a brow and relax a little. “He saved my life. If I feel anything for Brad, it’s a bit of hero worship, because without him, I’d be dead.”
3
Julia’s unexpected confession simultaneously relieved a few fears while driving Zach’s protective instincts back into high gear.
“You’re going to need to explain that a little more.” Zach sat upright, giving her his full attention. He made sure he kept his voice gentle, though, because the last thing she needed while talking about bullshit would be for him to go ape shit on her.
Julia took a moment as if getting her thoughts together before meeting his gaze full on. “The short story is while I was at the training center for EMTs, one of my classmates mistook me being friendly as encouragement far beyond what it really was. I don’t want to go into the details, but he kidnapped me. He was very gentle about it. I thought he was just kidding around until I was tied up and trapped with no way to escape.”
The curse that slipped from Zach’s lips made her lips twitch.
“Yeah. Pretty much what went through my head when I realized Dwayne hadn’t been kidding about the keeping part of keeping me safe. Brad was one of the trainers at the school, and we’d developed a good relationship—very much a big brother thing as he mentored me through my first semesters of extended schooling. Brad noticed right away when I went missing.”
Zach was going to buy the man a bottle of anything he wanted. “How long were you missing?”
“Five days. It would’ve been longer, or forever, if Brad hadn’t figured it out. But it comes down to this. Brad nearly lost his job for doing what he needed to find me, mostly on a hunch. There’s no way I could repay that by allowing him and Hanna to be hurt.”
Zach rested his elbows on his knees even as he nodded. “I’m fully on board. We’ll make sure everybody knows you’re taken. It shouldn’t take long to knock the knees out from under this rumour.”
She deflated slightly, the worry in her eyes slipping to relief. “Thank you.”
His own concern rose. Talk about complications.
He wanted to be with this woman and give dating a try. What he’d wanted to say was he’d take care of her going forward, but a take-over, take-charge approach was out of the question. No way did he want to cause the slightest hint of a reminder of her past trauma.
Yet his gut rarely steered him wrong, and his first impulse was to tell her a partial truth.
To hell with it. He leaned back again, getting comfortable. “Couple more things to talk about.”
Julia nodded. “I’ll tell my sisters, and Finn and Josiah, but I think that’s as far as we can share that us dating is not real. I mean, I trust Tamara as well, but as soon as I tell her, Caleb will know. He’s got so much close family underfoot—it’s kind of hard to know where the story will stop.”
“What if we don’t tell anyone it’s not real?”
She snapped upright at his comment. “You said your friends would be upset. And that my sisters would break out the ball busters.”
“That’s if we were just fooling around.” He let his gaze drift over her, appreciating the firm muscles and soft curves. “I have zero problem actually going out with you.”
The little frown between her brows was back. “Stop kidding around.”
“Oh, honey, this isn’t my kidding around face.” He offered a wink. “You’re a beautiful woman with a great sense of humour and a very giving heart. You intrigue me.”
She looked as if she was struggling for words. Then she shook her head. “Remember the bit where I’m leaving at the end of October?”
“You said your internship was done at the end of October. Doesn’t mean that you’ll be leaving. Lots more jobs available in the Heart Falls area. But that’s not something to worry about at the moment.” He checked her over again, gaze lingering on her cheeks that had flushed red at his bold appraisal. “Julia Blushing, would you go out with me? Breakfast tomorrow morning?”
Her head shook from side to side.
“Is that a no, you’d prefer lunch or dinner? You know, we both like to dance. I’d love to take you back to Rough Cut.”
“Will you be serious?” Julia had her hands in her lap, tangling her fingers together over and over.
Zach took a step back, figuratively. He lowered his tone and spoke softer. “I’m