Page 46 of Oops, I Fell For The Town Bad Boy!

“I wonder how you’ll feel to hear me say that it’s just the same for me,” Taylor said softly. “I know it’s hard for you to see this, Kane, but I’ve always looked up to you. You had one big mistake in your life, but apart from that, you’ve always been someone I admired. You’re brave, you’re bold, you do big, exciting things. That’s someone I want to spend my time with. I think we balance each other out well.”

“I think my father thought so too,” Kane said. “I think that’s why he left the house to both of us, Taylor. I’ve been thinking, all this time, that he just couldn’t make up his mind who he wanted to give it to, but now I think it’s something more than that. I think he wanted to think of the two of us together. That was an idea he liked.”

“Really?”

“Well, you can see why he’d think you would be good for me,” Kane said with a smile. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then he reached up and caressed her cheek.

Welcoming it, Taylor leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe this was really happening — that he was really going to stay here with her.

“He thought of you as someone who would help me be a better person,” Kane said. “And he was right about that. But what really blows my mind is that he also saw me as someone who was good enough for you. I know how much he cared about you. He wouldn’t have said something like that if he didn’t really mean it. He wouldn’t have encouraged me to stay here with you, to be in your life, if he thought it would be harmful to you in any way.”

“Someone said something to you, didn’t they?” Taylor realized. “That’s where all this came from. Someone said something that made you feel like you weren’t good enough for me or something.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Kane said. “The people who mean the most to me don’t seem to feel that way, so that’s not something I’m going to worry about anymore.”

“Good.” Taylor smiled. “I’m glad. It drives me crazy to think of people telling you that you’re not enough for me. My life is better with you in it than it ever was without you, and I’m so glad you’re staying around, Kane. Next time you get the itch to run, promise me you’ll talk to me about whatever’s going on first.”

“I don’t think that’s something we need to worry about,” Kane said, wrapping his arms around her. “I don’t think there’s anything that would make me leave now.”

“Well, that’s good, because now that I know you know how to cook, I’m going to want you to make dinner a lot more often.”

It broke the tension, and they both laughed. “Let’s eat before the food gets cold,” Kane suggested, moving to the pot on the stove to serve it. “You sit down.”

Taylor grinned and took a seat at the table, and Kane dished up the plates of spaghetti, placing one in front of each of them. He sat opposite her, and Taylor couldn’t help feeling that the grin on his face was the most wholehearted one she had ever seen there.

This was what Kane looked like when he was happy.

It was something she had waited a very long time to see. And she promised herself that she would do whatever she could to make him feel at home in Miller Creek for as long as he was willing to stay.

This wasn’t a long-term answer, she knew. He still had a job and a home in Detroit, and he might well decide to go back to those things. She wouldn’t fault him if he did.

But at least he wasn’t running away this time. And right now, that felt like all the progress anyone could ask for — and reason enough to hold on to the ghost of a hope that maybe, just maybe, he would stay for good.

CHAPTER 24

KANE

“Ireally have to hand it to you, Kane,” Maddie said, looking around at the farmers market, at the various booths and stalls and the townspeople walking around with smiles on their faces. “This thing came together better than I ever thought it would.”

“I thought you were probably going to pull out and run away,” Bradley said. “I mean, even before you said you were going to do that, I was sort of waiting for it to happen.”

Maddie slugged his arm. “Can you be nice for one day?” she demanded. “Look how much work has gone into this.”

“Sorry, man,” Bradley said. “I did think it, though.”

“That’s okay,” Kane said. “I can’t really blame you. I thought I was going to bail too, for a while there.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Oh my God. Stop asking invasive questions,” Maddie said. She threw a little grin in Taylor’s direction, and Kane was able to infer that the two of them had discussed the matter. A part of him wondered what had been said. Had Taylor told Maddie about the fact that he’d found a letter from his father? Did Maddie know that his father had forgiven him for the sins of his past?

He found that he didn’t really care either way. He liked Maddie. He was glad to have this friendship back in his life. But he cared more about his relationship with Taylor.

And he suspected that Maddie knew that was the real reason he had decided to stick around, because she took Bradley by the arm and began to pull him away. “Let’s go check out the petting zoo,” she said.

“What? I don’t want to pet a bunch of smelly goats!”

“Oh, come on.” Maddie dragged Bradley away, and as they left, she tossed a wink over her shoulder at Taylor.

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