Page 20 of Taken By Storm

She’d noticed the first few customers giving her curious looks. Considering there hadn’t been much to smile about lately, she now understood why they were suddenly wondering about her newfound cheerfulness.

Unfortunately, the smile faded when a new customer walked in.

“Hello, Kasi. You look pretty today,” Scottie Grover said.

She looked the same as she always did. Tired.

Scottie was the mayor of Gracemont and a major douchebag. His family owned and operated a horse breeding farm next door to her family’s land. Despite being neighbors for nearly twenty years, Kasi could count on one hand the number of times his parents had come to visit. And none of those had been social calls, but instead complaints about poor fencing or Keith riding his four-wheeler too close to their property line and spooking their horses.

“Uh, thanks. What can I get you?” she asked, aware he probably wasn’t here to buy anything. He never bought anything. Up until last fall, Scottie had never stopped by the stand. Not until Lucy Storm rejected his suit, and he turned his attention in Kasi’s direction. Since then, this “stopping by” bullshit had become a more regular occurrence.

She wasn’t sure what made her runner-up, but she wished he’d find someone else. The guy gave off major creep vibes, and the fact he always managed to arrive at the stand when she was alone made her uncomfortable. If he’d stopped by twenty minutes ago, she would have had the buffer of EdithMillholland and Genevieve Rogers to keep her from having to make conversation with him.

Scottie glanced around, and she thought perhaps he was looking for something in particular this time rather than just dropping by to flirt with her and remind her that her family was in debt to the town. That hope was dashed when he stepped closer. Scottie had definite issues when it came to understanding and respecting personal boundaries. He also thought he was quite the ladies’ man.

She took a step away from him when he ran the back of one finger down her arm. The touch was too familiar and inappropriate, considering they weren’t dating. Hell, they weren’t even friends.

Scottie scowled when she recoiled from her touch. He’d become increasingly irritated by her continual rejections during each visit.

However, when he spoke, she realized this wasn’t a social call.

“I wanted to stop by and speak to you on behalf of the town government again.”

Kasi frowned. “I understand you’re trying to help, Scottie, but we’re fine. I called Herb last week.” And she had, but Herb hadn’t answered, so she’d been forced to leave a voicemail.

Scottie placed his hand over hers where it rested on the counter. She pulled away again, and he sighed heavily, acting as if she was being needlessly difficult or something.

“Your family is still behind on paying their personal property tax.”

Kasi was aware of that. That bill was just one of many sitting in a stack back at the farmhouse, waiting to be paid.

“As I said last time, I wasn’t aware it was part of the mayor’s duties to collect taxes,” she said, striking out due to her overabundance of pride.

“And as I said,” Scottie began, not masking his annoyance, “I’m merely doing it as a favor for you. And for Herb. I told him I was heading home, and he asked if I could stop by to chat with you.”

Kasi supposed that sounded reasonable enough considering she had just left the voicemail. Herb Cline was the Commissioner of the Revenue, and his office was in the same building as the mayor’s. Herb also served as the clerk of court because Gracemont was about as big as a postage stamp. As such, all the town officials and government offices, as well as the police department, were housed in the same three-story building on Main Street. That also meant it wasn’t uncommon for others in the county offices to “pass word along” for each other. It was one of the curses of living in a small community.

“Herb and your dad are close, and I think he’s uncomfortable bringing up such a delicate subject,” Scottie continued.

Kasi was suddenly less sorry to be dealing with Scottie. She’d managed to hide the worst of her father’s mental break by offering a steady stream of excuses whenever friends stopped by to call on him. He’d visited with a few close buddies early on, but the conversations had all been one-sided and awkward as Daddy sat crying quietly. After a while, his closest friends stopped coming by and instead called her weekly to check on him.

Her relief over dealing with Scottie was short-lived, however, when he added, “Just like Sheriff Anderson didn’t want to add to your family’s grief by pressing charges against Keith for that vandalism.”

There was something in Scottie’s tone that let her know the end of that situation would have been different if Scottie had been the sheriff. The mayor had shown up the day after the event to “gently”—ha ha—let her know her brother clearly needed a man in his life to keep him in line. Sadly, that wasn’t the firsttime Scottie had dropped the hint that he’d like to be that man…as her husband.

As if.

“I’ve reached out to Herb a couple times about getting an extension. He was more than happy to extend the first time.”

“The first time,” Scottie reiterated, making it clear the same courtesy wasn’t likely to be offered again.

“We’re going to pay our taxes, Scottie. We’re just going through a rough time with the drought last summer, and the fire, and…” She paused, not wanting to use the last as an excuse but hoping perhaps it would buy her some time. “And Mama passing away.”

Scottie nodded, even as he sniffed haughtily. God, he was an insufferable ass.

“We’ve never missed payments in the past,” she added, trying to sound more contrite.

Scottie tried—and failed—to look compassionate, and when he reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder, Kasi fought not to shake it off this time. “I’m sure it hasn’t been easy, Kasi.” He started squeezing his grip, like he was giving her a massage. She’d hit her limit on his creepy touches, so she lowered her shoulder and twisted until his hand fell.

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