Kensie’s gaze darted to the gate and then back to him as they called her name once more over the speaker. “Did he say what this guy looked like?”
“No. But we can go and talk to him. He’s waiting for us right now. I told him I was coming to get you and we’d be over as fast as we could.”
She stared down at their locked hands a long moment, then shook her head. “Colter, I can’t spend my life chasing long shot leads.” She raised her head and there was something new in her eyes, something strong and bright. “I deserve to find my own life, to figure out what I want for me. You taught me that,” she added softly.
He had? Her words made him sway backward slightly. He wanted that for her, but... “There’s a time to move on, Kensie. But right now is the time for blind hope and optimism.”
She started to shake her head, to pull her hands free, and he held on tighter.
“You taught me that,” he told her. “You don’t give up on the people you love.”
Saying the words made him flinch a little, thinking about the day his brothers had died. Thinking about whether he was inadvertently leading her in the wrong direction, trying to force her attention back into her past when she had a real shot at a good future. But his gut was screaming at him that this was a true lead, and he wasn’t sure he could follow it on his own.
Her shoulders dropped and hurt passed across her face, but just as quickly, she lifted her chin. “How do you know this isn’t another dead end?”
“I don’t,” he said as the attendant at the gate announced, “Doors are closing for Flight 1850.”
His leg was starting to throb from putting weight on it for so long, but he ignored it and pulled her a little closer. “Kensie, please come with me. This isn’t over.”
She stared up into his face for a long moment, then pulled her hands free. “It’s not over,” she repeated softly.
Then, she launched herself into his arms.
Chapter Eighteen
Kensie sneaked another glance at Colter, heart pounding madly. She was in the passenger seat of his truck, flying away from the airport at speeds that couldn’t be legal. All of his attention was on the road ahead, his knuckles white against the steering wheel like he was on a mission.
She still couldn’t believe she’d walked away from her flight. There wasn’t another one to Chicago for three days.
Three more days with Colter. He was a dangerous temptation she needed to resist. Because whether it was three days from now on the very next flight, or three days after that, she’d eventually be leaving. And when it came to Colter, nothing had changed.
Falling halfway in love with him already meant heartache was waiting for her. Falling right into his arms would only make it worse.
“I’m glad you’re staying, Kensie,” Colter said, shooting her a sideways glance, as if he could feel her eyes on him.
When she’d thrown her arms around him at the airport, he’d actually lifted her off her feet and pressed his lips to hers for a long, tantalizing moment. People around them had cheered, clearly misunderstanding what was happening.
Now that they were back in his truck, she could read his nerves in the tense lines of his arms, the flexing of his jaw. He was worried he’d talked her into staying for just one more false lead.
Fear and hope blended, making her heart race even faster and her fingers tap a nervous beat against the armrest until Rebel pushed her nose between the seats and stilled her hand.
Kensie smiled at the dog, realizing how much she was going to miss Rebel, too, once she actually did leave. The thought added anxiety to the mix and Kensie took a deep breath.
This is just like every other lead on Alanna, she reminded herself. Approach it like you always try to, with low expectations but high hopes. It was a hard balance, but one she’d gotten fairly good at over the years.
But this time felt different. Maybe because she’d finally decided to let Alanna go and then gotten yanked right back into the search. It really felt like her last chance.
“I’m sorry.”
It took her a minute to comprehend Colter’s words and then she frowned over at him. Had she spoken out loud?
“I should have followed this lead on my own, instead of dragging you back into it. I was being selfish. I’m sorry.”
Selfish? He’d spent the past four days running down leads on someone law enforcement had already given up on. He’d rushed to her side whenever she needed him, twice saving her from dangerous men.
Kensie let out a snort of disbelief. “Nothing you’ve done since I’ve known you has been selfish.”
He was silent for a long time as they navigated the long drive back toward Desparre. Finally, as the roads beneath them changed from pavement to dirt, he spoke slowly, deliberately. “I didn’t want you to go.”
His words stunned her briefly into silence, but while her mouth refused to work, her mind and body shot into overdrive. Her skin tingled with sudden awareness of how close he sat to her, her lips aching for another kiss. Her brain started cataloguing how far they were from his cabin and how soon they could get there.
She’d stayed for Alanna. Mostly. But part of the reason she hadn’t gotten on that plane was the man sitting next to her. Intellectually, she knew it was better to keep her distance, to focus on her sister for her remaining few days here. But her heart had other ideas. And the fact that she was still chasing after Alanna all these years later instead of moving on with her life proved that her heart almost always won.
Before she could figure out how to respond to his surprising admission, Colter spoke again. This
