Page 47 of The Runaway and the Rugged
“Um, well…” I mumbled, distracted by the hard, endless planes of muscles and curves that my mouth physically began to dry up. He even had a trail of hair that disappeared into the waistline of his jeans, making me wonder exactly where it led.
Snap out of it, Emelia!
“See! She clearly needed someone to check on her!” Grace defended, shaking me from the absurdity of my thoughts and back to the real world.
Garth’s eyes shot back to his daughter with an unamused glower.
“It’s fine. She’s fine coming here, I mean,” I stammered out. “But you’re right about her telling you where she was. She should have told you.”
Oh god, what was I even saying? Both were watching me with furrowed brows and confusion.
“Okay, what I’m trying to say is, I shouldn’t be talking at all and that I should go back inside.” I took a step back toward the door, all the while both Grace and Garth continued to study me. “It was nice officially meeting you, Grace, hopefully our paths cross again someday and I’ll be counting on you to curl my hair.”
Her face slowly broke out into a smile, erasing the traces of embarrassment lingering in my gut. And just as my hand went to reach for the handle of the door, I was abruptly stopped with the sound of Garth’s voice.
“You sleep all right?” he asked over the sound of the steady hum of the motor running.
My stare latched on to his.
“Yeah, like a baby.” I nodded as his eyes drifted over his shirt that swallowed me whole.
“No mice?”
I laughed.
“No mice.”
He nodded while dragging a palm through his hair.
“Good,” he grumbled, then turned to Grace. “Come on, let’s go,” he nodded subtly, signaling for Grace to hop on the ATV.
Just when I thought she was going to counter back, she surprised me by listening to her dad. A drop of her shoulders and a sigh later, she threw a small wave over her shoulder in my direction.
“Nice meeting you, Emelia.”
“You too.” I smiled as she jumped inside the passenger seat.
“Come on, Outlaw, you too,” Garth called out, paralyzing me to the spot. “We got breakfast, coffee, everything you need up at the house.”
“Oh, that’s okay.” I shrugged off the offer. “Clarke’s sleeping inside and I don’t want to leave her here alone.”
“Just come up and grab some food for the two of you to bring back. Besides, I know Greta’s wanting to talk to you for a minute.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, contemplating, but there was no way I could say no. Not after them letting me stay here for the night, and Garth… a protector by nature getting rid of Nathaniel and handling the chaos I ultimately brought upon the Ranch.
“All right, okay.” I nodded, watching the excitement pour from Grace’s expression as she beamed wide. I then went to get shoes, but remembered I only had my heels, and there was no way with the amount of blisters I had I was pushing my feet into those.
It only took a moment of hesitation for Garth to catch on to my dilemma and move in my direction. His gaze dropped to my bare feet and as he started to close the distance between us, I realized what he was about to do.
Swiftly stopping him with my outstretched palm, he ran directly into it with his hard chest.
“No need to pick me up, I promise I’m okay to walk barefoot,” I stammered out quickly, my mind going in all sorts of naughty, unspeakable directions as I let the feel of his body sink into my bones.
His eyebrows dipped, along with his eyes as he hooked them onto my palm.
Morning Garth might be my favorite version.
Shut up, Emelia.
