Page 18 of Against the Wind

My hands tightened on the wheel. Had the prospective thief already come back?

Then he turned to face me and the glare of headlights illuminated his face.

Daniel.

The sight of him punched me in the gut. Again.

I hadn’t allowed myself to think about him or his ludicrous declaration. I’d been too busy trying to deal with the endless stream of patients. And now here he was again. Bags of some kind clustered around his feet.

This was the last thing I needed with the storm bearing down.

I’m in the Outer Banks for you.

His words echoed through my head.

What the fuck did that even mean? This jackass had broken my heart. He’d chosen his career over me without hesitation or discussion. Did he think he could just show up and sweep me away? That I’d leave the job and all the work I’d put in to make this clinic mine?Because fuck that shit. If he believed I’d do that, it just proved yet again that he didn’t know me at all to begin with.

Fueled by fresh temper, I parked as close to the building as possible and tugged up the hood of my raincoat. I didn’t even speak to him as I got out of the car, snagging my duffel bag of supplies. He stepped aside as I climbed the steps and approached the door. I tried not to notice how the rain hadplastered the hair to his head. When I got the door open, he just marched right in behind me, uninvited.

“What the hell are you doing?” Other than dripping all over my floors. How long had he been standing out there? I shut down the momentary twinge of sympathy. I hadn’t invited him here.

“Bringing in supplies. If you’re gonna ride things out, you’re gonna need stuff.”

I dropped my own bag to the floor of the break room, which was the innermost windowless room of the building. “I brought my own.”

“Doesn’t hurt to have more.” He set his own bags down with more care than I had.

“Do you not have work to do somewhere else?”

“We’re done with work for now. Things are battened down, and my men are riding out the storm at the firehouse.”

“Then why aren’t you with them?”

“Because I’m not leaving you here to ride this out by yourself. It’s not safe.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, you abdicated the right to take care of me, LaRue. And I’m perfectly capable of handling the storm on my own.”

“Sure you are. You’re one of the most capable people I’ve ever met. It’s sexy as hell. I’m still not leaving you by yourself.”

The swirl of emotion rose so fast it all but choked me. So much rage. At him for what he’d done. For being here when I’d just started to put the end of us behind me. And at myself for being even a little bit relieved at the idea of not being here alone.

Why the hell did it have to behim?He was the last person I wanted to see.

“You weren’t invited.”

“I can stay out of your way. I’m just here to help.”

“Just here to help. Just our friendly, neighborhood Coast Guardsman.” Sarcasm dripped from every syllable. “Except this isn’t your neighborhood. You’re supposed to be in Seattle. And I’m not feeling remotely friendly toward you.”

“That’s totally fair,cher,” he said easily.

Itwastotally fair. So why the hell did the notion if him validating my feelings make me even more furious?

As if my emotional storm had conjured it, wind and rain crashed against the building like a whip. The storm had fully hit, and whatever window I’d had to evict him had passed. For better or worse, I was stuck with my ex for the next several hours.

Well, shit.

TWELVE

---