Page 25 of The Runaway Bride of Blitzen Bay (Blitzen Bay)

Chapter Fourteen

NOELLE

December 22

Los Angeles, California

“Are you warming up at all?”

When he gets in the truck, I have the heat on its highest level. I’m still shaking. He points his vents toward me.

“Yeah.” I throw my veil on the dashboard and wrap his jacket tighter around me. “I guess I should have thrown on a sweater or something before my escape.”

“Escape, huh? That usually means someone was holding you against your will.” He looks up at me. His soft green eyes are suddenly very hard. “Anything you want to tell me?”

“They were holding me, but mentally only.” I turn from him and look out the window. “It’s a long story.”

“Okay. Here’s my phone if you want to call your cousin. Do you know her number?”

“Yeah, it’s one of only two I have memorized.” I take the phone from him and dial Kit. She answers immediately.

“Elle?” She’s whispering. I can barely hear her.

“Yeah, it’s me.” For some reason, I’m whispering, too.

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Some guy gave me a ride. I’m fine.”

“Some guy? What guy?”

“He’s a high school friend of Steve’s.”

“What? Why would Steve’s friend help you run away from him? Is he a kidnapper or something? Put me on speaker.”

I turn to Nash who’s looking out his window—trying his best not to eavesdrop. “You’re on speaker. My cousin wants to know if you’re a kidnapper.”

He whips his head around to look at me. “You crawled into my truck and begged me to get you away from your wedding. How am I a kidnapper in this situation?”

“It doesn’t mean you’re not a kidnapper,” Kit yells. “Maybe you’re just a kidnapper who got lucky.”

“Oh, yeah, I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now.”

“What? Elle, he’s sarcastic! You know how I love that.”

“Yeah, and he’s kind of grumpy, too. It’s really cute.”

“Stop!” Kit yells and then lowers her voice back down to a whisper. “Now is not the time to be crushing on a man.”

“No, not cute like that. Cute like in a best friend kind of way.”

Nash shakes his head, looking from the phone to me. “So now, I’m your best friend? We’ve known each other for twenty minutes.”

“I’m her best friend, kidnapper. Settle down,” Kit says. “What’s your name, by the way? So I can send the FBI after you if needed.”

“Nash Young. Please send the FBI directly to me, so I don’t have to talk to you two anymore.”

“Aww, Elle, he’s willing to go to federal prison for us. That’s the first guy who’s offered that.”

---