Page 33 of The Runaway Bride of Blitzen Bay (Blitzen Bay)

“Yeah. Of course.” He grabs his beer and my drink and gestures for me to go ahead of him. He follows me over to a table in the corner.

As he puts the drink in front of me, I take his wrist. “Nash, thank you for everything you’ve done today. Really. You’ve been so sweet. You have no idea how much this means to me. I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything. Just be happy. Figure out what that is and be happy.” He squeezes my hand as he sits down.

I lean back in my chair. “So Izzy told me you just retired from the army. You were a Ranger, huh?”

“Izzy talks too much. Don’t tell her anything you don’t want everyone else to know.”

“I’m afraid I pretty much told her everything already,” I say, tilting my head and smiling. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

“And I’m not going to, because I don’t know you and it’s none of your business.” He smiles before he drains the last of his beer. “And I told you that look doesn’t work on me.”

“Hmm.” I sip on my drink as I sit back.

“I’m sorry Izzy interrogated you.”

“It doesn’t bother me. I’m an open book.”

“Oh, okay.” He leans back and strokes his beard. “If you’re such an open book, tell me why you left Stevie at the altar.”

My head jerks back a little like someone slapped me.

“Wow, okay, I guess I don’t have any problem telling you that,” I say slowly, “if you’ll answer a question for me.”

“No deal. I don’t want to answer questions, but you’re the one saying you’re an open book, so why the hesitation?”

I lay my chin on my hands and fix my eyes on him. “I am an open book, but I also believe in fair play. I’ll answer that question, but you have to answer one of mine.”

He sits back and crosses his arms. “You can ask me a question about anything except my military service.”

“Nope, no banned subjects.”

He squints his eyes. “Ask, but I have the right to refuse any question.”

“How old were you when you became a Ranger?”

“You’re assuming what Izzy told you was accurate and that I was a Ranger—”

“We both know it is. How old? I’m not asking you to reveal military secrets.”

“Nineteen.”

“Wow! That’s young.” I sit up straighter.

“Not really. You can start the school at eighteen if you pass all the testing. And don’t think I didn’t notice you asked another question.”

I put my hands up defensively. “I did not ask another question. I made a statement and you volunteered further information.”

He shakes his head as he starts to laugh. “Your turn. Start answering.”

“I left Steve at the altar because I didn’t have the balls to break it off months ago when I should have.” I look up at the ceiling. “And I feel horrible about it.”

He reaches out and puts his hand on top of mine. “Why did you want to break it off in the first place?”

“That’s a second question, but I’ll allow it,” I say, smiling. “It’s kind of hard to explain. The entire time I was growing up, I felt like I was in a cage. People telling what to do and who to be. And everything they wanted me to be didn’t seem right. When I moved to L.A., it felt like someone opened the cage. I started finding little bits of myself I didn’t know existed and when I started putting them all together, I was a different person—a person I really liked.”

“And Stevie didn’t like that person?”

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