Back Home Again: A Small Town Romance (Yosemite Flats Book 1) Read online

  Back Home Again

  Cassie Hayes

  Contents

  About This Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  About the Author

  About This Book

  Alexandria Luther vowed to never return to her hometown, yet here she is, passing the ‘Welcome to Yosemite Flats’ sign. Drawn back by family obligations, she’s heading straight home to LA as soon as she can — despite pressure from her loved ones to stay. Nothing can persuade her that small town life is for her…until she meets Grayson, the town’s newest resident and most eligible bachelor.

  Life moves a little slower in Yosemite Flats, and that’s just the way resort owner Grayson Conrad likes it. He moved to the Sierra Nevada foothills to raise his young daughter far from the hustle and glitz of Los Angeles. So when Lex blows into town like a hurricane, he fights his attraction in order to save his sanity — and his heart. The only problem is, he fails.

  Now he just needs to convince her that home really can be where the heart is.

  Chapter One

  Driving five hours in a pair of Spanx probably wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done, but Alexandria Luther was determined to return to her hometown looking better than she did the last time she visited. So what if it felt like her internal organs were prey to a sadistic boa constrictor, the girdle-like undergarment made her butt look great.

  Of course, it didn’t help that as soon as she passed the “Welcome to Yosemite Flats — The Last Place You’re On the Level” sign, her stomach started performing somersaults and backflips in the unusually cramped space. A fine sweat broke out on her upper lip, and an overwhelming urge to flip a u-ey caused her damp fingers to grip the wheel until her knuckles turned white.

  “Deep breaths, Alexandria,” she whispered into the climate-controlled air of her leased Mercedes C-300. “You got this.”

  Taking a deep breath — as deep as she could, anyway — she focused on the town. As a child, she’d loved everything about the little community nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills, even the buckling sidewalks and mothball-scented stores of downtown. Maybe especially them. Then she hit her teens and saw Yosemite Flats for what it really was — a run-down, podunk pit stop on the way to the national park it was named after. She couldn’t wait to get out. And now she was back, but not for long.

  Rounding the bend into the downtown area, Alexandria did a double-take at the unexpected sight of a Starbucks. In Yosemite Flats. Official population 2,000. And the lot was packed — a few pickups, but mostly with “city” cars like hers.

  Tourists. Or “tour-erists,” as locals called them. In a couple months, when school let out and the summer season was in full swing, the place would be mobbed day and night.

  After the long, uncomfortable drive from Los Angeles, her mouth watered at the thought of an iced caramel macchiato. A caffeine injection was just what the doctor ordered. A voice inside her head whispered that she was only delaying the inevitable — her family was waiting. But as her father had always said, any port in a storm…and she was driving into a hurricane.

  Alexandria wedged her pristine, pearlescent white baby between two Ford F-150s that were big enough to block out the sun, smoothed a smattering of blonde flyaways in her tight ballerina bun, and slipped on her shoes. Now she just had to figure out how to get out of the luxuriously deep driver’s seat, having lost all feeling in her legs somewhere near Bakersfield.

  With one hand on the top of the door and the other on the doorframe, Alexandria launched her lean body out of the car like a catapult. She caught her footing before she faceplanted into the truck next to her — not an easy task in sky-high Jimmy Choos — but the moment she let go of the car, her tingling legs crumpled out from under her.

  “Whoa!”

  A pair of strong arms caught her before her perfectly pert, Herve Leger-clad and Spanx-enhanced butt hit the blacktop. That would have been a bit of a tragedy, considering the skin-tight bandage dress was as white as her car and cost as much as a lease payment. Even used Leger dresses went for a mint at LA consignment shops.

  “Hey, are you okay?” the man asked as he helped her upright, her freshly manicured, red nails digging into his broad shoulders for support.

  Even in the chaos of the moment, she couldn’t help noticing every inch of his body that pressed against hers felt as firm as his shoulders.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I just…tripped.” Alexandria wasn’t about to tell a strange man of her battle with Spanx in the middle of a Starbucks parking lot. Anywhere, for that matter.

  “Little wonder in those shoes.”

  His amused tone sparked a flare of defiance in her, but when she snapped a glare up at him, her breath caught in her chest. And not because of her girdle.

  Having lived in La-La-Land for the last decade, Alexandria had thought seeing so many beautiful people day in and day out made her immune to their charms. She thought wrong.

  If this man wasn’t a movie star, a talent agent simply hadn’t found him yet. He had the chiseled features of Cary Grant, the slightly tousled sandy hair of James Dean, and the piercing blue eyes of Paul Newman. Lord, and those dimples! Truly an impressive specimen. And he smelled good too. A heady mix of sandalwood and pine — or maybe that was the forest surrounding town. Her head was spinning too much to be sure.

  “Grayson Conrad.”

  “Excuse me?” She blinked in confusion, unsure if he’d just spoken a foreign language, or if he’d cast some kind of spell on her.

  “My name. Grayson Conrad.”

  “Oh! I’m Alexandria Luther. Pleasure.”

  “The pleasure’s definitely all mine.”

  His eyes crinkled at the corners with humor, but the feral glint in them warmed her skin. He was as attracted to her as she was to him, that much was obvious. So what was she going to do about it?

  Oh, what the hell. She was on vacation…sort of.

  “Can I buy you a coffee as thanks?” She reluctantly took a step back from him, and her gaze flicked down to where the top two buttons of his white Oxford revealed a flash of tanned skin. His oh-so-kissable lips twitched in response.

  “I have a feeling if I refuse, I’ll walk away with a stiletto jammed in my eye,” Grayson teased.

  She’d grown up with three brothers, so she knew how to serve it right back. “More likely, someplace that doesn’t require sunglasses.”

  His laugh — as smooth and rich as the caramel a barista would be soon drizzling on top of her drink — made her stomach flip-flop again, but this time in a much more pleasant manner. As he followed her into the coffee shop, she could feel his gaze burning her backside. Suddenly, she didn’t mind so much that the blood flow to her poor, mashed internal organs had been cut off for the better part of the day.

  Totally worth it!

  Distracted by her own forwardness — or more likely, Grayson’s hotness — Alexandria absentmindedly ordered her signature drink with barely a glance at the barista. She was having a hard time taking her eyes off that flash of chest. When she could manage the feat, she became entranced by crystal blue eyes rimmed with the thickest and longest lashes she’d ever seen on a man. Most women would sell their first-borne, last-borne and all the ones in between for eyelashes like that.

  “And your name?” the young man behind the counter asked.

  “Alexandria,
” she mumbled. “And put his on my tab too.”

  “Lex? Is that you?” the barista asked.

  That got her attention. Aside from her brothers and best friend Zoe, no one had called her by her childhood nickname in a decade. She didn’t much care for it.

  The kid held a marker over her cup, a huge grin lighting up his face. A layer of baby fat rounded out his cheeks a little, but it was easy to see he would be a heartbreaker very soon, if he wasn’t already. He was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. He also wasn’t more than seventeen.

  “Who…?”

  “Teddy Broadwater. You used to babysit me, remember?”

  She hadn’t seen Teddy since he was seven. Man, she felt old. As Alexandria opened her mouth to say of course she remembered, Grayson let out a low whistle.

  “Lucky kid.”

  “Hi, Mr. Conrad,” Teddy said as Alexandria tried to will the blush from her cheeks. “Your usual?”

  “Thanks, Ted.”

  Grayson slipped a bill into the kid’s hand, but didn’t wait to watch Teddy’s eyes grow wide at the generous tip left over. Instead, his warm hand pressed dangerously low on Alexandria’s back, moving her aside so the next customer could order and leaving a palm-sized patch of her skin sizzling.

  “I wanted to pay,” she protested weakly, some of her senses finally returning. “You remember the consequences of insulting me, don’t you?”

  Grayson smirked down at her. “It’s a risk my pride is willing to take.”

  Who was this guy? His black Prada loafers, nicely fitted jeans and Gucci watch were clear indicators that he wasn’t a resident of Yosemite Flats — this town didn’t attract the rich and famous — yet Teddy seemed to know him well. In fact, as they waited in heated silence for their drinks, she noticed a few of the locals tipping him friendly waves or nods. She was trying to figure out how to ask him what his deal was when he broke the silence.

  “So…Lex? Lex Luther?”

  Alexandria groaned and dropped her face in her hands. “I know, right? I hate it. Don’t even think about asking my middle name. My mom insists that they didn’t even think about it when they named me, but I suspect my dad knew exactly what he was doing.”

  Again with that panty-melting laugh. “No, really?”

  “Yup. When I was about twelve, I was rummaging around his office one day, but instead of finding a secret cache of porn like a normal kid, I found a big box stuffed with Superman comics.”

  “I like the sound of your old man.” He propped an elbow on the counter and leaned into it like it was built especially for him. “So you’re a native, huh? Don’t recall seeing you around town before. Pretty sure I’d remember.”

  If an LA guy had used a cheesy line like that, she would have laughed in his face and walked away, but the way Grayson said it was completely lactose-free. All his attention was focused on her, as if he was really interested in her answer. Was this guy for real?

  “I grew up in Yosemite Flats, but escaped to LA for college and never looked back,” she said, smoothing her hair again so he could catch a glimpse of her Tag Heuer watch. Another second-hand purchase, but he didn’t need to know that. “I just came back for a short family visit. I live in Marina del Rey now.”

  She could have sworn his left eyebrow twitched up a little, but then Teddy set their drinks on the counter.

  “Here ya go, two grande iced caramel macchiatos.”

  Alexandria grinned at Grayson. “Another addict, I see.”

  “Do they have rehab for that?”

  “If they do, I don’t want to know about it.” Using her straw, she scooped a dollop of caramel-covered whipped cream into her mouth, hoping it looked sexy, rather than gluttonous.

  The telltale ping of an incoming text sounded from her purse at the same moment Teddy said, “Good to see you home, Lex.”

  “You too, Teddy.” She gave him a halfhearted smile as she dug around for her phone. Yosemite Flats hadn’t felt like home for a while.

  His smile faltered and his voice took on a somber tone when he said, “I was sorry to hear about your dad.”

  Alexandria’s jaw clenched involuntarily. She should have been prepared for it, but Grayson had distracted her into letting her guard down. The tears that sprang into her eyes unbidden surprised her. It had been two years, for goodness sake. Clutching her phone like it was a lifeline, she ducked her head and made a show of reading the text from her oldest brother, even though it was only three words.

  Where are you?

  Once she was sure the tears had dried up, she cleared her throat and flashed her most winning smile at Grayson. “I’m so sorry to run off like this, but duty calls. Thanks again for the coffee!”

  Grayson wasn’t the only male who watched Alexandria’s hypnotic exit from the store. The way her painted-on dress clung to her swaying backside made it nearly impossible to look away. Even when Jacob Stone elbowed him in the ribs, he couldn’t stop staring until she’d poured herself into her car.

  “Wow,” Jacob breathed. The same sentiment was echoed at several other tables.

  “Agreed,” Grayson said, turning to his longtime foreman, still slightly dazed from Alexandria’s beauty and spunky attitude. No woman had affected him like that since…well, for a long time. But he knew trouble when he smelled it, and trouble always seemed to wear Chanel N°5.

  “You should…ya know…” Jacob waggled his bushy, grey eyebrows at Grayson.

  Yeah, he knew all right. He’d be lying if he said a vision of her not in that barely-there dress hadn’t been running through his head from the moment he saw her legs buckle out from under her in the parking lot. Shaking the image from his hormone-logged brain, he grinned and grabbed the tray of drinks Teddy set down in front of him.

  “You know there’s only room in my heart for one girl.”

  “You’re a better man than me, boss.” Jacob shook his head and picked up a second tray of drinks. “Better get these to the crew before they start grumbling.”

  Once they were back on the road to the construction site in Grayson’s Tesla, he asked about the status of a permit crucial to finishing on schedule and within budget.

  Jacob, one of the least flappable men he’d ever met, grew beet red and looked ready to throw a clot. “That nutjob down at the county clerk’s office is still giving me the runaround. I don’t know what her problem is, but if she figures out some way to block it we’re screwed, boss. Whoever heard of a high-end resort with no parking lot?”

  “Think she wants a bribe?” The idea of giving a government official money just to do her job wouldn’t have fazed his father, but it made him sick.

  “That’s not the vibe I got.” Jacob shrugged.

  Strangely, that didn’t make Grayson feel any better. A bribe would at least be something he could wrap his head around. As it was though, the woman seemed determined to deny their permit for no good reason he could figure out.

  Now everything was up in the air. He hated that. This was the last permit they needed, and it should have been a gimme. Then, Tassie James had started jerking them around. The excuses she kept coming up with to delay issuing the permit grew thinner and more transparent with each one. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think she had a grudge against him, but he’d never done anything to her; he’d never even met the woman.

  They rode in silence, each trying to figure out their next move. When they drove past the Alpine Inn at the edge of town, Grayson spotted a perky, white-covered rump disappearing through the main doors. Jacob spotted it too.

  “Looks like you have a new neighbor, boss,” he said with a devilish grin, those ridiculous Carl Malden eyebrows waggling all over the place. “You suppose they’ll put her in the room next to yours? Maybe you can sneak over and get, ya know, neighborly.”

  Grayson put on as stern a face as he could muster. “Jacob, I’m shocked. What would Marissa think if she heard her husband of thirty years talking like that?”

  “She’d straight-up murder me, no
doubt about it.”

  They both laughed, easing the tension from the unresolved permit fiasco. As they discussed the progress of the build and a few minor personnel issues, Grayson’s mind kept straying, remembering the feel of Alexandria’s skin against his. Her scent — not the perfume, but her underlying essence — bored into him like a drill. Over the span of a few minutes, it had become a scent-memory, a smell he’d never forget and would forever associate with her.

  Stop being ridiculous. You don’t even know her!

  True, but that didn’t stop his body from itching to hold her in his arms again. Thankfully, the sight of his almost-finished resort pulled his errant thoughts back where they should be. Still, he couldn’t stop his gaze from wandering toward the back side of the Alpine Inn, just visible beyond the treeline, and wondering if Alexandria was, in fact, in the next room.

  “You want me to hand these out so you can get going, boss?” Jacob picked up both trays of coffees and waited for an answer.

  “Go?”

  Jacob’s only response was to raise one of those shrubs on his face nearly to his hairline — no small feat considering the man was almost bald.

  “Sophia! Right! I’m a dead man if I’m late. Thanks, Jacob. See you bright and early.”

  Grayson’s mind whirled during the short drive to pick up Sophia. What had he been thinking, flirting with some pretentious LA lemon-drop? Worse than that, he’d been so preoccupied with imagining what was under the dress, which left so little to the imagination he’d almost forgotten about Sophia.

  No sense continuing down that road. With an effort that almost hurt, he shifted his brain to the more pressing matter of what he could do about the whole permit situation. Construction had run smoothly since the last of the snow had melted and the building looked almost like the upscale destination depicted in the architect’s plans. Another three months and they’d be ready to open right on schedule. If they got the go-ahead to build the lot where they’d planned. If they didn’t, he might have to…