Page 39 of Shattered Illusions

A shiver tore through her.

Nope. Donotthink about that photo!

Fine. Running wassupposedto make everything better.

At the bottom of the stairs, she yelped and skidded to a halt. Her jaw dropped.

“Oh good, you’re ready,” Joe said, straightening from a leg stretch. “Four miles, right?”

* * *

A mile into their run, Joe’s muscles were all warmed up and feeling good. They hadn’t spoken since they’d left the house, so the only sounds were their breaths and steady footfalls on the packed dirt, plus the occasional rustling of the animals they were disturbing. Because it wasn’t even three thirty in the damn morning yet.

Joe glanced at the woman next to him. He had the distinct impression that she was doing everything in her power to ignore him. So, he broke the silence. “Are we going to talk about what happened?”

“I hate to break it to you,” she huffed, her gaze never wavering from the path ahead, “but I’m not one of those let’s-talk-and-run people. If I don’t actively concentrate on my breathing, I might actually hyperventilate and die.”

His lips twitched. Damn, she was cute. Even at this god-awful hour. “Okay. I’ll talk and you can listen.”

They’d been keeping a fast pace, so he eased up a fraction. Roxie’s speed was no surprise. After all, the woman was only a few inches shy of six feet and all leg.

Speaking of which, her legs were currently wrapped in snug pants that left nothing to the imagination. Too bad they weren’t running in the daylight. Or doing hills. Yeah, they should definitely do hills next time. He’d be more than happy to follow her upanyhill—any time, any day.

Focus, Buchanan. Focus.

Right. He cleared his throat. “So, Roxanne, about what happened—”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

Her voice was strained, so he slowed a little more.

“When I started being a dick to you,” he said. Something that looked like relief flashed across her face. But that didn’t make sense. In any case, he pushed on. “I want to apologize.”

It took him a split second to realize she’d stopped running. He pivoted and found her standing with her hands on her narrow hips, confusion on her face.

“You already apologized.”

“I know, but I need to do it again. And I can apologize and run at the same time.” He grabbed her hand, turned, and began jogging, pulling her along with him. “You can run and listen. Please.”

Roxie set the pace, and they jogged in silence for another quarter mile.

The truth was... he was nervous. He’d hoped the run would take the edge off, but that wasn’t proving to be the case. Perhaps nothing could take his mind off the importance of this particular apology.

“Rox, I really am sorry. I just...” He felt her gaze on him, but he couldn’t look at her. Not right now. “I should have talked to you about the whole Paul-being-married thing. But I didn’t.”Instead, you decided to be an asshole, Buchanan.“I chose to believe him and didn’t even give you a chance to explain your side. And I hurt you. Over and over again, I hurt you.”

On purpose. Because he’d wanted to make her feel just as shitty as he had.

“I’m so sorry, Roxanne. For all of it.”

He startled when she pulled him to a stop.

“You’ve said this before, Joe, but you haven’t saidwhy.”

Even in the dim moonlight, he saw the hurt glistening in her eyes. It tore at him. He’d do whatever he could to atone for his many screwups with her.

“Why were you so damn cruel to me, Joe?”

Because it had been easier than facing reality. Or what he’d thought was reality at the time.

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