Lean on Me by Helenkay Dimon

they passed his bumping pace. People in Holloway took safety for granted, but that didn’t mean that he was going to let her walk around in the dark without any reflectors or means of protection. No, he’d watch over her from afar and try to keep from chewing through the inside of his cheek in frustration.
    When she cut across the open lawn leading up to the nursery, he wasn’t exactly surprised. Made sense since all of her belongings were there. On his business property.
    The truck rumbled to a stop on the road. Thanks to the safety light by the entrance, he saw her dark form go up and over the fence with ease. It happened so fast it was as if she flew over. So much for the office’s security precautions. If it was that easy to break in, they were lucky a busload of trespassers didn’t unload at the gate every evening. First thing tomorrow he’d look into a commercial alarm system. Until then he had bigger problems.
    “This woman is going to be the death of me,” he muttered under his breath as he slammed the truck into park and pocketed his keys.
    He grumbled during the entire walk up the driveway. So much for thinking the kiss might change things. The touch of her lips tonight made the blood drain from his head and race south. For her it was foreplay to her evening of skulking around the grounds.
    Women.
    He debated waiting a few minutes to see what she’d clean or fix or whatever task she’d complete, but the anger flowing through his blood fueled his steps. It was like an out-of-control beast writhing around inside him. The last time he’d been hit with this sort of sick buzzing in his head his fiancée had just walked out, claiming she needed a man with more drive.
    Two years gone and the memory of seeing the moving van pull away still had the power to suck the life right out of him. He didn’t love Susan anymore. No, she’d burned through those feelings long ago. He knew from his parents what happened when two people had a marriage but not a love affair, and he didn’t want any part of that sterile life. But not being able to fix the problems with Susan, not having the chance, punched a hole inside him. The downward spiral of fury was not something he intended to repeat.
    Really, women made everything so damn difficult.
    When he reached the gate he slipped his fingers through the chain links and stared at the darkness inside. He knew his reaction was out of proportion. Cassidy wasn’t Susan and this wasn’t about a broken engagement. He didn’t even know Cassidy well enough to be this angry or feel betrayed by her sitting there and lying to his face about staying at the Inn. Yet he was. Figuring out she was living on his property was one thing but watching her not even flinch as she made up a convoluted story and tried to sell it to him sent his temperature spiking into rage territory. Lying had always been the one step too far for him in a relationship, not that this was one.
    Still, something about the lie tonight, about the whole Inn fiasco, felt personal. Just that morning she’d stood over her mother’s grave marker and gave him a peek into the sadness and frustration of her life. She let him in. Now she was locking him out, and he didn’t like it one bit.
    Breathing through his nose, he tried to control the mix of confusion and rage whipping through him. He’d confront her, get her to give up the real story and then they’d move forward from there. If the talk led to another kiss then to bed, he wouldn’t fight it. He’d wanted her as soon as he’d seen her hovering over those mums. Spence didn’t get that part wrong.
    He used his key because the idea of climbing over the fence made his anger blow all over again. The gravel crunched under his boots as he walked. No need to hide his presence. The goal wasn’t to sneak up and scare her, though the idea had its merits.
    He turned the corner and saw her hanging by the potting shed. She’d taken her insulated coat off, leaving only the slim