Page 89 of Heart of Stone
When the knock came at my door, I spun around, moved to it, and said, “Leave me alone, Reid. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
Reid didn’t respond. He merely knocked again.
“I want you to leave.”
For a few beats, I heard nothing and assumed he’d honored my request. But when he knocked again, I got so angry, I flung open the door.
Just as I opened my mouth to shout at him, I was shoved backward into the cabin. I fell to ground. The door was slammed shut. And I was no longer alone.
The problem was that it wasn’t Reid who’d decided to come and try to explain himself.
It was Tim.
He’d found me here.
And I knew he wasn’t kidding when he sneered at me. “I’ve been waiting to find you alone ever since I followed you that night I found you at the lake. And now it’s time to finish what I didn’t that day.”
Reid
I’d screwed up.
I should’ve told her.
I should’ve been honest with her the second things got serious between us. I’d already changed my mind about my plans for this place. If anything, Natalia would have been thrilledto learn that everything she’d brought into my life—her smile and laughter, her love of this place, and her zest for life—was the reason I couldn’t follow through with my initial plans.
Hell, it was because of her that I’d been asking myself for a while now what I was going to do about my business in Pittsburgh. Because if things worked out with her, there wasn’t a chance I could leave her. I couldn’t expect her to give up this place for me. Not after all that she’d been through, not after what this place had done to heal her.
And now, she didn’t even want to be in the same room as me.
“I have to go, Cole,” I told my friend.
“You should give her time. Let her cool off.”
I shook my head, feeling disgusted with myself as I recalled the hurt in her eyes at what she learned. “She said she loved me.”
“Then you two will be fine,” Cole insisted. “But don’t go chasing after her and make it worse. Give her time.”
I raked my fingers through my hair. “I should’ve told her.”
“I’m sorry, man. I had no idea she was there. I feel awful.”
Waving my hand in the air as though dismissing the thought, I said, “No. It wasn’t your fault. I never should’ve let it go on for this long without being honest with her. I have to go. I have to go to her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
He sighed. “Tell you what. I’ll go with you, and if she’s not interested in speaking to you right now, then you’re going to give her the time she wants, and we’ll go grab a beer somewhere.”
“Whatever.”
Though I wasn’t convinced that I’d agree to leave her, I wasn’t going to waste more time now by arguing with Cole about it. I’d deal with it later.
With that, we strode from the office and out of the building. I wanted to run to Natalia, but I realized there was some truth and reason in Cole’s line of thinking. I assumed she went back to her cabin—either that, or she went to Danielle—and since I washoping for the least difficult situation to navigate, I led us both in that direction.
As we walked across the property, Cole tried to make idle conversation, but I was too distracted. I kept seeing Natalia’s face, kept hearing her words.
I fell in love with you.
She loved me.
And based on what she said when she left, I got the distinct impression that she didn’t believe the feeling was mutual.
