She turned the cup in her hands.“So why did you bring me here?”
He stared at the canyon for a long moment.“After Mary’s death—Mary was my wife—I came to the canyon to escape.”
Meg stilled and barely breathed.
He’d never opened up about Mary before and had never spoken her name in Meg’s presence.
“I came to this very spot most mornings and would stare out at the canyon, and it felt foreign—like a new start.”
“Does it still feel that way?”
He shook his head slowly, a rueful smile tugging at his lips.He crossed his arms over his chest.“Somehow the quiet, vast landscape became a refuge.My home.”
He looked at her.“That’s what I think you need today.A new start.”He motioned to the view.
“It is a beautiful place.”And it was—raw and dangerous and achingly beautiful.
Silence passed between them until he said, “Unfortunately, I don’t think this chaos in the park will calm down until the other chests are found.I left a message for Virgil.I’m going to talk to him about closing the park.”
Her head whipped toward him.“Would they do that?”
He shrugged and finished his scone in two bites.He brushed off his hands and pulled his knees up, then rested his boots on the bumper.“I just wish things could go back to the way they were.”
Meg turned to him and studied his profile, catching something in his tone—wistfulness, regret, longing.“The way things were before the gold…or before you kissed me in the canyon?”
He closed his eyes as his jaw worked.
Oh.
He ran a hand through his hair, until finally, “Yes.”
She shouldn’t have asked.Ouch.
But what did she expect?He’d made it clear they couldn’t move forward.Space away from her was supposed to be good for him, for them.The accident had thrown them back together.But today?It hadn’t been life that threw them together—it had been him.
He’d chosen this.
She finished her pastry and slid off the hood.Her feet hit the gravel.“I never asked you to come get me.It was your choice to bring me here.Your choice?—”
“Hey.”His voice was soft, but his movements were quick.He slid off the hood and stood in front of her, his height forcing her to tilt her head back in order to see his face.His hands rested gently on her arms, his thumbs making small circles on her skin.“I wasn’t saying—I didn’t mean—” He closed his eyes, then opened them.“You have to admit it was easier before I kissed you.That changed everything.Like I opened Pandora’s box and?—”
“Are you kidding me right now?Do you honestly think I never thought of you like that until you kissed me?That the attraction just started that day?”Her voice rose.“If you hadn’t kissed me then, that kiss was only a matter of time.Because if you hadn’t given in, eventually I would have.”
Oh.But yes, she’d said it.And now it was out.
Noah’s gaze heated.But he didn’t move.He just stood there with his broad shoulders blocking the sun and his hands gripping her arms.
Then he leaned closer with his breath warming her face.
But Meg had had enough of their push-pull.
She shook her head and stepped back, letting his hands fall away.The space between them turned thick.
“You’re right.I need the day off.”Her voice was steady despite the ache in her chest.“But I think it’s time you took me back.”
Without meeting his eyes, she walked to the passenger door and slid inside.
They drove back in silence.
