Page 63 of Radar

“Nope. Gotta go. Thanks for everything.” She lifted a hand and gave him a finger wave, then slipped out the door.

My god, what the hell just happened?She wondered.

Cold feet? Self-preservation?

She felt like they had been in perfect balance, that there was a glowing future out in front of them. That she had taken the first steps of a new beginning.

And now?

Now it felt like she was falling from a circus high wire.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Elyssa

Sunday

Lumberjack, Alaska

The lodge had cleared the snow that had fallen overnight from the parking circle, but they were still on the far end of the sidewalk, working their way toward the lodge. Every time her foot went into the snow, it filled Elyssa’s short boots.

There was a man on his snowmobile, and Elyssa wished he’d come over and offer her a ride to the car. Her legs felt like lead.

It isn’t that far. This is fine.Elyssa encouraged herself.

The guy on the snowmobile fixed an unwavering, calculated gaze on her.

And suddenly, Elyssa’s intuition yelled for her to get out of there. But the jolt of frigid air had sapped her of energy. She felt so weak and so tired that she wasn’t sure what to do. This was the reason she needed to leave Alaska. The cold froze her veins. While her heart was pumping with all its force, blood just wasn’t circulating, and her eyesight was getting fuzzy.

If you sink into the snowbank, you’ll die of hypothermia.

She turned to the lodge to see if it was closer than the car; either would be okay.

She didn’t even think she had enough power to call for help, though she needed it.

The man on the snowmobile was heading her way. And Elyssa knew he meant her harm.

Knew it.

But Elyssa didn’t have the capacity to move.

Coming closer, he revved his engine, then shot forward. As he drove by, he reached out and grabbed the wrist of Elyssa’s free hand and kept going.

Elyssa’s bags dropped from her shoulder. She was on the ground sledding along, thinking this guy was going to get her into the woods, and she’d never come out again.

Something in the self-preservation part of her brain kicked in.

She heard herself thinking in big, fat orange letters.It’s rugby. Get out of the hold.

Adrenaline was her rocket fuel, and Elyssa morphed into her former self, a formidable athlete.

Pulling her knees to her chest, Elyssa reached her free hand up and clasped her trapped hand. Using that grip, she was able to pull her knees to her chest and swivel her hips to the side. With her feet on the side of the snowmobile, she shoved into her heels with all her might.

The man came flying off, landing on top of her, scrambling up, never releasing his grip on her wrist.

The snowmobile continued unmanned, coming to a stop yards away.

As the man dragged her toward his machine, Elyssa spread her legs wide, then she pulled them together as quickly as she could in the snow, using the momentum to twist her over to face down. Her own clasped hand created a joint lock that broke his grip.

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