Page 46 of Wild Highway (Runaway 2)

I didn’t blink. I didn’t breathe. I didn’t move for fear that she’d stop talking.

“I don’t know when I went numb. I used to feel things.” She looked up and forced a too-bright smile. “Anger or annoyance or excitement. On the

day I was approached about selling Gemma Lane, that idea hadn’t even crossed my mind. I don’t even know why I entertained it, but I was eating lunch with an old colleague and she asked me if I was sick.”

“Were you?”

“I don’t get sick.” She shook her head. “It took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about. But then I realized she thought I was tired. And I wasn’t. I really wasn’t. I was just . . . empty.”

“Maybe you were ready for a career change.”

She shook her head. “A life change. It wasn’t just work. I was dating this guy and he’d asked me to marry him.”

A flare of jealousy raced through my veins, but I set it aside.

“Obviously, I said no.” She wiggled the bare fingers on her left hand. “So I had this friend who thought I was sick. A man who wanted to share his life with me, but instead I broke his heart. And it all came together and made me pause. I looked over the past year and realized that I was going day after day and I didn’t feel . . . anything.”

Her eyes turned glassy, but she held tight, not letting a tear fall.

I stretched my hand across the table and covered hers. “Gem.”

“I don’t want to live like that.” She flipped her hand over so our palms were pressed together and stared at them, my wide hand nearly covering her long fingers.

“And since you got here? Feel anything?”

Her eyes flashed to mine. “Some days.”

“Besides frustration with me?”

A smile spread across her stunning face. “Maybe.”

“Good.” A surge of pride swelled in my chest because I’d done that. Me. I’d put that smile there and it was mine. “Glad I could piss you off.”

“Among other things.” She laughed and slipped her hand free, then collected our plates and took them to the sink.

“Want some help washing up?”

“I’ve got it. Want another beer?”

“Better not.”

If I stayed, I wouldn’t leave. We’d put the fighting aside tonight, and we both knew this was heading toward dangerous territory. She was in a strange emotional place and I knew nothing would change.

Gemma would stay until Christmas, mostly because I’d dared her. Partly because she wanted to. Then she’d head to California, leaving me behind.

I’d spend another eleven years wondering what had become of Gemma.

I stood from the table. “Thanks for dinner.”

“Thanks for staying. And for the firewood.”

“See ya.” I went to the door to tug on my boots. Then I opened the door before I decided kissing her was worth another eleven-year wait.

Chapter Nine

Gemma

The moment he opened the door, I chased after him. “Easton, wait.”