Page 50 of Love in the Wild

Because she wanted to see Gage that badly. It had been easy enough to get directions to his uncle’s garage. It was listed as a business on Google. Anyone could drive up in that lot at any point in time and ask to get their tires rotated or whatever else mechanics did for vehicles. She hadn’t thought much about showing up in the middle of the day.

What was Gage going to say? Probably not anything good.

She turned onto Red Bend Road and slowed the car to a crawl. This was where Gage wanted to meet? It looked like the setting of a horror movie! There was no way he had anything good to say to her if he wanted to meet in the absolute middle of nowhere after dark.

Driving slowly, she searched both sides of the road. No houses. No buildings. No other cars. Just woods and darkness.

“Turning around. I am turning around right now because I’m not gonna be an idiot twice in one day.”

She turned a slight curve and met the first vehicle. The headlights illuminated a familiar truck facing her. Gage was stopped in the middle of the road with his left blinker on.

How long had he been sitting there? He couldn’t have given her a meeting place with an actual address?

She turned in front of his truck and crept along a bumpy unmarked road. Trees grew so close to the path she could hear the branches scraping against the sides of his truck as he followed her. When the path opened up to a small clearing, she drove toward the middle, and Gage parked beside her.

Please don’t let him kill me. Please don’t let him kill me.

Gage shut off his truck and stepped out. She could barely see him in his dark shirt and pants against the moonless night. He opened the passenger door of her car and slid inside.

Hadley sucked in a deep breath as his tall and broad body filled up the tiny space in her cab, kinda like he’d taken up all the space in her head lately. He was so much bigger than her, but she didn’t feel the need to run from him. His nearness soothed the unease she’d been carrying around all day.

He propped an elbow on the console, leaning toward her and erasing all the distance between them. “You have to get a new car.”

Her brows scrunched into a frown. “What?”

“You need a new car. Like, now. Do you know anyone who could trade cars with you for a while?”

“Um, no. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m new ‘round here.” She didn’t need to thicken her Southern accent to get the point across.

“They all know your purple car now. There’s probably not another one like this in the whole state.” Gage tore off his ball cap and tossed it onto the dash before running his fingers through his hair.

“I don’t go into town a lot. I’ve been staying home even more since…” Oh good gravy, she’d almost spilled the beans about Thea staying with her. “Since I’m working so much.”

“Why in the world did you go there today? I think you scared about ten years of life out of me.”

He’d been scared today, and she was the cause of it. Well, half the cause. His family was where the real fear came from. She didn’t want him to worry about her, but knowing he was worried about her stirred the pot of feelings bubbling in her middle.

“It’s a place of business!” Despite her adamant defense, she didn’t expect Gage to be won over by it.

Gage turned to face her again, and the softness in his eyes had her wishing she could take back her excuse.

“Hadley, they can’t know about you. I’m already worried sick about Thea, and I can’t stomach the thought of them getting a hold of you too.”

Any fire in her middle died instantly. Gage put on a terrifying front, but he was a nice guy–a nice guy who looked like he wanted to throat-punch someone while he confessed how much he cared about her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Gage hung his head, but his jaw tensed back and forth. Silence hung in the cab around them until he reached for her hand. Slowly, he threaded his fingers with hers and squeezed.

Hadley stared at the link between them as her heart rate kicked into another gear. Touch had never been something she cared for, but every time Gage touched her, she lit up like a Christmas tree from the inside. The strength in his hand seeped into her palm, calming her doubts and indecisions.

“Tell me something,” Gage whispered.

“Like what?”

“Anything. I just want to hear your voice.”

Shoot. She was in trouble. The stakes rose higher every day, but she was sinking deeper and deeper into Gage’s arms.

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