And his heart nearly stopped.
He hadn’t been imagining it before. Her irises shifted and sparkled and slid, from differing shades of blue to a milky lavender, then light green, and touched on lemony ginger before returning to blue. He pulled back, only far enough to watch as they settled.
He wanted to ask what made it happen, and ask how, but he didn’t want to destroy the moment with reality. Whatever secrets she had were hers to keep, as long as she wanted to be with him. “I can do better.”
Dia laughed, a light airy sound that hit him in his loins.
“I didn’t complain. Besides I’m good at practicing things.”
“I…” Ryan’s brows drew together. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve never felt this kind of connection with a woman before. This deep attraction.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to screw up with you, so please tell me when I do.”
Dia tilted her head and studied him, her brows pulled together. “How is it that you are so unsure of yourself? I would think women would have been knocking down your door to be with you.”
Ryan inhaled, so overwhelmed by her adoration, he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t an emotional man. Probably because he’d been raised by an emotionless woman. He didn’t know what to do about the feelings flooding his system. It wasn’t just lust. That he recognized. It was something deeper, and for the life of him, he didn’t know what to do with it.
He took a shaky breath. “You floor me.” He laughed nervously. “I’m….”
Dia reached out and placed her palm against his cheek. He inhaled sharply, as the emotions inside of him skyrocketed. He pulled her closer and took her lips again; this time he didn’t hold back and was rewarded with a hunger that matched his own. When they broke apart once more, she was breathing as harshly as he.
She looked at him, her face reflecting the same shock he felt.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?”
Ryan shook his head. “I didn’t before. I always thought love was nothing more than a biological chemical reaction between two people whose chemistry collided and congealed. That sensory attraction, whether visual or aromatic, stimulated the mind and triggered endorphins in the brain. I believed it made that brain think there was something more happening than there really was. That’s why, once the newness of the attraction waned, couples parted, looking for the same excitement to happen all over again.”
Dia stared at him in shock, and he knew he’d said the wrong thing. Suddenly she laughed, and he felt like a fool. Before he could tell her he didn’t think that anymore, she pulled him into a hug and then stepped back.
“I guess we need to test your theory.”
Ryan shook his head, relieved. “You didn’t let me finish. I don’t know what love really is. I only know I’m more than willing to find out, if it’s what I feel for you. If you’re willing to do the same.”
Dia nodded, her expression serious. “I’m willing, because I don’t think I have any other choice.” She stepped back then and bit her lip. “We need to get you to town. I’m afraid we may not be able to find an optometrist open if we wait much longer.”
Ryan could care less about his sight at the moment, but he nodded anyway. He followed her to what looked like a brand new Jeep; he looked it over and grinned. “You seem to have a thing for all-terrain vehicles.”
Dia laughed. “Yes I do. But I also have a hot little red convertible stored away in town, which I only use in the summertime and fall, before the danger of snow comes. It’s too low to the ground to drive around out here, but I can’t make myself sell it.”
She grinned again, this time with devilment in her fascinating eyes.
“Just wait until I show you my dirt bike! Once you get your new glasses, we’ll get it out of my storage shed, and I’ll teach you to ride. It’s…exhilarating!”
The thought of him on a dirt bike almost made Ryan laugh. He’d dreamed of riding on one, of knowing the freedom, of embracing the danger of speed, but had never expected to have the opportunity in the concrete jungle he called home. As he looked at the beautiful woman before him, he realized he’d allowed his upbringing to define him, but no more. He took the passenger seat as Dia jumped behind the wheel, wondering just what she did to allow her such nice toys. But he wouldn’t ask. He would let her tell him in her own time if she so desired.
The thought of time made Ryan frown. He only had a few weeks to take care of this business with his father before returning to the world he knew. He let that settle on his chest and then threw it out the door-less vehicle when Dia put the Jeep into gear and flew down the long driveway. Tomorrow, or next week, would be soon enough to worry about how short his time on Mystic Mountain would be. Today, and for as many days as he could muster, he only wanted to feel what being in her presence did to him.
Once they reached the road, he embraced the speed, knowing he’d have a hard time settling for ordinary again. Because there was nothing ordinary about the woman who had somehow become the most important thing in his life.
****
Dia inhaled the land she loved as it flew past her. She loved the wind, the sound, the exhilaration of driving her newest toy. She glanced over at Ryan, tickled to see the joy on his face as well, and then returned her eyes to the ever-curving road. She loved that he wasn’t as sure of himself in that way boys she’d dated in the past were. But mostly she loved that his lack of experience wasn’t reflected in the way he kissed.
Dia knew she couldn’t dwell on that while driving. It had been all she could do to stop kissing him, knowing he had business to attend to and glasses to replace. She chewed on her bottom lip, wondering if the water had indeed been responsible for his change in vision. She worried another sip could alter his sight again. She snuck a peek in his direction and then swerved when she caught him looking at her, his smile so huge it took her breath.
“Don’t do that,” she laughed.
His playful grin turned innocent. “Do what?”
Dia felt heat enter her cheeks, and she knew he had to see the effect he had on her. “Don’t stare at me. You’ll make me wreck.”
Ryan turned his face forward, but she noticed when she looked again, he was still smiling. She wanted to pull over at the first opportunity and kiss the smile right off his lips. Even just thinking of doing so made her hot and hungry, and she had to force herself to concentrate on her driving.
She inhaled sharply when his lightly placed palm touched her just above the knee. She threw him a startled look, then shook her head and smiled as she was forced to pay attention to the road. “That isn’t fair,” she said, braking and downshifting on a particularly sharp decline that led into Dead Man’s Curve.
Ryan removed his hand, and she actually mourned the loss as she navigated the dangerous turn, then she reached for his hand and placed it right back where he’d had it. Grinning, she refused to look at him, but she knew he was grinning as well. And if the surge of energy tingling throughout her body was any indication, she knew she was in serious trouble. They reached town forty-five minutes later and drove around the large lake. Dia smiled as Ryan put his glasses back on and was looking at it, rather than her.
“Do you fish?”
Ryan swung his head around to her and peered over the glasses that had slid down his nose. He shook his head. “I never have. Do you?”
Dia shook her head. “I haven’t either. Would you like to try it sometime?”
Grinning, he nodded. “Yeah. I will if you will.”
Filled with a joy she didn’t understand, Dia laughed into the wind flowing over the windshield. “You’re on. My family loves fish, though we will have to get a tribal pass to be able to fish the lake. My great-uncle will take care of it, and then Uncle Tom will bless our journey.” She grinned. “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.”
Ryan laughed. “I’ve never been to Kansas, either.”
Dia turned back to the road and slowed as they approached the town. Already the da
ys were lengthening, but only by minutes, so she knew it would be dark by the time he finished with his visit with his father, and they had dinner. She took a deep breath, wondering if she dared to suggest they wait on his glasses.
“I’ve been thinking.”
Ryan glanced over. “About what?”
Dia hoped she wasn’t making a mistake. “What if there is a possibility the water had something to do with your improved sight?”
Ryan studied her a moment. “Then I’d say we better bottle it and patent it, and you’ll make millions.”
A thud hit her stomach. She’d never thought of the possibility of him thinking along those lines. But then she really didn’t know him, even if it felt like she did. She struggled to find a reply. “What if it only affected you that way? Not others? I mean, others have drank from those waters with no…effect. But your sight changed immediately after doing so. Not that I’m saying one has anything to do with the other.”
Ryan smiled while watching her, his brows drawn together. “Then I’d say I should try drinking it again, to see if that’s a possibility.”
He frowned, and Dia understood his confusion. She just wished she knew what to do about it. This was something she would normally turn to her family for help with, but she couldn’t, not after the way they’d already reacted. If they knew she was even suggesting it, she’d likely get raked over the coals again.
The other alternative was to let him get new glasses, possibly drink from the water in his cabin, and then have to look at getting his prescription changed again. If that was what had affected him. She blew out a shaky breath. Either way, he’d know something was up.
“Dia?”
She pulled to a stop at the stop sign and glanced over. “Yes?”
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
Dia hoped the smile she was trying to form made it to her lips. “Like what?”
He shook his head and looked straight ahead. “Nothing. I just thought…” He sighed. “I don’t know what to think.”
And she didn’t know what to say. He’d already asked if she was a witch, which she obviously wasn’t, but the distinction would be lost on him. What could she say? “Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
Since he didn’t even look her way this time, she pulled onto Main Street and slowly drove through the town she’d always known. Only this time she noticed things she’d never noticed before. Like the people strolling by the shops and cafés that lined the street, and the beauty of the flowers and trees that decorated the sidewalks. She couldn’t imagine how a newcomer could drive into what she’d always taken for granted and not notice the perfection of it all. She glanced over at him, to find him staring at her over his glasses.
“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted.
He pulled his upper lip down and held it between his teeth before releasing it. “I thought we were going to be honest with each other.”
Dia felt a pang. She was afraid to open her mouth, because honest words were what she felt compelled to share. But she had to ignore the urge or possibly endanger her family. “I was just making a suggestion. It was probably silly of me to even think it. So, if you want to go to the eye doctor before I take you to see your dad, that’s fine.”
Ryan frowned. “No. I want to go see my dad. He’ll be waiting for me.”
****
Ryan kept his eyes forward as Dia drove him to the hospital. He didn’t know what to think. Nothing about them made sense. Dia was beautiful beyond imagination, and she was fun and funny, made him ache with want. But there were so many things that had happened since he’d met her that didn’t add up. It wasn’t just that her eyes did a beautifully strange thing, or that she spoke to wild animals as if they understood her. Or even that drinking water from a stream had possibly somehow affected his vision. But added together….
He wrestled with the possibilities, but nothing made sense. Unless his father had been right all along.
Ryan nearly doubled over at the thought. He couldn’t look at her again and not let his doubt and, oh God, fear, show.
No! He wouldn’t buy into his father’s delusions. He couldn’t. Witches were fictional. They had made him a rich man. His fellow geeks and nerds only got a chance to leave their world of numbers and certainties because of fantasies of the impossible he and those like him created. If there were even the slightest chance witches were a reality, it would rock the very foundation of the world.
Thankful the hospital was finally within sight. Ryan tried to stop the internal shaking that had taken hold and to focus on the large building. He knew its suddenly sinister outline was due to the riot going on in his brain and realizing the man he’d come to see might not be so delusional after all. When she stopped before the front entrance, he turned to her, and the sadness etched within her lovely face nearly made him stay. But he knew he couldn’t. Not even if the pull to kiss her and make her smile tied him up in knots.
Had she bewitched him?
Ryan tried to grasp the possibility, and for the first time since meeting her, it took hold. He licked his lips and tried to smile. “If you can give me about an hour, I’ll be waiting right out front.”
Dia nodded, and he could tell she was struggling with his odd behavior. He wanted to reassure her nothing had changed, but everything had. He just had no idea where that put them. He nodded too and exited the Jeep and then made himself walk into the building without looking back.
The short consultation with the doctor revealed his father had been released from his restraints, and he could visit Clayton in the cafeteria. It was dinnertime and the best place for their visit. Staff would be present to make sure Ryan was safe. Though he’d hoped for a more private setting, he nodded and followed the same orderly he’d met before to the large room filled with round and square tables. To Ryan’s relief, his father was sitting alone.
After nodding dismissively to the orderly, he took in the lay of the circular room. Seven staff members stood around the outside perimeter like guards as they continuously scanned the action at each table. Three of the large round tables held three or more people, and seven of the smaller square tables held individuals, like his father, who kept their heads down to either eat from the divided rectangular trays or simply stared off into space. He crossed to his father’s table, his head filled with the impossible. When he stopped at Clayton’s side, his father looked up. Surprise and pleasure lit his eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to come back.”
Ryan cleared his throat. “I told you I would.”
Clayton nodded and indicated for Ryan to sit across from him. “They won’t let you sit next to me. They’re afraid I’ll try to hurt anyone who comes close.”
Ryan took the seat and placed his elbows on the table, clasping his hands. “Would you?”
Surprise preceded laughter. “No. I’m not manic, and I’m not crazy, contrary to popular belief.”
“But you’ve hurt people in the past.”
Ryan shrugged. “They had it coming.” He grinned. “I was much younger then and not as inclined to allow others to call me crazy. Now I just accept that they are the delusional ones.”
Since his father had brought it up, Ryan let the other go, and focused on the reason they were both here. “Will you tell me your story again?”
“Why?”
Ryan laughed quietly, though it was self-directed and held no amusement. “Because I might believe you.”
The shock on Clayton’s face turned wary, before excitement sharpened his gaze.
“Why?” he repeated.
Ryan slid a glance around the room, noticing his father’s loud question caught the attention of several of the staff as well as some of those interned most likely, like his father, against their will. He turned back to find his father glaring at one particular orderly and saw the man glaring back.
“Dad?”
Clayton turned to him immediately, surprise again cloaking his face. “I never expected to b
e called that,” he said, as tears filled his eyes.
Ryan hadn’t given a thought to accomplishing any more than breaking the connection between his father and that staff member, but his own throat closed, as emotion filled him. “I guess I never thought I’d get to say it either.”
They stared at each other before Clayton sniffed and wiped at his eyes. Though not a single tear had fallen, the action caused his dark lashes to shine with moisture.
“I’ll tell you what happened again, and then you tell me why you might believe me.” He glanced back to that orderly, then to Ryan. “But talk quietly. They try to listen to everything people say. And that one over there,” he tilted his head back to the one who’d glared at him, “He likes to find reasons to take you down.”
Ryan shivered and made himself keep his eyes on his father, not wanting to alert the orderly he was being discussed. But he’d make sure to speak to the doctor. Whether his father was mentally unstable or not, he didn’t deserve to be abused. Since Ryan planned to tell his father what was happening to him as well, it worried him the staff might start looking upon him in the same way they looked at Clayton and the others in their charge.
Ryan listened as Clayton quietly retold his story, neither adding to nor leaving out anything he’d told before. When he was done, Ryan nodded and began to tell of his own experiences, but the orderly his father feared approached their table.
“I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
Ryan and Clayton shared a look, before Ryan rose. “Could you give us just a moment?”
The orderly shrugged. “Sure. Just make it fast. I have to line everyone up.”
Ryan nodded as the man turned and walked to the next table. He leaned forward over the table and kept his voice low. “I’ll try to be back earlier tomorrow.”
Clayton nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”
Ryan didn’t know what else to do other than to nod as the orderly was once again at his side. He said his goodbye and headed to the door. There was already a line of men waiting to be taken back to their rooms.
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 160
