Page 105 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

With a resigned sigh, she grabbed Lucy’s leash and headed toward their room. Suddenly, being in Ohio wasn’t so thrilling anymore.

The streaming movie winked its blue gaze over the room, and Cat made a valiant effort to follow the plot. It was useless. She found the clock on her phone infinitely more interesting.

Cat paced the tiny room with Lucy on her heels. It was two o’clock in the morning, and Jared hadn’t returned from wherever he’d disappeared to and he wasn’t answering his phone. Cat’s emotions had run the gamut from anger to worry and back. If he didn’t show up soon, she was going to start calling the local hospitals as well as the police.

“How about another walk, Lucy?” she asked the puppy. “If I sit here for one more minute, I’m going to go out of my mind.”

Leaping to her feet and rushing to the door, Lucy was eager to go. It was the third walk they’d taken in the past four hours, but she didn’t seem to mind in the least.

The night was cool and quiet. Having no idea where to look for Jared, Cat let the puppy lead her around the brick building. The story he’d shared with her about his father had answered some of her questions about him, but it had also added a slew of new ones.

During the two days that they’d been driving, Cat had told him several stories about herself and her family. He’d never volunteered any. And now, tonight, when she’d finally pried open his shell a crack, he reacted by retreating completely.

Just where in Ohio had he gone, she wondered. And why did she care so much anyway? He was just a traveling companion – nothing more.

So what if his kiss had melted her brain? She didn’t want to get involved with him or anyone. She wanted to be on her own to prove that she could take care of herself and never risk the kind of rejection she’d suffered from the big dumb jerk. She couldn’t handle that sort of ego smashing again, especially with some close-lipped, relationship-phobic hottie like Jared McLean.

She sighed. The desire she felt for him made her other concerns seem trivial. If all she could have with him was a short-term affair, she knew deep down she’d do it.

An affair! Cat felt a flush fill her cheeks. She hadn’t considered a fling. Potentially, that could work. She tried to picture it and visions of naked Jared, rumpled sheets, incongruous sexual positions, and...yeah, no. If sex with Jared was even one-tenth as good as she imagined it, she’d never be able to keep it casual.

She felt a connection with him, despite his silences, that she’d never felt with another guy. Not even the big dumb jerk. She couldn’t even think of Matthew and Jared in the same context. Sex with the big dumb jerk had been practically nonexistent and very much skewed to his preferred positions and outcome...so to speak. Frankly, she hadn’t missed it.

If sex with Jared was anything like his kiss...it made her sweat just to contemplate it. She wanted him. A fling would let her have him without having to risk being hurt. Could she do it? Could she be intimate with him and walk away? More importantly, could she live with never knowing what it was like to be loved by him?

Lost in thought, Cat followed her meandering puppy away from the motel and down the darkened street.

Where in Ohio could she be? Jared checked the bathroom for the third time and resumed pacing. It was two-thirty in the morning and both Cat and the puppy were gone. His conscience kicked him with the thought that she’d probably gone looking for him, which only made him angrier. He’d called her only to find her cell phone on the nightstand by her bed. Damn it.

Fighting to be rational, he tried to use logic to figure out where she could have gone. She hadn’t gone to the van, because that’s where he’d been. The bench seat in the back of the van had been even more impossible to sleep on than the motel bed, and he’d finally given up, but when he’d arrived at the room, she was gone.

He called the front desk. The staff working the night shift said they hadn’t seen her or the puppy. That left the pool area, but a glance out the window proved it to be deserted.

Maybe she just took Lucy for a walk, he hoped, trying to reassure himself. He headed out the door, determined to find the missing pair of delinquents.

He took a quick stroll around the building. There was no sign of them. Cameron was going to kill him. He’d promised to deliver her safely to her job in Arizona. Instead he’d been entertaining very unbrotherly thoughts about her and now he’d lost her in Ohio. Feeling his chest tighten with anxiety, Jared headed for the road. She couldn’t be that irresponsible, he told himself while he scanned the surrounding area, looking for any trace of her or Lucy.

Cat felt certain the way back to the hotel was to her right. Without hesitating, she pulled Lucy along with her. It was late, she was tired, and she’d forgotten her phone. If Jared was determined not to be found, then the heck with him. What a fine companion he’d turned out to be.

She didn’t care if he decided to desert her and hitchhike his way back to Arizona on his own. Goodbye, good riddance and have a nice walk. She didn’t need him anyway. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.

It wasn’t until she heard the heavy footsteps, crunching on the road behind her that she reconsidered that opinion. The steps were moving fast and headed right for them. If she didn’t pick up the pace, the stranger would be upon them in a matter of moments.

“Come on, Lucy,” she whispered. The icy grip of fear had her by the throat, and Cat felt a ridiculous need to cry. Cameron always warned her not to go out alone. But did she listen? No!

The person was drawing closer. Cat glanced over her shoulder, but she couldn’t see a thing in the dark. Her heart was hammering triple time, and the only thing she knew for sure was that she had to get out of there and fast. Scooping up Lucy, she turned on her heel and began to run toward the safety of the nearby woods.

The footsteps behind her echoed hers, and Cat knew with sudden clarity that her number was up. So much for her adventure west – she was never going to make it out of Ohio.

“Catherine! Stop! What the hell are you doing?” The voice broke through her panic, and Cat swung around to see Jared striding toward her. Fury rang out with his every step, but she was too relieved to care.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, her knees buckling with relief and the weight of the furball in her arms. “I thought you were a bad guy.”

“Don’t be so sure I’m not,” he snapped. “What are you doing out here?”

“I...we...were looking for you,” she explained.

“You were what?” He was just a few feet away from her now, and Cat blinked at the fury in his eyes. “Do you realize you scared the snot out of me?”

---