“I see it,” she said.
“I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.” He slid on a pair of sunglasses that accented his features and gave him an edge of seriousness. His hair was slicked off to one side, and the whole look made her feel like melted butter. Seriously, had any guy ever affected her like this before? “Then you can just follow me down.”
It took her a minute to shake off the effect of the sunglasses and kick her brain back into gear. “Sounds good. Uh, Adrian?”
He paused on the way to his car and peered over his shoulder.
“Thanks. You know, for everything. Not many people would just accept a total stranger breaking into their space and sleeping there. You’ve been more than generous.”
“It wasn’t a problem,” he said. “I’m only glad you had somewhere safe to sleep.” He fiddled with his key fob for a moment before taking a few steps back in her direction. His returning proximity ratcheted her pulse. “I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but can I have your number? That way I can give you a call if we get separated for any reason before I get you where you need to go.”
Goldie nibbled her lower lip. Oh, but he was smooth. Why, no, she didn’t mind giving her number to this sizzlingly gorgeous, unfamiliar person who’d been completely chill about her breaking and entering. Assuming she was able to charge her phone once she made it to her truck.
“I promise that’s the only reason,” he added with a smirk.
“I would never have thought otherwise,” she teased before reciting her digits to him. Adrian tapped them into his phone, repeating her name as he added her to his contacts.
“And yours?” she said.
“You need mine?”
“You’ve been more than generous to someone you don’t even know. I’d like to make it up to you somehow.” As a high school English teacher, she didn’t have much to spare, but she’d always loved to bake. Once she got to Aunt Bethany’s, she could whip up a batch of her drool-worthy chocolate chip cookies and bring some out to him—wherever that was.
He waved away the offer. “No need. I’m happy I was able to help.”
A twinge of disappointment tingled through her, but she did her best to brush it off. Did he think she would misuse his number if she had it? She supposed he was right not to trust her too much. She had broken into his family’s cabin, after all.
“Ready?” he said.
“I’ll follow your lead.”
He inclined his head with a withdrawn little smile.
CHAPTER FOUR
GOLDIE FOLLOWED ADRIAN’S REAR LIGHTS as closely as she dared, not wanting to lose sight of him for an instant. A peculiar, fluttery burning hadn’t stopped in her stomach since their conversation outside his cabin.
Who kept something like that stocked and furnished for the possibility they would stop by and use it on the occasional weekend? Most people Goldie knew could barely afford rent for themselves, let alone a secluded cabin. From the state of his family’s cabin, the cut of his clothes, and the style of his car, she’d guess Adrian Bear was loaded.
She considered slowing down, purposefully getting stuck behind a meandering semi-truck for the sole purpose of forcing him to call her so she would have his number in her phone, but thought better of it. He was a steady driver, easy to follow. Besides, she didn’t want to seem any more helpless than she already did. She wasn’t completely incompetent.
Her phone began to chime with a number she didn’t recognize. Her heart gave a little flip. With trembling fingers, she swiped against the screen.
“Hello?”
The answering voice was deeply pleasant and charmingly familiar. “Goldie? It’s Adrian. I never asked you specifically where you needed to end up.”
She bit her lip. He intended to see her all the way there? Her signal was back again, and she very well could have found her aunt’s house on her own from here, but she wasn’t about to admit as much.
True, she didn’t want to seem incompetent, but she had to admit, she wanted the excuse to see him a final time. She hadn’t been kidding when she said she wanted to do something to make it up to him. And according to one of her students, her cookies were comparable to eternal happiness. Or maybe she could make him some pull-apart monkey bread, the kind drizzled with caramel sauce.
She recalled the address from her aunt’s email. “321 Columnar Street.”
That was what she would do. She had his number now. Once she got settled in at her aunt’s house, she’d see about taking him something as a thank you gesture.
Adrian led the way through the small town that reminded her so much of Baldwin it wasn’t funny. There were only a handful of stoplights along Main Street where traffic was probably at its thickest. An Albertsons and small Walmart nestled together alongside a shoe store. Several token fast-food restaurants lined the corners, and then the buildings thinned again, making way for homes.
Each home was small, many with an old bungalow style. Single and squat, with pointed windows and brick porches. One house had a tower on its side and Goldie longed to knock on the door just for a glimpse of the interior. Because that wouldn’t be creepy at all. She wondered if her aunt lived in one of these antique homes.
Adrian’s blinker signaled at the street labeled Columnar, and Goldie’s pulse hitched up that much higher. This was worse than going to her class reunion, at which she hadn’t lasted longer than twenty minutes. What was so hard about putting herself out there to meet someone new? Especially someone who knew things about her own life that she didn’t?
His Hummer slowed, its brake lights reddening as it came to a stop. He’d left enough room for her to pull her little Toyota behind him. She took in the small house with blue siding
