Page 80 of Taken By Storm

“Yeah. I wanted to tell you?—”

This time, it wasn’t Keith who stopped himself from speaking, but a knock at door.

“I’ll get it,” he said.

She followed Keith out of the kitchen and swallowed down a groan when she spotted Scottie standing on the porch.

Keith opened the door, the scowl that had been absent the last couple of days firmly back in place. “What are you doing here?” he asked belligerently.

Kasi quickly stepped forward. “Hi, Scottie. Um, Keith, weren’t you heading out?”

Her brother hesitated, and Kasi worried he might change his plans. She didn’t want him to find out about the back taxes until she had a handle on the situation.

She gave herself an internal “ha ha” because there was no handle. Nothing to grab onto. This ship was going down unless a miracle presented itself.

“Maybe I should…” Keith started.

Kasi felt him wavering. “Josh is probably waiting for you. Weren’t you guys going bowling with some of your buddies?”

Keith nodded before shooting Scottie another dirty look.

Kasi needed to get her brother out of here. The next few minutes were going to be awkward enough without Keith adding more fuel to the fire.

She feared the mayor was here for his answer, one she didn’t want to give him because she knew it would set him off and she really needed more time. While the collecting of taxes wasn’t his job, he still had a great deal of pull around the government offices, and he could encourage Herb to move things along faster than the commissioner’s typical snail’s pace if his ego was bruised.

She sighed.

She wasn’t going to marry him.

It was as simple as that.

What wasn’t simple was facing what cameafter.

The idea of packing up their beloved home and moving to another state made her physically ill, but that was what it might come down to.

She’d briefly considered asking Levi for a loan, but she rejected that idea the second she had it. This thing between them was too new and, well, she had too much damn pride to ever make that request. Her family’s problems weren’t Levi’s. She’d done nothing but lean on him since the day he’d stopped her from faceplanting in the fruit stand. It wasn’t fair to ask formore, and there was a big difference between moral support and money.

It had been her intention to keep things between her and Levi casual because her life was currently a complete clusterfuck. The problem was, Levi hadn’t let the casual thing stand, taking them from friendly neighbors to lovers at breakneck speed. She should probably be walking around with a parachute, considering the freefall she and Levi had taken the past three weeks.

Jesus.

The fact it hadn’t even been a month should prove things were moving too fast.

How did she let herself get so swept away by him?

“I can postpone until tomorrow night,” Keith offered. “If you need me to stick around.”

Kasi waved him off. “Good heavens, no. There’s nothing going on here. You’ve been working hard the past couple of weeks. Go have a good time.” She placed her hand on his back, gently shoving him toward the door. Or at least she meant for it to be gentle. She had to add some force when he offered genuine resistance.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, when Keith finally cleared the doorway.

He shot Scottie one last cold look. “Okay. Call if you need me,” he said, stressing the words more than she thought necessary.

If Kasi wasn’t so anxious about the upcoming conversation with Scottie, she might have found time to be touched by her brother’s overprotective words. She’d missed that part of him most of all since Mama’s death. Despite being her kid brother, younger than her by six years, Keith had always gone to bat for her, stepping forward to protect her if he ever felt like she was in trouble or being threatened.

“I will,” she reassured him, closing the door. Keith hesitated on the porch, and she feared he was going to turn around. But he finally moved forward, heading for his motorcycle.

Kasi twisted to face Scottie and leaned on the closed door, taking a couple steadying breaths.

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