by Melissa Frey
She let Grady pull her down on top of him, her body pressing against his as they eagerly devoured each other. Every touch, every new feeling was addicting, pulling them toward an inescapable conclusion. She knew she wanted this, had even dared to hope for it in the depths of her heart.
But on top of all that, she realized she’d been lying to herself. She knew she loved him, without a doubt, but until this moment she hadn’t known its full extent. She was in love with him, so completely and so absolutely that she didn’t want to screw it up. She couldn’t bear to hurt him . . . or lose him. And if she did this now, before she was certain how he felt, what he really wanted . . . She sighed and pulled away, sheepishly finding his gaze.
Grady reluctantly followed suit, but his eyes told Kayla he didn’t understand. She lay down next to him and looked away, resting the back of her wrist on her forehead. She desperately hoped that Grady would understand that she was sorry, that she hated this as much as he did.
Their breathing slowly returned to normal again as they both stared at the ceiling, then Grady rolled on his side and rose up on one arm to look at her. She slowly met his gaze as she propped her head up with her hand, hoping against hope that he would understand.
“Everything okay?” Grady brushed a stray hair from her forehead.
Kayla’s stomach dropped at the uncertainty she heard in Grady’s voice. She quickly tried to explain. “Of course. I thoroughly enjoyed that.” She flashed a genuine grin in his direction, then looked away as the smile faded. She sighed. “I just . . . I don’t want to mess this up. I have a tendency to do that. I don’t want to jump into anything too soon, before we’re ready.”
Grady visibly relaxed. “I get it. I promise.”
Kayla smiled.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t me or anything.”
“Of course not!” Kayla’s eyes flashed at him until she saw the laughter in his. She almost hit his shoulder, but she couldn’t stop smiling, so there really wasn’t any point pretending to be mad at him. She chuckled, unable to contain her elation.
Grady chuckled, too, but not as easily. Kayla thought he sounded almost . . . nervous.
“Kayla . . .” he started, then paused.
Kayla bit her lip to keep from interrupting him. Let him get it out, just let him get it out, kept repeating in her head.
A few moments later, Grady lifted his hand to Kayla’s cheek and stroked it gently. Then three soft words broke the silence. “I love you.”
Kayla’s heart thudded in her chest. She had been waiting for this, waiting for this perfect moment. Waiting for confirmation of his reciprocated feelings, confirmation that she now had.
So she didn’t hesitate. “I love you, too.”
Grady sat up then, pulling her up with him. They sat on the edge of the bed facing each other as Grady spoke. “I’ve known for a while now. I just didn’t know what to say, how to tell you. Or how you felt.” He shrugged.
Indescribable joy swept through Kayla, and she grinned. “I’ve been trying to find the right way to tell you how I felt. I was . . . scared, I guess.”
Grady grabbed her hand. “Well, now it’s out in the open.” Then he added, “I suppose Justin will be happy.”
Kayla laughed quietly and rolled her eyes. “He really gets on my nerves sometimes.”
Grady chuckled. “Tell me about it.”
Kayla yawned reflexively and Grady noticed. “I’d better let you get some sleep.”
She nodded tiredly and rose. “Sorry I fell asleep in your room.”
Grady stood up next to her, still holding her hand. “Anytime.” The loaded meaning of Grady’s one-word statement made Kayla’s mind go to another place, one to which she was certain she wasn’t ready to go. Grady leaned down for a quick kiss—a welcome distraction—lingering for just a brief moment before kissing her forehead. “Good night, Kayla. Sweet dreams. I mean that.”
Kayla smiled then headed toward the door, grasping his hand as long as possible, stretching it out between them. “You, too. See you tomorrow.” She dropped his hand and opened her adjoining door, passing through it with one more glance back before pulling it shut. She paused on the other side with her back against it, taking slow, deliberate breaths to try to clear her head.
Only minutes later, she smiled as she sunk into bed, crawling between the sheets. Sleep found her quickly and, as if God Himself had heard Grady’s wish for her, she slept undisturbed until morning.
CHAPTER 18
Bozeman
“Justin, for the thousandth time, will you please tell me where we’re going?” Mandy threw the red dress she’d discarded for the light blue one she was wearing in her suitcase, then crossed her arms and stared directly at Justin and his army-green duffel bag sitting barely packed on the bed. She was getting sick of this stalling. Out with it already.
But Justin was clearly enjoying himself. He grinned as he pulled on a dark red v-neck over his light khakis. “Nope.”
Mandy playfully punched his arm, quickly regretting it. She was still quite sore from the fight in her room yesterday. “Come on, tell me! I can’t be the only one in the dark.” She stuck out her lower lip.
Justin simply grinned too widely in her direction. She threw a pillow at his head. He ducked, deftly avoiding the flying projectile.
“You know that’s not fair.” She began cramming clothes in her bag, throwing her belongings a little too harshly into her suitcase.
Justin shrugged as he grabbed a wadded up a pair of khakis and stuffed them in his bag. “Life’s not fair.”
“Ugh! You can be so aggravating sometimes.”
“You know you love me.” Justin strolled around the bed and hugged her from behind. She shrugged him off, choosing instead to stomp toward the bathroom.
Grrr! That man is insufferable sometimes, Mandy thought as she put both hands on the counter and stared at her reflection in the mirror. The bruises were worse today—though not as bad as she supposed they should have been; they appeared to already be healing—so she dabbed some concealer on her cheek and under her eye until she could barely make them out.
Then Mandy sighed. I wish there was a way to make him tell me. Then she had a thought. Worth a try . . . She grinned, started filling her toiletry bag with just about everything on the counter, then called out, “It’s okay, I’ll find out eventually. Kayla will tell me.” She threw her toothpaste into the small bag then froze, waiting for Justin’s response.
He was at the door immediately. “No! Don’t do that. I want to surprise you.”
Mandy turned to look at him, cocking her head to one side. She hadn’t been sure that would work. “Surprise me? That doesn’t sound good. Tell me.”
Justin paused for a brief moment, then walked back into the main room. Mandy grabbed her packed toiletry bag and followed him to the bed, sitting down next to him. She threw the bag into her suitcase then grabbed his hand, staring into his eyes. “Come on. You know I hate surprises.”
Justin sighed. Finally, Mandy thought.
“So you know I’m not from Florida,” he began.
Mandy nodded but stayed quiet.
“I grew up in Montana, near Yellowstone.”
Mandy blinked. “And?”
Justin stared at her pointedly, waiting.
Then, suddenly, she got it. She grinned. “We’re going to Yellowstone!”
Justin smiled at her. “Yes, but . . .”
“But what?”
He hesitated. “Well . . . we’ve been together for a few years now.”
“Yeah . . .”
“And we’re pretty serious, right?”
Mandy raised an eyebrow. “What’s this about, Justin?”
Justin took a deep breath. “You wanna meet my parents?”
Mandy shoved his arm. “You were going to just surprise me with this? You were just going to let me go into that blind?”
“I don’t know. I just . . . I guess I didn’t really want to find out what you thought, in case you
didn’t want to.”
She smiled at him, a smile she could tell reached her eyes in spite of the pain in her cheek. “Of course I’ll meet them. But only if you want me to.”
Justin shrugged. “Sure.”
Mandy leaned over and kissed him. “Don’t worry. People love me.”
“Right,” Justin mumbled sarcastically, kissing her cheek lightly before they both turned to finish packing.
Bozeman Yellowstone National Airport
“Hey, Dad.” Justin threw his duffel bag over his shoulder and turned to hug his tall and barely graying father, who stood with the back of his large, jet-black SUV open and empty, ready for luggage. Justin was glad—traveling with two women wasn’t a simple task when you considered the amount of luggage they carried.
“Hey, Mom. Thanks for coming to pick us up.” He leaned in to kiss the cheek of his short, slightly overweight blond mother, who all but pounced on him before he got the chance.
“Justin! We haven’t seen you in forever!” His mom flipped her chin-length, bone-straight hair out of her eyes and threw her arms around him in one motion, hugging him tightly to her. Just feeling her too-thick-for-summer knit vest with crocheted pine trees and blue birds emblazoned on it through his thin T-shirt made Justin feel hot.
Justin squirmed out from under her embrace, throwing her an apologetic half-smile. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve been . . . busy.”
Grady came around the back of the SUV with a large wheeled suitcase in each hand. Kayla followed just behind him with a smaller wheeled suitcase and a shoulder bag with the broken strap she’d been struggling with the entire trip here.
“So, Justin, who are your friends?” his mom inquired, eyeing them almost playfully as her muscular husband hoisted the first of the suitcases Grady was carrying into the back. She moved to stand right in front of Kayla and Grady.
“Mom, this is Dr. Kayla Harrington and Dr. Grady McGready, two of my professors at UCF.”
Grady offered his right hand to Justin’s mother just as Mr. Stanford took the second large suitcase out of his other hand. Kayla nodded a quiet “Nice to meet you” to both of them, her hands still full of luggage.
Justin’s mom enthusiastically shook Grady’s hand, pulled Kayla into a quick and slightly awkward one-armed hug, then glanced pointedly at the last member of the group, who stood just behind Kayla. Mrs. Stanford caught her son’s gaze and cocked her head toward Mandy.
Justin grabbed Mandy’s hand, pulling her out from behind Kayla and in front of his mother. He slung an arm around Mandy’s shoulders and drew her close to his side. “Mom, Dad, this is Mandy Carlson. My girlfriend.”
Mandy extended her hand with a large and polite smile. “I’m very pleased to meet you both.”
Justin’s mother took a step toward Mandy and swept her into an exuberant hug, pulling her away from Justin and ignoring her outstretched hand deftly. “I’m Jan, this is Roger.” She pulled away slightly as she nodded toward her husband, her hands still on Mandy’s shoulders. She offered Mandy a brilliant smile. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Roger stuck his head out of the back of the SUV, offering a smile matching his wife’s. “She’s a cute one, Justin.” Justin rolled his eyes as his father turned to Mandy. “Good to meet you, sweetie.”
He slammed the door to the back hatch shut. With the bags securely loaded, the six of them all climbed into the SUV, grateful for the extra row of seats in the back. Roger slid behind the driver’s seat and pulled out into the evening airport traffic.
After a few minutes in the airport parking lot and fighting their way through the parking gates, they made the turn onto the main thoroughfare, taking it twenty minutes southeast before coming to a small, sleepy town. From the back seat, Mandy gasped as 360-degrees of larger-than-life mountains came into view.
Roger grinned into the rearview mirror, sweeping his hand across the windshield with a flourish. “Mandy, Kayla, Grady—welcome to Bozeman.”
Just outside Bozeman, Montana
After another fifteen minutes of driving away from the setting sun, the Stanfords pulled up to their charming home, which was covered on all sides in dark gray driftwood with an even darker roof.
But Kayla could clearly see Jan’s personality shining through in all her cheery attempts to brighten the home’s facade. The largely unremarkable entrance was enhanced by a wide porch that stretched the length of the house. The opening to the covered porch was flanked on either side by vividly green flower boxes filled with a vibrantly colorful array of native flowers that sat atop the stark white railing.
Large, flat stones in varying shades of gray led the way across the semi-short field of grass to the front door. The group followed them from the gravel driveway in front of the garage to the front steps.
Roger pulled open the screen door then leaned down to unlock the bright white front door, theatrically swinging it open for the group to enter. Kayla smiled as she crossed the threshold in front of the others and got her first look at the upbeat interior.
“Your home is beautiful, Mrs. Stanford. Thank you both for letting us stay here.” Kayla set the suitcase she was carrying off to her left, in front of the entrance to what looked like a formal living room, to get it out of the way of the others coming through the front door. As she did, she surveyed the small front room to the right, cheerfully decorated in a homey country motif overflowing with various floral patterns in deep blues and bright yellows. The staircase, painted a bold deep green, was positioned just across from the entrance. Bright silk flowers dotted the handrail at irregular intervals. A small hallway next to the stairs, festooned with dozens of family pictures, led the way to the back of the house, presumably to the kitchen.
Mrs. Stanford stepped through the door last, letting the screen door fall shut behind her. “Please call me Jan. And thank you. We enjoy having company.” She moved toward the small hallway next to the stairs, then glanced at Kayla and Mandy. “The men will get your suitcases. Roger knows where they should go. Mandy, Kayla, follow me.”
Mandy and Kayla followed their affable host to the back of the house and into the quaint, bright kitchen as the men hoisted their bags upstairs. “Please make yourselves at home. I’m sure you must be hungry, coming off airplane food and all.” She smiled at her subtle joke.
Mandy smiled back. “Sure. What can we do to help?”
As Kayla filled glasses with homemade lemonade on the kitchen island and Mandy grabbed the plates, Mrs. Stanford checked on the contents of the oven. The smell wafted into the kitchen as soon as the oven door was open.
Kayla took a deep breath and smiled. “That smells wonderful.”
“My mother’s old recipe: Hawaiian pot roast.” Jan grinned then pushed the door closed. “Almost ready.”
The men joined them just as the roast was coming out of the oven, already laughing and joking amongst themselves. Kayla could clearly see where Justin had inherited his easy-going personality.
With a good-natured “behave yourselves, boys” to her husband and son, Jan set the roast on the table, nodding for everyone to take their seats. Roger and Justin quickly took over the conversation as they ate, cracking jokes between the two of them without breaking a stride. Soon even Jan was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.
Kayla enjoyed the Stanfords’ welcoming hospitality just as much as the delicious food, for which she was exceedingly grateful; she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a home-cooked meal. Or laughed this much. Roger’s colorful—and questionably truthful—stories of growing up on a ranch had everyone laughing until their sides hurt.
As the conversation and laughter lingered well into the night, Kayla realized she hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long while. Grady squeezed her hand under the table, a wide smile on his face. He winked at her and she giggled like she was a kid again.
She could get used to this.
Kayla rose early, wanting to get a head start on the planning, careful not to wake Mandy sleeping beside he
r. But Mandy was soon awake anyway, followed shortly by Grady and Justin, who the women could hear stirring in the other room.
The four of them were soon getting ready, in and out of the single upstairs bathroom, ducking into walk-in closets and between the two bedrooms, trying to find a private place to change clothes, brush hair, dab on makeup. Justin and Grady were done first and headed downstairs, followed soon after by Kayla and Mandy.
The Stanfords were just coming out of their first-floor suite as Kayla came down the stairs. After some heartfelt “good mornings” and smiles for everyone, Jan set out to create a large spread.
They made their plans in the brightly-lit dining room over pancakes, eggs, and bacon coupled with diced fruit and freshly-squeezed orange juice. Roger and Jan ate with them, assisting where they could with their knowledge of the local area. They even offered their off-road vehicle—their second SUV, a few years older than the one they’d driven to and from the airport but only slightly worse for wear—for the group’s use.
“So where exactly are you headed?” Roger interjected as the group was discussing their plan to head to the nearby Yellowstone National Park.
Justin pointed to the map spread out on the table among their dishes, circling Yellowstone with a wide arc. “Somewhere in this general area. We’re not exactly sure where.” He glanced at Kayla surreptitiously.
Kayla frowned. She wished her vision would’ve been more specific. She’d just seen pictures in her head of the park. She wasn’t entirely positive where specifically they should look. She shrugged subtly in apology.
Grady patted her leg under the table. Kayla smiled, just a little.
Justin’s mom didn’t miss anything. She looked over at Kayla speculatively. “Just how did you get this information? We understand you came from Alaska . . . ?” She let her voice trail off, hoping for an explanation.
Kayla spoke quietly. “We were at the dig at Lamanai, in northern Belize, when Grady and I found something. We were . . . kidnapped . . . on our way out of the country.” Jan gasped but Kayla continued her story. “That’s when Mandy and Justin found us, and rescued us.” She smiled at the couple, happy to be able to praise them both in front of Justin’s parents. She omitted the part about them being kidnapped as well.