Dixie Under Siege (A Warrior's Passion #2) - Natasza Waters Page 0,10
catch him. Why bother trying?”
Josh removed the space between them until he stood a few feet away. His familiar, rugged features reminded her of how much he’d meant to her at one time.
He nudged his head to signal she should get moving. “If it means you’ll stay in San Diego, then I’ll catch him.”
Gazing into his stern blue eyes, she saw determination rather than bullshit. “You’re wasting your time.”
He backed away. “Straight home. No stopping.”
She saluted him. “Yes, sir.” And slid behind the wheel, then opened the driver’s side window.
After she’d left for college, she’d missed him. Numerous times she’d picked up the phone to call his parents’ house, but hung up before dialing. Josh had obviously found his dream, but never tried to find her. What they had as teenagers was part of a scrapbook of adolescent memories.
He’d done more than succeed in life. Josh had found the perfect career that matched the man she always knew he’d become. Brave. Solid. Dependable. Dixie’s concern deepened. Allowing Josh to insert himself into her life of loose ends wasn’t a smart move for her or for him. Her stalker wouldn’t approve. The threatening change in his latest note confirmed that. As bizarre as it was, her warped admirer had been the only consistent relationship she’d had for twelve years.
“Hey.” Josh palmed the frame of her door. “Problem?”
“What? No. I’m just trying to look into the future. I’m not sure I want your help.”
He leaned down to gaze at her. “I don’t care if you want my help or not. This guy has harassed you for too long. It stops now.”
She flicked a glance his way. “Don’t you have a terrorist to kill or something like that?”
His jaw stiffened and he narrowed a look of suspicion at her. “Why are you resisting my help, Dix?”
She inhaled the warm spring air to clear her mind. “I know I agreed earlier to let you help me, but I don’t want this situation to escalate. Yes, he’s a pain in my ass, but after all this time, I’ve learned to live with it.”
“Doesn’t make it right, sweetheart. Guys like this can change course and become a real threat. I don’t want you in his cross-hairs. You’re going to stand down and let me catch him.”
“You were always sure of yourself, but I don’t remember you being this bossy.”
“Guess I polished some rough edges since you told me to take a hike.”
Dixie squeezed the steering wheel with both hands. “I didn’t say that, and you know it. I wanted a degree after graduation, not a laundry basket filled with diapers. You’re the one who threw everything out the window and never looked back.”
He nodded, his lips tightening. “Yeah, I did. Because if I hadn’t, you would have stayed.”
“What?” She blinked.
“You know as well as I do, you would have buckled under your parents’ pressure. You’d have been miserable married to me. One of us had to leave. So I did.”
Dix turned the key in the ignition. “Yeah, you sure did. Without even a goodbye. You dumped everything in my lap. No surprise, my family blamed me.”
Josh rested his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. “That was a mistake. One that I regretted but later rectified.”
“What do you mean you rectified?”
He sighed and squatted by her door. “About six months after I left, I called your father. I told him that you and I were too young and ambitious to settle down. If he needed to lay blame at someone’s feet, he could lay it at mine.”
She’d never spoken to her father again after boarding the bus to Pennsylvania. Nor her mother. She’d been blacklisted, but she’d expected nothing less. “How did he respond?”
“As you would probably guess. He told me they hadn’t heard from you. Said evil is cast out one way or the other, and the stain of sin was gone. Then he hung up on me.”
Dix snorted. “You’re right, I’m not surprised.” She stared through her windshield at the brick exterior wall of the bakery. “Why did you bother calling him?”
Josh shrugged a shoulder. “Mom hadn’t heard a thing after you left. I wanted to know if you were all right.”
“You knew where I was going to school.” She plucked up enough nerve to look into his eyes. “You could have found me if you’d wanted to.”
“Didn’t think you wanted to see my face.”
“Yeah. And what makes you think I want to see you now?”
His lips curled with amusement. “Think you’ve made