Page 9 of Two Steps Ahead

“Yes, go ahead.” Her father shooed him with his hand.

As soon as Jasper closed the door behind him, she turned back to Leo. “You know what he’s doing, right? He’s going to set up security at the Lake Austin house right now. I’m sure he’ll come back in a couple of hours with some elaborate plan to present to you.”

Leo let out a little chuckle. “Subtle, Jasper is not. And I also know you’re not going to Lake Austin, so why don’t we talk about what your real plans are?”

Kayleigh couldn’t help but smile. “I hate the Lake Austin house. You know that. I’m going to Lake Ray Roberts.”

She expected more of an argument from him, but he actually looked pretty pleased at her announcement.

“I thought you might say that.” Leo slipped an arm around her. “I promise I won’t let Jasper know. But, fair warning, I’ve already scheduled some landscaping work to be done out at Ray Roberts. So don’t freak out if you’re not alone.”

She shot him a side look. “Is the landscaper one of Jasper’s men?”

Leo squeezed her shoulder. “Definitely not. I promise.”

“Fine. As long as I don’t have anyone following me around in a suit and earpiece, then I’m good. I’ll head out in the morning.”

He kissed her on the top of the head. “Thank you for humoring your old man. I’m hoping this merger is the last one that might potentially bring danger to our doorstep. It’s...different than some of my others.”

The phone on his desk rang, so she gave him a little wave as he answered and she left his office. Rather than go back to her room, she turned to the left, deciding to walk outside.

She knew why she did it. She’d long since stopped trying to deceive herself about why she walked outside whenever she was at her dad’s house. She wanted to go by the jacaranda tree. Their tree. Hers and Weston’s.

Except for its purple blooms in the spring, the jacaranda was pretty unassuming. Not as big as many of the other trees or colorful as the other plants. Nobody tended to pay much attention to it.

But today someone was under the jacaranda, tending to some of the shrubbery around it. She wasn’t familiar with any of Dad’s current landscapers and wasn’t going to say anything. But as she walked by, the man stared at her from where he was crouched.

“Be careful with that tree. It’s important to me,” she said.

“I’m glad to hear that, Kayleigh.”

Something inside her mind shifted at the sound of the voice. She could now see traces of the little boy she’d known in the features of the man in front of her. Her eyes grew big.

“Weston? Is that really you?”

She blinked rapidly in surprise, taking in his dark skin and handsome face, his strong jaw and close-trimmed hair. She couldn’t believe he was really there. He wasn’t dressed like a gardener. He was in dress pants and a white shirt with a tie that had been loosened and sleeves rolled up, yet his hands were covered in dirt from whatever tending he’d been doing.

Putting on makeup or fixing her hair hadn’t seemed important after the nightmare, but now she wished she’d taken the time.

He saw her looking at his hands and gave a sheepish shrug. “Sorry, I was here for a type of interview with Leo. When I saw this tree, I couldn’t help but get in here and make things a little more perfect.”

This was exactly how she remembered him, always handling plants, reverent for the nature around him. But he definitely wasn’t that nine-year-old boy anymore. The Weston in front of her was a man, strikingly handsome, with intense brown eyes.

“I’m tempted to do the same every time I walk by this tree,” she said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it. Dad keeps this place landscaped to within an inch of its life. But sometimes I just like to get my hands dirty.”

He brushed the soil from his hands off to his side. “I understand you’re a nature photographer, so I guess you get your hands dirty regularly.”

“Yeah, I love it.” Had he kept up with her over the years? The thought gave her a weird thrill in her chest.

“Then it sounds like a wonderful profession.”

“Are you going to be doing some work for Dad?” Weston was obviously still in the landscaping business.

“Yes, actually,” he said. “I—”

“Excuse me. Mr. Delacruz wants to talk to you now, Patterson.” Jasper walked up and interrupted them. “You shouldn’t be out here talking to Ms. Delacruz anyway. That’s not your place.”

She shook her head. “Calm down, Jasper. Weston and I know each other from when we were younger.” Although his name hadn’t been Patterson then.

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