Swept Away (13 page)

* * * *

“Maybe I should step back.” Carson couldn’t breathe and it had nothing to do with discovery of hidden files Heather had stashed in a tampon box of all things. It was all Lily.

He’d tried to stay away from her as long as possible. He’d finished repairing the last cabin’s roof. The fences were all straight, and he’d filled in the gravel on the road so there were no more potholes. Short of digging up and replanting every tree, shrub, and wildflower on the property, Carson couldn’t come up with anything else to stay busy. When he’d walked in on her holding an embarrassing box and talking to herself, he almost went to get the shovel. But there was something about her posture that made him stay.

She had discovered a hidden cache of files. A cleverly hidden cache of files. He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out exactly what was on them, but Lily was determined. And he was standing too close for her to do her job. He could feel the electricity humming through her, causing her muscles to tense and making her movements less than smooth.

“I’ve got some e-mails to check.” He took a step back, noticing her body relax ever so slightly. “Let me know if you find anything interesting.”

“Sure. It might take a while. I want to go through each file and compare it against the current file. Hopefully I can find the original entry.”

“Take your time.” Carson slid into his chair, banging his knees on the underside of the desk. He felt like he had in high school, when the combination of his rapidly growing frame and his newfound interest in girls made sitting in math class more than a little awkward. “Just let me know if you need anything.”

Anything at all.

“Sure.” Lily looked up from her desk and smiled. It was a genuine smile, a hit to his chest just left of center. Carson had to remind himself to breathe and tear his gaze away from her.

He should leave. Let her work in peace, without having to be conscious of him staring at her. Because he couldn’t help but watch her as she scanned the files, her eyes squinting, brows furrowed in concentration as she dug deep into the files.

But he had to know what she found, when she found it. He couldn’t walk away until he knew just how bad things were. Then he’d have to come up with a way to fix it. He might be able to walk away from the business, but it was all Cody had.

It didn’t take long to plow through his e-mails. He eliminated the junk mail and spam, and carefully read the customer responses. He selected a few quotes to add to the website, pending their permission.

After checking the online reservation system and confirming they had the staffing to cover all the upcoming trips, he stretched his arms overhead. His stomach growled, signaling that it was past lunchtime.

“I’m gonna go grab a sandwich. Do you want anything?” He stood, arching his back.

“Oh, is it that late?” Lily glanced down at the corner of her screen. “Wow, one-thirty already?”

“You hungry?” Carson knew asking her to lunch would only be giving in to temptation.

“I brought my lunch.” Lily let him off the hook. “Besides, I feel like I’m getting close.”

“Yeah, okay.” His disappointment ran deeper than it should have. “I’m just going to grab something from the store. Would you like a soda, or something?”

“A diet soda would be great.” Lily rubbed her temples. She had been working hard. If he had to guess, he’d say she had been sitting at that desk six hours without a break.

“Coke or Pepsi?”

“Coke, please.” She flashed a quick smile before turning back to the computer.

Carson left shaking his head, wondering why he felt such pleasure in knowing they shared the same soft drink preference. Cody often teased him about drinking Diet Coke, calling it a girly drink, but there were times when he needed a pick-me-up and he didn’t like all the added sugar in regular soda.

He grabbed a couple of energy bars, some trail mix, and two Diet Cokes. He took his time going back to the office. Until he could figure out why Lily seemed to get to him more than any other woman, he figured he should keep his distance. He’d give her the soda and convince her to go home at a decent hour.

When he stepped back into the office, Lily’s face lit up with the kind of smile that had him looking for canary feathers and listening for a purr. She’d been up to something. Something good.

“You found it.” Carson set her diet soda on the desk and knelt down next to her.

“Yup.” Lily brought up two screens, side by side. “Remember Project Green-light?”

“Fisher convinced us we could save a lot of money by going solar.” Carson wondered what that had to do with anything.

“Right, and to prove it, you had your bookkeeper set aside the exact amount you paid for electricity each month.”

“We were able to put a down payment on the system within six months.” He took a swallow of soda.

“Then you transferred the average electric bill payment for another six months.” Lily brought up the register.

“Yeah, we were able to pay off the solar panels and close the account.” Carson said.

“But the account was never closed.”

Lily scrolled down, showing eighteen months’ worth of transactions. But this time instead of electricity payments, the duplicates were disguised as tax payments. A little bit with each payroll. He wouldn’t question tax payments.

“But how did I miss the fact that the account was still open?”

“She changed the contact info. She had this account’s statements sent to her e-mail address.” Lily had figured this all out in the time it took him to down half a soda and two energy bars. “Fortunately she also kept a password list, and I was able to access it.”

“So, how much did she get away with?” Carson was grateful he hadn’t had a real lunch. His stomach churned and burned enough without it.

“That’s the weird part.” Lily clicked on the bank’s website. “It’s all there. I figure either she chickened out about taking the money or she’s waiting until enough time passes that she won’t be an obvious suspect.”

“The money’s still there?” Carson blinked. Twice. But the numbers on the screen didn’t change. Nearly twenty-three thousand dollars. If it wasn’t for Lily, he would have lost twenty-three thousand dollars.

In his relief, Carson reached out and hugged her. Just a quick, sideways, casual kind of hug. An expression of gratitude, nothing more.

Except his left hand grazed her breast. Again. He should pull away. Just let his hand fall to the side. He should even apologize. But he was frozen in place. The signal from his brain did not reach its destination.

Lily turned toward him. Her hand came up to the side of his head. Carson held his breath as he braced for the indignant slap across his face.

Instead, her touch was gentle, affectionate. The look in her eyes that of longing, not anger. She drew him toward her, her lips just a whisper from his. She’d come this far, it was up to him to go the rest of the way.

He closed the distance between them. Claiming her with his mouth. Or was it the other way around? She gave as good as she got. This was no tentative, caught by surprise kind of kiss. Lily clung to him, pulling him closer, closer. Too close. God, he could drown in her. Just let her surround him and pull him under until the outside world faded completely away.

Gasping for air, he tore himself away. No wonder he couldn’t get her out of his head. His body had taken control.

“I have to go.” He staggered to his feet.

“To the bank?” Lily smoothed her blouse. “Yeah, I guess you should get that account taken care of sooner rather than later.”

“Yeah. That, too.” His heart was hammering too hard. He couldn’t breathe. “I have to…go… Now.”

“Carson.” Her voice was strained. Pleading. “You don’t have to run away from me.”

“From you?” He shook his head. “No. It’s not you. I…I guess I am running away. But not from you.”

A look of confusion flashed across her face. Of course. She didn’t get it. He wasn’t making sense. She didn’t know about his plans. Plans that he wasn’t even sure about any more.

“I need a break.” Carson started to explain.

“Of course, it’s been a long day.” Lily rolled her neck side to side.

“No. That’s not what I mean.” If he couldn’t express how he’d been feeling to his brother, who he’d known all his life, why did he expect it to be any easier to talk to Lily? “I’ve been the responsible one my whole life. Just once, I’d like to only have to worry about myself. To be in charge of nothing more than the boat I’m floating down the river.”

“That sounds nice, but… Aren’t you a little young for a midlife crisis?” Lily had a real good point.

“Yeah. You’d think I would be.” Carson backed out the door. “I’m sorry, Lily. I just need some space.”

“Okay.” Lily turned her attention back to her computer. “So what next?”

“I guess I should give you a raise.”

“I meant for you.” She smiled. A half-smile, like she knew this was a good news, bad news situation. “You obviously had some plans that you can get back to.”

“Right.” He was torn. He needed to leave. But Lily made him want to stay. “I guess I did. I was planning on leaving town. At the end of the month.”

“A vacation?” she asked, but there was doubt in her voice.

“Six weeks,” Carson admitted. “I’ve committed to six weeks. Then who knows?”

“So your ‘running away’ from home involves a six-week commitment?” It did sound kind of funny when she put it that way.

“I have a friend, he’s got an outfit in Northeastern Utah. He could use a hand.” He owed her an explanation. “The river’s only runnable for six weeks in the summer. I figure that’s enough time to get a feel for freedom. But not too long that I can’t come back if things fall apart.”

“Freedom?” Lily shook her head ever so slightly. “Good luck with that.”

Lily worked for another hour, making a good-sized dent in her in basket. But her mind was far from on her work. There was a reason why kissing your boss was usually a bad idea. Although Lily got the impression the boss/employee thing was not the reason Carson had pulled away. He didn’t want to get too close. He was a man looking for fewer ties, not more. The knowledge didn’t keep her from wanting him. It did help prevent any fantasies about being one big happy family, despite Fisher’s observation that they would make pretty babies together.

She had to get out of there. The office was too small. His scent still lingered and Lily couldn’t breathe. She needed some fresh air. This was supposed to be a part-time job, and if she stayed much longer, state law would require overtime pay.

After straightening her desk, properly labeling the backup files, and shutting down her computer, Lily stepped outside. She should just go home, but it was such a lovely afternoon, she decided to take a walk down to the river.

Just sitting on the bank listening to the sounds of the water soothed her. It was almost impossible to remember that she was once afraid of the river. Carson had helped her get over it. He’d made her get right back out there and face her fear. And it worked. She could sit here by the river without even a twinge of panic. She could even envision wading out into the current, letting the water swirl around her ankles, maybe even up to her knees. She wanted to go rafting again. Maybe even try kayaking, if she had the right guide.

She knew exactly who that guide would be. She just needed the courage to face him. Carson hadn’t let her give up on the river. She wasn’t going to give up on him. She just had to convince him that she was okay with a temporary arrangement. No, he had to think she was more than okay with it. He had to believe that she needed it. That the only way she would recover from her divorce would be to engage in a short-term affair.

She stretched out, hoping to figure out how to persuade him that she needed him. Her contemplation was interrupted by the approach of three rafts. Cody was in the lead boat, followed by Fisher and Ross. She stood to greet them.

“Looks like you had a good trip.” Lily watched the interaction between Cody and Fisher, looking for signs that her new friend had made at least some progress on letting him know how she felt.

There was a lot of playful banter, more brother and sister-like than anything. Lily just hoped Cody wouldn’t flirt too wildly with her. She didn’t want Fisher to get hurt.

“Oh yeah. Couldn’t ask for a better day.” Cody grinned, leaning toward Lily enough so that she didn’t need to see behind his sunglasses to know he was indeed checking her out.

“Well, I’m off for the day.” She stepped back, trying not to encourage him. “If you see Carson, tell him…”

“Tell me what?” Carson had approached from behind. His voice settled around her like a thick beach towel after a long swim.

“I’m just on my way out.” Lily wanted to wrap him around her, to snuggle up close, but she knew she’d need patience. She didn’t have a lot of time, but she couldn’t push him too hard or too fast. “And I wanted to be sure you got everything straightened out at the bank.”

“Yeah. It’s all taken care of.”

“Good.” Lily managed a half-smile, a pretty good one, considering how awkward their interaction had become. “I’m glad.”

Before they could spend too much time standing there as awkwardly as a couple of teenagers on their first date, a commotion erupted just downstream. Two teenage boys ran toward them shouting something about a flip and a missing kid.

Carson was the first to speak to the teen boys. His voice steadied them enough to get the details of the location and a description of the missing boy. Cody, Fisher, and Ross all stood ready to help. They looked to Carson to organize the search and he took on the role of leader with practiced ease.

“What can I do?” Lily felt useless, not knowing a thing about river rescue other than being on the receiving end.

“If you could take the coolers and the smaller gear back to the boat barn, that would be a big help.” Carson’s voice was calm. Too calm. “Just take what you can carry. We’ll deal with the boats later.”

“Okay. Sure.” She wanted to say something more. She wanted to tell him to be careful, but she knew he would do what he had to do. He would save that boy.