Page 50 of Quarter Miles (Runaway 3)

“No, you don’t. Look”—I turned to face her, taking her shoulders in my arms so she had to turn and face me too—“I know things are strange right now. I don’t regret what happened, but I’m not going to lie and say it hasn’t fucked with my head. You’re my friend. My best friend.”

“I know.” She stepped out of my grip and wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing at the bare skin of her arms. “I’m cold. I think I’ll go back inside.”

Without another word, without acknowledgement that I was trying to muddle my way through this, she spun away and marched toward the staircase.

“Fuck.” I let her go, watching until she was halfway up the stairs before turning to the water.

The waves crashed on the sand, then retreated into the dark depths of the ocean. If I reached down and gripped the edge, no matter how hard I pulled, the wave would slip away. It was that way when I was training a stubborn horse. The harder I tugged on the reins, the longer the fight, and inevitably, I’d lose.

Maybe I was pulling too hard on Kat. She’d asked to forget about the sex and pretend it hadn’t happened. Maybe we should.

She could keep her secrets.

And I could keep mine.

I stayed on the sand until the moon was far above my head, then slowly made my way to our room. The lights were off when I eased the door open except for the lamp on my nightstand. I hurried through brushing my teeth and pulling on a pair of cotton pajama pants, then I eased under the fluffy comforter, savoring the feel of the cool cotton on my naked chest and back.

“Kat.” I turned on my side, facing her. She had her back to me and had stuffed a pillow in the center of the bed. “You asleep?”

“Yes.”

I grinned. “Can I ask you a question?”

“No.”

I asked it anyway. “Why don’t you want to go back to California?”

Tell me. Please, talk to me. I was pulling again, something I’d convinced myself on the beach I wouldn’t do, but I was desperate. I craved information even more than her luscious body.

She shifted, inching farther away and burrowing deeper under the covers. We didn’t need the pillow between us. She was already miles and miles away. “Good night, Cash.”

Chapter Ten

Katherine

“When I said come and find me in the morning, I didn’t expect you to get up this early.” Aria dragged a long hose across the deck of The Gallaway, moving down the row of potted flowers.

I tugged the hose, giving it slack. “I was up.”

After next to no sleep last night, I’d snuck out of the hotel room while Cash had snored quietly into his down pillow. Before dawn, his arm had crept over the divider I’d placed in the center of the mattress and when his hand had rested on my hip, I’d slid from the sheets and tiptoed my way out of that bedroom.

It was supposed to be a dream, sleeping side by side with Cash. Except in the dream, he cuddled me in his arms as I drifted off to sleep. There was no need for his and her sides of the bed. We’d wake together in the morning to share a kiss. The stark gap between the fantasy and reality had sent me scurrying to the lobby this morning after dressing in the dark bathroom and tying my hair into a knot.

I’d been on on

e of the cushioned benches in the lobby, waiting for the espresso bar to open, when Aria had arrived promptly at five thirty. She’d let me tag along with her as she’d worked.

We’d been watering flowers for the past hour. Before that, I’d carried a garbage bag behind her, following as she pruned flower beds and deadheaded hanging baskets.

At least someone wanted my help. I’d checked for emails and texts and missed calls from Montana and to my increasing disappointment, there’d been none.

I shouldn’t be so annoyed that things were running smoothly at the resort. That was what I’d worked for, right? Maybe if this vacation hadn’t gotten so tragically off course, I would have enjoyed the break. But right now, I needed to feel useful. I needed the constant of work, something familiar to focus on when everything else was upside down.

Gardening with Aria had been a salvation.

The sun was up and the sky was more white than blue. The sound of the ocean was a constant calm in the background.

“What’s up with you and Cash?” she asked as we walked down the deck.