Page 35 of Hunted

“But he didn’t love you back, did he, Lexi?”

A single tear fell. It dropped from her cheek to splash onto the back of Romano’s hand, just as he reached out to cup her face. His thumb ran over her cheekbone, and he lifted her head to look into her eyes.

“You should have been disappointed in him, not the other way around. You need to open your eyes and see that one of these days. He didn’t deserve a daughter like you.”

“I thought I asked you not to talk about my father.”

“I was talking about you.”

She shook her head slowly, taking her gaze from his. “I want to go home,” she whispered. “I want to go up to the house.” And for the first time, she realized why. It wasn’t Jax. It was that the place had become a haven in her mind. She’d run away from her entire life. Her father’s failing health had just been an excuse. She’d been hiding there, had stayed even after his death. And she wanted to hide there again.

“We can’t go back, not just yet. Try to be patient, okay?”

She’d try. But, God, she craved space. Room, lots of it, between Romano and her. It was killing her to be this close to him and pretend nothing had happened between them. Which was exactly what he expected, even silently demanded, that she do. She needed space, time alone, to come to grips with the very real possibility that her loyalty to her father had been sorely misplaced. She’d always known he wasn’t a very nice person. Not a very honorable person. He’d certainly never been a very kind person.

Your father is a great man.

That oft-repeated refrain played through her brain like a skipping vinyl record. So many people had said it to her, beginning with her mother.

But what if he hadn’t been so great after all? And what if she’d only loved him so, so much because she’d had no one else to love?

“Okay?” Romano repeated.

“Yeah. Okay.” She turned in the seat, looking back into the living quarters of the RV, squinting in the darkness. “So what do we do for light and heat?”

“Propane. The dealer threw in a full tank. I just have to go outside and hook it up.” He tilted his head. “Loan me my jacket and I’ll do it right now.”

She’d been wearing his jacket for lack of anything else. Chivalrous of him, and unexpected, but nice. She liked wearing his coat. It smelled like him, and it was almost as warm as being held in his arms.

She shrugged out of the coat and handed it to him. Romano put it on and went into the back, bending to one of the cupboards and emerging with a flashlight and an oversized pipe wrench.

“Where did you get that?”

“Pipe wrench came with the camper. I picked the flashlight up at the store while you were playing hide-and-seek with the goon in the diner. I grabbed some extra clothes, too. They’re in the drawer under the bunk. Sweatshirts, heavy socks, an extra pair of jeans for each of us.”

“That’s good. Tell me there’s a three-pound flannel nightgown in there, too.”

“What do I look like, an idiot?” He tugged up the zipper of his jacket, flipped up the collar and opened the door while Lexi was still feeling the rush of heat in her cheeks.

He paused in the doorway, swearing softly.

“What’s wrong?" she asked him.

“It’s really coming down out there. The road must be damned near impassable by now.”

“Oh.” She’d figured it would be. She’d seen those low hanging clouds too often not to know when a storm was about to cut loose.

“No way in hell we’ll get back to the lawyer’s house tonight.”

She’d been counting on it. “It’s just as well,” she said. “Maybe by the time the roads are cleared they’ll be back.”

“And maybe you planned it that way.”

She shrugged. “Maybe I did.”

He shook his head. “Tomorrow, Lexi. The second the roads are cleared. And I don’t care if I have to break in with the whole damn town watching.” With that he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

So this was it, at least for tonight. And they were together in even closer quarters than they’d been in the motel. How was she ever going to sleep? Even in bunk beds, she’d be too close to him. Way too close.

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