by Rachel Cross
Her father studied her for a moment. “Do you love him, sweetheart?”
A heaviness crept into her chest. She couldn’t make the lie seated on the tip of her tongue leave her mouth. She’d done the one thing she swore she wouldn’t. She’d fallen in love with Michael. Fallen in love with his easy personality, with the mischievous side of him that made her laugh. Fallen in love with the freedom she felt when she was with him. That for the first time in her life she was just herself. Not tied to the expectations that came with being Chloe Edwards’ daughter.
Now he was leaving, and she had to watch him go when her heart screamed at her to go after him and beg him to stay. Where would that get them? Crest Point was her home. The first home she’d ever had. She didn’t want to leave it, didn’t want to leave her father to fend for himself. Michael had no plans on staying. They may as well be on opposite ends of the earth.
She shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”
Her father furrowed his brow, his expression stern, demanding the truth. “That’s not what I asked you. I asked if you loved him.”
She sighed. “Yes.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, his eyes as gentle as his voice. “Then why are you standing here with me? Go find that boy before he leaves town.”
Her heart lurched, sadness filling her chest all over again. “We already talked about this. He won’t stay. He hates this town. It holds bad memories for him. He’s built an entire life in L.A. he doesn’t want to leave.”
Her father cupped her face in his warm hands, soft determination in his blue eyes. “So go with him.”
Tears burned behind her eyelids. Did he have any idea how very much she wanted to say yes when Michael asked her the very same question?
She pulled out of his embrace and turned back to the box on the counter. “I can’t do that. You need me.”
Her father laughed. “Sweetheart, I’m old, not helpless. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now.”
She darted a glance over her shoulder at him and caught his eye. “If I leave, you’ll be alone.”
She knew too much how that felt, to be all alone in the world, had felt the sharpness of it when her mother left nine years ago. She couldn’t do that to him. They were all each of them had left in the world.
He laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners and twinkling with amusement.
“Hardly. I’m pretty sure his mother has adopted me. She calls every day to check on me, comes to the shop three days a week, and has informed me she expects me at every Sunday dinner from now on. There’s also Mrs. Hannigan next door who insists on bringing over pie once a week, and I have everybody from church. Nobody’s ever alone in Crest Point, sweetheart. You, of all people, ought to know that.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug, his voice lowering, softening. “We all talk too much about each other, but we also look out for each other. It’s why I’ve stayed in this town since your mother and I found it thirty years ago. It’s home.”
He was right. In the last three days, more people stopped her in the street to express their concern over her safety or offer congratulations on her engagement. Leave it to a near tragedy to turn her perception of this town around. Michael had left his mark on her life.
“Well, I’m not going.” She pulled from his embrace and grabbed the empty box off the counter then turned to head to the back.
Her father caught her, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. “What is it you’re really afraid of, sweetheart?”
She turned to face him, tears welling in her eyes, and hesitated before allowing the truth to spill from her quivering lips. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if I was just a fling to him?”
What if she went with him and made a life with him out there and he decided in the end he didn’t want her after all?
The way her mother had.
The feeling was childish and she knew it, but she couldn’t shake the overwhelming fear. After all, she hadn’t been special enough to him that he’d been willing to stay. She couldn’t take her heart being broken like that again.
Her father smiled, his eyes alight, as if he knew a secret she didn’t. “Do you love him?”
“Yes.” This time, her voice shook with the emotion she could no longer hold back.
“I’d bet money he loves you, too. Sometimes you have to take a chance, sweetheart. That’s what love is all about. Holding your breath and jumping into the unknown.”
“Have you ever?”
He pulled back, his eyes glazing over as he stared at something beyond her. “After your mother left, I wasn’t sure I wanted another relationship, let alone a marriage. Then along came Judy. She turned my whole world upside down. She was patient, waiting silently, taking only what I was prepared to give. One day I decided I couldn’t live without her.” His blue eyes refocused on her. “Can you live without him, Cat?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure I know how.”
A soft smile lit his face. “Then what are you still standing here for? Go get him.”
She bit her bottom lip. Could she do that? Take a deep breath and jump? Did she want to?
She did and she knew it. After all, wasn’t that what she’d wanted all along? Freedom to be who she wanted, to take what she wanted from life? To not only face her fears but leave them behind?
She didn’t want to go back to living without him. More to the point, if she didn’t do this, she’d never know. She’d spend the rest of her life regretting not having tried. Regret having let fears rule her life once again.
“You’re the best, Dad.” She smiled, anticipation pounding in her chest, and lifted onto her toes to plant a quick kiss on her father’s cheek.
She reached into her pocket for her cell phone, then thought better of it. No. She wanted to tell him to his face. Where would he be at seven on a Tuesday?
She made it to Roadie’s two minutes later, breathless, her heart threatening to come clean out of her chest. She’d never done anything this bold in her life.
Heaviness sank in her chest as she stopped on the sidewalk out front. Michael’s bike wasn’t parked there the way it always was, but she went inside anyway. Maybe he parked out back.
After showing her ID to the bouncer at the door, she darted past him, jogging through the thin crowd to the bar. She leaned on the counter. “Where can I find Gabe?”
“In the office. All the way back, top of the stairs.” He set the beer on the counter in front of a customer, then lifted a hand and pointed the way.
She followed where he pointed, spotting the two-way mirrored window at the back of the building, then took off at a jog.
“Thank you!” She waved a hand in gratitude as she moved through the small crowd on the dance floor, then raced up the stairs.
At the top was a solid door, painted white, labeled in black block letters, “Office.” She took a deep breath and knocked.
“Come in.” Gabe’s voice called from within.
She pushed the door open, her heart in her throat. Gabe sat in the chair behind the desk, staring at the computer screen. His head turned as Cat entered the room. “Has he left yet?”
Gabe’s dark eyes immediately filled with regret. “I’m afraid so. ’Bout a half hour ago.”
A stone sank in her gut, the hope she’d run into the bar with evaporating as tears pricked behind her eyelids. He’d already left. No doubt he’d made it to the highway by now. It only took twenty minutes to get there from town. He was already on his way back to his life. Without her.
She arrived too late to stop him.
Gabe picked up the black, cordless phone off the desk and held it out to her. “Call him. He can’t possibly have made it very far.”
She shook her head, feeling suddenly small and stupid. “He’s driving.”
Gabe rose from his seat and took a step toward her, shoving the phone at her. “He won’t answer, but the vibration may make him stop.”
• • •
He had an entire life back in California. None of it mattered a damn bit right then because going back meant he had to leave Cat. He’d fallen in love with her. The thought of leaving her cut a very big hole in his chest, like he’d leave a vital piece of himself behind. He couldn’t stop thinking about what a fool he’d be if he walked away from her.
The question was, what was he going to do about it?
He knew what he wanted to do. The idea had spilled around in his brain for over a week now, taunting him, daring him to take what he wanted, go where his heart led him. Dared him to put the past behind him once and for all and move into the future . . . with Cat. He couldn’t deny it anymore.
He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out his cell phone, dialed the long-since memorized number. The shop didn’t close until nine, and he knew as long as the shop was open, Casey, his partner, would be there.
Casey picked up on the third ring.
“Hey, Case. Listen, I want to run something by you. You got a minute?”
Fifteen minutes later, the conversation finished, his ideas now gelling into definite possibilities, his cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. The bar’s number flashed across the screen, and Michael picked up on the second round of vibrations. “Hey bro, what’s up?”
“It’s quiet. Are you on the highway?”
Instead of his brother’s rumble, Cat’s familiar voice, soft and uncertain, slid over him like a warm caress, and his heart skipped a beat. He looked around. “Actually, I’m sitting at the edge of town.”
She blew out a breath in a rush, as if she’d held it. “So you haven’t left yet?”
The sheer relief in her voice had the same emotion expanding in his chest and a giddy smile growing. “No.”
“Why?”
“’Cause I couldn’t seem to make myself leave you.” He knew full well he had nothing to hide from her now.
A beat of silence rang over the line, then her voice came soft but sure. “I came to the club to find you. To tell you. Your brother said you’d already left.”
His heartbeat picked up pace. She’d come after him. “Tell me what?”
She was silent for a moment. “I was hoping to say it to your face.”
“Say the words, baby. I need to hear them, and you need to say them.”
“I came to tell you I love you. I want to be wherever you are. If that means moving to L.A., I’m okay with that.” Her voice lowered to a quiet, vulnerable whisper. “I can’t bear to be without you.”
Her words wrapped around him, warmth, satisfaction and a sense of rightness filling his chest. It was as if he’d waited his entire life to hear those words from her mouth. “Funny. I’ve been sitting here thinking the exact same thing.”
“That you love me?”
A distinct smile etched her voice. He could just see the way one corner of her mouth rose the tiniest bit higher than the other and her eyes twinkled.
His lips curled in response. “That I love you, and I want to be wherever you are.” He quoted her words back at her, focusing for a moment on the quiet throb of music in the background. He knew exactly where he wanted to be right then and it wasn’t on the damn highway. “You still at the club?”
“Yes.”
“Stay there. I’ll come to you.”
Chapter Twelve
Cat paced in front of the club, along the same four squares of muted gray cement and back again, twisting her hands as she went. Her ears trained to the silence around her while she waited, knowing that at any moment Michael would be there, standing in front of her. In mere minutes, she’d finally be able to wrap her arms around him. Time, unfortunately, seemed to pass slowly. Seconds ticked into long aching minutes.
She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, how they’d work it out. The conflicts still stood between them. She’d called his mother ten minutes ago, after hanging up with Michael. Mrs. Brant assured her that her father wouldn’t be alone, but it didn’t stem the uneasy knot twisting in her stomach. Or quell the questions.
She only knew she couldn’t stop hearing his husky voice in her ear, his words as strong as the emotion expanding in her chest. “That I love you and I want to be wherever you are.”
When she finally heard the familiar rumble of his bike rounding that final corner onto Main Street, she turned to watch his progress. Her heart picked up pace, but as he came to a stop beside her and cut the engine, one emotion stood out above the rest: need. Her father was right; love was all that mattered. Only that she wouldn’t have to give him up.
He’d barely dismounted, hanging his helmet off the left handlebar and pocketing his keys, before she surged forward. Standing in the street, she threw her arms around his waist, buried her face in his chest and breathed in the scent of him, of soap and leather and something uniquely male and all Michael. “I was so afraid I’d never see you again.”
His arms closed around her, and he buried his face in her hair. “I’ve been sitting on the side of the highway trying to think of one damn good reason to get on it.” His voice was low in her ear.
Without releasing her hold, she pulled back enough to look at him.
His dark eyes glittered back at her, so tender her heart melted into a puddle at her feet. If she doubted how he felt about her, she didn’t now. “What’d you come up with?”
“That I can’t bear to be without you, either. I’ve decided my father’s right. It’s time to come home.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I think I just needed something to come home to.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Dare she believe her ears? “You’re moving back to Crest Point?”
“Yes and no. It’s going to take some rearranging, but I could open a shop here. My partner, Casey, thinks it’s a good idea. It’s time we expanded.” His eyes burned into hers, his voice lowering to a husky murmur. “You make me feel . . . complete. Kaylee’s death has haunted me, but somehow when I’m with you, I feel nothing but peace.” He lifted a hand and brushed her hair back off her face. “I’m not willing to give that up.”
“I love you.” The words left her mouth on a choked whisper. They didn’t do justice to the emotion caught in her chest and clogging her throat, but they were all she had.
“I love you, too.” He kissed her gently, lingered there for a long, tender moment before pulling back. “Marry me. For real.”
Her eyes filled and overflowed, hot tears dropping down her cheeks, leaving her unable to speak. To never have to give him up again, to be there when he opened his eyes every morning, curling around him every night while they slept. They already belonged to each other. Each had claimed the other that first night. This would simply make it official.
“I like that idea.” She managed to push the words past her full throat, her voice cracking.
“Court house opens at eight thirty tomorrow.” His not-so-subtle meaning burned in his dark eyes.
She let out a quiet laugh, swiping the wetness from her cheeks. “Your mother will kill us.”
He grinned, ever the bad boy. “Who says she has to know? We get married tomorrow and don’t tell anyone. My mother can still have her big wedding. Everybody’s happy.”
She rolled her eyes, pressing herself into him. “It’ll be all over town by lunchtime.”
His arms tightened around her. “Mm.”
“Or we could just wait.” Unable to resist teasing him, she playfully bit her bottom lip and batted her lashes at him.
The corners of his mouth twitched, but to his credit, he didn’t smile. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, playful, challenging. “Still can’t decide whether or not you want me?”
She leaned up on her toes, whispering against his mouth. “I’m positive I want you. I think I knew that the first night.”
His voice lowered, husky and tempting. “Then marry me.”
“I’d love nothing more.” She whispered against his mouth as she kissed him again.
He kissed her slowly, his lips plying hers in a tender exchange that had her body melting into his. After a long, lingering moment, he pulled back. “I still have to go back. I have an interview next week and with things changing, Casey and I have a lot to sort through. You’ll go with me? You can come back anytime you want. Or I can fly your father out to us.”
“You’re not holding me prisoner?”
He leaned down and raked his teeth over her earlobe. “There’ll be time for that later.” He pulled back, those eyes searching hers. “So you’ll go?”
Was he actually afraid she wouldn’t?
“I want to be with you, Michael.” She settled a hand over his heart. “Always.”
“Let’s go home.” He brushed his lips over hers.
She pressed her body into his, tightening her hold on him as she leaned up onto her toes and met him halfway. “I’m already home.”
About the Author
JM writes what she likes to call sweet and spicy contemporary romance. She’s a stay-at-home mom who lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband, two boys and their two very spoiled puppies. She’s been devouring romances for as long as she can remember. Writing them has become her passion.
Where you can find her on the web:
Website: http://authorjmstewart.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMStewartWriter
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Author-JM-Stewart
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/3159044.J_M_Stewart
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