by Dora Hiers
He grinned, an irresistible look that made her stomach flutter and heart thump wild, erratic beats.
“Well, really, Gunner, come on. How much safer could I be than in a U.S. Marshal’s office?”
He hopped down, pulled out a suit jacket from somewhere behind the seat, and came around the truck to open the door for her. She snatched her computer case and followed him inside the lobby.
“I’ll be waiting for you here. Take all the time you need.” Willow pointed to the cluster of chairs while he stuffed his arms into the jacket.
Gunner adjusted the lapels and puffed up his shoulders. “How do I look?”
How did he look? Drop-dead gorgeous, but she wasn’t telling him that. “Suitable.”
His eyebrows practically lifted to the top of his forehead. “Suitable?”
She couldn’t stop her grin.
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I get it, Mina. You almost had me there. Suitable.” He wagged his head, a mock frown slanting his lips. “Come on, Mina. You could have given me something better than that.”
“Wouldn’t want it to go to your head.”
Gunner already had the big head syndrome. She didn’t need to add to it.
A half an hour later, Gunner opened the passenger side of the truck for Willow, and she hopped in, glad to be done waiting. Waiting was something she didn’t do well. But with an audit file usually tucked in her laptop case, at least she never felt like she was idle with her time.
Gunner took off the jacket and hooked it in the back of the cab. He got in the truck and cranked the engine, jerking off his tie and flinging it over the seat. Willow shook her head.
He grinned. “What?”
She shook her head, unwilling to discuss his personal habits. Then he’d be asking questions about hers. “How did your interview go?”
“Great. Got the transfer. Have to report to work in a month. December ninth.”
Disappointment poked her in the chest. So what if Gunner didn’t live in Raleigh anymore? It’s not like she visited her hometown. If Gunner wanted to move out of the country, why should it matter to her? Get over it already, Willow!
She drummed fingertips on the armrest but stopped at his pointed glance. She tugged at a strand of hair. “How is it you had an interview today? On a Saturday?”
“It was a timing thing. The man I met with leaves for vacation this afternoon, and he knew…” Gunner’s voice faded.
Knew what? The tight line of his lips told Willow he wasn’t saying any more on that issue. “Why do you want to leave Raleigh, Gunner?”
For a full minute, his hands clenched the steering wheel, his brows furrowed. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Mina.” He glanced her way, and a pained expression shadowed his eyes for a second. He turned back to the road. “Starting with you. Maybe this is my way of starting fresh.”
She could understand that. Didn’t leaving her dad’s firm count? How about moving to Tampa? Oh yeah. She had a few “fresh starts” under her belt. Guess Gunner deserved one too. “Where are you taking me now?”
“Serenity Ridge. To my friends’ house. But I have to tell you. ‘House’ is defined loosely here.”
“What do you mean?”
The light turned red. Gunner slowed to a stop and glanced at her with raised brows, a small smile rounding his lips. “They have a big house, but they use it to operate a teen shelter.”
“A teen shelter?”
“Yeah. Runaways, pregnant teens kicked out of their homes, the usual teen problems.”
“Ah.”
The light changed, and Gunner pressed the accelerator. “You’ll enjoy a few days of peace and quiet, won’t you?”
Peace and quiet? With Gunner around? Was he kidding? And what about all the teenagers?
“You mean your idea of relaxing?” At his nod, she continued, “Normally I would have said no. But after this morning and the week I’ve had, I think maybe ‘yes’ is appropriate.”
“Think your dad will mind you taking time off?”
Now that was a loaded question. How should she answer that without invoking a gazillion more questions? How about just the simple truth? “I don’t work for my father anymore, Gunner.”
His head angled her way with a sharp jerk. The truck veered toward the shoulder. He righted it with a smooth turn of the wheel. “What happened?”
Willow sighed, the pain from her dad’s words over her plans to keep Tessa still as fresh and raw today as they were back then. “I guess I finally realized what I was up against with him, always judging me as frightfully lacking. And I wasn’t about to let him control our…” Oops. She’d almost given Tessa away. “Let’s just say I made a fresh start like you plan to do with your move to Serenity Ridge. I work for Davis, Turnbull and Wade. Going on nine years, now.”
The smile he turned to her was gentle, sweet. Definitely not teasing like his usual grin. “I’m glad you’ve got peace about it. God made you just the way you are for a reason. It’s not His plan for you to always be second-guessing yourself.”
God? Hadn’t God abandoned her when her mom and brother died? She didn’t know about God being part of the equation. Tessa had been the reason she left her dad’s firm. But she wasn’t telling Gunner that. Best to get his mind off the subject.
She tucked a wayward curl behind an ear. “Is it safe for me to invade your friends’ house? I mean, under the circumstances, with an angry insurance agent on my heels?”
The roar of his laughter startled her.
She angled sideways, hoping to catch the expression on his face. “Why are you laughing? Don’t you think that’s a reasonable question considering someone has been following me for the last couple of days?”
Gunner shook his head, laughter fading to the grin she recognized easily, even with the whisker-free face. “It’s not you, trust me. You have to know Trent and Avery. They invite danger.”
Her eyebrows arched, but he couldn’t see it with his gaze intent on winding around the hairpin curves. Why, and how, did one invite danger? Was she jumping from the pot to the frying pan as Tessa’s old babysitter, Mrs. McCormick, often said? “They invite danger? What do you mean by that?”
“Here it is now.” A sign for The Favor loomed at the side of the road. Gunner flipped the blinker and slowed the truck to make the turn onto a heavily wooded drive. He flashed a smile at her, then quickly turned his attention back to the road. “Trent’s my former partner from Raleigh. Avery, who, by the way, is also from Raleigh, opened a teen shelter at her house, and the first teen was a mobster’s kid who agreed to testify against his father. That’s how we got involved. The kid’s dad wasn’t too happy with any of us. To make a very long story short, Trent and Avery fell in love and got married. Hence my former partner.”
“Wow. I’m not so sure about this, Gunner. Don’t you think I would be better off tucked safely away at my condo in Tampa? I mean, that sounds crazy.” What was Gunner thinking? “What happened to the mobster?”
Pain clouded Gunner’s face, and he didn’t say anything for a second. “He shot my partner two times too many.”
Translation. Dead. Likely Gunner’s doing. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Trent retired on disability, still has to use a cane. He’s a private investigator, now. Picks and chooses cases he feels he can handle with an injured leg. Nothing involving anything too physical.”
“So he won’t be your partner here, then?”
“No.” He didn’t elaborate.
“And the kid?”
Gunner looked startled. “Hmm? What kid?”
“The mobster’s kid? What happened to him?”
He chuckled. “You’ll find out here, shortly.”
****
Gunner stuck fingers in his mouth and whistled at Jake, skating effortlessly on the ice. Jake scored a goal for the team, and each of his teammates took turns slapping high fives.
“Woo-hoo!” Mina, clad in a heavy sweatshirt and borrowed gloves, clapped and cheered beside
him at the rail.
“Hard to believe this is the same kid from a few months ago. If I hadn’t been here when Jake first arrived, I would never believe it. Even up until six months ago, Jake hardly said more than three words at a time. Spent most of his time indoors. Avery had to bribe him to go outside.”
“Really?” Mina’s gaze followed Jake on the ice, grinning at one of his teammates during what looked like a team meeting. “Who would guess? He looks like he’s adjusting pretty well. It’s obvious he has made friends here. And Avery said they can’t keep him off his horse.”
The team broke their huddle and disappeared to the locker room. Gunner grabbed Mina’s hand and pulled her beside him. “Come on.”
He took her to the desk where they disbursed rental skates and turned to her. “What size?”
She gulped. “What size?”
“Yeah. What size shoe do you wear?”
“Seven. Why?”
“Because we’re going skating.”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Oh no. We’re not going skating. You can go. I’ll watch you from over there.” She inclined her head toward the half-wall around the rink.
“Come on, Mina. You know how. It’s not been that long ago that we skated together.”
“A lifetime ago.”
His sentiments exactly. Too long. He didn’t intend for it to happen again. “You’ll be fine. And what you don’t remember, I’ll help you with.”
Doubt and trust played tug-of-war across her face. “Promise?”
“I’ll help you as much or as little as you need. Promise.”
He already regretted making that stupid promise, and they weren’t even on the ice yet. Sitting next to her on a bench, lacing up his skates, he caught a whiff of Mina’s perfume and stifled an audible groan. That same floral scent, mingled with vanilla and cloves, threatened to make him lose every last one of his senses. She smelled so much better than that sweaty bunch of guys he played hockey with on Saturdays.
How could he ever keep his promise when all he really wanted to do was pull her into his arms, hold her so close that he could feel her heartbeat match his, and slow-skate the night away? Too bad he hadn’t had an opportunity to speak with Trent alone yet. He could use the pep talk about now.
God? I could use a little help here. You know where I’ve been and what I’ve done. And You know that I can’t do this on my own. Help me show Mina that I’m a changed man, the man You want me to be. I can’t do that when I act like the old person.
Gunner finished lacing his skates and helped Mina with hers then coaxed her gently into the rink. He glided backwards, using both hands to pull Mina toward him until she felt comfortable on the slippery surface.
Mistake number one. Thinking that he could hold Mina so close without wanting more.
Her tentative smile grew with her confidence. The soft breeze caressed her hair, and excitement lit her eyes.
His heart clenched, and his knees felt like mush. What was he thinking?
Mistake number two. He didn’t realize the effect her enthusiasm would have on his equilibrium. Or his judgment. The instant her mouth changed from a smile to a silent “oh,” he knew he was in trouble. His back collided with the wall, and breath vacated his body in a whoosh. Slumping to the ice, he forgot to let go of Mina’s hands.
“Whoa!” She landed on top of him in a heap, giggling like a teenager. “Is this your idea of helping me?”
“A slight miscalculation on my part. Ouch. Everything hurts.” His pride, anyway. Otherwise, he never felt better.
She stopped giggling, but humor still lit her eyes. “A slight miscalculation? Serves you right for making me go ice-skating.”
She tried to disentangle herself, but he held her upper arms steady. “Not so fast, sweetheart. Skating has never been this much fun.”
The laughter faded from her eyes, and her lips parted slightly. He moaned, wanting so badly to pull her close, to remember the feel of her heartbeat against his, to caress those soft lips with his kisses. To go back ten years…
But he couldn’t. He was a new person, a better man. A changed child of God. She didn’t know that yet, but he did.
Instead, he drew her close and threw his arms around her in a gentle hug. Best to let her see he had changed. Maybe she would think better of the new and improved Gunner.
Maybe she wouldn’t. But he knew one thing for sure.
He was in for a world of hurt.
****
Willow was in for a world of hurt. She might as well have cut open her chest bone, yanked out her heart, and handed it to him on a silver platter. Hadn’t the last ten years proved anything to her?
Like men didn’t stick around.
That, after they got what they wanted, they disappeared. Vamoose. Never to call again.
And when they found out that she had a child? Forget about it.
After the first few disaster dates, Willow had stopped dating. Why bother?
And now, look at the position she found herself in. Whatever possessed her to accept Gunner’s offer of help last night? Why hadn’t she gotten up early like she’d intended and jotted Gunner a note, leaving him to cool his jets by himself this morning? Or better yet, she could have just hopped back in her rental and drove through the night, arriving in Tampa before Malcolm what’s-his-name even woke up.
But, nooo. She’d allowed Gunner to escort her away from her ticket to Tampa without even a backward glance. How did she know that Malcolm had been at the airport in the first place? She hadn’t actually seen his face. Her ex could have made it all up.
Now here she was, falling all over Gunner. Literally. Why? Just because he batted those scrumptious, thick black eyelashes and flashed a to-die-for smile?
Your daughter has more sense than you’re showing right now. About time you grew up, don’t you think, Willow?
She pushed off Gunner’s chest and attempted to make a hasty getaway. Not so easy in ice skates. And, for Mercy’s sake, what was she doing on ice skates? Pleeeaase!
Her legs wobbled, and she dropped back on Gunner’s lap with a thump. She used his shoulders to push herself up and away, leaving him sitting on the ice, a puzzled look crinkling his face.
“Mina!”
She didn’t look back. She had stopped looking back ten years ago. She wasn’t going there again.
Willow skated along the edge of the rink, like a snail, gripping the rail. She reached the exit, pulled herself out and plopped down on the first available bench, a huge sigh lifting her chest. Maybe if she could take off these blasted skates, she could catch her breath.
The laces refused to cooperate with her shaky fingers. She gave up and hung her head, defeated, tired, unsure. At what point had she traded confident professional for wishy-washy female? Gunner caught up to her when her breathing was almost back to normal. Almost.
Without saying a word, he knelt down in front of her and unlaced her skates. She refused to look at him, afraid she’d surrender to the emotion churning her insides.
When he finished unlacing her skates, he reached up and cupped her chin with a thumb and forefinger, gently forcing her to face him. The warmth and gentleness in his touch threatened to unleash the tears welling in her eyes. “Mina. I’m sorry.”
She wouldn’t let him see how he had hurt her. Not just for breaking their engagement, but for now, the way his tenderness tore down the shield she’d erected to guard her heart for so long.
She shrugged her chin out of his grasp. “Sorry? For what, Gunner? We’re both adults. More so than the mere kids we were ten years ago. Let it go.”
The crinkles around his eyes faded into something serious, boring into her soul, trying to tell her something, make her see something of who he was, maybe what he wasn’t. She managed to keep her eyes open, focused on him, but couldn’t stop the giant tear that tracked down one cheek.
He cradled her face in his hands, a thumb caressing the moisture from her skin. “Okay. But just for the record. I
never stopped wanting to kiss you.”
6
He still wanted to kiss her? What was she supposed to do with that information?
“What did you think about my team, Gunner?” Jake leaned forward from the truck’s back seat, so close Willow caught a whiff of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he’d scarfed down after the game.
“You guys looked great in practice, sport. When’s your next game?”
Willow shot a sideways glance at Gunner, catching his genuine interest in Jake. When had he started liking kids? He had never taken an interest in children when they were together. Always cracked a joke when she brought up the topic of babies. Granted, Jake wasn’t a baby, by any means. But kids were kids. They started off as babies.
He caught her look and grinned. Winked. Took her breath away.
“Another week yet. Will you still be here?” Hopefulness laced Jake’s voice.
“I don’t know, buddy. I’ve got to hunt for a house, and then I’m going to escort Mina back to Tampa.”
Escort her back to Tampa? Willow strangled out a cough. That earned her another cheeky grin.
“Aww.”
Gunner smiled at his young friend. He slowed down and turned onto the road leading to the shelter. “How’s this? If I’m still in town, I’ll be at your game.”
Willow turned around to see Jake’s eyebrows arched in her direction. She smiled and tried to let him down gently. “I wish I could be here, Jake, but I’ll be in Tampa by then. I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Mina’s a workaholic.”
Now why did the man have to go and ruin the moment by saying that? Infuriating! That’s what he was! Willow frowned at him, wrinkling her nose for effect.
“I know, sweetheart. The truth hurts. You can’t stay away from your work anymore than Jake can stay away from his horse.”
This time Jake sputtered. “Hey. Don’t bring me and Burdine into your lovers’ argument.”
Lovers’ argument? Where did he get that idea? “How unusual. Did you give him that name, Jake?”