by Cindy Stark
"Because staying away from you is the only way I can guarantee I won't make the same mistake again."
"So making love to me was a mistake?" Even though she understood what he meant, it still stung.
"Don't twist my words. Don't make me out to be a jerk. You know very well why we shouldn't have done what we did."
"That's just it, Milo. I really don't understand. You're not doing any less of a job because of it. Nothing bad has happened. Nothing has changed except for the fact you now avoid me. Help me understand."
He drew his brows together, a pained looked echoing in his eyes. "Being close to you messes with my perception. It's hard to keep a clear head when all I can think of is us by the lake, and the sight of you laying there." He closed his eyes, and she wasn't sure if that helped him block her out or gave him a more vivid picture of them together.
She put a hand on his chest. "I want you like that now," she whispered.
He opened his eyes, agony and confusion reflecting from within.
"Deny it all you want, but I can tell you need me, too." She moved her fingers to his jawline, tension pulsing beneath her fingertips. "Why do we have to resist? Why can't this just be what it is?"
"Because." He heaved a sigh and took a step back. "Because you have a price on your head. Because I was charged with protecting you. Because not keeping a clear head could endanger you. The list goes on. Beyond all that, you're leaving in a week, and we won't see each other again, so what's the point of allowing myself to grow more attached to you? It will just be a bigger heartbreak in the end."
That hurt the most of all. She'd fallen for him, too, and it seemed like such a tragedy if they never had the chance to find out how deep their love could grow. They deserved that chance. "What if I come back? After the trial? What if I ask Quinn to make this my home?"
Emotions played across his face, and he didn't answer for a few moments. "Is that what you want?"
An excited, yet terrified tremble rolled through her. She'd never fully given herself the luxury of dreaming that staying with Milo might be a real possibility. She'd yearned for it, but never believed it had a chance of happening. "I know I don't want to lose you."
"Could you be happy here? When I first met you, you insisted to Quinn you wanted to be sent somewhere tropical."
"That was before I knew what existed here. I'll admit I'm surprised Aspen has stolen my heart, but I think I've fallen for this quaint little place and the people here."
He wrapped an arm around her, and she happily fell against him, her heart bursting with joy. He claimed her mouth in a desperate kiss, and she answered with equal hunger. The taste of his kisses was her own special paradise. He turned and laid her on the sofa, following her down until he covered her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she sent him a glowing smile. "Who needs tropical temperatures when I have you to keep me warm?"
He laughed as he moved in for another kiss. "Who knows, with the two of us around, this place might turn tropical."
She wiggled beneath him, loving the weight of his warm and hard body pressing against her.
A rumbling sound interrupted their silliness, and Milo turned to give his vibrating cell phone a dirty look. The offending device continued to pulsate on the coffee table next to them.
"Whoever it is can call back later." Milo captured her mouth again, and the phone stopped.
He pushed her t-shirt up over her breast and tugged down her bra. "Mmm…turquoise. My new favorite color."
She gasped as he sucked a nipple into his mouth, knowing she'd never tire of the tiny explosions he set off inside her. "I have to admit, I was worried I did everything wrong the other night."
He stopped and looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
"I just…you know, don't have much experience with men."
"You weren't a virgin. You told me about Danny."
She smiled, loving the concerned look in his eyes. "Danny was the only person I've slept with besides you."
He paused as though digesting the information. "Shit, Ariana. I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No." She trailed her fingers down his cheek. "It was amazing, and I'm glad it was you." She arched toward him, offering her breast again. "Make love to me, Milo."
He stared at her, and she was afraid she'd ruined the moment for them. Then he nodded. "Okay." His mouth closed over her, and she shivered with delight.
The phone vibrated again.
"No," he whispered as he moved to her other breast.
She slid her fingers through his hair, holding him to her, not caring if his touch made it hard to breathe. The hard proof of his desire pressed against her, and she moved, allowing him to settle more firmly in her apex. She knew from experience the other night, she needed to be patient and enjoy all the facets of lovemaking, but the anticipation of having him slide into her, of him stretching her as he filled her sent a sharp quiver straight to her core.
The phone vibrated for a third time, and Milo stopped. "Damn it. Why the hell can't they leave us alone?"
He shifted and grabbed his impatient cell phone. His annoyed features chilled as he looked at the screen. "It's Quinn," he said, sending her a worried glance. "Hey," he said into the phone.
He listened intently, never taking his eyes off her. Something about his gaze left an uneasy mark on her intuition. "Uh, no. She didn't."
She tried to swallow past her building fear.
"No, she didn't tell me that, either." He frowned. "Okay. You could be right, and that would be a problem. Let me check."
He stood and headed into the hallway toward their bedrooms. Ariana jumped up and followed. She was pretty sure she knew what Quinn had told him and where he was headed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ariana entered her bedroom to find Milo glancing about the room, the phone still at his ear. "Where is it?" He directed the question to her.
She bit her lip to keep it from trembling as she stepped forward and removed the cell phone from her dresser drawer. He shook his head at her, a look of deep disappointment on his face. He turned on the device and pushed a couple of buttons. Her call log popped on the screen.
He wouldn't meet her gaze then, and she knew she'd broken something between them.
"There are three calls. One to your cell, one to what looks like your office, and one to someone with a seven-seven-three area code." He glanced at her then, his gaze harsh and demanding. "Who'd you call, Ariana?"
Shame swelled inside her. She'd thought she'd completely trusted Milo, but she hadn't. If she had, she would have told him. "Kenzie. My friend."
Milo relayed the information to Quinn, who spoke to Milo for another minute before their conversation ended.
He pocketed his phone, eyeing her with such distrust that it clawed at her soul. "How could you do that, Ariana? Worse yet, why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know. I didn't think you'd understand. I knew you'd be mad, and I didn't want to cause any more problems." Her lip trembled as the first brick in her world crashed to the ground. Others would surely follow.
"How can I understand if you don't give me the opportunity? And cause problems? Really? Five minutes ago, we were planning a future together, and yet you couldn't trust me enough to tell me? I'd say that's a problem."
"I'm sorry." More than she could say. She swallowed, trying to get a grip on her breathing. "Kenzie was on TV, very upset. She thought I was dead. I couldn't let her believe that. Not after her mother just died."
"You should have told me. I could have helped." She couldn't bear the accusatory look in his eyes.
"I did call Quinn, but he didn't answer. I couldn't let her suffer, Milo."
"So you put your life in jeopardy. Not only yours, but mine." He shrugged. "This whole town, really. If these guys traced that call, they're going to come here looking for you, and who knows what will happen if someone gets in the way."
She covered her mouth with a shaking hand and blinked, forcing unshed tears down her cheeks. "I wou
ldn't do that."
"You did, probably without a second thought." He shook his head. "That's a pretty selfish way to live."
His blow sliced deep into her heart. Maybe she was more like her father than she realized. No. She folded her arms and tried to swallow. She'd reached the farthest edge of her corner, and there was no way out but to tell the truth. It would come at a hell of a steep price though. "No one is going to come after me here."
He snorted. "You don't think? Whoever your father has hired has some far reaching guns. They've tracked you down to four different locations, and Quinn is a master at disguising and protecting people. For all we know, they're on their way here right now. Where did you put my gun?" He turned toward the door.
"They're not coming, Milo," she nearly yelled. She covered her mouth as a whimper escaped. She couldn't be more ashamed of herself. "They haven't found me. They never did."
He stopped and turned toward her, eyeing her with a piercing look. "What do you mean?"
"I made it up." She sniffed, praying she could get her words out before her tears overtook her. "I told Quinn I'd been spotted so he'd move me. I was going crazy, being holed up in the same spot for months."
Milo's jaw went slack for several seconds before he closed his mouth. "You're kidding me. You let Quinn risk his job so you didn't have to be bored? Good God, woman."
"I'm sorry. I had no idea Quinn would do that," she whispered. She slumped on the mattress and wrapped her arms around her, afraid if she didn't, her soul would shatter into tiny pieces. She dropped her gaze to the carpet, no longer able to meet Milo's condemning look.
"Well, that's just lovely, isn't it?" He slammed a fist against the door, making her flinch. "Quinn will be here tomorrow to pick you up. I'm sure it will be a comfort to him to know your life isn't in danger."
The room went silent. Milo turned and left. A few seconds later he slammed his bedroom door.
Ariana got to her feet and quietly closed her own door before she curled into a ball on her bed.
* * *
"Got it, Tony." Manny turned to his nephew with a triumphant smile. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he'd started to question his ability. He'd expected Ariana to make another call that day or even that week. When that hadn't happened, his life had started to look like a very expensive bet gone wrong.
He could have lost it all.
Tony looked up from his own laptop sitting across from Manny's on the tiny round table in their cheap-ass hotel room in Salt Lake. "You serious, man?"
"I told you she'd call her friend, and I told you she'd turn on the phone again." He leaned back in his chair, pretty damn pleased with his brilliance. "Boss is gonna be real happy with me."
"With us," Tony corrected. "You're giving me some credit, right?"
"Yeah. That's what I meant." At least that's all Tony needed to know.
* * *
When Ariana woke the next morning, Milo was gone. It was barely past dawn, but his bed was made and only his sheriff's SUV sat in the drive. She tried to take a breath, her lungs still having difficulty accepting oxygen. She didn't need to look in a mirror to know her eyelids were swollen from crying.
She was grateful though, at some point during the night, she'd come to terms with the consequences of her bad decisions. She was not like her father. He made choices to purposefully hurt people. Yes, she'd been careless and was still to blame, but she'd never intentionally hurt someone.
No doubt she'd pay a price for her lies, though. In all likelihood, she'd destroyed whatever she'd built with Milo. With each of life's lessons, there was a cost. But being here with him had taught her many things about herself, and she couldn't regret that. The first of which was she was stronger than she'd thought. The second was there was still happiness to be found in the world. If she couldn't find it with Milo, she'd heal and search until she found it somewhere else. There may never be another man who could compare to her sexy deputy with the startling blue eyes, but she'd find a way to be happy.
In the kitchen, Milo had left a note stating he'd gone into town and that Quinn would arrive around noon. She wanted to call Milo a coward for not sticking around to see her off, but she wouldn't judge how hard this might have been on him, too. She'd known he'd cared. She slammed a fist against her heart as a wave of pain rippled through. God, she'd miss him and regret for the rest of her life the choices that had pushed him away.
It took her less than fifteen minutes to pack her belongings in a suitcase and tuck the cell phone in her pocket. No sense throwing away a good phone, and she'd already wasted enough of Quinn's and Milo's hard-earned money. Somehow, she'd find a way to pay them back for the kindness she'd taken for granted.
Now she was cursed with time, waiting for Quinn to show. Waiting for the trial that would begin in a few days. Waiting until she could start a new life. A life she would cherish and not mess up.
* * *
Milo's handgun fit well in her hand. Ariana shot off several rounds, sending cans rocketing into the air, enjoying the way the gun kicked as she fired. Power. She liked it, but she would not abuse it like others in her family had.
She climbed the fence and reset the cans. It would be at least another hour before Quinn arrived, and she could not sit around doing nothing. Empty time generated anxious thoughts in her head. Thoughts about Milo. Thoughts over what Quinn would say. He might forgive her even if Milo couldn't. At least she hoped so.
She scaled the fence again, surprised to hear an engine cruising down Milo's drive. She glanced at her watch. Was Quinn early? A thought popped into her brain, and her heart soared. Maybe Milo had come back to say goodbye.
She hurried around the side of the house, her hopeful heart prepared to meet whoever it was.
The violent sound of wood shattering stunned her. It sounded as though someone had kicked in the front door. From her stance, she could see a foreign black sedan parked in the drive. Illinois license plates caught her attention and nearly cut off her blood supply.
Her father's men had found her.
The irony of her situation didn't escape her. She'd become the little boy who'd cried wolf. Only she didn't intend to die.
If she ran down the road, they'd find her before she ever made it to someone's house. And then there was that possibility she'd put her rescuers in danger. She couldn't do that.
Especially not now.
Her best bet was to head to the river and hide out there. If they didn't see her leave, they might think she wasn't living there any longer. Without wasting another second, she dashed to the back fence, adrenaline allowing her to hop right over it. She'd call Quinn. Not Milo. He might be closer, but she couldn't put him through the angst he'd suffer from leaving her alone.
She made it several hundred yards when she heard a holler from behind. Whoever was after her had spotted her and hiding was no longer an option. She'd have to follow the advice Milo had given her weeks ago and head south to Luke's house.
The sound of a gun exploded behind her, but she didn't think the bullet had come close enough to reach her. She glanced back, spotting two men sprinting through the prairie grass, far enough away that she doubted even Milo could hit her if he were behind the gun.
She pulled the phone from her pocket and hit redial on Quinn's cell number. The second she heard his voice on the line, her words burst from her. "They're here, Quinn. Two men. They have guns." Her voice came out rough and choppy from running.
"Shit. Where are you?"
"Running. Toward the river behind Milo's house. I have a good start. I'll head south once I reach cover of the trees. Going toward Luke's house like Milo told me."
"Good girl. I need to hang up to call for back up, okay? But I'll call you back."
"I have Milo's gun." She was far from safety, but hearing Quinn's voice helped.
"Don't stop to shoot unless it's necessary. Don't let them get close. Just keep running, honey. I'm not far away."
She hung up and pocketed the phone, needing to focu
s on running. She took another glance back. The men seemed to be farther away than before.
She had a chance. And she had a weapon. She wasn't powerless like she'd been when she was sixteen. If she got a good shot, she could take down her assailants.
* * *
Milo spotted the black vehicle in his drive the same moment his phone rang. Quinn's name showed on the screen. "Hey." If his friend could have been patient a second longer, he could talk to him in person.
"Milo."
It only took one word for Milo to recognize the fear in his friend's voice.
"There's a situation at your house. Ariana is being chased by two armed men. She has your gun. She's headed toward the river, and then to Luke's house. I have aerial support on the way."
"Oh, Jesus. I just pulled up." He shoved his truck in park and tucked the phone in his pocket. The closest weapon he had was the sniper rifle in his SUV. He grabbed it, not bothering to check his house for intruders and ran full out to the backyard and over the fence.
If Milo couldn't reach her in time, he prayed Quinn would.
There was no doubt. He would not survive Ariana's death.
* * *
Ariana's lungs burned like a wildfire in her chest. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get enough air. Focusing had become a difficult chore. She glanced behind her. She couldn't see her assailants, but she'd coursed up and down several small hills so it was possible they were just out of sight. The river lay not too far ahead, along with trees that would provide some cover. Once she reached the water, she'd slow down. She had to. Then she'd head south, and maybe if the fates were on her side, she could reach Luke's property before the gunmen caught up to her.
Excitement at reaching the sparkling river gave her an extra squirt of adrenaline, and she raced toward the rushing water. Without hesitation, she stepped into the thigh-high stream, careful to avoid the deep parts and to keep her phone and Milo's gun out of the water. Thank God she'd been outside shooting when the men had arrived. It had given her half a chance to survive if she could keep a clear head. If she'd still been asleep, she'd be dead for sure.
She made it to the other side with no problem. She had to pull herself out of the water using tree branches in order to make it up the steep slope, but this side of the bank had more trees and bushes. She could only hope the men wouldn't think she'd crossed.
