Page 31 of Untamed Heart

If this had been the city, I could have rented a kitchen space to film, but this was a small mountain town. They didn’t have anything like that, and I was slowly going out of my mind.

Replacing the box, I turned to Iris. “This is like window shopping for me. I came here for a fix.”

Understanding washed over her pretty features. “What are you up to right now? You busy or do you plan on standing here, staring at food like a starving person on the fifth day of a juice cleanse?”

I let out a bubble of laughter. “No. I’m not busy. What do you have in mind?”

I came to a stop behind Iris’s car, throwing my own into park and looking through the driver side window at the adorable little bungalow on a shady, tree-lined street. Stepping out of the car, I closed the door and smiled up at the house cozily tucked back from the street on a nice-sized lot with deep green grass.

“What is this place?” Iris joined me at the curb, pointing in the direction of the For Rent sign I’d missed while appreciating the house. My heart stuttered in my chest. As cute as this whole street was, I couldn’t bring myself to imagine staying here,permanently or not. I felt like I’d been spinning out of control since I got back, and I was struggling to find solid ground. Since my run-in with Roe at the hospital a few days ago, I’d been in such emotional upheaval that, by the end of each day, I collapsed into bed, so emotionally exhausted that I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. The one silver lining to it was that I slept so hard my overactive brain wasn’t able to have nightmares about the past.

“Iris, I don’t think?—”

She lifted both her hands, palms out, before I could finish my objection. “I know, you don’t want to put down roots here, at least not yet. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope you’d change your mind. And notjustbecause I’d get a commission if you moved here and hired me as your realtor.” She shot me a teasing wink that made me laugh again. “But because I think you’re super cool and I’d love to get to know you better.”

Gah, she was so freaking sweet it was almost impossible to deny her.

“This is Lennon’s old place. Remember? The one we told you about that day at coffee. Well, I called her on the way over here and together, we came up with the perfect solution to your little problem.”

Her giddiness as she spoke was just as infectious as her smile. “Oh? And what’s that?”

“She’s going to rent out the kitchen to you on a week-to-week basis!” She did that little hop again. “Isn’t that great?”

My mouth dropped open as I looked back at the house. “Oh, Iris, I couldn’t?—”

“Of course you can! Look, it’s only fifty bucks a week?—”

“Iris, that’s a ridiculous price!”

Her smile dropped a bit. “Is it too much? I’m sure we can work something out?—”

I shook my head. “No, honey. It’s too little. I feel like I’d be taking advantage.”

“You wouldn’t though. I swear.”

I tugged the corner of my bottom lip between my teeth as I looked back at the house. “I don’t know, Iris. I mean, this is a deal that’s too good to be true. Doesn’t Lennon need to offload this place?”

Iris snorted. “Please. Like Pope would let her feel that kind of strain. He paid the mortgage off as soon as she agreed to move in with him.”

My eyes widened, my brows flying up toward my hairline. “And she doesn’t care? That he used, you know...” I leaned in and finished on a whisper. “Blood money?”

“Bood money?” she asked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“You grew up here, right? You know the kind of shit the club’s about. How they make their money.”

She stared at me like I just switched into a foreign language mid-sentence. “Uh, honey. A lot of things have changed while you’ve been gone. I think there’s a lot you don’t know.”

My brow furrowed, a strange sensation swimming through my belly as I tried to make sense of what she said. “What do you mean?”

Empathy washed over her face. “Maybe that’s a talk you should have with your father.”

I blew out a weary breath as I pushed a hand through my hair, forgetting for a second that I’d tied it up in a messy topknot until my fingers caught. Iris couldn’t have possibly realized what a blow to the gut that suggestion was, especially these last few days. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to go back to the hospital after making a fool of myself and running out the last time. Any courage I’d built up over the past few weeks had drained out of me completely, and I couldn’t bring myself to have theconversation I knew we desperately needed to have. Particularly after how I reacted to seeing him with another child. I knew he hadn’t missed my reaction, so I’d been avoiding him ever since, afraid he’d bring it up if I wasn’t brave enough to do it.

“There’s a lot we need to talk about,” I muttered more to myself than to her. “I guess that just got added to the list. But I don’t understand. If it’s been paid off, why wouldn’t she sell it?”

The ease returned to her face as she explained, “Spend enough time here and you’ll learn why. Lennon got really close with all her neighbors, and she doesn’t want to risk sticking them with someone who doesn’t match the vibe.”

I quirked a brow and shot her a cheeky grin. “And you think I match the vibe? You hardly know me?”