Page 60 of Destined for the Cowboy

“What are you doing here?”

The edge was still in his voice, and something sparked in those deep blue eyes. As if a fire had been struck. It reminded him of the way she’d looked at him last night. Which reminded him of what that look had begun.

Which hadn’t at all meant what you thought—hoped—it did.

“What more appropriate place, since it seems you want to fight?”

“I don’t want to—”

He cut himself off, shaking his head. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling he had to, because he was having trouble thinking with her standing right there. Which was crazy, because she was all he’d been thinking about.

He tried for something else. “How did you know I was here?”

“Chief Highwater.”

He blinked. “He told you I was here?”

“He said you had it in mind.”

“And you just hopped in your car and drove all this way?”

“Too far to walk,” she said, still with that gleam in her eyes. And as if it were a given that of course she’d follow him.

Or as if she were spoiling for a fight.

“Tris,” he began, then stopped, not knowing what to say.

“So you do remember my name, at least? I’ve never been a one-night stand before, so I don’t know how it works.”

He winced and looked away. He’d never seen her like this, this angry, and it rattled him. “You’re not…you could never be just…that,” he ground out.

“Then why treat me as if I was?”

He looked back at her then. Gradually became aware of the people around them, lots of tourists on this June Sunday, and probably some locals out for a stroll as well.

“You really want to do this here?”

Her chin came up. “What better place to have a fight than at the Alamo?”

He stared at her for a long silent moment. And in that moment he realized a simple, obvious fact. The word for what this had to be. A word he’d never experienced in reality before.

He loved her. It didn’t matter that she didn’t, couldn’t love him, or that sometimes he thought he barely knew what the word meant, he loved her. Nor did it matter that she was obviously steamed at him. He’d grown up with people who seemed perpetually irritated with him. It hadn’t mattered to him, with them.

It mattered more than anything with Tris.

He met her gaze, looked into those eyes. She was indeed ready for a fight.

So he said the only thing he could think of. “Then fire away.”

Chapter Thirty

They had walkedacross the stone-paved street to sit on the short wall that ringed the patch of grass, away from the people gathered in front of the mission. Logan braced himself for whatever she was going to fire at him.

“Why did you run?”

He wanted to deny he had, but he couldn’t. Not when it was so obviously true. So he said nothing. And after a moment she went on.

“You show up at the ceremony then vanish, then you don’t answer the phone or my texts, you leave town and don’t tell me…I’m not saying you owe me constant contact, but a simple ‘talk to you later’ would have done.”

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