Page 44 of Where Roads Lead

He clenched his jaw before releasing his grip.

We made eye contact for a second too long, and I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

That’s how I knew it was too long—because I was trapped. His eyes were pretty. Really pretty. Maybe the nicest I’d ever seen on a man before.

They were a mix of green hues and warm amber, reminding me of a forest from which I had absolutely no desire to escape.

Which was sort of confusing because it was Will. A relative stranger who was prickly and abrasive, and solitary.

And also kind, and helpful, and handsome.

And staring right back at me as if he had no plans to look elsewhere for the foreseeable future.

Until my phone rang, and we sprang apart as if someone had walked in on us in some type of indecent position.

Which, with the intimacy of the eye contact we’d been making, didn’t feel that unrealistic.

“Are you going to get that?” he asked when I made no move to retrieve my cellphone.

“Nope,” I told him, regretting the way thoughts of Andrew flooded back into my head the moment the phone started ringing.

It was probably him again.

And I was determined to ignore him again.

The ringing ended, only to start back up again a moment later. Will stared in the direction of the living room where I’d flung the phone earlier, then back at me with a look that said, you’re really not going to answer that?

I just stuck my tongue against the wall of my cheek and looked around the kitchen absentmindedly, waiting for it to stop once more.

It did.

And then started up again once more.

“Okay, it sounds like someone’s really trying to get in touch with you,” he said, making a beeline for the living room as if he was going to answer it himself.

“No!” I hurried after him. “Just let it ring.”

“No,” he said.

“Why?”

“It’s annoying,” he said, looking over the room before turning back to me. “Where’s the phone?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I threw it somewhere in here earlier.”

“You threw it?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I felt an urge to.”

It rang again, and now even I was sick of the noise. Letting out a sigh, I started reaching my hand into the couch cushion only to come up empty.

Dropping to the floor, I laid on my stomach trying to see where it had landed.

“Do you have a flashlight?” I asked him.