Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)

by Elsie Silver

A silent puff of air slips from her lips, the bottom one more full than the top. “Daddy Cade it is.” I’m not sure what I did to deserve this torture, but it must be something terrible. I like to think I’ve lived a straight and narrow sort of life, yet I’ve been handed heartache after heartache, challenge after challenge. It seems like the universe could have granted some sort of reprieve. But it granted me Willa fucking Grant.

“One of the kids at school said that he and his dad drove really fast down the back roads and threw heads of lettuce out the window and watched them explode on the road.” I stare at the little boy, all earnest and genuine. It’s like he doesn’t even realize what majorly hillbilly shit he just asked me to do. Goddamn, small towns are weird.

The door swings open, and he steps out onto the porch, which is right when Luke and I jump out from behind a planter. “Boo!” I shout, as Luke yells, “Chipmunks!” Cade flies back, and I glance down at Luke, wondering what the hell would inspire him to randomly scream chipmunks. But I don’t think about that for long, because when I look back up Cade’s stern face is the color of a tomato and he’s wearing his beer down the front of his fresh T-shirt. Oh yeah. We got him good. All I offer is a lame attempt at a joke. “Wet T-shirt contest?” And all I get back is a scowl.

Beau chuckles. “Well, you know. Boys will be b⁠—” “No,” I cut him off. Because that saying is straight trash, and years of bartending have given me plenty of time to see boys being boys. Which really is just boys being shitheads. “Boys will be gentlemen.”

. . . Today I got to tidying up around the property a bit. There were leaves everywhere, so I gave the yard a good blow job.” Cade’s eyes widen. Comically wide. Playfully wide. And I can’t help the hysterical little giggle that bubbles up out of me. I slap a hand over my mouth to cover it.

Moving my hand to cover Luke’s ear, I lean toward Rhett. “Watch it, Eaton. I know where you live.” “Yeah? What are you going to do? Come over and drink a bottle of champagne on my back deck? Braid your hair and have a pillow fight with Summer?” “I’ll braid your hair. Then I’ll cut the braid off and wear it as a necklace for you mocking me.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” he barks out. I sniff and look away because he’s intimidating right now. “Making sure things don’t get too complicated for you. Obviously.” “Woman.” He always sounds so snarky when he calls me woman. “Are you insane? You think I went three years without laying my hand on a single person to break my streak with one as exceptional as you and then let you just walk away?”

“Why are you smiling? It’s creepy. You never smile.” I shake my head at her. “I smile. You just miss them because it’s when I’m staring at your ass.

“Because you’ve never been just the nanny, Willa.” My chest lurches as I look back at him, feeling suspended in time. “You’ve always been more. The woman I wanted but wouldn’t let myself have.” “I could really use that drink now,” I say, still staring at him. “No. You’re going to stand here and listen to me.”

He cuts me off. “I thought I told you to stop and listen to me?” “You did but⁠—” “If you can’t stop running your mouth with that self-sabotaging bullshit, I will shut it for you.” His hand cups my cheek tenderly. “I love Luke. You love Luke. And the three of us feel right together. Tonight she’ll be gone and you’ll still be here. At the end of this summer, you’ll leave, but you’ll be back. Because there’s no way in hell that this ends here. I won’t allow it. We’re going to figure this out. You got me?”

I quirk a brow in her direction. “You know the rule, Red?” “You wear the hat, you ride the cowboy.” She winks at me, looking fucking adorable wearing my hat.