee wondered if they were going to need a second cart.

“I’m thinking of a pot roast for dinner. They have them on sale this week. What do you think?”

Bailee smiled as Darby Anne moved toward the meat section without waiting for her granddaughter’s response.

She was used to Gran’s one-sided conversations.

Darby Anne refused to admit she was talking to herself.

If anyone was within hearing distance, she couldn’t possibly be talking to herself.

Bailee couldn’t argue with that kind of logic.

The store wasn’t busy with customers at this time of day, and Bailee blamed that on the abysmal weather.

She went to bed last night, pleasantly exhausted from a day of physical labor and satisfied with the number of projects she’d completed, and fell asleep plotting the tasks she wanted to tackle the next day.

By morning, her carefully laid plans were thwarted by the thunderstorm raging outside. Fat drops of water pelted the earth. Thunder rumbled, followed by deafening claps of thunder.

When the rain lessened, Darby Anne convinced her to tag along grocery shopping. They’d barely set foot in the store when another wave of heavy rain began. She had smiled at the store employees talking about the “bottom falling out,” the Southern slang for that type of storm.

As much as she enjoyed spending time with Darby Anne, she fought disappointment at having her work around Gran’s house interrupted.

The projects kept her sane, and the feeling of accomplishment was heady.

Not to mention, she enjoyed tackling those projects with Easton at her side.

He’d come over every morning since they painted the porch together.

Gran would make herself scarce while they worked.

The conversation flowed freely between them.

He kept her laughing, and their banter was light and easy.

She hadn’t seen or spoken to him today, and she reluctantly admitted to herself that she missed him. The man had annoyingly gotten under her skin. He still flirted with her at times, but he hadn’t made a move on her or even asked her out on a date.

They were friends. It was just as she wanted except the more time she spent with him, the stronger her attraction was to him.

Their chemistry was palpable at times, and she was certain he felt the electricity between them the same as she did.

She got the feeling he was respecting her wishes to remain friends, but she wondered if she should make a move toward something more.

“Bailee Anne, did you hear a word I said?”

Bailee stopped her wool gathering and blinked at Gran, who stood by the freezer with two packages of meat in her hands. Her mouth was drawn into a thin line as she regarded her granddaughter.

“I’m sorry, Gran. What were you saying?”

Darby Anne shook her head. “Never mind. Would you head back to the produce and pick up some carrots and potatoes to go with the pot roast? It’ll take me a minute to pick out just the right one.”

Bailee nodded. “Of course. I’ll be right back.”

You have to stop! She chastised herself as she backtracked to the section of the store they’d started in before her grandmother decided what to prepare for supper.

Gran may not have known what she was daydreaming about, but the fact that she had been caught thinking of Easton bugged her.

This was exactly what she wanted to avoid with the man.

He was a player, a guy who had a different woman on his arm at every turn.

She’d purposely set him in the friend zone.

She couldn’t entertain the notion of something more.

But then her mind reminded her how Easton looked when he swung a hammer, strong and confident.

The T-shirts he wore fitted him to perfection, molding to his muscular body without being so tight it looked like he was showing off.

When his hair would get sweaty, it curled at the ends, and her fingers twitched to touch it.

She shook her head as she placed a package of baby carrots in the cart.

Running her hands through a man’s sweaty hair had to be the most pathetic thing she could fantasize about, but there she was, doing exactly that.

She could still hear his laugh ringing in her ears and see the lines appear about his mouth and eyes, evidence of how often he laughed.

She’d never considered a man’s laugh lines sexy until she met Easton.

A sigh escaped her lips. Maybe she should give in to her attraction.

A night spent with Easton would purge him from her fantasies, and she could focus on what she came to Fire Creek to do — reset and reassess.

She could set the boundaries, tell him in no uncertain terms that they would be together one night and one night only.

They could ease the sexual tension and then move on.

It seemed an easy solution, but as soon as Bailee considered it, she dismissed it.

Everything about Easton Hargrove spelled trouble.

She was better off keeping her distance from him, eliminating the distraction he posed.

The back-and-forth of her indecision gave her a headache, and she hoped Gran was close to finishing. Rain or not, she was ready to get home.

Adding the potatoes, Bailee pushed the cart back to where she left Gran.

She turned a corner at the end of an aisle and abruptly stopped with a gasp.

Her cart was just a scant few inches from connecting with the man in front of her, but he gripped the cart firmly to prevent it from hitting his legs.

Even with the cart between them, the man towered over her, but what struck her was the darkness that shrouded him. From his thick short hair to his beady eyes, to the beard that obscured the lower half of his face. Even his clothes were dark — gray shirt, black jeans, and black boots.

His expression was unreadable, but something flashed in his eyes, maybe anger, maybe annoyance. She couldn’t be sure, but something about him caused a shiver to snake up her spine.

She swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry. Are you all right?”

“No big deal.” He sidestepped her and disappeared down the aisle, leaving her gaping after him.

Her visceral reaction to him left her frozen to the spot. She didn’t know him or recognize him, but she’d never forget him. She suspected he might even make a reappearance in her nightmares, so intense was the danger and malevolence that lingered in his wake.

She visibly shook off her reaction and hurried to find Gran. She was suddenly eager to leave for a different reason than before.

“There you are.” Darby Anne looked up from her handwritten grocery list as Bailee approached. Her smile faded from her face as she eyed her granddaughter intently. “Everything okay?”

Bailee nodded and forced a smile. “Yeah, yeah, all good. I found the potatoes and carrots you wanted.”

Darby Anne studied her a moment longer before nodding. “Good. I only have a couple of things left to get. I think the rain is starting to slack, so maybe we won’t get drenched taking the groceries out.”

Her grandmother moved to the next aisle, and Bailee dutifully followed behind, pushing the memory of her encounter with the stranger from her mind.

“If it’s still raining, I’ll get the car and bring it up closer to the store to load the groceries. That way you won’t have to be in the rain any longer than necessary.”

“Nonsense. I won’t melt if I get rained on, Bailee Anne. Sometimes walking in the rain is a good thing.”

Bailee grinned and kept silent as Gran finished her shopping.

They made their way to the checkout line.

Darby Anne bypassed the self-checkout lanes to one that was manned by a cashier who was obviously familiar with her grandmother.

The two chatted while Bailee loaded the groceries on the conveyor belt to be scanned.

Placing the last item onto the limited space remaining, Bailee felt a chill sweep over her, raising goosebumps on her skin. Her head pivoted, her eyes sharp until they landed on the source of her unease.

The man stood at a self-checkout counter that gave him a direct view of where she and Gran stood. He met her gaze and held it for only a couple of seconds, but it was long enough to make her wary. She moved closer to Gran and spoke low enough for her voice not to carry across the store.

“Gran, have you seen that guy before? The one at the self-checkout.”

Darby Anne discreetly glanced in the man’s direction before dropping her eyes to the wallet in her hands. “No, can’t say that I have, and I think I would have remembered him. Mean looking fellow, isn’t he?”

The cashier, whose name tag identified her as Opal, also glanced in the man’s direction. She wasn’t subtle in her perusal, and Bailee was glad the man was busy paying for his purchases to notice he was being watched.

“He’s been in here once before when I was working.

Not very friendly. He used the self-checkout, but when he first came in, he asked me where to find something — I can’t remember what.

I told him, and he just walked off without saying thank you or anything.

To tell you the truth, he gives me the creeps. ”

“Me too.”