Page 24 of The Runaway and the Rugged
“No,” I ground out, hating how unsure my tone sounded.
Our eyes were in a standoff. Intense, unwavering, completely inappropriate for how close we were, but that didn’t stop us. I couldn’t turn away even if I wanted to, but the more seconds that passed by, the closer I was to buckling under the pressure.
My mouth started to tremble again, slowly at first, then unmistakable. Garth quickly broke our connection to peer down at my lips, a mixture of worry and anger catching fire in his eyes.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, tearing my gaze away from his to focus on something other than the way he made me feel. Humiliation like no other began to creep its way up my neck. Red-hot anger tore through me, but everything came to a sudden halt when Garth broke through the silence.
“Bein’ a failure ain’t a bad thing like you think it is. Not in my book, anyway.” His words prompted my head to turn back in his direction. “We all do it, heaven knows I’ve done it more times than I can count when it comes to my daughter…” He trailed off on a heavy sigh. “We take risks, we make mistakes, we fail, we learn, we fuckin’ grow. It’s what makes us human.”
Normally, I wasn’t this open, let alone with a practical stranger. Not even with Nathaniel was I ever this transparent, but right now, all the thoughts I’d been harboring over the years were spewing out of me like a waterline break.
There was no stopping me now.
“I’m taking a big risk here, Garth.” Though I understood and connected with his words, it didn’t prevent my rational thinking from gaining complete control.
A stern look then crossed his face.
“Are you, though?” His low rumble of a voice swept through me, wrecking me entirely. “What are you really risking if you never wanted to marry him in the first place?”
I wanted to say everything, but in reality, those were the inner thoughts of a woman who was terrified of failure. Who was terrified of starting over.
But before I could respond, a muffled voice breached the rigid air around us. I could barely make out the words, as they were cloaked in static, but whoever it was sounded frantic. My eyes immediately sought out where the sound was coming from, and when they landed on his waist, I lifted my brow high in question.
“Goddammit,” Garth grumbled under his breath as he pulled out a walkie-talkie from the waist of his pants.
A look of pure annoyance spread across his face.
“Garth, I swear to God if you don’t answer…” The familiar exasperated voice of Greta growled on the other end of the walkie-talkie, but Garth swiftly interjected, forcefully pressing the side button with dramatic flourish.
“I’m here, no need to get your damn panties in a twist,” he growled before briefly glancing at me.
“Where in the hell are you? Have you found her yet? And please, for the love of God, don’t talk about your sister's panties.”
My mouth lifted with a small smile.
“I’m on my way back, relax,” he rumbled, and suddenly my stomach made a turn for the worse.
“Oh god, is she with you? Please tell me you found her.” The barrage of questions sent me into panic mode, muscles tensing, eyes dilating. Garth was too busy grunting and staring off into the distance to notice my reaction.
The last thing I wanted was for Nathaniel to know where I was.
I watched in horror as Garth lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth with his thumb hovering over the button. It was as if time had stretched and I was waiting for the inevitable.
Stop him, Emelia!
Before I could even speak, my body reacted on pure instinct. I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to as I launched forward, all ten pounds of my heavy dress, and slapped my palm directly over his mouth.
Garth immediately froze, while I died on the spot.
“Don’t,” I mouthed through my mortification as his piercing gaze tore straight through me.
Confusion, shock, every emotion was swirling around in those chestnut eyes as he stared at me unblinkingly.
I was touching him. Oh god, I was touching another man on the day I was supposed to get married. And it wasn’t just that, I was pressed up against him in the most intimate way while my hand covered his mouth. What the hell was I doing and why didn’t I just speak up like a normal person would?
“Please,” I pleaded, noticing the warmth and fuzziness of his mustache tickling my skin.
From the corner of my eye, I watched the walkie-talkie gradually lower from my line of vision, then disappearing altogether.
