Page 51 of Even if You Fall

I started telling her she’d drown in my hoodies just as an image of her in one of them slammed into me, stopping me from opening my own door.

As if needing to help me get to the conclusion I’d just reached, she turned once she was standing outside the SUV but wouldn’t look at me, embarrassment and a whisper of sadness weaving through her words when she said, “Girlfriends do that sort of thing—wear their boyfriend’s clothes.”

Except she wasn’t mine.

And from the shame radiating from her, I had a feeling she was remembering a relationship where she hadn’t really belonged to the other guy either.

Witnessing Chloe away from the office was something.

The way she got excited over the simplest things—like the view of the mountains or catching sight of a bookstore or the smell of a bakery—was so endearing that I had the strongest urge to take her to dozens of cities within dozens of states just to see her reactions to every downtown area.

Then there was the seemingly natural way she complimented everyone she spoke to, and how strangers responded to her—visibly brightening after being met with the human version of the sun. Not to mention the free things people tried giving her because they were just so enamored by someone as kind and joyful as her, even though she politely refused nearly every time.

When I’d asked what made her choose to accept some of the items, she’d just shrugged, then found someone else to gift those items to as we’d walked past shops and restaurants.“I could tell it would’ve genuinely hurt them if I would’ve said no.”

That answer and the way she hadn’t kept anything for herself, always saying,“From a friend down the street,”as she’d regifted the items, to ensure she wouldn’t get credit for them, had me falling more and more for the little threat by my side.

But it wasn’t just me falling for her.

As with the pilots, Chloe had a way of capturing the attention of men without even trying. But for every man who had stopped or slowed to stare at Chloe, there were the handful she’d flashed that endless smile at or offered a cheerful“Hello”to in that subtle, southern drawl of hers. From the way their intrigue had shifted to something more in an instant, you would’ve thought she’d purposefully focused on them and done everything to win them over instead of just being her normal, adorable self as she’d passed them by.

It was no wonder Owen Vance had chosen her.

It had all bothered me more than I expected it to. Not that I’d been surprised by my reaction to Chloe anymore, it’d just been the intensity of it that had thrown me off. The overwhelming frustration that people would check her out when I’d beenright therewith her...that I hadn’t been able to give into the possession pounding through my veins, demanding I stake my claim on a girl who wasn’t mine.

So, instead, I’d stayed just to the side and a step behind her, glaring at every man who’d gotten trapped up in her beauty or that veil of sunshine. All while Chloe had practically bounced ahead, utterly oblivious to the affect she had on the men.

On me.

But even though she’d been bright smiles and sunshine for everyone we passed and interacted with, she’d been different with me.

Quieter. More reserved.

I’d hurt her.

Which, considering the things I’d said and accused her of during the pseudo interrogations, I was surprised I’d hurt her today of all days. Or maybe it was just that I’d gotten so close to who she really was, and that scared her.

Either way, I didn’t like it. It left me uncomfortable in my own skin knowing that I’d pushed her so far that she couldn’t even look at me anymore.

“This isn’t gonna work,” I told her as I put the SUV in park in front of my parents’ house. “My family’s gonna notice you won’t look at me and know something’s wrong.”

“That’s fine,” she said as she pressed her clenched fists to her lap. “I already decided I couldn’t do it anyway. The pretending thing.” Before I could ask, she explained, “The more I thought about it, the worse it made me feel. So, I’m gonna tell them the truth.”

Something between frustration and amusement left me. “Already told you, you don’t know my family.”

“I’m about to,” she said with a determined nod, then quickly exited the SUV.

“No, no, wait,” I quickly said, trying to stop her, but she was already shutting the door and opening the back door to grab her bags.

Once we were standing at the front of the car, bags and muffin boxes in hand, I told her, “You don’t understand. They aren’t gonna believe you.”

She gave me a look like that was absurd, all while averting her eyes so they never landed on me. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“Because that’s just how they are.”

Chloe’s eyes rolled, but she just stepped onto the pathway. “I get why they don’t want to fall in love with people who don’t end up staying in their family, and I won’t do that to them. So, I’ll make sure they know I’m not going to be part of their family,” she said as if it were so simple, and I just watched her walk away for a moment, my head slowly shaking because this was about to be a disaster.

Jogging up the pathway after her, I reached her just as she stepped onto the porch?—

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