Midnight Kiss (Virgin River #12)(24)

She shook her head. “I need to think. Please understand.”

“But how will I find you? How will you find me?”

“Doesn’t Jack know your family? Don’t they know where you are?”

He grabbed her just as the horn blasted another time. He held her upper arms firmly but not painfully, and looked deeply into her eyes. “The second I saw you I lost my mind and wanted to sit right down by you and talk to you. I wanted a lot more than that, but I’m no caveman. Sunny, all I want is to know more about you, to know if there’s an upside to our mistakes—like maybe the right ones were meant to come along just a little later. I’d hate to stomp on a perfectly good spark if it’s meant to be a big, strong, healthy flame. I—”

There was a pounding at the door.

Sunny sighed and pulled herself from his grip. “Well, here’s a bright side for you,” she said. “I’m going to kill my uncle.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

SUNNY THREW OPEN THE DOOR and glared at her uncle Nathaniel. “Not real patient, are you?”

Nate had his hands plunged into his jacket pockets to keep warm. He glared back. “A—you didn’t go where you said you were going to go. And B—you didn’t come out when I honked. Something could have been wrong!”

“A—I’m twenty-five and can change my plans when it suits me. And B—something could have been right!” She turned toward Drew. “Thank you for everything. I’ll get this lunatic out of here.”

“Sunny,” Drew said. “UCLA Medical. Orthopedics Residency. I stand out like a sore thumb. I’m the one the senior residents are whipping and screaming at.”

She smiled at him. “I’ll remember. I promise.”

Sunny grabbed her jacket, her camera bag and pulled the door closed behind her as she left. Nathaniel let her pass him on the porch. She stomped a little toward the truck until her skinny heels stuck into the snow covered drive and she had to stop to pull them out.

“Must’ve been tough, walking from that wrecked car to the cabin in those boots,” Nate observed.

She glared over her shoulder at him. “He carried me.”

“Are you kidding me?” Nate said. “It was two miles!”

“Piggyback,” she said, trying to balance her weight on the balls of her feet until she got to the truck. She pulled herself up into the backseat of the extended cab with a grunt.

Annie, who sat in the front of the truck, had her arms crossed over her chest. When she looked into the backseat, there was a frown on her face. “Are you all right?” she asked grimly.

“Of course, I’m all right,” Sunny said. “Are you angry with me, too?”

“Of course not! I’m angry with Nathaniel!”

“Because…?”

“Because you were laughing with Drew Foley and I didn’t want to crash your party!”

Sunny laughed lightly. “Oh, you two,” she said. “It wasn’t a party,” she said just as her uncle was getting behind the wheel. “It was supposed to be a tour of the cabin, but it turned into a deer accident and a two-mile trek. Poor Drew. He had to carry me because of my stupid boots.”

“But were you ready to leave?” Annie asked, just as Nate put the truck in gear.

No, Sunny thought. Not nearly ready. She loved everything about Drew—his voice, his gentle touch, his empathy for kids and animals, his scent…. Oh, his scent, his lips, his taste. But she said, “Yeah, sure. Thanks for coming for me. Sorry if I was a bother.”

“Sorry if I was a lunatic,” Nate said, turning the truck around. “I have a feeling if I have daughters, Annie will have to be in charge.”

“First smart thing you’ve said in an hour,” Annie informed him.

“Well, I have a responsibility!” he argued.

Sunny leaned her head forward into the front of the cab, coming between them. “You two didn’t have your New Year’s kiss, did you? Because whew, are you ever pissy!”

“Some people,” Annie said, her eyes narrowed at Nate, “just don’t listen.”

WINTER IN THE MOUNTAINS is so dark; the sun wasn’t usually up before seven in the morning. But Sunny was. In fact, she’d barely slept. She just couldn’t get Drew out of her mind. She got up a couple of times to get something from the kitchen, but she only dozed. At five-thirty she gave up and put the coffee on.

By the time it was brewing, Annie was up. Before coming into the kitchen she started the fire in the great room fireplace. She shivered a bit even though she wore her big, furry slippers and quilted robe.

“Why are you up so early?” Sunny asked, passing a mug of coffee across the breakfast bar.

“Me? I’m always up early—we have a rigid feeding schedule for the horses.”

“This early?”

“Well, I thought I heard a mouse in the kitchen,” Annie said with a smile. “Let’s go by the fire and you can tell me why you’re up.”

“Oh, Annie,” she said a bit sadly, as she headed into the great room. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Wrong?” Annie asked. She sat on the big leather sofa in front of the fire and patted the seat beside her. “I think you’re close to perfect!”