by Reese Ryan
Tressa shifted toward him and bit at the corner of her lip. “Yes, but first…”
“I’m listening.”
“I want to try the Mile High Swinging Bridge again. I think I’m ready.”
Roth arched a brow. “You sure?”
She nodded. “As long as you’re with me, I’m good.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said, leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. “Let’s do this.”
Forty-five minutes later, they arrived at the entrance to Grandfather Mountain. While remnants of snow remained, their drive up the mountain was clear.
Instead of taking the stairs from the parking lot, they accessed the bridge using the elevator located inside the Top Shop. It felt as if the temperature had dropped several degrees from the time they’d left the cabin until now. She zipped her coat higher.
“You ready?” Roth asked.
Staring across the lengthy structure, Tressa experienced a brief moment of hesitation, then she glanced up at Roth and an instant calm washed over her. “Yes.”
Roth splayed his fingers and she joined her hand with his. They took several steps until they were standing on metal. Her grip on his hand tightened.
“You know you don’t have to do this, right?”
“I know. But I want to.” Needed to, actually.
Several moments later, they stood in the center of the bridge. Though her heart thumped in her chest a little harder than normal, her temperature rose despite the cold and the slight tremble of her body. The 360-degree, panoramic view of the mountains was amazing.
She closed her eyes and inhaled the cool, crisp air, but popped them open when the bridge swayed harder than it had before. Gripping the rail, she gasped.
“You’re okay,” Roth said.
When they finally reached the opposite side, Tressa blew a sigh of relief. Roth wrapped his strong arms around her, and it felt as if she’d been awarded a medal of honor.
“You did it,” he said, lowering his mouth to hers.
They shared a celebratory kiss. Briefly, everyone and everything around them disappeared, and she forgot they were standing a mile above sea level. Her connection with Roth made her feel invincible. That’s how she knew this thing they shared was real.
The trip back across the bridge was a breeze. You never would have known that just twenty minutes prior, she’d been a bundle of nerves. Making their way back to the car, Roth pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her wrist.
“I’m proud of you,” he said.
The simple affirmation lit her soul. “Thank you.”
Once she was settled inside the vehicle, Roth rounded the vehicle and slid behind the wheel.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I told Nettie and Glen we’d stop by for lunch. I hate coming to Silver Point and not spending a little time with them.”
“I don’t mind, but I look a mess. I need to change.”
Roth leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “Baby, you look fine. You always look fine, fully clothed or naked.”
“Flirt.”
He bounced his brows twice.
When they arrived at Nettie and Glen’s place, Tressa admired the ranch-style brick home. A wide porch spanned the entire length of the front of the house. Four white rocking chairs rocked faintly against a bitter breeze. In the distance sat a barn and a stable. She wondered if there were horses inside.
Roth got out and rounded the vehicle. When her door opened, a hint of nervousness fluttered in her stomach. For some reason she felt as if she was about to meet his parents for the first time.
“What’s wrong?”
She imagined saying, “What if they don’t like me?” in a whiny voice. Instead, she smiled and said, “I’m really going to miss Silver Point.”
“We’ll come back anytime you want.” He placed a kiss on her forehead, then led her to the front door.
Glen made a thunderous sound of excitement when the door opened. If nothing else, the man was jolly. He gave Roth a manly handshake, then pulled Tressa into his arms.
“I’m glad y’all could make it. Come on in.”
Glen stepped aside and they entered. Instantly, Tressa had her answer about whether there were horses in the barn. The spacious sitting room was like a horse museum. Cowboy hats, pictures of horses and horseshoes all claimed space on several walls. Horse figurines, medals and trophies were on display in a well-lit wooden cabinet.
Yep, there were horses. Or at least there used to be.
Tressa eyed a picture of a group of men posing at what looked to be a rodeo. Her eyes narrowed on one of the men in the frame. Though he was several years younger and several pounds lighter, the wide smile was unmistakable. Glen. Had the man been a cowboy in his youth?
“Yeah, that’s me,” Glen said as if he’d read her thoughts. “Sure do miss the thrill of it all. You ever been to a rodeo?”
Tressa shook her head.
Glen clapped Roth on the back. “You should take her, Pilot. She’d enjoy it.”
When Glen moved away, Tressa mouthed, “Pilot?”
Roth leaned in close. “I don’t just design planes. I sometimes like to fly them.”
“Fly—”
Tressa’s inquiry was cut short. She assumed the stocky woman who rushed toward them was Nettie. She wrapped her chubby arms around Roth and hugged as if squeezing him gave her life. With her short stature, she barely made it to Roth’s pecs.
“I didn’t think I’d get to see you this trip.”
When Nettie finally released Roth, she set her eyes on Tressa, then Roth, then Tressa again. “Oh, Glen, you were right.”
Tressa’s brow furrowed. Right? Right about what?
Nettie didn’t elaborate; she simply pulled Tressa into her arms and hugged her just as affectionately as she had Roth. One thing about Nettie and Glen, they sure knew how to make a person feel at ease.
Lunch consisted of the best stew Tressa had ever put in her mouth, homemade sourdough rolls and a lemon meringue pie that practically melted in her mouth. When Glen asked to see Roth in his study, Tressa and Nettie tidied the kitchen, then sat at the table and thumbed through Nettie’s recipe box.
Tressa was like a kid on Christmas morning. Some of the recipes had been passed down through Nettie’s family from generation to generation. Tressa made a stack of all the ones she wanted to photocopy. There was only one she wasn’t allowed to even glance at. When she’d reached for the flimsy aged once-white paper, Nettie moved it out of reach.
“Tradition,” Nettie said. “You have to be family for this recipe. Glen’s mother passed this along to me when we were first married. She said every woman should own one recipe of love.” Nettie beamed as if remembering the moment. “It’s brought years and years of Sanders love.”
Tressa’s mind worked overtime, guessing what kind of recipe it could be. A beverage, appetizer, main dish, then she settled on it being a dessert. An extremely decadent dessert. Fine chocolate, maybe? Orange liqueur? No, raspberry.
Suddenly, something Nettie said replayed in her head. Years and years of Sanders love.
Nettie wasn’t just the food delivery woman; she was much more. “Sanders? You were the teacher who gave him the necklace.”
Nettie smiled. “He told you about that?”
Tressa nodded. “Yes, he did. I laughed at the mustang part,” she admitted.
Nettie laughed. “Lord, that boy was a handful. Cutting class, fighting, getting into all kinds of trouble.” She frowned. “Glen and I could never have kids of our own. My students became my kids and I poured as much love into them as I could. For some reason, I really took to Pilot, and he took to me.”
“You saw something in him,” Tressa said, repeating what Roth had told her.
“Yes, I did. He had b
oth book and street smarts. There was no limit to what he could accomplish. He just needed someone to believe in him. We would have adopted him, but we could never cut through all of the red tape. Seems they based their decisions on the amount of money one has, rather than the amount of love.”
“Thank you for believing in him.” Tressa had said the words before she’d even realized her brain was forming them. But gratitude for such a selfless act was warranted.
Nettie cupped Tressa’s hands. “Pilot must really like you. He’s always been so guarded when it came to his past. Be good to him. You have an extraordinary man.”
Nettie wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. “I will.”
Once they’d said their goodbyes and made promises to return soon, Tressa and Roth ventured into town.
Their first stop was the Silver Point Coffee House. When they walked through the door, Roth was greeted by several individuals. Obviously, he was well-known by the locals.
Just like The General Store, the coffeehouse gave an old-timey impression from the outside, but the inside told a different story. Exposed brick and aged wood gave the quaint shop a modern feel. There was ample seating with bistro and four-top tables scattered about. What caught Tressa’s eye was the two oversize empty burgundy recliners positioned in front of a tall crackling fireplace. It was the perfect spot for them.
Roth joined her by the fireplace with two steaming soup-bowl-sized mugs of hot chocolate. “Wow. That’s a lot of hot chocolate.”
“They do everything big in Silver Point.”
They sipped and chatted for hours. She couldn’t remember the last time she enjoyed herself just talking. Roth told her about his time spent at The Cardinal House, a group home for boys, and she shared with him things from her childhood she’d never told anyone else. Like the time she’d broken the neighbor’s window and her brother had taken the fall for her. He still held it over her head ’til this day.
When they finally left the coffeehouse, they ventured to the thrift store next door where Roth had purchased them several books. Their last stop was a unique card-slash-gift shop.
Inside the vehicle, Tressa pulled a small box from her purse and passed it to Roth.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“Open it.”
Roth lifted the metal bookmark from the wrapping. “Don’t judge a book by its cover or a man by his past.”
“It’s not much. I just wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?”
“For…everything. This week has been incredible, Roth. You have been incredible. You made what should have been the very worst week of my life, the best week of my life. I want you to know I appreciate you.”
Roth reached over, placed his hand behind her neck and pulled her mouth close to his, but he didn’t kiss her. Staring into her eyes, he said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
The following morning, Tressa and Roth finally got on the road back to Raleigh. Roth had been silent since they’d pulled away from the cabin. Was he regretting returning home, too?
The way he brushed his thumb back and forth across the steering wheel told her something occupied his thoughts.
“I’m really going to miss Silver Point,” she said.
Roth didn’t respond. He simply eyed her briefly, smiled and returned his gaze to the road ahead.
What was going on with him? She wanted to think the best—that things weren’t changing now that they’d left the close quarters of the cabin. But the worst crept in—that just maybe she had been only a temporary replacement for Roth.
When they pulled into her cul-de-sac several hours later, the fact that Cyrus’s car wasn’t parked in her driveway brought her relief. Not that she cared if Cyrus saw her and Roth together. It was a well-deserved ass whooping she knew Cyrus would have surely talked himself into. She would have felt awful if Roth went to jail for assault on account of her.
Inside, Tressa watched as Roth took in his surroundings. His eyes moved from the open living room decorated in brown and teal, to the kitchen outfitted with stainless steel appliances.
“You have a nice place,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.
“Thank you. Is everything okay, Roth? You seem to have something on your mind.”
He directed her to the chocolate sofa. “Sit. We need to talk.”
She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. We need to talk were typically words of doom. “Okay,” she said, ignoring the quiver in her stomach. She eased down and stared up at him. “I’m listening.”
Roth took a seat on the leather ottoman directly in front of her and cupped her hands. She saw the signs. When he dipped his head, she decided to make this easier for him. “I get it, Roth. You’re not ready for a commitment. You thought you were, but now…I get it.” Her heart crumbled a little more with every word she spoke. “We had a great time at the cabin, but we’re back in the real world and things don’t look as clear for you, right? You just want to be friends.” She forced a smile. “I get it and…it’s okay.”
Roth brought his gaze to her with urgency. “Can you let me go so easily?”
Now she was confused. Wasn’t he trying to get away? “I don’t want to let you go, but I don’t want to hold on to you if you don’t want to be held. I’m giving you an easy out.”
“Giving me an easy out? I don’t want an out. I was trying to give you one.”
Her brows bunched. “Why would you think I wanted an out? I’m crazy about you, Roth Lexington. You have to know that by now.”
Roth’s head dipped again. “I heard you on the phone yesterday. You were agreeing to meet with someone. To talk things over. I assumed it was your ex.”
Shit. He’d overheard her. Why hadn’t he said anything before now? Well, he was half-right. She had agreed to meet with Cyrus, but only to give him all his junk she planned to pack up tonight. “I promise you, Roth, he’s not the man I want in my life.”
“Tressa…”
He paused as if whatever he needed to say pained him. Anything this difficult to declare couldn’t be good.
“For years,” he continued, “I’ve avoided romantic attachment like the plague. Being hurt once was enough for me. I was content with my bachelor lifestyle. Then you stowed away in the back of my SUV and forced me to whisk you off with me to my cabin.”
“Forced? Really?”
“Whose story is this?” Roth said, followed by a lazy half smile.
“Fine. Carry on with your tall tale.”
“Not many people have ever seen me beyond what I’ve wanted them to see. I keep trying to hide from you…” He sighed heavily. “I can’t.”
“Why would you want to hide from me, Roth?”
“You know how they say every man has a weakness?”
She nodded.
“You’re mine. And honestly, I hate that shit, Tressa. You scare me. You scare me because you make me too vulnerable. Vulnerability gets you hurt. Vulnerability is a sign of we—”
She pressed a finger against his lips. “Vulnerability is a sign of being human. And being human looks excellent on you.” She smiled but Roth remained stone-faced. “There’s something you’re not saying. What is it?”
“I need to fall back, Tressa. Not because I don’t want to be with you. Trust me, I do. But I need you to be 200 percent sure I’m who you want.”
Her heart sank to her feet. Where was all of this coming from? He wanted to be with her, but he wouldn’t? It made no sense. How in the hell had things dissolved so quickly between them? “Roth—”
“Please, baby. It’s hard enough letting…” His words faded. “Don’t fight me on this.”
Tressa snatched her hands away as frustration kicked in. “Don’t fight you on this? You claim you want me, but it su
re as hell doesn’t feel that way to me. You asked me if I could let you go so easily. Can you let me go?”
When he didn’t respond, she stood. “We spent an amazing week together, one that I’ll never regret, but obviously, you do. If you want to walk away, Roth, I’ll let you. But you will not, will not,” she repeated, “put your cowardliness on me.”
When she tried to walk away, Roth placed his hands on either side of her waist to keep her from escaping. She blinked rapidly to keep her tears from falling. “I’m giving you your out, Roth. Just take it.”
He didn’t utter a word, didn’t budge. Instead, he pulled her close to him and rested his forehead against her trembling stomach. She couldn’t explain, but she could feel his fear as if they were one cell. Instinctively, her hand smoothed over his head to comfort him. This was one of the strongest men she’d ever encountered, but at that moment she truly believed she was his weakness. What she desperately needed him to know was she would also be his strength.
Lowering to her knees, she positioned herself between Roth’s legs and cradled his face between her hands. A look of exhaustion played in his features. The sight clenched her heart.
Neither of them uttered a word. Words would have only bottled something too powerful to contain. Besides, none were needed. All that needed to be said was conveyed by a method they’d seemed to have perfected.
The stare.
That stare.
Their stare.
His eyes said he knew. And she was sure he saw the same knowledge in hers. Nothing was accidental. Where they were on this journey was exactly where they were both supposed to be.
CHAPTER 12
It’d been a week since she’d returned from Silver Point, and Tressa missed her time there already. She and Roth were still going strong, and she’d been the happiest she’d been in a long time. Every time she thought about him—which was quite often—her heart skipped a beat.
She glanced at the clock. Ten o’clock. A second later the house phone rang like clockwork. Without even looking at the caller ID, she knew it was Roth. He’d called her every day for the past week at the exact same time. Ten o’clock sharp.
