Page 26 of I'll Be There
A hint of a frown creased his face, and he didn’t move.
She forced a smile. Leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. Longed to linger there, to fall into his embrace, let him take her deeper.
Two days, now.
So she broke away, even as he followed her, needing more. She put her hand on his chest, leaving a moist, dusky mark. “Go home, hotshot, before we get into trouble.”
He caught her eyes a long moment before he got up. Washed his hands in the sink and picked up his jacket. He tossed it over his shoulder, turned.
“You sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “Have fun at Fort William.”
Something flickered on his face, an emotion she couldn’t place, but before she could chase it—
“The ice arena, tomorrow afternoon, right?”
She nodded.
“I’ll be there,” he said and winked. Then he ran out, into the dark and rain.
Fort William. The fact that he’d chosen a historical monument for his bachelor party...so maybe the man didn’t need danger in his life to have fun.
Huh.
She scooped up the clay and dumped it back into the bag. Ran water over her wheel, scraping it clean, emptied the water, and washed her hands.
She stood at the threshold of her shed, staring through the darkness to the light. It fanned out through the rain, beckoning.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ambush, wild-goose chase, pure gold information—the what-ifs cycled through his brain as Conner received his passport back from the border control official and the welcome nod for him and his passengers to pass into Canada.
“I’ve never been to Canada,” Romeo said. “Eh?”
The kid—although, at twenty, he could be called a young man—sat between Pete and Reuben in the back seat, a tight fit that certainly must have Pete and Reuben wondering why they hadn’t shot the idea down the moment John raised it. Probably because no one truly thought anyone named Blue would show up.
He was chasing down a ghost.
Aw, he shouldn’t be doing this.
Not after the way Liza had looked at him last night-slash-early this morning at her pottery shed.Could you—
What?Stay?
Help?
He’d nearly turned his truck around last night, the unsettled sense that under her healed scars, and despite her smile, Liza still felt breakable.
I’m fine.
Hmm.
“So, we’re really going to Fort William?” Micah said, finishing off his cup of coffee from the Java Cup.
“Yep,” Conner said, glancing at him. Surreal to see his buddy sitting there, as if no time had stretched between them. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked with Micah. Maybe not even when his grandfather passed, although he’d been in a dark place then.
Liza’s letters had tugged him free, back into the light.
