Page 52 of The Run Option

“This is probably my favorite spot,” he says as he gets off the four-wheeler.

I follow him to the edge of the small cliffside, gasping as I notice the small waterfall that flows into a bubbling creek. Leaves float atop the sparkling waters, looking like something out of a movie.

“It’s stunning,” I breathe as I take it all in. I could sit up here for hours.

“It’s the second most beautiful view I’ve seen today,” he says. The tone of his voice draws my gaze toward him. His expression is warm and open.

“What was the first?” I ask.

He lets out a soft laugh, as if he can’t believe I even asked. “You.”

Heat rises up my neck, but I ignore it and roll my eyes. “How many women have you used that line on?”

He tucks his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking like the cowboy casanova he is. He watches me from beneath thebrim of his hat. I shift beneath his gaze. “I’ve never taken a woman out here, so I haven’t had the chance to compare one to such a view.”

I turn back toward the waterfall, not able to look at him when he’s staring at me so intensely. As if he can see right through me. Past the doubts and the fears, straight to the growingwantdeep within me.

“I find that hard to believe,” I say.

I have to put up a fight. All of this is going too fast. This isn’t how I was supposed to get married. It’s not real, and I need to remember that. One day, when we’ve both got what we needed out of our arrangement, we’re going to part ways. The less of my heart I give over before then, the better.

“I know.”

My head whips over to him. “What do you mean?”

He smiles, but it’s laced with sadness. “I know what you think of me, Willow. I’ve been trying to prove you wrong for months now, though my efforts may have worsened things at times. I know who I was. I deserve this treatment, but I’m hoping that one day you’ll see me in a different light.”

His brutal honesty is something I’m unaccustomed to with him. Thus far he’s spoken in flirtatious remarks and teasing tones. The only time he’s set aside his flirting is to comfort me. This is the first time he’s laid himself bare like this.

Tell him.The thought springs up unbidden.I can’t.Not now. It’s too soon.

I look back at the waterfall. Jason brought me out here where he’s taken no one else, and he was vulnerable with me. Maybe it is time to admit why I’ve held such animosity toward him. I bite my lip. It all seems so foolish now. Will he hate me for keeping it from him? For holding it against him without his knowledge?

I open my mouth to blurt it out when Jason sighs.

“The documentary crew is ten minutes out. They want to get set up before the movers get here. We should head back.”

“Oh, okay,” I say. My courage evaporates like the dew beneath an afternoon sun. I climb back on the four-wheeler and rest my cheek against Jason’s back. Maybe if I can’t manage to say anything, my actions can speak for me.

We take off through the woods again, leaving behind the peace of the waterfall. I close my eyes and soak in Jason’s warmth, hoping that by the time I have to face the documentary crew, I’ll feel much more confident than I do now.

Chapter twenty-four

Jason Kingsley

“So, this wedding was fairly sudden,” Nancy says from behind the camera. “It seems that no one knew you two were even dating, much less planning on marriage.”

I knew this was coming, and yet it still makes me clench my jaw.Vultures. They’re all a bunch of vultures.

“We know it seems sudden to everyone else,” I say with a forced smile. “But this has been a long time coming for us.”

I squeeze Willow’s hand beneath the dining room table, a silent cue for her to add something to my statement.

“Honestly, those photos of us at the party were just the incentive to get married sooner rather than later,” Willow explains. “We planned for the off season, but we’d mentioned elopement before then. Everything worked out even better than I could have imagined.”

Her smile is bright as she speaks, but I can tell it’s not her real smile. Her real smile lights up her eyes and steals my breath away. Hopefully the camera–or the documentary crew–won’t pick up on that.

“We noticed in the photos that there were no family members present at the wedding. Is there a reason for that?” Nancy asks.

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