“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“Nothing else to hold you here in Denver.”
“That’s not true.”
She didn’t want this. There was no reason for him to feel obligated to her. They had each other during weak spots in this highly agitated period in their lives. She was to blame as much as him. She’d fallen in love. It didn’t mean he had to, too.
“With Amanda gone and you in Bayfield, maybe I can finally get some homework done.” She dug out a textbook and flipped to a chapter, glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “How’d Josh do with the cops, you think?”
“He’s probably still talking their ears off with nothing to say. I guess I should save them from him.” He smiled at her.
She met his eyes. Her smile faltered. She turned to her book then set it aside, crumpled up the aluminum foil and grabbed her mug, headed to the kitchen.
At the sink, she rinsed the cup. Then after Psychology, there was . . . that science, Chemistry? Something must be due there.
“Rebecca.”
She nearly jumped. Her heart jolted for sure. He stood at the threshold. She had unthinkingly trapped herself, and without a textbook either. She looked at the cabinets and opened the one with the spices. They needed re-arranging, maybe alphabetical. No. It’d be easier if the taller ones were in back. “Uh huh?”
“So there’s no problem with me going back to Bayfield?”
“Why would there be?”
He sighed. She peeked around the cabinet door as he dragged a hand through his hair and dropped his back against the entryway. “It looks like there isn’t.”
She nodded. He wasn’t responsible. It wasn’t his fault but hers. His leaving her was bound to happen. She asked, “If I hear from Amanda, do you want me to give you a call?”
He nodded absentmindedly.
After a tense moment, finally he pushed off the wall but moved into the kitchen. He reached around her to place the mug by the sink. His face neared her hair, lips close to her forehead. She stiffened, breathing shallow, heart arrhythmic.
He stepped back. “I got your car back to running, too, but if it gives you any more trouble . . .”
“—just drive to Bayfield and stop by your shop?”
The corner of his mouth curved, and she lovingly memorized the sight. “A phone call wouldn’t hurt. You never know, I might need you to make an appointment.”
She half-smiled, eyes lowered, mentally begged her classmates to call for help although highly unlikely for an early morning Sunday.
He drew close again.
She bailed. “Oh, Heather! I needed to get with her on our group report. I haven’t got her . . .” She slipped past him, returned to the living room for her pack and to fiddle with her phone. With it pressed to her ear, she glanced at his general location. “Ryan, drive safe, okay?”
Past the rings of the phone, as she faced the wall opposite the front door, she heard the front door open. Her back stiffened. The door closed. She peered back then lowered the phone as she turned to stare at the empty entryway.
“Rebecca? Hello?”
“Sorry, Heather. I’ll need to call you back.” She ended the call.
Slipping tennis shoes over her bare feet, careful of the strip of bandage, she hurried down the stairs and made it in time to watch Ryan’s truck bed disappear around the corner.
Her heart pounded as she inhaled the morning air, cool in her lungs. It was for the best, she tried telling herself again. Her eyes dropped then she scanned the lot, not sure what else to do, unwilling to go inside just yet, a place where Ryan was absent.
One last look, she returned her gaze to the intersection. It was time to move. She’d stood frozen too long.
After a step, brakes screeched. Her head jerked to the corner in time to see his truck race around it. She was planted as it sped into the lot, slid into a nearby spot.
Ryan jumped out, strode toward her. Her pulse quickened under his direct, heated gaze. He was breathing hard. His chest rose and fell in rapid succession.
“I couldn’t—” he started. “Without . . .”
Her eyes searched his face. It was open, fragile, excited. He looked away, hand through his hair and then he returned to her face. “Rebecca, I—” He sighed.
She felt pained at his struggle and unsure why he put himself through it. She refused the hope budding inside her. She reached for his hand.
His eyebrows crinkled together as he watched his hand clasp hers. “I love you.”
She drank up air.
He met her eyes. “I love you, Rebecca.” His eyebrows turned out. He was held in suspense.
She nodded almost like she’d been expecting those words but in the end shrugged and let loose a laugh, elated. “I love you, too.”
Shock on his face, lips parted. “What?”
She smiled, lowered her eyes to watch her fingers fidget nervously. “I thought . . . you had other plans.”
He shook his head. “No. No.” He grasped her chin and lifted her face until her gaze found his. “Things, uh . . .” In his eyes, she watched him lose himself from thought. His head bent down and took her lips.
He broke off. “Well, actually, I did need a scenery change for my photography.”
Sure he did. “How about that. It seems I need to find a new roommate.”
“One thing I’m very thankful about when it comes to your cousin. Without her, I wouldn’t have you.” He wrapped her up tight. She relinquished command of holding her body upright and melted into him, lost to his hungry kiss.
When he released her lips, he looked down. “Are you sure you should have weight on your foot?”
Without waiting for a response, he bent down and swept her off said foot. She nestled against his chest, breathing deep of his automotive pine scent and warming her palm against his pounding heart.
After a quick stop at his truck where he slung his pack over his shoulder, he then carried her up the steps. “You talk to Heather?”
“I told her I’d call her back. It’s too early on a Sunday to be out of bed.”
“Hmm . . . I was thinking couch.”
She laughed, happy in the knowledge she’d get to have her Ryan and school, too.
Epilogue
He knew where she was. The answer had been clear before Adam opened his eyes the next morning. It had to be that rest area.
After he’d stormed away from the apartments, wholly dissatisfied with the lack of answers, his cell phone had rung.
She’d see him around, sure.
He decided to accelerate the process. With the designation off the Rover’s plate that had dropped off Ryan and Rebecca last night, he’d gained a home address, a name. Hudson, the man had to be related to Amanda. The knowledge multiplied Adam’s confusion. It wouldn’t be the last relation he’d learn about before the day ended.
Jay Hudson had proved more than forthcoming. He seemed to like the idea of security personnel tailing his niece. After Adam left the uncle’s residence, he had another address, a Wyoming residence. Mr. Hudson doubted Amanda’s knowledge about that particular relative’s whereabouts, though it’d surprised Adam. Either way, it’d be good bait to tempt Amanda into a meeting.
Adam was determined to be there for her. He hadn’t sensed very compassionate vibes from her various family members and old friends. She deserved some gentleness and protection.
He shifted into fourth, gained speed to join the interstate out of Denver. She’d probably already vacated the welcome center but had only one direction to take if she didn’t want to end up going back, toward Denver.
Who knew when she’d return? He’d find her and uncover the truth about why her family toyed with her, be there as her buffer.
He’d give
her reasonable space if she asked it, but she had to understand he wouldn’t leave her alone. His driving desire to see her probably matched her unspoken wish for someone on whom she could rely.
He knew where she was. He was coming for her.
Also from Soul Mate Publishing and Kendra Vasquez:
SARA’S LAST RESORT
Educated automotive technician Sara McDaniels drives her truck off the road in a small, Rocky Mountain town. She never intended needing another mechanic in her life, but Jason Cole, Sauk City’s only grease monkey, has the resources she needs. After abandoning Denver, Colorado, with its cheats and liars in the auto repair business, she has no reason to trust Jason, but, after she meets his intense gray gaze, her defenses weaken. Her fierce will builds up walls, ever wary, for how can she learn the truth about him without revealing her hopes and heart in the process?
Jason Cole must salvage his shop from a greasy pit of fraud, compliments of his ex-employee. Hearing of Sara’s arrival in town and her background in automotive, he seeks her out and finds her completely unwilling to cooperate. Her education could get his shop back on track, but her prejudice keeps anything automotive-related at bay. He takes the personal route, discovers the mountains are her natural element, and stumbles upon her more fragile side. The last thing he’d planned was getting lost tracing trails in her wide, forest-green eyes. He holds off telling Sara about his business’ fraudulent past. If he breaks her burgeoning trust, it may be the one thing he can’t rebuild.
Neither of them wants Jason’s business to fail. Sara means to see this through to the end, see if Jason can exceed her expectations. When she discovers his secrets, will Jason’s past make her run again, or is he truly her last resort?
Available now on Amazon: A RUNNING HEART
A Running Heart Page 23
