“I owe you a huge thank you. The past few days have been stressful and I honestly don’t know how I’d have reacted if that man had gotten into my place. Normally, I’d fight back. I’ve studied, taken self-defense courses, but I’ll be honest. I was rattled after Jeremy’s call. Enough that I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Impulsively, she reached across and grasped his hand, squeezing it lightly. An instant tingle, some kind of unspoken recognition, sparked through her and she gasped softly. She’d been attracted to him from the moment she’d first seen him, which was funny because he’d looked so different then. Ms. Patti had later explained he’d been working undercover to bring down a human trafficking organization and helped to save Lauren and little Daniel’s lives. The next time she’d seen him had been at Douglas and Ms. Patti’s vow renewal ceremony. He’d looked so tall and handsome in his tux, his arm linked with Ms. Patti’s. At the reception, she hadn’t had a free second to spare, and after that he was gone again.
What surprised her was him squeezing her hand back. When she met his blue-eyed stare, she could have sworn there was something there, an almost yearning that matched her own, buried deep. She could almost touch the loneliness too. Kindred spirits, she guessed, because so many times even in the midst of all the Boudreau clan, she sometimes felt alone.
“Guess I make a great first impression. All drama, all the time.”
“You make a great first impression. And second impression.” Nick’s smile made her feel all warm and fuzzy, like she was a lovesick teenager. Gah, pretty soon she’d start sounding like a greeting card. Except it was nice to have somebody notice her. Outside of her coffee shop, she tended to stay in the background, not draw attention to herself.
“Are you planning on staying around Shiloh Springs?”
“I’m not sure how long I’ll be here. My home is in Australia, right outside Melbourne.” He stopped to take a sip of his coffee. “Shiloh Springs is a lovely place, but I miss my place. I have a little two-bedroom house on a couple of acres, where I can decompress after finishing a job. Enough room to be able to breathe with no neighbors breathing down my neck. My…friend, Grant Calvin, owns the property next to mine. He and his mate are the closest thing to family I have.”
Gracie couldn’t help noticing the slight hesitation before the word friend and wondered if there was something more there.
“Sounds like a great place. I’d like something like that one day. You’ve seen my place, it isn’t exactly the Ritz-Carlton, but I haven’t wanted to buy anything. Not with my life being the shambling wreck it is. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever feel free enough to settle down, feel like I can put down roots. Not always looking over my shoulder.”
“I have a good idea what that’s like.” Nick paused for a long moment and Gracie wondered if he was going to say anything else. His steady gaze locked on hers and she could see a vulnerability she wouldn’t have imagined in a man as strong and capable as Nick. “When I was younger, I was in a situation where I thought there was no way out. Wrenched away from anybody who cared about me, and sent to a place where I didn’t know anything. There wasn’t a single person I knew, nobody who gave a second thought about me or what I was enduring. Ripped away from the only real home I knew, here in Shiloh Springs with Ms. Patti and Douglas. Thrown into a life where I had no say, no rights, and definitely no safety. When I was finally able to stand on my own, the first thing I did was buy that land in Australia. It was mine, something I could feel. The dirt beneath my feet, the trees, the grass—it was mine. Something I had scratched and clawed my way toward, and nobody could take that away from me. Those roots you talk about? When you’re ready, you take your stand and you sink them into the ground. Plant yourself in the place where you belong and let them burrow into the soil, growing deeper and stronger until nobody can uproot you.”
She glanced down at the tabletop and noticed that he held her hands within his. When had that happened? “Sounds easier said than done.”
“It’s not easy. Nothing in life is easy. But if you want it bad enough, are willing to fight for it, when you’re finally strong enough to stand up for what’syours, it’s worth it. You want Brewster to lose his hold over you? You have to pry his claws out of you, break one finger at a time. As long as you’re scared of him, he wins.”
Gracie looked around the coffee shop, noting it was mostly empty. The lull in customers wouldn’t last long, but for the moment, she had the illusion of privacy with Nick. He said Rafe hadn’t told him about her past, but from his words, he’d probably figured out a good deal. If he had her real name, it wouldn’t be hard to find out all the sordid details, know why Jeremy was a specter always hanging over her head like the sword of Damocles.
“Jeremy will always be a threat. You don’t understand my past, but it’s ugly. I’m ashamed of everything I did. As much as I want to blame Jeremy, I am accountable for my actions. I made stupid decisions. Did things I wish I could take back. Hurt innocent people and I didn’t care. There’s no excuse for the life I lived before. I escaped punishment for my actions because I was a coward and testified to escape my own prison sentence. Not such a pretty story, is it?”
Nick released her hands and leaned back in his chair, studying her intently. She felt like a bug under a microscope, his eyes taking in every inch of her. She fought to keep from squirming in her chair.
“You want to know what I see when I look at you, Gracie Medeiros? I see a strong, capable woman. Someone who made mistakes, realized there were consequences for her actions, and made amends the best way she could. A woman who feels remorse for her past, and is trying to make a path to a better future. I see a warm, caring, and generous spirit toward her friends and her clients. A woman who came to this town with nothing and has made herself an integral part of its community. I see a beautiful woman who loves her friends. Loves the business that she built from the ground up. I see a fighter who hasn’t let the world beat her down, who rolls with the punches and rises to stand strong. A woman who isn’t a quitter, and like a phoenix, rose from the ashes of her past to become a fiery beacon of hope.”
Tears burned at Gracie’s eyes by the end of Nick’s speech, and she struggled to keep them from falling. It stunned her to hear how he saw her. Looking past the superficial straight to her core, and it sounded like he appreciated the woman he saw. He’d even called her beautiful. She hadn’t felt that way in a very long time.
“I…thank you. You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.”
“Sometimes we see ourselves through a warped mirror, and the image we see isn’t the truth.” Scooting his chair back, he stood. “I need to go. Thank you for the coffee and the chat.”
“My pleasure, Nick.” Pushing back her chair, she stood also. “Any time you’re in town, coffee’s on the house.” She walked with him to the door.
“See you later, Gracie.”
“Wait!” She stopped his hand when he reached for the door. “Would you like to have dinner—with me?”
His smile lit his face, his blue eyes sparkling with something akin to happiness. “I’d love to.”
“Okay. Good. Um…I’ll cook. Tomorrow night, eight o’clock.”
“Sounds perfect. See you tomorrow.”
After he walked through the door, she spun around in a circle, giddy with joy. Then panic because she’d never asked a man back to her place for dinner. What if she screwed things up? What if she’d just made a huge mistake? What ifs raced through her head, anxiety warring with excitement.
She might not have done anything this spontaneous before, but she knew precisely who to call to give her dating advice. Pulling her phone free of her pocket, she dialed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
After a quickcall from the garage, Dante had delivered the rental car to Gracie’s Grounds with a brand new set of tires to replace the slashed ones, as promised. Nick drove toward the Big House, wanting to talk with Douglas. He found himself thinking about Gracie, how she’d seem to glow as he’d told her how he saw her. All of it had been the truth, though he couldn’t understand why he’d just blurted it out like that. Yet he knew she needed to hear those words. It was obvious Brewster was targeting her, wanting her scared and isolated. Wanting her frightened, which also made her vulnerable.
She’d asked him to dinner. At her apartment. Maybe she needed a friend, but that wasn’t how he felt about Gracie. He wanted so much more, yet how could he even consider starting any kind of a relationship with her when there were so many roadblocks in their path? He lived halfway around the world away. There weren’t any plans for him to move to America. Visits—sure. He had a soft spot for Shiloh Springs, always had and probably always would. Douglas and Ms. Patti were here and they were a big part of his past, and he hoped they’d be a big part of his future too.
