I’d made one hundred dollars in tips last night at the diner, even after splitting my money with Eve. I’d almost cried when she handed me my share of the tips. It meant I could buy a little food, put some away to pay for my room at the inn, and then put the rest into my savings to pay off my car.
My footsteps pounded into the ground as I pushed myself, enjoying the wind in my hair, feeling better than I had in too long. It didn’t seem possible, but running already felt easier, like there was something in the air here that just invigorated my body.
Sunlight tinted the sky in numerous shades of blues and oranges and violets while the long grasses swayed. The whole location was beautiful.
I crossed the large wooden bridge, inhaling the crisp air, wishing once again that I hadn’t wasted so much of my life, that I would have left Alistair long ago.
I wished those things even as I still missed him.
I glanced over to the row of small homes alongside the bank on this side of the river. Two locals stood in their yard talking, their eyes on me. That was the other thing. Everyone here was such a gossip. It was like I was in middle school again. They all whispered about me…stared at me.
That kind of behavior definitely made a girl paranoid.
I could handle that though. I just kept reminding myself this was heaven compared to where I’d come from.
I ran at a leisurely pace on the track alongside the road. The sun beat on my shoulders, and birds chirped in the trees. Perfection. I made a conscious effort to keep my eyes out, considering the wolf I’d crossed paths with. I wasn’t going to go into the woods today but remain close to town, following the curve of the road along the wood’s edge.
A sudden and repetitive engine groan grew louder, and I edged farther off the road, twisting around to see who was driving this way.
A black Jeep cruised forward and seemed to slow upon approaching me.
I squinted to get a view of who was driving, but the dark windows and low afternoon sun made that close to impossible.
My initial instinct was to back away quickly from whoever approached me, but that made me look super paranoid, right?
I paused my run, my breath speeding up as the vehicle stopped on the road alongside me. The window slid down, and the first thing I saw were those green eyes that had haunted my dreams since I first saw them. Of course those eyes came with the usual twisted snarl on his lips.
Wilder.
Fuck. What now? After his behavior at the diner yesterday, I vowed to keep as much distance between us as possible…ignoring the fact that certain parts of my body felt differently about his anger than the rest of me did.
I shouldn’t feel this blend of foreboding and arousal when we crossed paths, but he managed to bring them out in me. I added that to the mental list I was keeping of all the reasons I hated myself.
Pushing some hair out of my face, I nervously smiled and glanced around, taking note no one else was around.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, my heart pounding against my chest.
With one hand gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles white from how hard he held it, he studied me. I ignored the voice in my head that told me to bolt out of there. If I intended to stay in town and work at his diner, then I had to find a way to find peace between us…and I really needed to stop cowering in fear every time he was around.
The way he looked at me right now though…with dark heat behind his gaze…it did something to me. His gaze slowly perused my form, going from my tight leggings up to my tank top until it felt like he’d caressed every inch of my body. Butterflies burst inside my stomach, beating their wings, and my gaze kept brushing over his strong forearm from where he had his sleeve rolled up to his elbow. I shouldn’t let my mind wander there, but his muscles flexed as I stared transfixed, and all of a sudden, I foolishly was imagining myself in his arms. My breath heightened as I pictured him over me, under me…in me.
Just as quickly as the thoughts came, I shook them away because seriously…what the fuck was wrong with me? Of all