Redemption(21)

“You do realize you’re the farthest thing from the definition of clingy? If anything, I’m surprised I haven’t scared you off showing up uninvited, insisting on seeing you.” He paused and put his hand on my thigh. “I want you with me whenever you want to be by my side. Never second guess coming with Annie to anything I’m a part of. If I don’t want you to be somewhere, I’ll tell you. I would have asked you to go today but worried I was pushing you too fast.”

The music on the radio was barely audible, and the road noise was drowned out by the interior of the car, but the silence was loud and clear. He waited for a response, and I needed to give him one.

I put my hand on top of his and wove our fingers together. Adjusting in the seat so I could face him with a seatbelt on, I tried to convey where I was in all of this. “I’m gun shy. You know my last relationship ended…tumultuously. Things were so bad, I left the state and haven’t looked back. I’m alone here. I chose to start over, but in doing so, I erected walls I’m trying to tear down. I want to let you in, and I love spending time with you. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, even if I don’t verbally communicate that to you.”

He squeezed my hand to acknowledge the words I shared.

“The part of you that leads, that alpha male who protects, that man who calms my storms and eases my fears…for the first time in years, I feel safe in someone else’s company. I want to explore that with you. Whether that’s slowly or at a faster pace, I don’t know. I just know that I want to see where this goes…even if you don’t give me your letterman jacket.” Things were too serious. I needed to lighten the mood, and he’d chuckled just like I’d hoped.

Unable to take his eyes off the road for long periods of time, he shot me quick glances that said more than I believed he could articulate without scaring the snot out of me. “I’ve got your back, Liss.”

And I knew he did. I just wondered how heartbroken he was going to be when I pulled the rug out from under him with the truth of my past. I refused to dwell on that possibility. It was my past, and I didn’t have to share it if I didn’t want to. I would never dig into his history, relationships or otherwise. The past was best left where it was forgotten.

“Any chance I can talk you into coming back to my house?”

“I’d love to, but I have compositions to grade, and you have a big game tomorrow. You need to be well rested, and I need to keep my job. I’ll be at the game tomorrow, though. Annie and I made plans to come watch you two sweat.” I refused to admit how much the sight of his glistening skin and masculine scent turned me on. The instant I acknowledged that to him, we’d be naked on the side of the road.

“Can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I understand.”

I hesitated to offer, but it was to quench my desire as much as his. “How about tomorrow night? I can bring clothes, and then go to work from there on Monday?”

“That’ll work.”

He saw it before I did. I’d been too busy memorizing the lines of his face, the hair on his head, the way his eyes shimmered when he spoke to me.

“Penny, baby…”

I followed his line of sight to my front door.

Wide open.

I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. My eyes filled with tears. The truck hadn’t even completely stopped before I had the door open.

“Lissa, wait! Don’t go barreling in there.” His screamed words fell on deaf ears.

Just as I landed on the top step, his arm circled my waist and pulled me back to him. The onslaught of tears rushed my face. No. No. No. “Let me go, Dan.”

“Baby, I’m not letting you run into a house with the door wide open when you’ve been gone all day. No way in hell is that going to happen.”

“I don’t care about anything inside, Dan.”

He looked at me perplexed by my hurry to get inside and my confession that I didn’t care about the things.

“Cosmo.” I pleaded with my eyes for him to understand and let me go, but he shook his head.

“I know you love that cat, but I’m not letting you risk your safety.”

He hauled me back to the truck by my waist, my feet dragging the ground. Somehow, he managed to keep me tucked into his side and then stuffed me into the passenger seat. Dan’s frame took up the bulk of the space between me and escape. When he reached into the glove compartment, an arm still heavily confining my moment, he pulled out a gun of some sort and then slammed it shut.

I stilled and watched him slide the top back to engage a bullet in the chamber, and then turned my tear-stained face to his.

“Do not move, Lissa. So help me God, if you move from this spot before I come back to get you, you’re going to regret it.”

I chewed my lip and gave just the slightest nod of confirmation. The entire scene was eerie. It was early evening, the sun wasn’t as bright as the mid-day, and living in the country the only thing I ever heard were the voices of the animals in the trees and roaming the fields, but…now there was nothing, only a whispered rustle of leaves on branches as an almost non-existent wind came through. I worked to calm my nerves and settle my breathing, but the longer I went without seeing Dan emerge, the more intense my anxiety became.

By the time he finally came back out to the porch, his head hung low, I was nearing a breakdown. I knew by the expression he wore, there was no intruder. I hadn’t shut my door in my haste to leave with Annie. My precious companion had likely escaped, and at the very least, Dan hadn’t seen him. The gun hung loosely in his hand with his finger wrapped around the trigger guard, and the barrel pointed toward the ground.