AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How do I decide if I want to help you if I don’t know how?”
“I’m staying at my old family home on the ranch. You should remember it well. We’ll head home today, but you can meet me there tomorrow. We’ll have dinner and go over it.”
“I didn’t agree to help you.”
“Not with your words you didn’t, but I can see you’re intrigued. You want to go on this adventure with me.” I’m seething at how well he manages to read me. He’s still almost a stranger to me, but he’s right, I want to do this bad. I never have been good at turning down a true challenge.
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” He’s silent as he studies me again. Then he gives me his famously devastating smile.
“This might be a great idea actually,” he says.
I inhale deeply. He’s too damn close to me again and his scent filters through me, warming my blood and infusing me. I hate how he makes my body stir. It’s unsettling.
“Blaze...” His name falls away as awareness flows between us.
“Just come.” His words are almost a plea. The tinge of hope in his voice is my undoing. I want to do what he’s asking of me. I grip the sheet and wrap it around me, then rise to my feet, still undecided. We’re in a face-off and it seems that neither of us wants to give in.
“I will...” I pause and take a deep breath to make my voice stronger. “I’ll think about it.” It’s all I can give him in this moment where my emotions and hormones are all over the place.
He pulls out another piece of paper and smiles before tossing it on the bed. I leave it right where he’s tossed it, not wanting to see whatever it is — especially if it will make me want to help him even more.
“Here’s a little something to entice you. Besides, I guess I have little choice but to accept your answer for now. But I’m telling you, this can be a whole lot of fun and a great adventure.”
I want to tell him I can’t do this. We had our weekend... under false pretenses... and now we both need to move on with our lives. This is a one-and-done for us. But he’s sparked the treasure hunter inside of me. I was internally complaining that I want more out of life, and here’s a perfect opportunity for that. But it’s with Blaze. This will make me want him more if I follow through on it.
I can’t tell him no, though. He knows it. I know it. I’m too stubborn to admit it though. I won’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know right now that I’ll show up tomorrow. We still have to leave here, fly back, and have him drop me off. Let him sweat for a little while.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
“Didn’t you already take one?”
“You made me sticky. I’m showering again.” I walk into the bathroom and firmly shut and lock the door. As I stand beneath the spray, I know what my answer will be. It seems I might be going on a treasure hunt with my former... and sort of current... lover. I don’t think there’s anything to stop it. I have no doubt I’ll regret it the rest of my life if I walk away now. At least I have the treasure hunt as a buffer, as an excuse. I don’t want to be with him, I just want to solve a mystery.
The hot water doesn’t ease my fears. It doesn’t push away the doubts I’m feeling. I’m in trouble here, more trouble than I’ve ever been in before. The saddest thing of all is I’m willing running straight into it.
Chapter Thirteen
Blaze
I smile as I kick up the throttle on my dirt bike and fly through the hills. This used to be my favorite thing to do on this ranch, and it’s been far too long since I felt this much speed. With the sun on my face, the sky surprisingly clear, and the moist sea air keeping me from overheating, I laugh.
Gramps’s passing was a shock and though I seem to be in another universe right now, I feel great. I hate that the old man is gone, but it’s good to be home. I thought this ranch would be the last place I’d want to be, but I’m truly enjoying it. From the time I was fifteen, I knew I wouldn’t stay home. Something bubbled inside of me — a need to travel, to seek adventure. When I finished college, I left for places unknown. I have no regrets about my travels, only regrets for not getting back home to visit.
I’ve been around the world, right in the middle of the biggest storms while the rest of the people hid in their basements. I was in the center of gunfire when war was at its worst. And I loved every moment of it.
I only spent one summer back home — that summer ten years ago. The summer I met Cori, fell for her, and then left morescared than I ever was before. I didn’t want anything to hold me down — to keep me in California. And she almost managed to do that. So I left and didn’t look back. I continued my adventures, telling myself doing anything else would be an injustice in my pursuit of individualism. It isn’t easy to be an individual as a triplet. Maybe that’s why we all went our own ways.
And now, after traveling for the past fifteen years, I’m home and not hating it. I’m not sure for how long, but this is where I am for now. Getting back to the property, I hose down my bike, then make my way to the main house.
Walking through the halls with filthy boots and my hair covered in dust is sure to irritate my stick-in-the-mud brother, but it only makes me smile wider. I don’t think about my brother for long before Cori’s once again on my mind. What a weekend we had together. She’s certainly not purged from my system. I need more. I saw glimpses of the free girl I spent a summer with. As soon as we left the resort, she immediately went back to looking every inch of the professor she’s become.
The girl I once knew laughed freely, ran with me on the beaches, inspired passion in me, and made me want to stick around. This woman now is trying to be that free girl. I can see my former lover deep within her beautiful brown eyes. I want to bring it out in her. It’s such a strange place for me to be in.
The professor isn’t even remotely the kind of woman I normally date. She’s the type I expect to see with Callan or Zach. So why is my brain filled with erotic images of stripping off her unflattering clothes? I’ve seen every inch of her, but I know I have so much more to learn. I want to know every single inch of her that responds to my touch.
“I see you’ve made yourself at home.” The wry comment comes from my left, and I turn toward my brother stepping out of the den. Zach looks down at my attire with disapproval.
“Yep, feels good to be home,” I tell him.
