Sheltered by the Millionaire(21)

       
           



       

Whit scanned the crowd outside the cracked window, over the parking  lot, looking for Megan but she still hadn't shown. He hadn't heard from  her since he'd driven her home. He'd called in the morning to offer her a  ride over, but she hadn't answered. Was this a replay of the day the  tornado hit when she'd shut him out after the kiss?

Being with Megan had been even more incredible than he'd expected. And his expectations had been mighty damn high.

He ground his teeth and focused on what he could fix. "Hey, Aaron,  wanna help me lift this bookshelf and put it back against the wall?"

"Sure thing." Aaron squatted and braced both hands under one side of  the walnut shelf. "Okay, Whit, on three, we lift. One. Two. Three."

Whit braced his feet, hefting and pushing alongside his friend until  the bookcase was standing upright again. Files and thick hardbacks  littered the floor where it had fallen. They were dry, but some had been  soaked in the past, their pages curled and dirty brown. "We can put the  undamaged items on the shelf again and stack the ruined stuff on the  desk. The staff can decide what's crucial to keep."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Aaron scooped up two large volumes and  paused, half standing, then pointed to the window. "Check out who just  arrived-your shelter director lady friend."

Whit pivoted fast, then realized he'd given himself away with how damn  eager he was just to see her. But he kept looking as she picked her way  around a trash dumpster and a pile of broken boards. The sun streamed  down on her fiery red hair, which was held back in a loose ponytail. Her  jeans and shelter sweatshirt might as well have been lingerie now that  he knew what was underneath. She could have been wearing a burlap sack  and he would still want her.

Aaron stepped up beside him at the window. "So you and Megan Maguire have made peace with each other."

"We weren't at war." His denial came more out of habit than anything  else; he was still focused on Megan, who was now talking to Lark Taylor,  a local nurse passing out surgical masks for people to wear in the  dusty cleanup.

"Like hell you two weren't constantly at odds," Aaron said. "You can't  rewrite history, my friend. We all know how contentious things got over  that land dispute when she wanted that site for the shelter. What I  can't understand is how you got her to overlook how you buy up wetlands  to build. She went ballistic last time it was mentioned."

As if Megan could hear their conversation-or feel the weight of Whit's  stare-she turned, her eyes meeting his through the window with a snap of  awareness as tangible as a crackle of static. He waved in  acknowledgment, then turned back to cleanup detail. "We stay away from  controversial topics these days."

Aaron didn't let him off the hook so easily. "Ah, you are seeing her. I  always thought you had a thing for her under all that bickering."

Whit didn't like being transparent but he couldn't outright deny the  obvious. "Why are you so all fired up to know about my personal life?"

"Oh, I get it. Who's trying to keep it quiet?" His friend elbowed his  ribs like they were in freakin' high school. "You or her?"

Whit leveled a stare at his pal, who was grinning unrepentantly. "Do you want my help with this mess or not?"

"Somebody's touchy."

Touchy? That was one way to put it.

He was frustrated as hell that Megan appeared to have returned to their  old ways of avoiding each other. Damn it, last night had been a game  changer.

Ignoring each other simply was not an option anymore.

* * *

Megan said bye to Lark and went in search of Beth. She wasn't sure if  she wanted advice or a buffer, but she just wasn't ready to face Whit  yet, and she couldn't stand out here shuffling her feet indefinitely.

A voice whispered in the back of her mind, asking her why she'd bothered to come here if she really wanted to avoid him.

Truth be told, Megan wanted to rush into town hall and find Whit, to  touch him or even just look at him. And the strength of that desire was  the very reason she had to stay away until she found her footing again.  No man should have the power to rock her with just a simple glance  through a window.                       
       
           



       

She needed to get her head on straight fast because given the way  people kept looking at her and whispering to each other, she suspected  that Vera Taylor hadn't wasted any time in spreading the word about  seeing her with Whit at the restaurant last night. Vera liked to pretend  she was the expert on couples and marriage and everything else, but the  senior Taylors were poster children for all the reasons marriage made  people miserable.

But then on counterpoint, she saw the Holt family patriarch and  matriarch bringing refreshments to the volunteers. Watching David and  Gloria Holt lodged an ache in Megan's chest. Seeing them resurrected  dreams she'd buried five years ago when Evie's father had walked out,  leaving Megan pregnant and alone. The Holts were such a team, married  for decades and still so deeply in love. Word around town was that David  still brought his wife flowers every week. And Megan was glad Gloria  had delivered her baked goods to boost the TCC's spirits after Megan's  brownies. It was no contest: Gloria was renowned for her blue ribbon  fruit pies.

Finally, she spotted Beth's blond head. Just last week, she and her  friend had decided to create compost heaps for rubbish wherever  possible. It wouldn't take care of all the recyclable debris, but it  would help.

"Sorry I'm late," Megan said, kneeling beside a box of moldy computer paper that had been soaked by rain.

Beth swiped a wrist over her forehead, brushing back her hair. "The Holts are adorable, aren't they? Real soul mates."

"If you believe in that kind of thing, I guess." She tugged on the facemask Lark had given her and passed another to Beth.

Her friend pulled the elastic bands around her ears. "You don't believe in soul mates?"

"Years ago I did. I imagined finding him, getting married and starting a  family." She looked up and shrugged, tossing a moldy ream of paper into  the pile. "It's obvious things didn't work out that way. But I have my  daughter. I love her and I don't regret having her for even a second."

But she couldn't deny life was tougher. Choices were more difficult.

"You don't mention Evie's father often. I've never wanted to pry, but  it's tough not to feel judgmental of the guy when you're working so hard  to do everything on your own."

"Thank God I found out what a selfish jackass he is before I married  him." Still, the fallout for her daughter wasn't so clear-cut. "My only  regret is the pain Evie will feel when she realizes he abandoned her.  She doesn't ask about him now, but someday, she's going to want answers.  Telling her he lives very far away won't be enough."

"There must have been some positives that drew you to him in the first place."

The oak tree branches rustled in the afternoon breeze as Megan tugged  on work gloves. "I was blinded by his charm." She dug deeper into the  rubble to move past bad thoughts. "He went out of his way to romance me  with dinners and trips, gifts that seemed thoughtful as well as  extravagant. It was like a Cinderella fantasy after the way I grew up."

"You're a big-hearted person who sees the best in people." Beth reached  to give her arm a quick squeeze. "The only person I've ever heard you  criticize is Whit."

"And people who abandon their animals." She scrunched her nose under the mask.

"Surely he ranks a level above them."

"Of course he does." Megan kicked through layers of dirt until she  found more paper goods for the compost heap and some limp file folders  that could go to the recycling pile. "I just don't want to repeat the  past. I let myself believe in love at first sight. I was wrong. It takes  time to get to know a person, to trust them."

"You've known Whit a long time." Beth loaded branches into a  wheelbarrow for a bonfire later. "There's no issue with love at first  sight here."

"I didn't say I love Whit Daltry." The L word. Her chest went tight. She tore off the mask to breathe deeper.

"I never said you did. You're the one who got defensive." Beth pulled  off her surgical mask and guided Megan toward a park bench. "Where  there's smoke, there's fire. And I'm seeing lots of smoke steaming off  the two of you."                       
       
           



       

Megan sat down beside her friend, toying with the mask and snapping the  elastic ear bands. "I've learned the hard way that attraction isn't  enough. And I have Evie to consider now."